Planning for the 100k Bonus -- US Residents

January 05th, 2009 edit

  • I figured I would start a discussion for US folks who want to take advantage of the 100K bonus offer, but who normally dont fly interntaionally (for business or pleasure).
    It seems that the non-US folks will have an easier time meeting the 5 airline test.

    As far as I can tell, US residents can get 3 maybe 4 airlines covered without leaving North America -- American and Canadian are easy. The third would be Cathay Pacific from NY to Vancouver.

    The fouth could be JFK-LAX on Quantas -- if you can get it to price. The flights are listed in Travelocity but they will not price out on the system -- it could be becuase they are Code Shares on American -- but my argument is if they list, I should be able to buy them! However, assuming that will not work, it is time to find out what the cheapest fares are to cover all airlines.

    Being from NY, I looked to find the cheapest way to cover 5 airlines. As far as I can tell, this is what I came up with for November.

    American -- flight from JFK - LHR $450 (r/t)
    British -- flight from LHR - Madrid $225 (o/w)
    Iberia -- flight from Madrid - LHR $225 (o/w)
    Cathay - fight from JFK-Vancouver $450 (r/t
    Canadian - flight from LGA - Toronto $150 (r/t)


    Total $1,400 for approx 13,000 flight miles, premium bonus miles, and 100,000 miles.

    Thoughts? Ideas? Anything better out there?

    --Jim


  • FYI, The QF JFK-LAX segment will not be available except as an online connection.(i.e. you can't buy just this segment you have to buy the JFK - SYD. This is b/c QF does not have traffic rights.

    CX on the other hand does and you can (as you noted) buy that segment.


  • Does anyone speak Dutch? 'cause I don't...
    Thanks anyway, though....



    [This message has been edited by aflyer (edited 08-26-1999).]


  • We noticed that our website was mentioned by some of you in the discussion. We would like to further info you as follows; although our corporate site is currently available in Dutch only, the actual online booking engine is in English. The adress for the engine (direct) is http://online.atp.nl. You'll find tens thousands of special fares here, mainly for departure from the netherlands. Official IATA fares are available worldwide. Currently all bookings are serviced by our internet service center at Schiphol Airport. Tickets can be issued at other airports as well.

    kind regards,

    ------------------
    Eric Last
    Internet Developments
    Advanced Travel Partners
    http://online.atp.nl
    http://www.atp.nl


  • For any of you intent on staying in North America, Iberia does have some routes to the Caribbean and Central America from Miami. These may soon be transferred to AA though?


  • Thanks for the great info. I just signed into this BB and am amazed at the opportunity here.

    Anyway, I was able to take advantage last night of the AA sale and bought a ticket (r/t) Chicago London on AA for $340 :-). Can anyone help how to extend the travel with four more Oneworld (so I can get 100,000 miles) with London to Tel Aviv as part of this? I was thinking maybe breaking the London Tel Aviv route by putting a stop or 2 to Tel Aviv and a stop or 2 from Tel Aviv.

    Thanks

    Thanks


  • Methinks you have to accrue the miles from the flights in whichever program you are trying for. My plan, for next month, will hopefully work:

    BA MCO-LGW (miles on BA)
    BA LGW-BRU (miles on AA)
    IB BRU-BCN (miles on AA)
    IB BCN-ORY (miles on BA)
    QA CDG-LHR (miles on AA)

    Then, sometime in November, a RT flight on AA putting 1 segment on AA, the other on BA. That will give me 75k bonus miles on AA and 25k bonus miles on BA. Then maybe, just maybe, I can find a cheapo fare on Canadian Air and do the same thing thus giving me 100k on AA and 50k on BA.

    I've never tried to 'split' mileage before, though, so not sure if it will work or not. (Though once AA did credit me twice on a code-share flight!)

    Cheers,

    'toad

    [This message has been edited by Hammertoad (edited 09-27-1999).]


