LAN SYD-AKL J Special - Good SC earner

[oz_mark]

I'm in!

(and here is the rest of the 10 required characters)

Not sure I'd want to fly backwards and forwards, but an informal weekend get together in AKL is certainly something I would consider...

 

[samh004]

As much as I’d love to be a part of such an SC run, I don’t have $1400 to spare

 

[Bundy Bear]

Are you thinking of setting up an AFF group run?

I couldn't do that for a weekend; my NZ relatives would get annoyed if I didn't turn up at least once a year to say hello.

go to the US for the faster Platinum Re qualification.

 

[straitman]

Not sure I'd want to fly backwards and forwards, but an informal weekend get together in AKL is certainly something I would consider...

Agreed.

Also if it is organised soon it may be possible to get some good rates at the Auckland Hilton as part of the January sale.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Agreed.

Also if it is organised soon it may be possible to get some good rates at the Auckland Hilton as part of the January sale.

Auckland still has that DC 3 flying around which I would like to try out.

 

[tuapekastar]

Aah, you wacky AFFers! . I could be tempted...

 

[oz_mark]

Agreed.

Also if it is organised soon it may be possible to get some good rates at the Auckland Hilton as part of the January sale.

...or we could just pick a weekend...Would be enough for now I think....

 

[Aggi]

Agreed.

Also if it is organised soon it may be possible to get some good rates at the Auckland Hilton as part of the January sale.

We are going down to Auckland next weekend, mainly as a status run and also a long weekend away, so if anyone is on the LAN flight from sydney on the 23rd of Jan or coming back on the 26th please let me know. We also got the Hilton deal at around $218AU per night including breakfast.

 

[thewinchester]

Maybe I'm losing it today, but I've gone looking for these fares on the LA website booking engine and to a lesser extent KVS, and I just can't get them at all.

I can find it in KVS for fare basis IEEEV221, departing 30 Jan, Return 31 Jan. However, the LA website is returning the fare from DEEEJ223 which is AUD1098 + taxes.

When punching in the details to LA website, I am selecting a cabin of Premium Business

Am I doing something wrong on the LA website?

[KVS Availability Tool 5.1.8/Diamond - Sabre: Fares/DotRes/US]

SYD  Sydney Kingsford Smith NS AU [YSSY]
AKL  Auckland Int'l NZ [NZAA]
SAT  30 Jan 2010 | SUN  31 Jan 2010 | R/T | Business

Carrier    From    To    Fare      Cur                      Fare Basis
---------  ------  ----  --------  ----  --------  ---  --  ----------
LA         SYD     AKL       568   AUD                      IEEEV221
LA         SYD     AKL      1098   AUD                      DEEEJ223
LA         SYD     AKL      1856   AUD                      JEEEJ223
YY         SYD     AKL      2349   AUD                      CIF

 

[serfty]

Try AKL-SYD vv

Also, AKL-SYD ow

 

[anat0l]

Maybe I'm losing it today, but I've gone looking for these fares on the LA website booking engine and to a lesser extent KVS, and I just can't get them at all.

I can find it in KVS for fare basis IEEEV221, departing 30 Jan, Return 31 Jan. However, the LA website is returning the fare from DEEEJ223 which is AUD1098 + taxes.

When punching in the details to LA website, I am selecting a cabin of Premium Business

Am I doing something wrong on the LA website?

Sounds like you're doing nothing wrong. Looks like I class is just sold out, so only the next bucket higher is available.

 

[KVS]

Maybe I'm losing it today, but I've gone looking for these fares on the LA website booking engine and to a lesser extent KVS, and I just can't get them at all.

I can find it in KVS for fare basis IEEEV221, departing 30 Jan, Return 31 Jan. However, the LA website is returning the fare from DEEEJ223 which is AUD1098 + taxes.

When punching in the details to LA website, I am selecting a cabin of Premium Business

Am I doing something wrong on the LA website?

