SAN-Lima Help Plz
 

Hi All,
Hoping some of you experts can help me out I have a ton of UA and AMEX points. I need to fly from SAN to Lima RT in business. The only way to do this using points I have found so far is Delta through Atlanta. I would love to use my points on Lan Peru out of LAX. Any ideas how to get my points over there? Thanks!

I don't know much about your AMEX options, but my advice is to build up a 2nd airline account.

As a westerner, I think the perfect combination is United and Alaska. UA gives you the *Alliance plus Delta, plus maybe USAir in the future. AS gives you NW-KLM, CO, AA, plus most of oneworld: BA, Qantas, and...LanChile. The virtue of AS is its wide set of alliances for earning and getting awards. With UA and AS, you have the five majors covered.

The main weakness is that your only upgrade opportunities are on NW and AS. Make sure your LanPeru flight gets AS credit, which might mean using the LanChile codeshare...a good question for the AS board.

Having 2 accounts lets you shop between many airlines and buy a ticket based upon price and convenience, and not be dragooned into visiting Atlanta and Chicago all the time...

And welcome to Flyer Talk!


[This message has been edited by South of the Border (edited 08-07-2002).]

Look at converting AMEX to Latin Pass / Grupo Taca

No hope for UA -- I've been trying to figure out something for quite a while --

Do you like the idea of connecting in IAH ?
On CO, which is an Amex partner, you can do LAX-IAH-LIM.
35K OP miles for coach
70K " " for BC

Another option is using Taca. BTW, with the programs you mentioned having, you will not be able to transfer points to LanChile.


[This message has been edited by eperaltaotero (edited 08-07-2002).]

You should consider paying for an LAX flight and earning FF miles since the fares are so cheap (as low as $318) off and on lately -- Lan-chile.com E-fares, and even Delta.

Lan Chile E-fares which are known as Last Minute Offers in their website always appear every Tuesday.

To take advantage of these offers, travel must begin within that week or a few days after that week, and the expected return is the following week.

Fares as low as $318 rarely appear in their website, so I don't suggest waiting for these special fares.

Thanks to everyone for all your advice!