Just a question for the general population that watch over their miles as closely as their portfolio. Every year I attempt to consolidate my miles w/AA and/or oneworld. I have been PLT for the last five years and fly infrequently on other carriers, usually Delta. I am venturing to Perth, Australia for a business trip and have thought about doing LGA-YYZ-HKG-PER-HKG-YYZ-LGA largely so that I can obtain the 50K bonus on top of my 100% PLT bonus and J class bonus. I estimate that it will give me approximately 110K miles for this trip. I could however fly JFK-JNB-PER-JNB-JFK on South African Airways therefore significantly reducing my overall miles, not contributing toward this years' "premium commitment" but allowing me to spend a couple of days after PER in JNB, a city I have never visited before. So fellow mileage addicts, what do you suggest?

110k is a lot of miles, but if you really want to visit JNB, go! On the plus side, miles earned on SAA can be credited to your Delta account.

If you fly Business class, I make that 32,820 SkyMiles, which I am sure you could use for something

dupe

[This message has been edited by james (edited 03-07-2000).]

Transborder,

110K miles is a lot of miles! I would go AA and the 110K miles rather than the DL and 32K miles.

I was in South Africa on vacation this past October. I would say the one day I spent in JNB was more than enough. As recommended in all the travel books & magazines we read, we stayed in the northern suburbs of JNB, and even there we didn't feel safe enough to wander around after dark, even to walk a few blocks to visit the shopping mall. If you could somehow swing a routing through Cape Town then that would be nice Cape town was beautiful and staying near the Victoria and Alfred waterfront we felt very safe during the evening hours.



[This message has been edited by onedog (edited 03-07-2000).]

Is there no way to just go a couple days early

Is there no way to just go a couple days early and get both the miles and the extra couple days?

Otherwise, you should consider:

1) Are you sure that you will get Platinum next year without the trip? This is very important (double miles, better chances of upgrades, etc.)
2) Are you in the running for either the 1 million mile (lifetime gold) or 2 million mile (lifetime platinum) level? Either of these are important.

If the answer to both the above is no, then I would skip the 110k.

Thanks for the information re: JNB. I have also heard that Capetown was the place to go not JNB. I booked today on CX and will go for the 110K miles to make certain that I reach PLT this year and to "maximize" the trip. I have been to HKG probably 10 times over the last several years, a city which I really enjoy, but have never been to the African continent. I just wonder how many of us end up losing out on opportunties to travel to new place due to our desire to "maximize our miles".