Discussion/Q&A on Best QF Status Run Options

[support]

This thread is for Questions and General discussion regarding the Best Status Run Options for QFF as per this thread:

Overview of Best Status Run Options [not the discussion thread]

Please keep your questions and queries to this thread and avoid posting in the other.

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You can also get some status run inspiration from this AFF article:

The Best Qantas Frequent Flyer Status Runs

Haven't earned enough status credits in your Qantas membership year? Here is a selection of the best Qantas Frequent Flyer status runs.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[MiLK_MaN]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

Have to be in Seattle in October for work, thinking of doing a SC run to SJU.

20th OCT: SEA-DFW-MCO-MIA-SJU = $511.70 = 330 SC's
AA2228 SEA-DFW (F)
AA426 DFW-MCO (F)
AA1701 MCO-MIA (F)
AA1675 MIA-SJU (J)


21st OCT: SJU-MIA-ORD-LAX = $487.70 = 300 SC's
AA557 SJU-MIA (J)
AA2295 MIA-ORD (F)
AA1445 ORD-LAX (F)

I only need 560 SC's by Mar 31 to retain WP, looking to spend as little as possible to reach it as all my other flying is going towards VA wherever possible.

 

[mikejr]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

Have to be in Seattle in October for work, thinking of doing a SC run to SJU.

20th OCT: SEA-DFW-MCO-MIA-SJU = $511.70 = 330 SC's
AA2228 SEA-DFW (F)
AA426 DFW-MCO (F)
AA1701 MCO-MIA (F)
AA1675 MIA-SJU (J)


21st OCT: SJU-MIA-ORD-LAX = $487.70 = 300 SC's
AA557 SJU-MIA (J)
AA2295 MIA-ORD (F)
AA1445 ORD-LAX (F)

I only need 560 SC's by Mar 31 to retain WP, looking to spend as little as possible to reach it as all my other flying is going towards VA wherever possible.

Sorry as this may be a stupid question, but still new to this SC thing;
The costs above appear to very cheap - surely this is not the total cost of those flights? or have points been used and these are just taxes and charges?

I am looking to try something like this when in the US in Nov and finding it very confusing...

Any help would be appreciated

 

[drsmithy]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

Sorry as this may be a stupid question, but still new to this SC thing;
The costs above appear to very cheap - surely this is not the total cost of those flights? or have points been used and these are just taxes and charges?

Nope, that's just how cheap they are once you can get into the US and take advantage of their dirt-cheap "First Class" fares and creative (just over the distance threshold) routings.

 

[mikejr]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

Thanks for the reply - WOW when I was looking on the AA website the fares were coming up much more expensive than that. Are there other websites i should be checking out to find these cheap fares, or perhaps I am doing something wrong on the AA one??

 

[gizzard]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

If you look around on the forum, particularly in the AA thread then there is a lot of information there on how to book these. Search for YUPP fares.

A couple of basic things:
- use the US site not the Australian one (Airline Reservations And Airline Tickets From American Airlines | AA.com)
- use the Multi-city option selecting "Price" rather than "Schedule" and "First /Premium - With Restrictions"
- split the route if you don't get the results immediately. For example, in the second part of mikejr's trip from SJU-LAX enter SJU-ORD and ORD-LAX as separate legs.
- use departure times such as "Morning", "Early Afternoon" rather than just leaving "All Day"

 

[Globetrotter]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

If you look around on the forum, particularly in the AA thread then there is a lot of information there on how to book these. Search for YUPP fares.

A couple of basic things:
- use the US site not the Australian one (Airline Reservations And Airline Tickets From American Airlines | AA.com)
- use the Multi-city option selecting "Price" rather than "Schedule" and "First /Premium - With Restrictions"
- split the route if you don't get the results immediately. For example, in the second part of mikejr's trip from SJU-LAX enter SJU-ORD and ORD-LAX as separate legs.
- use departure times such as "Morning", "Early Afternoon" rather than just leaving "All Day"

God there's too many tips and tricks on this forum and I can't keep up lol. I need to book 2 seats one way flight from LAX to MIA in Feb on AA, preferably in J (or F) on the 777 aircraft which leaves LAX at 10:40am. I followed your instructions above on both the US and Australian websites and the fares were almost identical (give or take the current currency exchange rates). I even tried an option via Chicago and the F fares came out the same as the direct flight. Am I doing something wrong?

Fares I find in AUD...

J Fare $823
F fare $1149

Per person, including taxes.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

Correct books into F cass not A class. You got it right. Not the best deal around.

What are you trying to achieve?

 

[gizzard]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

I followed your instructions above on both the US and Australian websites and the fares were almost identical

The reason for choosing the US site is that there are far more options for selecting under Multi-city than there are if you use the Australian site such as selecting First with Restrictions.

 

[Globetrotter]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

The reason for choosing the US site is that there are far more options for selecting under Multi-city than there are if you use the Australian site such as selecting First with Restrictions.

Got it now. Thanks

 

[nuxie1]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

God there's too many tips and tricks on this forum and I can't keep up lol. I need to book 2 seats one way flight from LAX to MIA in Feb on AA, preferably in J (or F) on the 777 aircraft which leaves LAX at 10:40am. I followed your instructions above on both the US and Australian websites and the fares were almost identical (give or take the current currency exchange rates). I even tried an option via Chicago and the F fares came out the same as the direct flight. Am I doing something wrong?