  • I was about to issue my tickets when I mentioned about the oneWorld promotion and the agent responded that she was following the newsletter and said it had to be on one ticket. However, I told her I spoke with three different representatives and they told me otherwise. So, she put me on hold for about 20 minutes while she spoke with her helpdesk and came back to tell me what I said was correct. It has to be on "an eligible ticket" meaning on a published fare and NOT five carriers on 1 ticket.

    Having said that I sometimes wonder how English flourished as an international language.

    Is it even possible to get five carriers on one ticket and not have it be an eligible ticket?

    [This message has been edited by seawolf (edited 09-24-1999).]


  • celestar--

    could you perhaps post the web addresses of the dutch agents that you mentioned could sell a cheapie ticket from AMS-MAN on CX? Do these tickets earn the required FF miles?


  • it looks like AMS and MAN are interchangeable for the purposes of this, also could use GLA as the AA gateway (ORD GLA MAN AMS BCN ORD)

    jl


  • For getting 100K bonus in both AAdvantage and BA Executive Club.

    FR AA 0100 JFK 1830 LHR 0620 M $369.49
    SA BA 1384 LHR 0745 MAN 0840 M
    SA CX 0270 MAN 1000 AMS 1220 N $346.60
    SA IB 4263 AMS 1950 BCN 2120 M $213.85

    SU IB 4248 BCN 1005 AMS 1215 M

    MO CX 0271 AMS 0730 MAN 0750 N
    MO BA 1389 MAN 0930 LHR 1030 M
    MO AA 0141 LHR 2000 JFK 2310 M

    During any day:
    LGA-YYZ CP $214.84
    YYZ-LGA AA $226.48
    <spend night at home>

    LGA-YYZ AA
    YYZ-LGA CP

    Need to fly AA again because AA on transatlantic don't count for BA miles. Not sure if it count for the 100K promotion though. If it does, great! However, if you don't fly AA again, you'll need to spend some money to spend the night in YYZ.


  • Decided on a quick trip to Europe using a weekend fare on AA (actually code-shared on IB but will qualify since it is oneworld "metal", "marketed" by oneworld airline) ex-JFK. Joined the debate elsewhere in these chat rooms and opted for Barcelona over Madrid (haven't been to the former, spent much time in the latter).

    Will then go to Millorca on Saturday night on IB and spend a day, flying back to BCN on Sunday night. (Even full fare ticket in buisness class is less than US$200.) Two more days in BCN and then back to JFK on Tuesday.
    A pleasant break between stressful projects, a chance to drop in on my sister in NYC on the way over, and do some business in YVR before going home.

    Between Canada and JFK, I will pick up the CX portion of the promotion on their relatively cheap fare. (Using 12K Cdn+ points to get to Vancouver from my base in Edmonton, or 17K in J-class; this is the Amex discount since I'll have plenty of CP paid flights to apply to this promo, and their own 5 CP flights/5K bonus.)

    I will still get BA down in South America on the SCL-EZE side trip (and do UA into Montevideo to get some AC Q-miles).

    Believe all my fares will qualify both for the promotion and for mileage credits to Cdn+ and AA. The cost:

    CP Edmonton-Vancouver $165 business mtg this weekend
    BA SCL-EZE-SCL $225 side trip in South America in early November
    CX YVR-JFK-YVR $429 NY for a day
    AA JFK-BCN-JFK $610
    IB BCN-PMI-BCN $194

    Total: $1613 Canadian
    $1100 American

    Plus hotels, etc. of course.

    Yield will be enough miles for J-Class ticket to just about anywhere flown by oneworld on Cdn+ and AAdvantage (Value: $3,500 to $5,500 times two), or even F-Class to Europe on AA or BA.

    Too bad all the flying has to be in the rear cabin, but I'll be thinking about those two future flights up front.


  • No traffic rights for the BA PHX/SAN leg -- I see that 747 at least a couple of times per week. Looks like I'll be on it in October from LGW-PHX as the last leg of my RTW...


  • JIMBOLICGUY:

    If you're going to Europe , consider :
    1.NYC-LON-NYC on AA.

    2.LON-AMS ON BA.
    Lowest o/w is: US$242+US$27tx
    Best Bet is buy a return for US$140+US$42tx
    and throw return away. Not kosher but done!

