Advice with fall AC bonus Mileage Run
My wife and I wish to go on a Air Canada mileage run in the fall to take advantage of the current bonus aeroplan points (up to 60,000 for 20 flight segments). We would of course like to maximize the segments as well as the miles while spending as little as possible on the tickets (who doesn't). I have got a little advice yesterday about maximizing a business trip in November (thanks) - that has lead myself and my wife to think about raising the bar.
I would appreciate any advice that could get us started. In particluar, any suggestions on the best routes to look into (Canada, US, overseas) as well as important things to keep in mind to maximize actual miles would be great (does it help to drop down to the US for part?). We fly out of YHZ (Halifax) and I have been able to price a 11 segment return flight to YVR for November however I'm not sure how to minimize the price (approx. $1100 including fees) other than trial and error (on Destina.ca)?
Because the 60,000 point bonus is for AC flights only (and a limited number of other carrier flights), I assume staying with AC for most if not all the segments makes sense?
Any advise on where to look first and possible options to maximize miles/segments would be appreciated....
THANKS....
Dave
Thanks once again for the great advice! I appreciate the time and effort.
With Destina I was able to ask for 6 different flights - and of the options for each flight, I chose those which included 2 segments each - for a total of 12. Unfortunately traveling all the way across the country from west to east requires some direct flights - you run out of hours in the same day (assuming you want to do it in one day). Did I do it right? I specifically chose flights that I knew had a common sense connection city between the departure and arrival cities. I was not able to choose the "search for the lowest price" button on the bottom - I had to use the "seach by date/time" and it allowed 6 flights with as many as 3 connections each. Is it possible that although Destina gave it to me there might be a problem with the segments counting or the itinarary being valid?
Thanks for the YHZ - YYZ option. Any suggestions for a longer flight that would head out west from Toronto (adding to the YHZ-YYZ part) and increase the segments to at least 12? Leaving on November 9th and returning on November 11th would be an option. Other than that any weekend could probably work.
It sounds like a booking by tomorrow is important as the fall sale ends then? Any other advice on improving on status in addition to the points?
Does it make sense to book through Destina to get the current 1 AP point for each $1 spent?
Thanks again Empress - We really appreciate it!
Dave
I've found three $300.00 MR within the west that would get me 24 segments, the bonus and prestige level but much as I want to, money's too tight to mention so will have to wait to catch the next promo.
Do tell!
Thanks Empress... I am actively looking at different MR routes - what did you find for YHZ-YYZ?
It was basically YHZ-YSJ-YUL-YOW-YYZ on a Friday and then YYZ-YOW-YUL-YSJ-YHZ on Sunday. The outbound won't work on Saturday because of limited flights. I can pull up some flights for you tomorrow. I've been too busy tonight.
[This message has been edited by Empress (edited 09-11-2002).]
Dave
Thanks again,
Dave
That's probably your best option ex-YHZ.
(Btw, how were you able to get a 11 segments itinerary to price out on destina cause everything over 8 must be manual priced? Or was it 2 seperate trips?)
The best way to look for routings is using expedia.ca. Go to 'FLights & charters' then 'lowest fares'. Enter your city pairs. Click on 'more rules' for a particular fare. Go to the bottom and you'll see routing.
A sample for YHZ-YYZ:
ROUTING 2 FROM-TO YHZ-AC-YSJ-AC-YQB-AC-YMQ-AC-
YOW-AC-YTO*
FROM-TO YHZ-AC-YQB-AC-YMQ-AC-YOW-AC-
YTO*
That means you can fly YHZ-YSJ-YQB-YUL-YOW-YYZ each way or YHZ-YQB-YUL-YOW-YYZ. You can skip any of the connecting cities. The cities listed are basically the one you can connect thru. (Must be in that order, so you can't do YHZ-YOW-YUL-YYZ in the above example)
Let us know if you need more help or you have specific dates in mind.
[This message has been edited by Empress (edited 09-09-2002).]
I've found three $300.00 MR within the west that would get me 24 segments, the bonus and prestige level but much as I want to, money's too tight to mention so will have to wait to catch the next promo. I'll start looking and advise if anything jumps out but I am rank novice compared with some of the MR guru's on this forum.
Here's a sample itinerary which should work for every weekend. (Remember, today is the last day to book)
Friday, Oct 18:
YHZ-YSJ
AC 8781: 7:30a-8:15a
YSJ-YUL
AC8879: 11:15a-12:11p
YUL-YOW
AC 8865: 1:30p-2:12p
YOW-YYZ
AC 457: 3:00p-4:06p
Saturday, Oct 20:
YYZ-YOW
AC 444: 9:10a-10:09a
YOW-YUL
AC 7846: 10:45a-11:30a
YUL-YSJ
AC 8864: 1:20p-4:00p
YSJ-YHZ
AC 8778: 6:00p-6:40p
$478.09 CAD including taxes.
Basically if you want to get the 60k which i would only consider, you would need to make at least 20 M class or higher economy fares.
Can anyone suggest 20 qualifying economy class fares on AC that cut it under say CAD$600 including taxes? If i can find something like that, i think i'll do a domestic run in Canada when i'm there next month, otherwise looks like i'll try to enjoy my holiday there! ;-)
19OCT AC8455 yegyyc
19Oct AC8428 yycycg
19Oct AC8249 ycgyvr
19Oct AC8079 yvryyj
20Oct AC8369 yyjyvr
20Oct AC8173 yvrylw
20Oct AC8419 ylwyvr
20Oct AC6250 yvryeg
Price I got was 335.00 plus tax ttl 403.85. I found a better price on Destina with the last 2 segments via yyc for 294.00 plus tax ttl around 365.00
Sorry, the others I can't find at the moment. One was 2-3 Nov YEG-YWG via YXE, YQR and YYC. It was around same price, which is the fall sale that ends today, 10th Sept. They were all in "L' class and so qualify for AP miles and the 60,000 promo. These western MR are more up my alley and would be easier than the Star 55,555 promo earlier this year. But if planning a run, be careful with the booking classes and which flights you choose.
While we're on the subject, I priced out the MR above in Destina and had no problems. Many others say the site sucks, but my first try pricing out options was o.k. It even pulled up some slightly cheaper options I hadn't thought of. Having used NW, AA, CO booking engines, Destina wasn't too much different. The reason I wanted to use Destina was to get the 1 AP for every dollar (base fare, no doubt)promo instead of the usual 1 for 3 ratio.
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