You'll find hub to hub flights won't be as good value as spoke to spoke flights, in terms of $/SC. But as you obviously need to go from LAX to MIA, unless you want to take a detour then you're pretty stuck.

 

[serfty]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

...
Fares I find in AUD...

J Fare $823
F fare $1149

Per person, including taxes.

Check the price one-way LAX-//-xMIA-SJU

Also, check the linked threads in post #1.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

Welcome to the benefits of competition, it's nice not to be tied to one option and to have status in more than one camp!

With the above mentioned quote in mind, VA shafting their regulars in favour of the SMed and my home port now reopened to QF and status run hops, can anyone suggest the cheapest way for me to gain QF gold using short haul int or domestic?

Sorry if this is a tad arrogant, given I haven't had time to digest all the posts on this rather extensive thread, I just want to make a start at gaining QF status over VA while the OOL fare war is on.

 

[gizzard]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

You could consider some JASAs if you have the points.
OOL-xSYD-xPER-KTA return would net you a handy 360 SCs. If you can find one via MEL instead of SYD then you'd grab 10 more.
OOL-xSYD-xBNE-TSV return is good too for 280 return and if you head on TSV-xBNE-DRW would double that up to 560.

 

[amaroo]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

With the above mentioned quote in mind, VA shafting their regulars in favour of the SMed and my home port now reopened to QF and status run hops, can anyone suggest the cheapest way for me to gain QF gold using short haul int or domestic?

Sorry if this is a tad arrogant, given I haven't had time to digest all the posts on this rather extensive thread, I just want to make a start at gaining QF status over VA while the OOL fare war is on.

Welcome or welcome back!

More options for you = winner.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

You could consider some JASAs if you have the points.
OOL-xSYD-xPER-KTA return would net you a handy 360 SCs. If you can find one via MEL instead of SYD then you'd grab 10 more.
OOL-xSYD-xBNE-TSV return is good too for 280 return and if you head on TSV-xBNE-DRW would double that up to 560.

Points? Yes plenty of points......most with VA though . Thanks for the tips, I'll start the search. I'm actually semi looking forward to the creative routings!

 

[anat0l]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

With the above mentioned quote in mind, VA shafting their regulars in favour of the SMed and my home port now reopened to QF and status run hops, can anyone suggest the cheapest way for me to gain QF gold using short haul int or domestic?

Sorry if this is a tad arrogant, given I haven't had time to digest all the posts on this rather extensive thread, I just want to make a start at gaining QF status over VA while the OOL fare war is on.

Welcome back, our no longer misunderstood friend. :mrgreen:

Jokes aside, JASAs are definitely the cheapest way to accumulate status if you want to confine it to domestic and short haul international. gizzard has alluded to a couple; an alternative is to get to TSV (either get to BNE and fly from there, or interleave another OOL-SYD-BNE-TSV run) then TSV-BNE-DRW-BNE-TSV gives a very good return. You do need to budget in a few nights accommodation in TSV due to the timings.

Not sure if the HBA express runs still give a respectable return or not. That said, it's harder to get J at Classic rates on HBA combos.

The key disadvantage of all of the above is.... you obviously need points. This means that at a standing start (and if, like me, you don't have a high credit card and/or Woolworths grocery throughput ), it's really hard to get those JASAs you need (keeping in mind that ASAs effectively "rebate" some points back to you, and a little bit more when your status bonus starts to kick in).

Alternatively, take advantage of the fire sale OOL-SYD at the moment. Although $3500 for SG isn't exceptional value (and would be rather tiring flying all those OOL/SYD flights), it's better than a stick to the eye. (Certainly a few years ago, $4.80 / SC (without considering c/c charges) was not ridiculously bad on domestic only). That said, some JQ domestic flights in New Zealand may be of similar value (perhaps not kick cough) - remember you need to add the Plus pack.

Any other good value SC runs need repositioning to Asia (CX J runs) or America (YUPP runs).

On top of that, perhaps consider saying a prayer every day.... that you could be bestowed with a double SCs promo.

 

[serfty]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

With the above mentioned quote in mind, VA shafting their regulars in favour of the SMed and my home port now reopened to QF and status run hops, can anyone suggest the cheapest way for me to gain QF gold using short haul int or domestic?

Sorry if this is a tad arrogant, given I haven't had time to digest all the posts on this rather extensive thread, I just want to make a start at gaining QF status over VA while the OOL fare war is on.

I would start with the advice and URL hot links provided in the very first post of this very thread!

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....gram/best-status-run-options-quick-35258.html

 

[shellthom]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

forgive me for not knowing.
with the first listing - does it still count if I have a few days in each location and make a holiday of it or do you only get that many sc's becasue the connections are inconvenient?

 

[markis10]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

forgive me for not knowing.
with the first listing - does it still count if I have a few days in each location and make a holiday of it or do you only get that many sc's becasue the connections are inconvenient?

The earn does not change just because you actually want to enjoy a stay mid trip, with the exception of a flight on the same number where you stopover mid trip. However keep in mind stopovers may not be permitted, it will depend on what fare etc.

 

[shellthom]

Re: Best Status Run Options - A quick overview!

Ok awesome thanks, I thought that was the case, but then I thought maybe there was something in the miles (SC's are based of mile brackets yes?) that was only triggered if you took it all as one, as opposed to just enjoying that itin. HNL - PAP .. well, I'd like to stop off at all those places .. I guess it affects the price more than anything else (as you don't have to pay as much for dodgy connections flight as the individual flights .. in most cases)