    3.AMS-MAN on CX (Yes they have traffic rights). CX 271 flies Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat
    at 0730. Arrival MAN at 0750. You can get cheapie o/w fare from Dutch agents on internet.

    4.MAN-BCN-LON on IB
    (Fare as low as US$235 return plus US$35 tax.
    Weekday/Weekend fare is same. Min stay Sat night. Booking class "M" . SO you'd get points on this fare. This fare avail in UK only)

    Upon return to the US, then do:
    5.NYC-YYZ-NYC on CP.

    There. You have your 5 flights !

    FYI - QANTAS has no traffic rights between LAX and JFK even though they are physically flying their own aircraft on that route.

    If you're staying in US and not going to Europe, consider :
    1. JFK-YVR-JFK on CX.
    2. YVR-HNL-YVR on QF. (QF codeshares with CP using CP aircraft. You can still get AA points as long as your ticket reads QF)
    3. LGA-YYZ on AA.
    4. YYZ-LGA on CP.
    Sorry - there's no AY or IB or BA to consider.



    [This message has been edited by Celestar340 (edited 08-24-1999).]


  • Starting with JIMBOLIGUY itenerary and using Celestar340 find of CX rights om MAN - AMS i came up with the following trip that would reduce the travel and time necessay and slightly reduce the cost:

    1. JFK - LON AA
    2. LON - AMS BA
    overnight in AMS
    3. AMS - MAN CX
    4. MAN - BCN IB
    overnight in BCN
    5. BCN - JFK AA codes share w/ Iberia

    6. At your leisure fly NYC-YYZ on CP.

    The costs are a follows:

    Segment 1,2,5
    Buy an open jaw JFK - AMS / BCN - JFK using American Airlines fare MLXFLYAA. Cost $450.

    Segment 3 Cost $300

    Segment 4 Cost $300 (throw out return)

    Segment 6 Cost $150

    Totel Cost $1200.

    Possible improvements and notes:

    1. I used Barcelona instead of madrid so I can obtain the double miles on offer for the BCN-JFK route. This will add slightly to the cost.

    2. For segments 3 and 4 there is probably a way to book these 2 together and save some cash. (the BC fare from AMS-BCN is only 500) I have not found it though. Also I am sure there would be discounted tickets available for the CX segment, but this is the published fare.

    Total Miles about 10,000 + 3500 BCN-JFK bonus on AA.

    rich


  • A while ago in rec.travel.air people were putting together a list of routes that airlines have fifth freedom rights to, I copied down the info for oneworld carriers (as I was planning my RTW at the time).

    Also has anyone heard of Canadian will offer the 100K bonus?? (I hope so!)

    Hope this helps..
    -Ty


    American Airlines; Sao Paulo-Asuncion, Sao Pauo-Montevideo

    British Airways: Buenos Aires-Santiago, HKG-TPE, SYD-BKK, SYD-KUL, HKG-MNL, Brisbane-SIN, Perth-SIN, Abu Dhabi-Muscat, Seychelles-NBO

    Canadian: Sao Paulo-Buenos Aires, HKG-MNL, HKG-BKK

    Cathay Pacific: NRT-TPE, BOM-BKK, AMS-Manchester, CDG-MAN, SIN-Jakarta, JFK-YVR, TPE-***, TPE-KIX, TPE-SEL, TPE-NGO, CMB-BKK

    Qantas: HKG-SIN, Buenos Aires-Auckland, BKK-FRA, SIN-LHR, SIN-CDG, FCO-BKK, AKL-PPT, BKK-LHR, SIN-FRA, AKL-LAX, HKG-BKK


  • Caught that codeshare in doing some more research today. I'll likely take United's flights and pick up some AC Q-miles.


  • There is no way that all the airline and segments have to be on a single ticket as that would be nearly impossible unless travelling on an RTW ticket.


