Micro alliance awards (think QF/AA zone 1)

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Joshua

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With all the RTW talk, has anyone ever tried/considered getting an oneworld alliance award on the opposite end, the shortest zone (1200 miles on QF, 1500 miles on AA) and try to get the maximum segments while keeping within the rules?

Thought it would be a cool way to burn a small 30000 points, though I dread to imagine what taxes QF might come up with.

One I was looking at : BGO-BLL-OSL-AAL-AAR-GOT-CPH
Exactly 1200 miles, however I'd expect QF will make that 1201 ;) and then would take the add the CPH-BGO distance and with all the booking fees AA would be the best idea if serious.

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I'm sure there are some better examples from the US..
 
That's one painful set of flights !

Some of the scheduling is going to suck.

Into and out of BLL sucks since Cimber airlines went bust.
 
I've thought about a couple of these at times, but I hesitate to think about (a) general routing rules, i.e. will they allow that many indirects, especially if a direct route exists; (b) MPM restrictions; and (c) after it's all said and done, will the agent allow it...

Anyway, I have a greater goal in mind for my miles, so I'm holding off redeeming that kind of award for a while.
 
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Would that all be on AY?

BA technically. Sun Air of Scandinavia is a oneworld affiliate.

I've thought about a couple of these at times, but I hesitate to think about (a) general routing rules, i.e. will they allow that many indirects, especially if a direct route exists; (b) MPM restrictions; and (c) after it's all said and done, will the agent allow it...

Exactly the reason it would be best done as an award ticket. AA particularly with the most flexible options. The miles/points cost is quite small but if you're saving away, it's understandable.

Sometimes it's nice to look at something besides long-haul F redemption. I think depending on availability (which I haven't started looking at) maybe a zone 2 would be more realistic and include some flights to BMA. The value is still there as all these would cost a pretty penny to get in cash.
 
BA technically. Sun Air of Scandinavia is a oneworld affiliate.



Exactly the reason it would be best done as an award ticket. AA particularly with the most flexible options. The miles/points cost is quite small but if you're saving away, it's understandable.

Sometimes it's nice to look at something besides long-haul F redemption. I think depending on availability (which I haven't started looking at) maybe a zone 2 would be more realistic and include some flights to BMA. The value is still there as all these would cost a pretty penny to get in cash.

I never knew BA had a subsidiary flying in Scandinavia. So are these flights all on BA code?
 
I never knew BA had a subsidiary flying in Scandinavia. So are these flights all on BA code?

Yep, BA82xx

They're definitely a lesser known part of the alliance. They're great if you need to get around that part of the world and you're avoiding SAS ;) pity they don't fly from/to Odense however.
 
Exactly the reason it would be best done as an award ticket. AA particularly with the most flexible options. The miles/points cost is quite small but if you're saving away, it's understandable.

Sometimes it's nice to look at something besides long-haul F redemption. I think depending on availability (which I haven't started looking at) maybe a zone 2 would be more realistic and include some flights to BMA. The value is still there as all these would cost a pretty penny to get in cash.

Definitely better done on an award ticket, because it'll be cost prohibitive in cash (unless you got one of the "explorer" passes they have in certain zones, but even they are marginally expensive).

I guess the key is which award programme would you use. I wonder if you use AA, would you get passed on the fuel surcharges in this case because it's a BA flight.

I was thinking of using a AA redemption to fly a nice crazy routing in Australia, possibly exiting the country to another zone (e.g. SIN). Biggest problems I had stuffing around with possible routings was that I had to keep in mind MPMs. Piecing together a schedule without stopovers can also be a challenge. Then, I always ponder how many sectors can you fit onto one "journey" (e.g. in USDM parlance, normally this limit is 4-5 sectors per journey - inbound and outbound). Then, there's always that niggling thing in the back of my mind, "How the hell am I going to explain this routing to the operator..."

