BlondeBomber

Looks like we have an alternative to a Baht Pass run. Now if you bought this in J class and credited this to LH M&M as a FTL or Senator, you would get 250% for each segment which works out to a minimum of 2500 miles per segment? So for kempis' example, he would get 75000 LH M&M points for the short segments plus almost 50000 miles for the RTW portion. . . . and you could do better if you kept flying and flying and flying and flying LAX-SNA or any similar city pair? No problem making Senator with that routing.

BlondeBomber

The theoretical limit (let's not even talk about the days involved) for kempis' example is 19924 RTW base to actually circle the globe (24905 points in Y, 49810 in J in Miles and More as FTL or Senator) plus 140 43 mile segments for a whopping total of 175000 points in econo or 350000 in business!) We are talking about 400000 potential status miles here!

Now for Y in the Vancouver-Victoria example (since you could do 14 segment per day, it seems more attractive to me--too bad there is no J service--will M&M credits paid J even if you are forced to fly in Y?) Even in Y it is 20000 RTW base to actually circle the globe (haven't figured this out exactly since it is probably less miles to go to YVR rather than LAX, so you could top up with more segments--25000 points in Y, 50000 in J in Miles and More as FTL or Senator) plus 160 38 mile segments for a whopping total of 200000 points in econo or 400000 in business if you could get J credit for Y flights!)--now I know they only give 500 miles minimum for some AC domestic -- is that just for discount econo? If it also applies to full econo, you have to divide the above by 2.

Only $1568 and 16 days of your life (12 days to do the segments and probably 4 days to do the RTW?) for the econo version, $3582 for the J LAX-SAN version which actually allows 3000 more miles or 70 more segments for 175000 more miles in J!)

. . . any takers

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Rudi

changing Frequent Flier programs from segment to segment (example: LH miles&more for the short segments because of high minimum miles, and UA Mileage Plus on long-haule segments) would make you double StarGold with one rtw ticket; Senator AND Premier Executive (or even 1K with UA).

BlondeBomber

. . . only 52 days to do the LAX-SAN version of 210 segments in J

Now if you did this in Thailand (integrating the baht pass concept) at an average of 85 miles per segment and doing 12 segments per day in J, you could get lots of miles for $3700US!

If TG gives 1000 mile (plus COS plus FTL/SEN bonus = 2500 miles) minimums for domestic, the above scenario are:

106 segments in 9 days for 265000 status miles plus the 50000 for the circling the globe portion (on LH Miles and More as an FTL or SEN) for $3700 US!

The minimum theoretical limit to first achieve SEN status for a non FTL would be 40000 miles for the circle the globe portion in J (at 35000 status miles you would qualify for the 25%/50% bonus). That would leave only 24 segments needed to do this in J, which sounds like they could easily be done in 2 days in Thailand. You would have Senator wrapped up in 10 days total travel (and you would actually get to enjoy some places on your RTW).

[This message has been edited by BlondeBomber (edited 02-01-2001).]

BlondeBomber

I noticed we were both posting at the same time Rudi. That is a very interesting concept--double Star Gold!

You may have missed my questions which I added in the edits to my posts--does LH M&M minimum for AC and TG only apply to discounted flights or does it apply to full econo or J. Is a full Y (ie RTW ticket) flight in Canada on AC credited with 1000 base or 500 base miles (for 2500 or 1250 miles with SEN/FTL bonuses)?

For TG--is a J ticket in Thailand credited for 1000 or 500 base miles (for 2500 or 1250 miles with SEN/FTL bonuses)?

Rudi

LH Minimum status miles
AC 500, bus 1'000 domestic, 1000, bus 2'000 int'l
NZ 500, bus 1'000, first 1'500
NH 1000 int'l, actual domestic
AN 500. bus 1'000
MX 500 domestic, 1000 int'l, bus 1'000, int 2'000
RG 1000, bus 2'000
SQ 500, bus 1'000
TG 500, business 1'000, first 1'500

once you are a frequent flier with LH, add 25%.

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BlondeBomber

Thanks Rudi--I have edited to reflect those minimums in the above posts.


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BlondeBomber

all clear now Rudi -- thanks for the edit.

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kempis

When are we flying ?

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peter42

Just to clarify: The bonus is only given after you have status in LH's system, it says
on LHs webpage.

BlondeBomber

Yes that's why I was showing the theoretical possibilities of getting to SENATOR -- that you could get the regular Class of Service bonus on the circle the globe portion and hopefully get up to FTL level (35K miles) by then so that all your domestic segments on TG would count as 250%!

BlondeBomber

I'd just love to see the look on the travel agent's face when you book 106 domestic TG segments on one RTW

bernie

Gentlemen, please keep in mind that there may be flts. with coach seats only. Couldn't find a SNA - LAX flt. other than UAX. This limits the max. M&M to 1.250. If you'll find a two class config on UA domestic it will probably be coach and F. This, of course will make it 3.750 M&M miles (see my post above)

RichardMEL

My question is - has anyone actually *done* ike 14 r/t per day on something like YVR-YYJ? If so, don't the CSR's, gate agents etc get really suss (as we would say) about this? I mean I guess there's nothing much that they could do if you bought a legal ticket, but some person could be a real jerk calling the airline and saying "person X keeps flying back and forward for a mileage run... drop the credit!" or something. Imagine checking in the first morning "Hi my name is RichardMEL.. I'd like to check in for all my flights today. Can you issue me with 14 boarding passes? "

------------------
UA 1K MEL

BlondeBomber

Actually they are quite polite. There was an Air Canada promo a couple of years ago where you had to fly 48 segments to get 2 business class tickets anywhere in the Star Alliance world. There were $50 CAD roundtrip tickets (14 day advance booking, no overnight stay required) YYC-YEG and the schedule was frequent enough that you could do up to 16 segments in one day.

I just used to do a RT every day (for legitimate business reasons--was cheaper to fly home at night than stay in hotel o/n) but there were some people who got on the plane in the morning and were still there flying back and forth when I got on at night for my return. The Flight Attendants were very welcoming and said to the pax "Welcome back, Mr . . .," These guys were written up in the local paper and it created a lot of interest in the promo. Never heard a negative comment from any staff.

[This message has been edited by BlondeBomber (edited 02-01-2001).]