Some YUP help please

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gizzard

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Having dropped from the heady heights of PS (the highest that I've ever realised) to NB back in November I have the chance in April to jet straight to WP......but I need some help.

Thanks to a couple of JASA runs (advised through this forum) I'll have 235 points by the time I take off to the USA.
I then have 2 destinations, Barbados and Seattle.

With that in mind my thinking is:
MEL-SYD-HNL (JQ? - not necessarily SC gathering but positioning)
HNL-BGI (route to be determined but it would be great to arrive with the extra 465 points to take me to SG)
(BGI)-MIA-SEA (probably leaving again from BGI but will almost certainly route through MIA)
SEA-HNL (....and hopefully have the extra 700 in the bag by then for WP....or close to it for a top up later)
HNL-SYD-MEL (JQ again? - again, price is the key, not SCs)

Obviously I want to keep the costs down and the points up and I know that HNL-BGI should be a lucrative run.

I've done some investigating myself but am looking for some fresh ideas.

If anyone has fun with these sorts of things and would like to help me jet to the unknown territory of WP then I'd really, really appreciate it.
 
Thanks to a couple of JASA runs (advised through this forum) I'll have 235 points by the time I take off to the USA.
I then have 2 destinations, Barbados and Seattle.

With that in mind my thinking is:
MEL-SYD-HNL (JQ? - not necessarily SC gathering but positioning)
HNL-BGI (route to be determined but it would be great to arrive with the extra 465 points to take me to SG)
(BGI)-MIA-SEA (probably leaving again from BGI but will almost certainly route through MIA)
SEA-HNL (....and hopefully have the extra 700 in the bag by then for WP....or close to it for a top up later)
HNL-SYD-MEL (JQ again? - again, price is the key, not SCs)

Obviously I want to keep the costs down and the points up and I know that HNL-BGI should be a lucrative run.

The routing rules for HNL-BGI YUP fares are distance-based rather than specifying allowed routes; I don't have much experience with those kinds of rules, but the best routing I could find for HNL-BGI was only 350 SCs one-way.

There are other destinations in the Caribbean that will give better routing choices; for instance, I found one that will give 480 SCs one-way. I suggest that time spent reading this forum and doing your own investigation for alternatives to BGI should pay off.

Also, I noticed that the add-on cost to earn SCs and points on JQ Business fares was only US$200 for HNL-SYD, which is much less than they're asking for SYD-HNL. So you may want to consider that as part of your plan.
 
I'm not trying to avoid the research, I've already done quite a bit but I'm looking for some new ideas.

I have to re-check them as I found them a few weeks ago but a couple of the best options for the first part were:

HNL-LIH-LAX-JFK-MCO-MIA-BGI for 540 SCs but I think there may be a problem with the LAX-JFK part for points earning

HNL-ORD-MIA-BGI 380 SC

HNL-LAS-LAX-MIA-BGI 370 SC

I have to re-work the BGI-SEA part but I came up with:
BGI-MIA-ORD-SEA for 300 SC
 
Im not sure how much time you REALLY want to be staying in the air, how much $$ you want to spend or how much time you have for this milage run but here would be my suggestion.

Outwards from HNL to BGI: HNL-LAX-JFK/LGA-DFW-MIA-BGI (590 SC's)
Return to SEA: BGI-MIA-ORD-JFK-DFW-SEA (500 SC's)

All that should come in at $3,154.02 .... or about $2.89 per SC

Now heres the 'downside' - On the way over you have the sun going the right way so you only have 1 overnight in New York (which requires an airport change anyway). On the way back you are chasing the setting sun and thus have 2 stopover nights.. One in Chicago for 14 hours and one in Dallas for just shy of 9.. So airport hotels are going to be required which will bump up the price.

To book you need to use the multi-city tool which works fine. The fare rules seem to allow unlimited transfers, and even the addition of stopovers at NYC/MIA/CHI/DFW/LAX/SJU at $125US a pop so if you wanted to try and squeeze it a bit further go ahead... To book, hold the booking on the US AA.com site and then call the AA Australia office and pay for it (I'm presuming you don't have a US credit card - so additional booking fee applies).

Anyway just my 2cents.. depending on how work travel goes, if I need a kick to maintain platinum I might try and do something similar myself later in the year.

Good luck - Let us know what you end up doing.
 
Im not sure how much time you REALLY want to be staying in the air, how much $$ you want to spend or how much time you have for this milage run but here would be my suggestion.

Outwards from HNL to BGI: HNL-LAX-JFK/LGA-DFW-MIA-BGI (590 SC's)
Return to SEA: BGI-MIA-ORD-JFK-DFW-SEA (500 SC's)

All that should come in at $3,154.02 .... or about $2.89 per SC


Following up on my earlier suggestion of a different destination in the Caribbean, here's what I can find. (Please PM me if you can't work out what XYZ is.)