  • I think that the IB flight EZE-MVD is operated by AEROLINEAS argentinas and shouldn´t be eligible


  • As a UK, BA Executive Club member, I'm trying to do the same thing, (albeit that "our" bonus is only 20000 miles from any 5 alliance members.)However, assuming the rules to be the same or similar in the UK and US, then you may want to be aware of the following two rules. 1.Make sure the ticket shows the alliance code and flight number...could be important if it's a BA code share. 2. Eligible fares in this promotion for the UK are Economy, Fully Flexible, Business, or First.


  • I'm with you 'Toad--I don't love 1W enough to go hog wild, but think I'm going to do this:

    RT ATL-ORD, AA aircraft and flt #, one leg AA, one leg BA
    RT LHR-GLA, BA aircraft and flt # one leg AA, one leg BA
    MIA-YYZ, CP aircraft, AA flt # on AA
    YYZ-ORD, CP aircraft, AA flt # on BA

    Am I missing anything here--I see 25000 miles on both AA and BA here.


    [This message has been edited by jamiel (edited 09-27-1999).]


  • For CX add SIN-BKK

    For QF add SIN-CGK and SIN-DPS (Note QF no longer fly HKG-BKK but they probably still have rights to it as is the same for SIN-BKK).

    Oh and guys I know I sound like a broken record (said this in many other posts) but watch out for the booking codes used when ticketing on BA & CX as not all published fares are eligible for AAdvantage mileage accrual.


    [This message has been edited by mgm (edited 08-25-1999).]


  • i have a plan that is should work.

    jfk - stockholm(arn) - outbound aa code shares through hel on finnair with return on ba to london and aa to jfk $513 (it works, i have my ticket!)
    arn - hel on ay $199 (r/t)
    jfk - bcn on ib $396 (r/t)
    lga - yyz on cp $214 (r/t)

    $1322 (including tax)

    p.s. make sure all of your flights are coded and operated by the same carrier. i was burned in the delta program last year by code shares on aer lingus and tap that had delta numbers and counted as delta flights. i still got 7 airlines and 115,000 bonus miles.


  • kyklin: how did you figure on getting 100k on 4 programs? The itinerary you proposed only had 10 segments so at most that would be 5 segments each for 2 programs? Am I missing something?


  • aflyer: hit the "reserveren" button (on the atp.nl website) and you will go to the reservations menu that is in English http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif


  • As I doubt I can get a trip to Europe to pick up either Iberia or Finnair for this promotion before the end of the year, I am planning to use BA's service between Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, and an IB flight to pick up those two carriers, and see a bit of Uruguay over a few days.

    (I am using a NW award on CO's BusinessFirst to Santiago for a week, and have added a couple more days for this jaunt east.)

    I believe this daily IB flight between EZE and MVD will count. It's a 737 that operates daily around noon time in both directions, and appears to be bookable on ITN (at $260 return, it is rather more expensive than competing carriers, mind you, but I suppose worth it when posted towards the 100K on two carriers: Cdn+ and AA in my case). But it seems a bit like an orphan service.

    I plan to book later this week, so has anybody any information about this IB service and its eligibility for collecting points on these FF programs and in this promotion?


  • Kyelin,
    I agree with Ken Hamer. I have just completed my plans for a 2X 100K bonus with BA and AA. See my thread on this board for whayt I am doing


  • A web address for a dutch agent is http://www.atp.nl/
    They offer CX for AMS-MAN. Quite a low price: 177NLG & 239NLG for o/w and rt, respectively. The big question is: in which booking class is this booked? So far, I don't know. You could also try http://www.lcdv.com/ if you would prefer CX CDG-MAN instead.

    Question: Which BA, IB and AY eco booking classes earn miles? At the AA website clear information regarding this is given for only CX and JL. But what about BA, IB and AY? For these, it only says "published eligible fare". For example, Q and W fares on BA does not earn miles on BA's program, so I assume it wouldn't in the AA program either???
    As I'm only able to cover one or two airlines this autumn in a business trip, I'm thinking of doing some cheap discounted fare flying in Europe as well...

    Pepe


  • This is not a cheap way of doing it but...

    Fly CX to Asia in F/C (9/16/99-3/31/00) and get up to 25,000 miles (gateway = LAX, SFO, JFk, YVR). The bonus is upped to 50k if you fly from Toronto (YYZ?).

