Need to earn 9345 miles in 1 day - FlyerTalk Forums (2024)

jerrychuang

Join Date: Sep 2016

Location: ARN,Potomac TRACON

Programs: Cheapest lie-flat available and credit card bestowed hotel elites now, long-time AA EXtraPotato then

Posts: 161

Hi folks,

I am 9345 miles or 4 segments on A3 away from retaining my gold this year. Seems like an easy task, but it must be completed in 1 (one) day before August 31. I also must leave and come back to Sweden at the end of the day (i.e. 23:59). That leaves only other possible points of departure CPH. Planning a feasible route is breaking my brain a little bit (with the fact that A3 seems to go vastly conservative on ATH connection time at least on the summer schedule, I could not find any onward connection to greek destinations within 2 hours) so I'm looking for some inspiration from the gurus. I CAN cross the Schengen border although it's not preferred. The last 3000 stretch, I can always buy tier miles straight away.

I had two main trains of thought:
a) The 4-segment route: I can fly the earliest and cheapest Ryanair or SAS to ATH/SKG and come back on the last flight of the day. That generally leaves me the period between 11:00 to 19:00 for run on A3. This is more cost-effective, and I expect everything to be wrapped up in 600 euros. It is, however, very tight, and I would be hesitant to buy single-segment tickets without connection protection. One slight delay and using the remote stand at ATH would toast me completely.

b) The brute-9000-mile route: Lufthansa/Austrian business fares that are not P give a flat 2000-mile accrual per segment. I could get a return itinerary with connections to somewhere in central Europe that falls in short haul. Seems VIE is doable, and I won't be unhappy to do some beer shopping and enjoy a good meal in Alte Stadt Vienna. The obvious issue is LHG pricing is a bit over the roof at this point (expect to pay 800 euros out of pocket to get to 8000) and I wonder if anyone could point me to a more creative and cheaper routing. I of course and take a train between destinations, say from VIE to Dresden or alike.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance for your help!

Last edited by jerrychuang; Jul 3, 2024 at 3:34 am

fifty_two

Join Date: May 2015

Location: RBA / TBS

Programs: AF Gold / A3 Gold / Accor Gold / Hilton Gold / TP Silver

Posts: 2,810

Good luck with such criterias , i would recommend to forget about the " must be completed in 1 (one) day"

google flights is your friend , have you checked this first ?

jerrychuang

Join Date: Sep 2016

Location: ARN,Potomac TRACON

Programs: Cheapest lie-flat available and credit card bestowed hotel elites now, long-time AA EXtraPotato then

Posts: 161

Must be completed in 1 day is unfortunately the hard criterium in this case

Yes, done comprehensive GF searches, but since I'm relatively new to Europe, not sure if there are any particular sweetspot for routing (like DCA-RDU F on AA in the US)

nieszprot

Join Date: Jul 2016

Location: SOF

Programs: A3

Posts: 121

jerrychuang

Join Date: Sep 2016

Location: ARN,Potomac TRACON

Programs: Cheapest lie-flat available and credit card bestowed hotel elites now, long-time AA EXtraPotato then

Posts: 161

Thanks. That's something I'm thinking of, but it seems that I cannot do a immediate turnover with SAS, at least not on the same ticket. Not sure how risky that would be.

jkgrpas

Join Date: Dec 2021

Programs: Aegean Miles&Bonus

Posts: 95

Xandrios

Join Date: Oct 2009

Location: AMS / ATH

Programs: AFKL Plat, A3 Gold

Posts: 7,421

The LH/OS option is going to be very expensive for a same day return. Personally I'd go for collecting segments. Few things to consider:

- You may want to fly out of fly back on A3 (Preferably both if the schedule/time permits)
- If you do fly FR out, I'd not fly to ATH. Rather, somewhere else in Europe where you can then connect to A3.
- A 4-segment trip on A3 could consist of two one-way trips that transit through ATH or SKG. Where I would recommend flying from an international destination and having one of the domestic destinations (potentially an island) as your final turnaround point.

Reasoning being:

- Aegean does one-ways without price penalty, allowing for a cheap same day return. LH/OS does not.
- Starting internationally and flying to a domestic destination (Preferably something not too popular for summer holidays..) can be rather affordable
- Starting/Ending in ATH is often more expensive than ending elsewhere in the network
- Aegean Economy segments are likely going to be cheaper than OS Z fares - if those even exist for this time period
- Assuming that you have Gold you may be able to upgrade some of those Economy Aegean flights

In other words, there's no one solution to this. I'd explore multiple options and compare things from a financial and miles/segments perspective. This likely will require some time to put the pieces together ending up with, hopefully, something reasonably affordable/usable. Due to summer holidays chances are it wont be too cheap though.

giorginho

Join Date: Jul 2019

Posts: 1,385

This would be my suggestion as well. In fact, I'd take it a step further and suggest you ( jerrychuang) fly late in the evening towards somewhere near (preferably directly to) a destination which Aegean serves overnight. Hannover and London to ATH/SKG and Cologne to SKG come to mind first. I'm sure there are many more. You won't be getting much sleep this way, but you also won't be that worried about making it back within 24 hours.
So do your research and get a bit creative ​​​​​​.

jerrychuang

Join Date: Sep 2016

Location: ARN,Potomac TRACON

Programs: Cheapest lie-flat available and credit card bestowed hotel elites now, long-time AA EXtraPotato then

Posts: 161

Thanks all for the tips.