Outwards from HNL to XYZ: HNL-LAX-DFW-MCO-MIA-XYZ (480 SCs)
XYZ to SFO: XYZ-MIA-MSY-DFW-LAX-SFO (390 SCs)
SFO to SEA: SFO-LAX-SEA (150 SCs)

Total cost: AU$2,065 for 1020 SCs, or $2.02/SC. The only overnight required (apart from at XYZ) is at SFO on the way back.

Or skip the separate SFO run (going LAX-SEA instead) and end up with 900 SCs at $1.97/SC.

As Carlous Moochous said, it depends on how much you want to spend, how much flying you can endure and how many SCs you actually want to get out of it.
 
Might be a silly question to some but what happens with BP's for each leg & checked luggage under these scenarios - all BP's issued at the first point of departure and luggage checked all the way to the final destination or collect luggage and re check-in for each leg ??
 
Might be a silly question to some but what happens with BP's for each leg & checked luggage under these scenarios - all BP's issued at the first point of departure and luggage checked all the way to the final destination or collect luggage and re check-in for each leg ??

I think it depends on whether you overnight somewhere or have any stopovers.. On mine I was issued with BP's for all the flights of that day (e.g. until I had an overnight break off airport). I had no checked luggage but assume the same would apply. Its just like connecting flights - nothing strange but you do get some looks when you talk to the agents about it.
 
If PS is the highest level you have reached, my question would be to what advantage WP would be to you. It would appear you don't do much flying with PS being the highest, so you might be better joining Qantas Club. There seems to be a lot of flying and costs to reach WP if you are not going to reap the benefits when you get home.
 
I would not even consider checking luggage for such travel.

Also, generally, the BP's for each one way routing are all printed together.
 
There seems to be a lot of flying and costs to reach WP if you are not going to reap the benefits when you get home.

Firstly, thanks for the valuable input on possible routes. I think most of them came up in my own research but I'll be looking at each one carefully when I come to book at some point in the next 2-3 weeks.
Thanks also for the input on the best method for booking, by holding and then paying by credit card locally. Excellent advice.


I do quite a bit of flying but probably not on the scale as many here. I have family in the UK that I visit every year and tend to go with Singapore or Emirates but, if my partner's results are anything to go by, it might be worth trying the trip with Qantas and seeing if I get an upgrade....she gets them all of the time on international legs but then she's also lifetime QC member which helps.

A big plus to me would be the MEL-SYD route. She lives in SYD and I live in MEL and I make the trip at least once per month. I normally find the cheapest deal going and get JQ to price match it. This will then let me use the Business or QC as I'm not a member. Also, as I'll only be 6 months into my new membership year when I hope to achieve WP which will give me QC membership for 2.5 years.....worth quite a bit in itself.

Considering it's only the differential cost from the cheapest Economy tickets then, rightly or wrongly, I thought it would be worth the additional $$. I have time on my hands too so the route doesn't matter too much.


Any further ideas would be welcome but I've already got a lot to go on here.
 
I would not even consider checking luggage for such travel.

Also, generally, the BP's for each one way routing are all printed together.
I would agree under usual circumstances, however if travelling and wanting to maximise sc's you could "kill two birds with one stone".
Can I assume it would be checked all the way thru to final destination with connecting flights on the same pnr and day of travel as has been mentioned above.
 
I did the BGI run a while ago from LAX. I did LAX LAS ORD DFW JFK MIA BGI MIA ORD DFW LAS LAX. Overnights were required in ORD and two in MIA. I did MIA ORD DFW LAS LAX in one day.

As others mentioned, don't even contemplate checked luggage. I did it out of the winter, and had a mis connect at LAS on the way over (was re routed) and my 762 in MIA went tech. Fortunately ORD FL found me a seat and I still managed to get back to LAX just very late at night.

The best runs are going to involve quite a few overnight stops. You really need to allow yourself the most part of a week to do it.

That was around $2k AUD for that, but that was in 2010. Iirc it was around 900SCs for that routing.

If you want best bang for buck and don't want to stay at your end point, your cheapest option will be PAP.

Expert flyer is where you want to be to get all the necessary fare routing info. The AA rules for YUPP and KUPPs are there with permissible routines for each type and destination. Don't forget that flights into the Caribbean only credit as J (they're sold as J).

KUPPs will be cheaper but if the proverbial hits the fan, you're far more likely to be pushed down to whY and not have any luck claiming original routing credits.
 
