Combined work, pleasure and status run situation, help needed

[MiLK_MaN]

I have a work trip that should be occurring week of June 9, and I then have a family re-union in The Netherlands June 22. I'm trying to see what I can do where I could possibly fit in a status run around US and complete an AA Platinum challenge.

Where it becomes interesting is that I can essentially have upto $2K or so of the flight funded through work, where I would cover the rest. I would leave MEL on June 7, probably land in LAX, and I can sort the status run out myself so no need for help there.

What I'm trying to do is work out what's the best way to organise MEL-LAX-(find my own way)-SEA-BRU-(find my own way)-AMS-MEL. Is this where a round the world type fare with one of the carriers would be best suited? Currently hold VA & QF WP, but thinking to build on AA Plat EXP instead therefore I can sort of sense I'm going to have to preference AA flight codes for this one.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

What I'm trying to do is work out what's the best way to organise MEL-LAX-(find my own way)-SEA-BRU-(find my own way)-AMS-MEL. Is this where a round the world type fare with one of the carriers would be best suited? Currently hold VA & QF WP, but thinking to build on AA Plat EXP instead therefore I can sort of sense I'm going to have to preference AA flight codes for this one.

Just because you're flying around the world doesn't mean you need a round world fare as such as you're only stopping a couple of times.

What you need is for a TA - online or face to face, to calculate an return airfare to Europe half via the AP & half via the EH ie
MEL LAX // SEA BRU /- AMS MEL so your stopover on the way over is half LAX, half SEA as you're making your own way between the two cities. As for your turnaround point (or destination) it's half BRU & half AMS as you're making your own way between the two cities.

As you're a WP, do you have any (or want to use any) QF ff points to burn for part of the journey? If you do you could always do an award flight MEL/HNL then do your AA bit ex HNL to somewhere, then AA again from somewhere to BRU.

Coming home from AMS you could look at a one way AMS/MEL or AMS/SIN then buy a cheap one way ticket ex Asia to MEL.

You can definitely mix it up & do a mix of both one way award tickets and commercial tickets, you definitely don't have to have the non-AA bits on the same ticket.

To prices an open-jaw or multi stop destination you can use the website below which is good for calculating those trips. I haven't actually booked anything through them before, just used the website for comparing different fares.

www.jetabroad.com.au

 

[MiLK_MaN]

Didn't even think of going to HNL first. HNL-LAX-MIA-AUA-MIA-ORD-SEA exists for about $1280. There's a HI in Aruba so could burn points to stay there for a day and soak some rays.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Didn't even think of going to HNL first. HNL-LAX-MIA-AUA-MIA-ORD-SEA exists for about $1280. There's a HI in Aruba so could burn points to stay there for a day and soak some rays.

AA have an offer out until 15 Nov where you can get up to 15,000 bonus miles when purchasing miles/points eg the maximum you can buy each year is 60,000 eg 50K + 15K bonus is USD1,375.00 but don't forget there's GST to add which would be USD1,513.13 all up.

You could always do a BOS/BRU AAward from your account then set up an AAdvantage account in your partner's name, purchase points then redeem the AMS/MEL award for yourself from their account which is perfectly legal.

By breaking your journey up into several smaller trips my suggestion would be as follows:

Melbourne/Honolulu

Mon 17 Jun JQ001 MEL/HNL 1630/0700

Economy Starter fare AUD529.00/plus bundle for SC & points AUD59.00/20kg checked baggage AUD39.00
Business fare AUD1,199.00/plus AUD200.00 plus bundle for SC & points/30kg checked baggage included

Honolulu/Aruba

Tue 18 Jun USD719.00 (or HNL/SJU USD766.00)

Aruba/Boston

Wed 19 Jun USD511.00 (or SJU/BOS USD373). If you had your heart set on Seattle AUA/SEA is USD623.00 or SJU/SEA USD572.00.

Boston/Brussels

Thu 20 Jun BOS/xORD/xHEL/BRU

Miles Saver J class AAward 50K miles plus USD13.60 taxes

Amsterdam/Melbourne

Sun 23 Jun AMS AY HEL AY SIN QF MEL

Miles Saver J class award AAward 60K miles plus taxes USD76.20.

Seattle/Brussels on a Miles Saver AAward is the same as ex BOS however the availability is a tad harder to come by. One option SEA/xSFO/LHR/BRU only had one hour in LHR to connect which I would avoid at all costs. You can have a stopover en-route so you could always break up the availability SEA/SFO then SFO/BRU which may give you better results.

 

[MiLK_MaN]

AAwards don't qualify for EQP's though do they?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

AAwards don't qualify for EQP's though do they?

No they don't so any EQP earn would have to be from paid fares.

That aside it's probably the cheapest way to fly J.