    In addition, fly six segments in F/C in that period, get an additional 10k miles.

    So, one could go the itinerary below (RT) and get 100,000 in four programs, ~20,000 flight miles, 5000 C class 25% bonus miles, 20k bonus miles based on your status (assume AA platinum), and 50k AA-CX Miles Maximizer miles for approximately 500,000 miles.


    JFK-YYZ AA
    YYZ-HKG CX
    HKG-TPE BA
    HKG-BKK CP (or an weekender fare within North America)
    HKG-Sin QF


  • My assumption is that one can send in the boarding passes (just to be sure) indicating you have flown on 5 1W airlines to each respective airlines (AA, BA, CX, and QF in my example) and get 100k miles in each respective airlines' programs.

    Is my assumption incorrect?


  • 1

    [This message has been edited by 3544quebec (edited 09-25-1999).]


  • I figured out the following:
    Thu NYC MAD on AA (m-class) $428.70 rt
    Fri MAD BRU on IB (v-class) $170.40 rt
    Fri train BRU AMS approx. $100 return
    Sat AMS MAN on CX (y-class) $291.60 rt CX
    Sun MAN AMS on BA(c-class)
    Sun train AMS BRU
    Sun BRU MAD on IB
    Mon MAD NYC on AA
    Total $990.70 plus CP LGA YYZ internet deal.
    You might get AA cheaper on other dates than the ones I choose.
    My main concern is that all flights are "eligible", inparticular I am not sure about CX from AMS to MAN. CX has usually a lot of restrictions when it come to economy class. Anybody got some hard information on this?
    Another alternative is IB from JFK to AMS, at times avalibale for about $450 (T-class, eligible?), CX/BA to/from MAN $291.60, AA Internet weekend deal for approx. $100, CP approx. $150 = Total 991.60.


  • BA does fly Phoenix --> San Diego daily, but I'm not sure if they have traffic rights ...


  • Ty - you can add to your list:

    CX - BOM - DXB 3/4 X week

    QF - BOM - SIN Daily

    Also, the BA route is DXB - MCT and not AUH -MCT unless it has changed of late (it very well might have and if so please ignore)


  • No problem, Hammertoad. I have intentionally split mileage on different legs of a BA/AA flight, and it credited properly.


  • RichLond,

    I don't think MAN-BCN is going to work. IB's flight is a code-share which is operated by Aviacion.


  • kyklin:

    You can not do that. You can only get credit for a given flight with one program. What you need to do is take on flight on each airline, with the same FF number. For example, you could fly CP, AA, BA, CX, and QF, to get the 100K bonus, but each segement must be credited to the same program FF number.

    You could then repeat the process, with each segment credited to a different program's FF number.

    Regards,

    Ken Hamer


  • After talking to the AAdvantage desk, I was told by the agent (although rather tentatively and without a lot on conviction) that all of the flights on the 5 oneworld airlines MUST BE on one contiguous ticket in order to get the 100k bonus. In reading this thread, I get the impression that you merely have to fly the 5 airlines and can buy 2 or 3 different r/t tickets. Am I missing something?

    Update: I spoke to AAdvantage desk again, this time I was told it does not have to be 5 carriers in one ticket/trip.

    [This message has been edited by bp888 (edited 09-25-1999).]


  • While it should be possible to credit the two legs of a round trip to two different airlines, BA screwed mine up this past weekend. Both legs posted to BA, even though the return shows AA on my boarding pass! The customer service agent at Executive Club was very helpful, and told me to fax her the boarding pass - she agreed that it should have gone through correctly.

    Since I was flying full-fare coach on Iberia, I bought two one-way tickets to avoid just this problem. We'll see next week how American handles it; Cathay has already ticketed me and taken both account #'s. Still have to book Canadian.

    Total cost of six round trips (my Iberia thread explains that I took a second IB round trip because I had no confidence the first would "take"): ~$1,350 will get me ~6,000 flight miles...and 2 x 100,000 bonus!







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