...
Can I assume it would be checked all the way thru to final destination with connecting flights on the same pnr and day of travel as has been mentioned above.
That would happen, i.e. Checked all the though - in the ordinary course of event it would be tagged to travel on the same flights as you.

However, whether it makes the destination with such connections is the real issue. Also, with IIROPS having checked luggage can severely restrict your flexibility to re-route.

If you are going to return to the embarkartion port a day or two later I'd suggest having it stored it there.
 
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...
If you are going to return to the embarkartion port a day or two later I'd suggest having it stored it there.

Thanks for this advice, however I would be returning back to Point A from Point B several weeks later - reason for checked luggage with multi stop crossing to maximise sc's.
 
Thanks for this advice, however I would be returning back to Point A from Point B several weeks later - reason for checked luggage with multi stop crossing to maximise sc's.
Well good luck with the luggage then. I seriously believe it would only have a 50/50 chance of making any transit of less than an hour. At least it would have a couple of weeks to catch up with you.
 
I'm almost there with the routing that I will use after many hours trying to get the Multi-city function to come up with the route that I'd found through the One-way option for each leg.

I have 2 further questions before going ahead with the booking:
1. I'm trying to allow at least 2 hours between each flight because of the luggage situation. Would my luggage have a good chance of making it to my next flight (assuming no delays). What is a realistic time to allow?

2. Multi-city only allows for 6 flights. I have broken my journey into 3 different parts so can use this function 3 times. Is that the way to do it or is it better to put the flights on hold and then phone AA and get them to do all in one booking in the hope for a better price but, of course, the extra charges for them making the booking?

Thanks
 
Might be worth looking at the thread about getting platinum for $1400. There is a lot of useful information in that thread. This utilises YUPs from HNL to SAL and back.

maggies1
 
If PS is the highest level you have reached, my question would be to what advantage WP would be to you. It would appear you don't do much flying with PS being the highest, so you might be better joining Qantas Club. There seems to be a lot of flying and costs to reach WP if you are not going to reap the benefits when you get home.
For some, just having the card and the tags is all that's needed. For others it's a hobby and a game.

For me, it was fun. It was so very pleasant to have all those little perks while travelling. I remember one time at JFK and I had a bloody long flight ahead so I hit the showers in the First lounge there after a long day of ferries and subways and lots and lots of walking. I was travelling alone and a lady came to the counter about the same time. The attendant popped up from somewhere and looked at us and asked if we wanted to share. I looked at her and she looked at me and then we both smiled and said we weren't travelling together.

You don't get moments like that without lounge access.
 
For some, just having the card and the tags is all that's needed. For others it's a hobby and a game.

For me, it was fun. It was so very pleasant to have all those little perks while travelling. I remember one time at JFK and I had a bloody long flight ahead so I hit the showers in the First lounge there after a long day of ferries and subways and lots and lots of walking. I was travelling alone and a lady came to the counter about the same time. The attendant popped up from somewhere and looked at us and asked if we wanted to share. I looked at her and she looked at me and then we both smiled and said we weren't travelling together.

You don't get moments like that without lounge access.

Sounds like something that would happen to Gav (refer to post #50 on thread below):

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ion/any-chance-success-asking-free-36478.html
 
I'm almost there with the routing that I will use after many hours trying to get the Multi-city function to come up with the route that I'd found through the One-way option for each leg.

I have 2 further questions before going ahead with the booking:
1. I'm trying to allow at least 2 hours between each flight because of the luggage situation. Would my luggage have a good chance of making it to my next flight (assuming no delays). What is a realistic time to allow?

2. Multi-city only allows for 6 flights. I have broken my journey into 3 different parts so can use this function 3 times. Is that the way to do it or is it better to put the flights on hold and then phone AA and get them to do all in one booking in the hope for a better price but, of course, the extra charges for them making the booking?

To bring the thread back on track and not having any direct responses to my 2 questions I phoned AA and they told me:

1. 90 minutes for domestic and 2 hours for international should be enough time for my luggage to arrive with me. I've allowed for at least that but it is very dependent on flights not being too delayed, of course.

2. They too can only do 6 flight legs in one booking with a $60 charge for each booking. I told them that I would try using my own credit card online and the "El Segundo" method came up trumps.


My final YUP journey within the US will be:
LAX-xDFW-MIA(hotel)-PAP-MIA(hotel)-xORD-SEA(stay)-xSFO-xMIA-BGI(stay)-xMIA-xDFW-LAX

Those 1180 should set me up for SG by SEA and WP by LAX. Lounge access after SEA will be a good.

Add in 4 flights MEL-LAX return and 4 in the Caribbean and the 20 flights should make it quite a trip!
 
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