Aa/ba/ow lax-lhr-ist j $2869
 

Not sure this is a great deal but it was for me so thought I'd share. It books into I and J class for around 24K AS EQM miles, can extend a night in London, and while the fare is $3389-- after you take off the AARP $200 and CHASEBA10 $318 you are left with $2869. Upon checking out of BA site I was offered an immediate first charge $500 off statement if I applied for and was accepted for BA Chase Visa and 25K Avios after $2K charge

So in my estimation I paid $2369, and leveled up in AS status, and both AS and BA miles/avios

https://www.google.com/travel/flight...ENDMXhRPRICCAE

Not too bad if you need AS status. DXB is available for the same price and more miles. I think it works out to 10cpm which isn't terrible for a biz deal.
If MVPG 75k+ on AS, this should net over 66k RDM.

Wonder if there are ways to stretch out LAX-LHR-DXB/IST to net more miles...

The fare rules permit 2 transfers in each direction free - obvious possibilities are MAD and HEL (but I have no idea whether IB and AY fly to IST, neither does so to DXB), VY is also a permitted carrier with 1 transfer in BCN or FCO possible but this is pointless as they have no business cabin.
Additionally, 2 transfers are permitted in each direction free on AA in North America only.
I presume someone with ExpertFlyer access should be able to post possible routings ...

Same price & more miles doesn't always equate to more redeemable miles. You have to consider the earnings for the marketing carrier. A BA marketed, BA operated LAX-LHR-IST itinerary will earn more RDM than an AA marketed LAX-LHR-DXB itinerary even if the operating carrier is BA.

James

AY does fly to DXB.

You’re right, hadn’t thought about that. Best to keep the longest possible BA marketed/operated flights for earnings.

That said, if the routing rules were loose, perhaps something like LAX-DFW-SFO(AA),SFO-LHR-DXB(BA)

You know you've come a long way in this game with an even longer way to go when you already thought of things James mentions :-)

Wow! Did not even calculate the RDM and I'm still AS100 for a few more weeks :-) , But a free First class JAL LAX-TOK next March is a good added bennie.

Yes, but AY treat it as a short-haul flight for catering and service, if that matters to anyone.

Good deal, I’ve done the LHR to IST flight before in BA club Europe and it leaves a lot to be desired but the price is right.

Its treated long-haul as of now. Same with HEL/ARN/CPH-DOH.

More info here

As a small reminder the AARP and eligible Chase discount that BA offers are only when all flights are BA marketed and operated.
So if somebody would like a segment run, that would be with the original higher price which the OP mentioned on this first post which I still find it decent for a US West Coast - Türkiye J fare.

Firstly, I am not nit-picking, I fully understand your point but I also seen an opportunity to share some information that possibly you and others may find useful.

Just like Airports have airport identifiers; LAX, HEL, NRT, CDG, CVG, LHR....., Larger cities or metropolises with multiple airports have City Identifiers. For Tokyo, that is TYO and recognized my most search engines.

If you are trying to find a flight from HND-ICN on JL, you will come up short because JL doesn't fly to ICN. In Seoul, South Korea, there are two airports, Icheon (ICN) & Gimpo (GMP). JL flies HND-GMP.

TYO encompases NRT & HND. Seoul has a city identifer of SEL which encompases ICN & GMP. If we search for flight from TYO-SEL it will return all flights from either NRT or HND to ICN or GMP. You would then see the JL HND-GMP as a result. Effectively, you are doing 4 searches at once. NRT-ICN, NRT-GMP, HND-ICN & HND-GMP.

Other City Identifers:

NYC: EWR, JFK, LGA
LON: LHR, LGW
PAR, CDG ORL
...

When searching and constructing routes to optimize for FF earnings, I will often use the City identifiers; you never know what gem you can find from an adjacent airport.

/Trivia: On

Amusingly, many airports are not actually in the city they identify. JFK & LGA are in Queens. MSY is in Kenner LA & YVR isn't in Vancouver, it is in Richmond on Sea Island.

Some airport identifiers don't even identify the city. As earlier shared, MSY is in Kenner, LA. There is an airport in New Orleans, NEW, but there was insufficient land to expand. A new facility was built in Kenner, LA at the (M)oisant (S)tock (Y)ard. Moisant was a stunt pilot that died in a crash.

CVG - Cincinnati OH, is an interesting Identifier. It is an airport identifer named after a city but it isn't Cincinnati and the airport isn't even in Ohio. The closest city to where the airport was built is CoVinGton, KT. If you have never been to Ohio & you are connecting through CVG, you still have never been to Ohio. :D

/Trivia: Off

LAX-LHR-IST/DXB is a little rich for me to call a MR but it is a good fare.

James

This is definetely something to keep in mind. 4+ hrs in a economy seat from LHR-IST and back isn't the most fun :p

Shame they don't bring back the lie-flat A321s

In the spirit of trivia and not nitpicking, Queens is a borough of New York City proper, so those are examples of airports that are in the primary city served and embodied in the metro-area designator (NYC).

Now if one or both airports were in Staten Island, you might get some funny objections that they're actually in New Jersey :)