cruser1

Continuing my search for flights that yield a good number of tier points per dollar I stumbled on San Francisco (SFO) to Lima, Peru (LIM) for $1223 roundtrip.

There are flights with a single connection in Miami, but the itineraries that will yield the most tier points should have two connections - one in PHL or CLT, and another at MIA. That will yield 640 Tier Points for $1223 or $1.91 per TP (Silver status as long as you have your BA segments).

I have found the fare in April, May, June, August 2023 to End of Schedule, so you can be fairly flexible.

Moving on to the elephant in the room - can I get a lie-flat seat? Yes, maybe! I have found working itineraries with a connection at JFK and MIA in December, so you can fly trans-con in the A321T and possibly down to Miami in a widebody! If you want a lie-flat this spring, I have found that you can get a connection at JFK in one direction, but not the other. If you want the A321T in both directions this Spring the fare jumps to just over $2k.

On to a few examples from Google Flights -

$1223 - SFO-CLT-MIA-LIM-MIA-CLT-SFO in April 2023
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...gl=us&curr=USD

$1226 - SFO-PHL-MIA-LIM-MIA-PHL-SFO in April 2023
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...gl=us&curr=USD

SFO-CLT-MIA-LIM-MIA-CLT-SFO in June 2023
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...gl=us&curr=USD

A321T One Direction - SFO-PHL-MIA-LIM-MIA-JFK-SFO in May 2023
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...gl=us&curr=USD

A321T / Boeing 777 Both Directions - SFO-JFK-MIA-LIM-MIA-JFK-SFO in December 2023
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...gl=us&curr=USD


SFO to LIM via CLT & MIA


SFO to LIM on the A321T and 777


SFO to LIM - Fare Available June 2023

Fossiebear

Great post, love the detail! The December itinerary with SFO-JFK-MIA outbound and return lie flat on 4 of the total 6 legs at $1247 is very tempting....

Markie

Just cannot get these to price on AA in the UK and the US site refuses my UK credit card.
UK pricing appears to be �1500 or �952 if you connect through DFW.

Fossiebear

I have had this problem at various points in time. I have previously been able to reserve online using Paypal. This may result in status showing as on hold rather than confirmed. When this happens I have been able to complete the reservation by calling AA with my UK card details.

cruser1

Thanks! A lie-flat on 4 of the 6 segments is tempting! A recliner for the entire itinerary sounds like torture! Especially is there's a short turnaround in Lima.

cruser1

That's unfortunate! I tried searching on AA's UK site and could get it to work with a multi-city search.

- First use Google Flights or ITA to figure out when availability exists, then try using a multi-city search on AA's website.
- Enter 4 flight segments - SFO-JFK, JFK-LIM, LIM-JFK, JFK-SFO and choose to search for Business/First fares at the bottom of the form
- Start choosing flights where the total is about 999 GBP

This worked a few minutes ago. Here's a screenshot.


Find availability at ITA Matrix


Perform a multi-city search at AA UK

cruser1

To continue with my previous post. Sometimes AA's multi-city search will glitch and won't let you book connecting flights. Try setting each segment to a different date.

Example -
SFO-JFK - Dec 5
JFK-LIM - Dec 6
LIM-JFK - Dec 9
JFK-SFO - Dec 10

For people booking in the US, you can just search Google Flights and it'll take you right to the payment page of AA's US site. You shouldn't have to deal with a multi-city search.

kodalip

Getting this error:


You can't book connecting flights as individual flight segments. Please change your flight search. Contact technical supportOpens in a new window

cruser1

See my post right above yours - Post #7. Should fix that error.

Otherwise, find your flight on Google Flights and it will give you a link directly to the payment page on AA's US website.

kodalip

I am in the US so going through google flights and still getting the error but will try different dates.

cruser1

Oh, ok. Odd. Several links directly from Google Flights to AA.com have worked for me.

Not sure what to suggest.

kodalip

It initially worked for me too but I realized I wanted to change one of the flights and thats when it started having the error. Would you mind trying with this link?

https://www.google.com/travel/flight...vHg9enCz5sjNS8

cruser1

That's odd. After I put in 3 fake passengers and tried to continue I received the same error.

I tried changing the date of the last flights and that worked. I suppose you could leave Lima later in the day and arrive in the US the next day, leave Lima at the same time but see if there's an overnight connection in Miami, or stay overnight in NYC. Otherwise I'll try to put your original itinerary into an OTA.

EDIT: I believe this should match the itinerary in the screenshots -
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...bbnTTxPK83jSn7



Search form

Selection of final flight

Selected flights

Form to enter passenger details - lets me continue from here to payment (didn't actually pay, but it should work)

kodalip

I actually tried that itinerary too but every time I get an error saying please choose a different fare and when I do just get stuck in an endless loop

cruser1

Priceline will let me book your original itinerary. The 8AM flight from JFK to MIA no longer has 3 seats available in business at this fare, so I had to pick a different one. Total comes to $1223 per person. Not sure if Priceline's links are tied to a session, but here -

https://www.priceline.com/m/fly/sear...423bffd4d35be7