The other thing that rolls through my mind is the AA oneworld Explorer awards, which probably allow even more craziness if you stick to the mileage zones but you need at least two carriers involved. (EDIT: Now that I think about it, I think it was these awards that you were referring to).

It's funny when you stick a bunch of "short" sectors together on Great Circle Mapper (or even some longer ones for long haul or multi-zone routings), it seems to add up really quickly and you rapidly exceed your zone / MPM+25% limit...
 
Definitely better done on an award ticket, because it'll be cost prohibitive in cash (unless you got one of the "explorer" passes they have in certain zones, but even they are marginally expensive).

I guess the key is which award programme would you use. I wonder if you use AA, would you get passed on the fuel surcharges in this case because it's a BA flight.


The other thing that rolls through my mind is the AA oneworld Explorer awards, which probably allow even more craziness if you stick to the mileage zones but you need at least two carriers involved. (EDIT: Now that I think about it, I think it was these awards that you were referring to).

You got it, I was referring to the oneworld explorer awards. The focus was how many segments one could get you (up to the 16 limit) within the 1500 miles limit. For only an extra 5000 points/miles, zone 2 covers 1501-4000 miles which is definitely the sweet spot for this sort of micro award and would let me add an AY flight to meet there requirements. You're right that YQ on BA would be a pain but it seems to be fixed on all these flights at 246SEK (~40AUD). Considering these regional flights cost $400-500 for a oneway, the value is still there.

I have constructed oneworld Visit Europe fares before, reservation agents always comment how uncommon they are (i.e. nobody ever books them). Under the old costs (no doubt gone up) the equivalent alliance commercial fare would cost €405 + taxes (3x zone 1 segment + 3x zone 2). So you can get an idea of what the value proposition is. A zone 2 AA award would be a lot better IMO.
 
You got it, I was referring to the oneworld explorer awards. The focus was how many segments one could get you (up to the 16 limit) within the 1500 miles limit. For only an extra 5000 points/miles, zone 2 covers 1501-4000 miles which is definitely the sweet spot for this sort of micro award and would let me add an AY flight to meet there requirements. You're right that YQ on BA would be a pain but it seems to be fixed on all these flights at 246SEK (~40AUD). Considering these regional flights cost $400-500 for a oneway, the value is still there.

I have constructed oneworld Visit Europe fares before, reservation agents always comment how uncommon they are (i.e. nobody ever books them). Under the old costs (no doubt gone up) the equivalent alliance commercial fare would cost €405 + taxes (3x zone 1 segment + 3x zone 2). So you can get an idea of what the value proposition is. A zone 2 AA award would be a lot better IMO.

I've never heard of oneworld Visit Europe fares. Can you provide more info?
 
I've never heard of oneworld Visit Europe fares. Can you provide more info?

Economy only, like other oneworld fares books into L bucket. 6 distance zones of tiered fixed prices with taxes all added on top. The base fares appear no longer published, they differed between point of sale. All alliance carriers can plate/sell it on their paper so it trying AA rtw desk is probably not a bad idea, otherwise a competent TA.

Visit Europe - oneworld

They're not the cheapest thing out there but until certain circumstances they work out well. Particularly on routes where you're basically stuck booking returns or face sky high pricing. I personally used them for BA & AY. Maybe less useful now with AB.

Pricing used to be published, unfortunately not anymore. From memory the rules are similar to other alliance fares. The routing is fixed however only the first sector date needs to be locked in initially. So there's a layer of flexibility there you'd otherwise miss out on.

The main restriction is it must be booked as a conjunction to an incoming international oneworld ticket. Again in my case I had a FASA on QF to LHR then had to go through a complex process for them to wave the APD tax as I was transiting - reservations had to do things very manually in this case to override it. I believe there are no carrier requirements (besides being oneworld) i.e. you don't need more than one metal, but there's a minimum of 2 segments. Open-jaw is possible and nearly the whole point of the fare :)

That's it from memory!
 
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