YUPPs and KUPPs

[iqis60]

Thanks Serfty, Champion!

 

[Bundy Bear]

To from TPA / ATL seems to be the least "expensive" / SC earn opportunity.

Discounted First Class and Flyer Talk Fares

I'm planning on flying to LAX and earn 540 SC's on a run to ATL, current cost USD1170. (When booked early Jan it was USD1050).

Another website to waste my time on. :shock:

TPA is looking cheap. USD $752.00

 

[beardoc]

I've been playing around with these a bit, just to see what's out there - using farecompare a bit. I've heard people mention ExpertFlyer in some threads - would an EF subscription assist in finding the cheap KUPPs/YUPP at all - or is FareCompare about it?

The other question - if there's a flight that AA offers on it's website as part of the KUPP run that is an AA Codeshare on Alaska Airlines, I assume that wouldn't credit any status credits in QFF for that - or is that wrong?

 

[file51]

The other question - if there's a flight that AA offers on it's website as part of the KUPP run that is an AA Codeshare on Alaska Airlines, I assume that wouldn't credit any status credits in QFF for that - or is that wrong?

So long as the flight has an AA flight number points and SC's will be credited

 

[beardoc]

So long as the flight has an AA flight number points and SC's will be credited

Fantastic!

Well, after playing around for a few hours, I've come across some good ones - 4 flights on AA metal (I was working on the basis that AA codeshares on Alaska wouldn't be valid), under US$850 including taxes, 600SC. If they will credit Alaskan Airlines KUPPs with AA codeshare flight numbers, then I'm sure I can do even better than this!

I'm going to make sure I become WP this way, then get a BD status match, before I start shovelling all my Amex points through SQ for award redemptions and then I can get *A Gold lounge access along the way on my flights!

All this when I really should be studying (oops).

Unfortunately right now I can't book these, so the deal will probably be off soon. Guess I will have to keep looking when I finally can get a trip to the US again.

 

[Flashback]

Fantastic!

Well, after playing around for a few hours, I've come across some good ones - 4 flights on AA metal (I was working on the basis that AA codeshares on Alaska wouldn't be valid), under US$850 including taxes, 600SC. If they will credit Alaskan Airlines KUPPs with AA codeshare flight numbers, then I'm sure I can do even better than this!

I'm going to make sure I become WP this way, then get a BD status match, before I start shovelling all my Amex points through SQ for award redemptions and then I can get *A Gold lounge access along the way on my flights!

All this when I really should be studying (oops).

Unfortunately right now I can't book these, so the deal will probably be off soon. Guess I will have to keep looking when I finally can get a trip to the US again.

Note that BD are no longer offering status matches, as it's proved to not bring any extra revenue to the airline.

 

[beardoc]

Note that BD are no longer offering status matches, as it's proved to not bring any extra revenue to the airline.

I'm not sure that's true - there are people on Flyertalk that are getting status matches as recently as last week?

If you have information that I don't, I'd be grateful!

 

[Platy]

Here's a good SC run opportunity bookable from the aa.com US web site:

HNL(-LAX-DFW-MIA)-BGI-(MIA-DFW-LAX-)HNL

The dates I looked at in June worked out as an instant upgrade return fare of US$1562 (AUS$2,400).

Thus 880 status credits for $2,400 also earning:

30,935 FF points (including status bonus and credit card purchase on 1 pt per $) fora bronze up to
43,977 FF points for a WP.

Quite a nice little earner, especially since you can position to HNL on a cheap JQ fare!

The Hilton in Barbados is very nice

 

[straitman]

Fantastic!

Well, after playing around for a few hours, I've come across some good ones - 4 flights on AA metal (I was working on the basis that AA codeshares on Alaska wouldn't be valid), under US$850 including taxes, 600SC. If they will credit Alaskan Airlines KUPPs with AA codeshare flight numbers, then I'm sure I can do even better than this!

That's impressive :!: :shock:

 

[beardoc]

HNL(-LAX-DFW-MIA)-BGI-(MIA-DFW-LAX-)HNL

Thus 880 status credits for $2,400 also earning:

30,935 FF points (including status bonus and credit card purchase on 1 pt per $) fora bronze up to
43,977 FF points for a WP.

Quite a nice little earner, especially since you can position to HNL on a cheap JQ fare!

Not to mention instant SG qualification!

 

[Flashback]

Not to mention instant SG qualification!

Or qualification even, if you don't already have SG!

 

[file51]

Or qualification even, if you don't already have SG!

Actually, alone that flight combination will not give you SG status, you still have to do the 4 qualifying JQ or QF flights for it to click over.

Although, if you were going to do a MR like that, one would assume you would have a few domestic or international flights under the belt already.

 

[beardoc]

Actually, alone that flight combination will not give you SG status, you still have to do the 4 qualifying JQ or QF flights for it to click over.

Although, if you were going to do a MR like that, one would assume you would have a few domestic or international flights under the belt already.

