Weekend wedding in Seattle inspires Status Run fever...

[iqis60]

The late mail has come in and it seems I'm off to a wedding in Seattle on the 11th of August. I've got a bunch of friends on the West Coast, mostly in San Fran and I've been secretely harbouring a desire to do a few K-UP status runs in the US & A, so I'm pleased to have a legitimate excuse to leave Sydney and come visit.

As luck would have it, Stevie Wonder is playing in a festival in San Fran on the 12th and seeing him live is on my bucket list, so that is a must! But apart from the being in Seattle on the 11th and San Fran on the 12th, I'm pretty much a free agent for up to a week either side of that. I'm planning to spend some of that time hanging out in San Fran, doing some mountain biking and hanging out with friends, but would also love to spend time flying to crazy places, getting SC's for bargain basement prices.

So now the hunt begins!
I'm currently a gold frequent flyer, with a membership year ending in Feb. I haven't accrued anything this year of yet, but will likely be doing a few domestic JASA trips and a trip to Europe before Feb. I've also got a free return flight waiting to be used from last Octobers meltdown. I'm playing the long game in terms of getting lifetime Status Credits, so not particularly aiming to get a particular status, just wanting SC's for the lowest possible price and happy to see some new places along the way. I've currently got about 280K in QFF points, which I can use, but am happy to use real dollars if something is good value.

My initial plan was do fly via FIJI in business class into LAX/SFO and then see if were any good K-UP runs to be had. Unfortunately it looks like the price has gone up for the FIJI run, so I might be stuck in discount economy flying direct to SFO.


I've also started sniffing around for good K-UP runs and have been struck by the realisation that farecompare has removed the K-UP search function . I know there is some good ones around, especially down to Puerto Rico, but it seems I'm facing days of trial and error with the AA.com booking engine trying to ferrit out good runs. I've been reading through some of the threads in the forums and Serfty suggested Best Fare Finder to search for fares, but unfortunately the KUP search functionality is down on that one too. I'm tempted to give some of the more experienced folk around here a run the Flight Search Assistance thread- Flight Search Assistance, but want to have a play myself first to see what I can do.

So at this stage I'm looking at SYD-SFA for around $1600 with Qantas in discount economy, but would be happy to spend up to maybe $3500 to get there in business with One world.

I'm also happy to spend up to four days flying around the USA on some kind of Status run in the week before or after the weekend of the 11th/12th, with a KUP starting point options including LAX, SFO, SEA depending on the days.

So if anyone has any bright ideas, or hints for good options, post away. I'm particularly interested in finding good K-UP runs and would love to hear if anyone has stumbled accross a relatively easy way to search and compare good K-UP runs, as I'd like to do at least one K-UP while I'm in town. I have memories of previously being able to navigate the AA.com site and see prices for KUP runs being shown for different flights, but it seems I can only get the price once I have locked in an iteneray these days. If I am doing it wrong and this is still possible, I'll love to hear how.


Now the hard work begins. I'll post my plans as they evolve here and if I'm getting no where, I'll consult the brains trust for some good runs and happily pay the finders fee.

So far- SYD-(LAX)-SFO-(LAX)-SYD = $1611 return, discount economy 110 SC.

 

[iqis60]

Well, I've already made my first helpful discovery! It seems the AA.com site does show KUP pricing in a list of possible flights if it has an international segment, like SJU, but it doesn't seem to for purely domestic, such as SFO-SEA. I might have a chance yet!

 

[iqis60]

So far LAX-ORD-MIA-SJU (First-First-Business) looks like the best value. 300SC for $491USD.
The next best is SEA-ORD-MIA-SJU (First-First-Business) again 300SC for $515USD.


This makes me think it could be worth flying into LAX, heading to SJU, then flying to SEA in time for the wedding. This would net 600SC for around $1000USD, which is not bad. Plus I'd also get to check out Puerto Rico for the first time! I think I'd spend a couple of days there checking things out.

 

[serfty]

Well, I've already made my first helpful discovery! It seems the AA.com site does show KUP pricing in a list of possible flights if it has an international segment, like SJU, but it doesn't seem to for purely domestic, such as SFO-SEA. I might have a chance yet!

SFO-SEA are operated by AS with codeshared AA flight number so no "Instant Upgrade" fares (generally AA metal only).

These used to be about $750 return in "Full" F (In January I booked for March LAX-xSFO-SEA-xSFO-LAX) but these increased dramatically in price sometime February for new bookings..

You can see "Instant Upgrade Pricing" on other routes - try SFO-//-ATL for $473.

FWIW, SJU is "Domestic USA" - it is not considered international.

 

[iqis60]

SFO-SEA are operated by AS with codeshared AA flight number so no "Instant Upgrade" fares (generally AA metal only).

These used to be about $750 return in "Full" F (In January I booked for March LAX-xSFO-SEA-xSFO-LAX) but these increased dramatically in price sometime February for new bookings..

You can see "Instant Upgrade Pricing" on other routes - try SFO-//-ATL for $473.

FWIW, SJU is "Domestic USA" - it is not considered international.

Thanks Serfty, it looks like a cheap South West flight between SFO-SEA might be the go, with KUP runs elsewhere, unless of course the AA option is good value.
What impact does SJU being domestic have? Just reduced hassle for transfer times and customs?

 

[Newk]

I am loving this thread thanks. I am relatively new here and have made WP with the hints contained in the forum especially with the ASA class of fares. I figure "one day" (most likely when I am in the USA without my significant other) doing one of these runs would be an absolute hoot.
I have very very briefly started looking at the AA site, but still don't "get it" yet. I am sure I will eventually, and I thank you for sharing this with us.
So I shall follow your progress with interest.

 

[serfty]

SJU has no immigration or customs for travel between there and the USA. There is sometimes "Quarantine" for Fruit & Vegetables when heading back to the "States".

 

[iqis60]

I'm starting to get the hang of this now. Using Matrix airfare search- Matrix - ITA Software I've found LAS-ORD-LGA-MIA-SJU (F(A)-F(P)-F(P)-B(I)) yielding 360SC's for $386USD. The connections are too tight for my liking, but I've got the hang of how to find things now I think.

I'm now thinking of Flying SYD-(LAX)-LAS, SFO-LAX-SYD to and from Australia and then doing a Status run out of LAS that finishes in SEA for the wedding. I'll find a cheap flight between SEA and SFO to get to SFO.

*Edit- Changed SFA to SFO, typo.

 

[serfty]

SFA? Sweet Fanny Adams or Sfax, Tunisia, Sfax El Maou Airport?

Do you really mean SFO (San Francisco, CA, USA, San Francisco International Airport)?

 

[iqis60]

SFA? Sweet Fanny Adams or Sfax, Tunisia, Sfax El Maou Airport?

Do you really mean SFO (San Francisco, CA, USA, San Francisco International Airport)?

Haha, yes, good pickup Serfty. I keep making that mistake when I type it into the flight search engines too!