PPS run - does such a thing exist?
 

All,

While reading some of the recent discussion about RTW journey planning, I was wondering about what the cheapest way to get PPS membership might be. Has anybody ever done the math to see if a "PPS run" exists, where a certain combination of bookings/tickets gets disproportionate PPS sector bang for the buck?

Best wishes to all,
DoctorWu

Fares ex-CMB were very cheap for SQ C and F.
Are they still available? Sorry - have not been following this.

Living in London you could probably take a train up to Manchester Ringway airport and fly SQ from there to ZRH and in back in either Raffles or First. You can either come right back or you can spend two nice days in ZRH enjoying the fresh air and mountain scenery or make a trip to the beatiful little town of Lucerne. On a RTW to maximize mileage this a possible routing for CRTWSTAR 1. ex-LHR, LHR-FRA-JFK(2.5 sectors)-SFO-HKG(5 sectors), HKG-BKK, BKK-KIX(2.5 sectors), KIX-SIN(2.5 sectors), SIN-DPS(1.25secots), DPS-SIN(1.25sectors), SIN-ZRH(5 sectors), ZRH-MAN(1.25sectors). Thats 17.5 sectors!! Not bad right. hope this helps :)

I wouldn't recommend to anyone travel by train in this country :eek: :) . You can actually get BD one way fares from 11 GBP + taxes on the website.

I agree the MAN-ZRH vv is a nice quick way of clocking some PPS sectors in Europe.

Whatever dates I tried, the price for a MAN-ZRH return in Raffles came out at 931 GBP, which is around 1300 EUR. Not exactly a cheap way of racking up the PPS sectors, tempting though it is. It's just a tad too much for just 2.5 sectors. SQ's web site could not price the F return, so getting the 3 sectors might provide better value, but I doubt it.

I'd rather do a FRA-JFK return for around 2200 EUR to get the 5 sectors in J.

I found a very nice fare earlier this year that netted 12.5 PPS sectors and doable over 2 1/2 days. Not as good as the ex CMB fares (pre price increase) but not bad for this part of the world.

That's gone now but current fare is still not bad & I will do another early next year to get requal PPS out of the way.

Note that ex-CMB ALL SQ fares did not increase 15 Sept .. they had already gone up ..but may rise again... C for CMB-West Coast is around USD 1400 ..and best way I had approved by SQ Sales in CMB was a PPS sector run ...

CMSB-SIN-ICN-YVR-SFO (all on SQ or SQ codeshare = OK for PPS [YVR-SFO is an SQ cs on AC] ) then for MR you can add down to LAX, etc

and return.... 17 PPS sectors or about USD92/sector ...and you need 25 to qualify for PPS


A friend just booked this at my suggestion -- for 4 pax in December/January

Any PPS runs ex SIN? :)

Some BKK TA's have a US$3700 fare for BKK-SIN-FRA-JFK RT in C. With a change of flight numbers at FRA one could net 17.5 sectors.

PPS MR EX-SIN

1.Buy a cheap one-way to SIN-CMB
2. CMB-SIN-ICN-YVR-SFO-ICN-SIN-CMN SQ C-Clasds USD.1400.00
= 17.5 SEGs.
3. Cmb-SIN-JNB-SIN- CMB. USD.1700.00 I did this in 2-days. Had a one day meeting in JNB.9. SEGs.
4. CMB-JNB-CMB allows a stop in SIN on return. Stop Max. So you caouldd hold the SIN-CMB for next PPS MR. Without SIN-CMB sector one can still get the 25 SEGs.
TOTAL: USD.3100. Can be done in a week including crossing the dateline.
S

PPS MR EX-SIN

1.Buy a cheap one-way to SIN-CMB
2. CMB-SIN-ICN-YVR-SFO-ICN-SIN-CMN SQ C-Clasds USD.1400.00
= 17.5 SEGs.
3. Cmb-SIN-JNB-SIN- CMB. USD.1700.00 I did this in 2-days. Had a one day meeting in JNB.9. SEGs.
4. CMB-JNB-CMB allows a stop in SIN on return. So you could hold the SIN-CMB for next PPS MR. Without SIN-CMB sector one can still get the 25 SEGs.
TOTAL: USD.3100. Can be done in a weekI did it including crossing the dateline.
I only netted 45,000 Qualifying Miles these two were my Business trips.
I just worked out a creative mileage Run for a friend,it will net him: 25PPS & 50,000 Elite miles. Gold with UA or AC.
S

why would you do a PPS run to obtain middle-level status in a loyalty program?

Because PPS (and Solitaire PPS and Lifetime Solitaire PPS) are treated much better than even *G.

PPS is certainly not mid-tier in the sense of how most FFP's work.

This is sooo TRUE... PPS is more than just *G ...a lot better than SQ KrisFlyer Elite ...as you have to travel C or F to qualify...you get neat gifts..and lounge access at SQ regardless of class of travel (Y --> Raffles lounge; C+F -> First) AND you Red Carpet Club access on UA (which I can't even with UA 1k) ...all my miles go to UA MP but I still maintain PPS (7 yrs now)

PPS status is certainly mid-tier, have you seen the number of PPS and solitaire members on SQ flights, especially on regional business routes such as SIN-NRT and SIN-HKG, not to mention SIN-KUL?

if you're in C or F, you are treated the same as everyone else, the only benefit i see is silver kris lounge access, UA red carpet club access and waitlist priority. if you need to spend US$1400 for a PPS run, the cost of a red carpet membership is less than that. if you need to do a PPS run, you probably don't fly SQ enough to receive much benefit from silver kris lounge access or waitlist priority.

re: PPS gift - you're spending US$1400 to get US$100 in gift vouchers?