Yes, flying domestically is not a problem for me - I fly regularly (well, not as often as some people on this board - usually 1-2 return trips a month) and usually with a lot of baggage. It's enough to benefit from paid QP or SG/WP, but not enough to get it for free. The KUPPs/YUPPs look to be a good option for me.

 

[Maca44]

It's also nice to be able to use the First Class security line (usually located to the right of the other lanes), just show your BP and through you go. I assume these are at all major terminals used by AA, but I have only used the at Chicago, SFO and Detroit.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Fantastic!

I'm going to make sure I become WP this way, then get a BD status match, before I start shovelling all my Amex points through SQ for award redemptions and then I can get *A Gold lounge access along the way on my flights!

.

You may need to be quick then as a good source recently mentioned BD was going to greatly tighten up on it's Status Matching

 

[beardoc]

You may need to be quick then as a good source recently mentioned BD was going to greatly tighten up on it's Status Matching

Even if they do, I won't worry about it. Being WP will be fine with me - I might even cope without going to a lounge on my SQ/*A trips (after all, they'll be close to free for quite a while to come!)

 

[Gold Member]

Here's a good SC run opportunity bookable from the aa.com US web site:

HNL(-LAX-DFW-MIA)-BGI-(MIA-DFW-LAX-)HNL

The dates I looked at in June worked out as an instant upgrade return fare of US$1562 (AUS$2,400).

Thus 880 status credits for $2,400 also earning:

30,935 FF points (including status bonus and credit card purchase on 1 pt per $) fora bronze up to
43,977 FF points for a WP.

Quite a nice little earner, especially since you can position to HNL on a cheap JQ fare!

The Hilton in Barbados is very nice

Thanks for sharing Platy! Great find... am very tempted. BTW, and I don't want to make claim to this find cos I wouldn't have looked if I hadn't seen your original routing, but you can also do:

HNL(-DFW-RDU-MIA)-POS-(MIA-RDU-DFW-)HNL

for $1,490 USD ($2,290 AUD) netting 880 SCs. You will get a few extra miles too!

 

[Gold Member]

For those that might be interested, I've done countless hours of research on AA.com for the best YUPP/KUPP fares and I'm happy to share my findings:

- Best value ($ per SC) are found on routes which include at least 3 flights and start/finish in remote places such as ANC or remote Caribbean islands.
- When you find a 3/4/5 flight route, be careful since two of the flights might share the same flight number - this would count as a single flight and SCs from the origin to destination of the two flights (less SCs).
- Always follow through to booking the fare to see the taxes since these range from 5-20% depending on your routing. Int'l routing is obviously higher taxes than domestic.
- Some routes offer 4/5 flights on some days, while on other days these flights do not exist so it is worth your while having some flexibility with dates for the same routing.
- I believe the best value flights are those classified in Zone 2 (90 SCs) and 3 (120 SCs), but obviously you'd want to get a flight in the lower end of the mileage ranges.
- For major cities like NY, always search through JFK, EWR and LGA. Similarly, always search through IAD and DCA in DC. The differences in pricing can vary dramatically, and it also gives you more choice of flight times.

A couple of the better earners that I found and booked are:

- AUA-SFO via MIA, DCA, DFW (330 SCs for US$593 inc taxes) = 1.79 US$ per SC.
- SFO-AUA via DFW, MIA (270 SCs for US$519.10 in taxes) = 1.92 US$ per SC.

I have booked these two in combination with a couple of SFO-LAS via LAX returns.

Of course ANC combinations would offer similar value if not better to the Caribbean islands but I jsut couldn't swallow ANC. Some islands are far better than others (AUA, POS, GCM). I've also found that Atlanta is a good origin/destination if travelling from afar.

Hope this helps some people with cheap fares to the USA who might be keen to achieve WP.

GM

 

[trooper]

And for the few of us here who are *A mrgreen Gold Members advice is generally true for us as well.... (although I haven't found anything good to/from ANC.. more research required!)

I have just boooked (another) F-run on US/UA that on it's own will get me more than halfway to requalifying Gold with NZ.... for AUD$1100....

AND it's not even an MR! It gets me from where I start off.. to where I want to go next.. and on to my final desto!!! Too bad the dollar wasn't still at .90.... That would take this run from "Bloody good" to "%#&%*$"..:mrgreen:

 

[lovetravellingoz]

And for the few of us here who are *A mrgreen Gold Members advice is generally true for us as well.... (although I haven't found anything good to/from ANC.. more research required!)

I have just boooked (another) F-run on US/UA that on it's own will get me more than halfway to requalifying Gold with NZ.... for AUD$1100....

AND it's not even an MR! It gets me from where I start off.. to where I want to go next.. and on to my final desto!!! Too bad the dollar wasn't still at .90.... That would take this run from "Bloody good" to "%#&%*$"..:mrgreen:

Hi...Route and details please (this may be helpful toa number of us who are thinking of moving to *A)?

Thanks.