[KVS Availability Tool 5.1.8/Diamond - Sabre: Fares/DotRes/US]

SYD  Sydney Kingsford Smith NS AU [YSSY]
AKL  Auckland Int'l NZ [NZAA]
SAT  30 Jan 2010 | SUN  31 Jan 2010 | R/T | Business

Carrier    From    To    Fare      Cur                      Fare Basis
---------  ------  ----  --------  ----  --------  ---  --  ----------
LA         SYD     AKL       568   AUD                      IEEEV221
LA         SYD     AKL      1098   AUD                      DEEEJ223
LA         SYD     AKL      1856   AUD                      JEEEJ223
YY         SYD     AKL      2349   AUD                      CIF

Other than forgetting to check Availability?

[KVS Availability Tool 5.1.8/Diamond - Sabre: Availability/GTC/US-LTR]

SYD  Sydney Kingsford Smith NS AU [YSSY]
AKL  Auckland Int'l NZ [NZAA]
SAT  30 Jan 2010

Carrier    Flight  From  Depart    To    Arrive    A/C  St  Availability
---------  ------  ----  --------  ----  --------  ---  --  --------------------------------------------
LA         800     SYD   09:55     AKL   15:10     340  0   J9 D9 [COLOR=Red][B]I0[/B][/COLOR] Y9 B9 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0

 

[thewinchester]

Other than forgetting to check Availability?

Thanks for pointing out my coughhattery - I knew I forgot to do something (/slaps forehead).

 

[tuppaware]

So I'm guessing here that its 60 sc's each way business , 30 each way econ?
Qantas doesn't list a discount economy for LAN so I assume their base price is the same as whY

 

[localknowledge]

You get 80 each way in business, falls into the mileage zone of 1,201-2,400 which is great! Not sure about your discount econony question though, cheers.

 

[anat0l]

I think there might be a mistake in the Airline Earning Table.

The only class code which qualifies for full Economy on oneworld airlines is Y (except for some Premium Economy fares, but otherwise most of us take this heuristic to be true).

In saying that, the Airline Earning Table hasn't been updated for LAN to reflect the removal of First and the new Premium Economy class on LAN. A quick dummy booking (on SYD-AKL) reveals that Premium Economy on LAN books into class code Y; the most flexible Economy on LAN books into B. (LAN shows the booking code on the page in the booking process which tells you how much the fare costs with taxes.)

I think your best bet might be to call QF and ask them what you would earn under specific LAN booking codes. Then you'll find out whether you'll get 20 or 40 status credits for your Economy purchase.

 

[samiam]

Hi Everyone

A big thanks to the community for the lead on this SC earner!

Following a dozen MEL-PER trips over 8 months (mixture of BFOD outbound and flexible inbound), I made it to QF PS 'and a bit' by October 09.

By December, it became apparent I was going to fall short of attaining first-time SG by about 60 SC's.

So, what better way to tip myself over the SC threshold prior to the review date by taking annual leave and touring the North Island of NZ!

Booked Red E-Deals return MEL/SYD and the LAN Premium Business fare in between (Depart 18th Jan/Return 28th Jan).

A few comments below on the experience (hope it's not too verbose, but trying to remember some of the details and how-to's whilst it's still fresh):

Outbound:

Checked in at SYD international LAN counter, all smooth with a complimentary pass to the QF J Lounge (still PS at this stage).

Boarding on time (departure the usual 20-30 minutes it takes to get airborne).

The J cabin is spacious! You could have swung more than a couple of cats in the spare room between my legs and the seat in front. The seat was comfortable and all controls worked - annoying 'inside' arm-rest fell down when leaned on.

AVOD system great - lots of variety and all working without any annoying hum in the system.

Cabin crew were fair to middling - not overly friendly, although this I considered may have been cultural/language related as I'd expect different individual FA's would have different levels of confidence in communicating fluidly in their non-native tongue.

Meal was a light lunch (salmon & salad roll) and a dessert - all edible.

Flight arrived on time (although the seat belt sign was on for the latter third, due to it being a little bumpy).

Inbound:

Return flight was delayed by 2 hours, due to the crew not having sufficient rest break between flights (as discussed elsewhere in this and other LAN threads).

We'd stayed at the Ventura Inn & Suites the night before - close to the airport and with a courtesy bus. It's new and clean, with a great pub (The Toby Jug) within walking distance for dinner.

(Some side advice - had a hire car for the trip to NZ, and dropped it off the afternoon prior to departure. Considered a taxi from the airport back to the hotel, but this is a flat rate of $NZ30 for a ride of < 10 mins. The fare is not metered, but is set at this rate due to the hotel being in 'the airport environment'. It seemed fairly extortive for what I thought was a $NZ12 -15 trip, so thought I'd press my luck and place a call for the hotel courtesy shuttle bus - they are happy to do this if picking up or dropping off other passengers (fair enough), but will not make a trip especially and it is subject to room (also fair), so there is some risk with this plan. Additionally, you can't grab a taxi from the drop off point - only from the taxi rank (we tried unsuccessfully - they are too concerned about being reported)- VERY different to the MEL experience, where it's fair game for all!)

Anyway, back to the delayed departure... I did receive a call the day before departure from an 'unknown number' on the mobile. Being too quick to think that this was some overseas call centre trying to sell something, I was pretty dismissive and said 'No Thanks' and then hung up - in retrospect, this 'could' have been LAN advising of the delay - although the call was at 11am the day prior to departure - too soon to know the flight would be delayed?? Not sure about this.

Departed the hotel on the 3.40am shuttle bus (oblivious to the fact of a delayed flight) and arrived at 3.50am - the LAN counter (about the middle of the check in counters) was open and we checked in without a problem.

Due to the delay, I went to the Qantas ticketing counter (almost directly opposite) to try and change the SYD-MEL flight. Despite advertising that it opened at 4am, the grille remained closed until 4.15am, with the customer service people preparing for the day - only a short wait, I know, but nonetheless frustrating when it's the middle of the night EDST. I ended up calling the QFF Service Centre (using the NZ number on the back of the card).

Having checked in, we then went to the far left of the terminal and entered the Qantas business/first area where passports were checked and a customs pre-clearance was given.

Up the elevators and through customs, where we entered the express lane due to the customs pre-clearance.

From there, through to the QF J lounge - the corridor to the lounges is past the shopping area (dog leg to the right), but easily found by following the signs!

The AKL lounge was 'okay' - range of cereals/toast and hotcakes/flapjacks with syrup available - only about 4 computers in the 'business' centre - which was overrun with a number of 7-year old CEO's (or clean-shaven midgets).

The flight boarded prior to the re-advertised time.

Surprisingly, the crew on the return flight were much friendlier than the earlier crew (perhaps because they'd had their rest break ) and introduced themselves by name.

AVOD & seating as above.

Breakfast served - croissant & roll with jam, spanish omellete (olay!) and coffee that puts treacle to shame.

Following the service, the crew encouraged everyone to pull their blinds and then dimmed the lights, which was great given that we'd been up since the wee hours.

As per earlier posts, the outbound flight credited to my FF account immediately - the inbound has not appeared as yet, but will wait for a couple of weeks.

All-in-all a great experience - all the better as I had combined this with a holiday rather than for pure status run purposes, a good SC earner, reasonable service from LAN and it tipped me over to gold.

Hopefully I've added to the knowledge base for this run and other can take advantage of some of the information above.

Cheers!

 

[samh004]

A few comments below on the experience (hope it's not too verbose, but trying to remember some of the details and how-to's whilst it's still fresh).

Cheers for the TR, very informative.

 

[Wannabee]

Is it just me or are the cheap LAN fares harder to find?

Expert Flyer says I9 availability for most of March, yet booking on the LAN website comes up with a fare of over $1000. I have also noticed that the website appears a little different. I tried to book for Feb next year and a cheap $700 return fare came up and the website came up as it did late last year. Are the I class fares just more expensive now?

 

[straitman]

I have checked hubby's and my FF accounts and the SYD-AKL leg's points and status credits were there, but not the AKL-SYD leg's. So, I guess I will have to chase Qantas as well. I did keep the boarding passes - so I can scan and email them to Qantas.

Someone also posted that a few days ago. The SYD-AKL-SYD seem dearer but the AKL-SYD-AKL are still available at the cheaper rate. I looked around and found the same answer. I'm not sure why unless they believe they can skim a few more $ without affecting loads significantly .