A3's domestic summer schedule seems abysmal. After quite some hours of searching I am thinking this routing out of the very few options:

FR4691 ARN 0545-SKG 1005. Overnighted aircraft, lower chance of delay. On time arrival rate seems ok.
A3111 SKG 1115-ATH 1210; A3274 ATH 1340- JKH 1435; On select dates this itinerary can be done in one ticket as the connection is bang on 90min and very short hop to chios.
A3275 JKH 1500-ATH 1555; A3862 ATH 1805-VIE 1925; Same plane return. Only issue is not sure if I need to re-clear security at JKH but the good (or bad) news is no flights to other destinations +/- 3 hr.
OS307 VIE 2100- ARN 2240. Pretty comfortable connection time and arrival time buffer.

One possible issue is that the turboprops will likely not take fuel at out stations and generally would not have a layover >30min. The JKH flight has alternatives to JNX, HER, JMK, JTR and MLO, CHQ. While JTR, CHQ and HER are jet services (meaning the layover time would be 40min), the aircraft comes from somewhere else. And the destined accrued delay will be more atrocious.

Eager to hear your thoughts!

Last edited by jerrychuang; Jul 3, 2024 at 7:28 am

jerrychuang

Join Date: Sep 2016

Location: ARN,Potomac TRACON

Programs: Cheapest lie-flat available and credit card bestowed hotel elites now, long-time AA EXtraPotato then

Posts: 161

Thanks giorginho. The unfortunately critical issue is they all need to be done in one calendar day so 00:00-23:59, instead of 24 hours. Otherwise, I hop on the TLL flight which now departs at whopping 03:20, and life is easy!

Last edited by jerrychuang; Jul 3, 2024 at 7:18 am

palcsaky

Join Date: Sep 2014

Location: Lincoln, UK

Programs: A3G, BA Silver, LH FT

Posts: 298

nieszprot

Join Date: Jul 2016

Location: SOF

Programs: A3

Posts: 121

Yes, going through security in Naxos will be necessary (but the airport is like small bus station).

Also, on some days you have SK 1823 flying 20 minutes after FR flight if you want to maximise miles.

jerrychuang

Join Date: Sep 2016

Location: ARN,Potomac TRACON

Programs: Cheapest lie-flat available and credit card bestowed hotel elites now, long-time AA EXtraPotato then

Posts: 161

Thanks!

Huh, it seems that I can also force booking into LH D for ARN-MUC-BCN RT at 7000 SEK on LX's site. Maybe the most straightforward way.

nk15

Join Date: Aug 2014

Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances

Posts: 12,157

I checked your options, I do not think the 4 A3 segments are doable. I came close with FR in to SKG at 5am and out of CHQ to ARN at night with Norwegian or SAS (and the 4 A3 segments in between in one ticket) but the ideal arrival-departure times do not match on the same days. Your problem is that there are not early enough flights from your locations or late enough flights out of Greece.

Your other options may be something like LIS-ARN via ATH and related combos to get the miles, but A3 doesn't give miles calculations on the site for many of these or the hours do not match.

Your best bed is probably with the miles, and not the segments. This is a puzzle indeed.

Knobbgb

Join Date: Oct 2012

Location: PAS, Paros Greece

Programs: A3 *G

Posts: 1,392

It IS do-able with a couple of short connections, for example:

21/07/24

ARN 06:00 ATH 10:40 (SK)
ATH 13:05 SKG 14:00 (A3)
SKG 14:40 ATH 15:35 (A3)
ATH 16:25 SKG 17:20 (A3)
SKG 18:00 ATH 18:55 (A3)
ATH 20:45 ARN 23:25 (SK)

With ComfortFlex tickets you could probably even make a shorter connection on the first ATH-SKG giving yourself some insurance later in the day. Also you might be able to find some better domestic connections but I don't (want to) have time to look.

But I have to say (and will probably get flamed but am past caring at my age) that you really need to be more realistic. You REALLY aren't allowed to stay out overnight ONCE in the next two months? Any realistic itinerary is going to have you leaving for the airport at 3am and getting home at 1am anyway! It almost feels like you're setting a challenge or deliberately making it difficult. The question that probably a few are asking is: do you really NEED your Gold status if you have these restraints and still need 9000+ miles so late in your requalification year? OK I know you probably have some personal circumstance going on that's none of our business but, since your asking people to put themselves out to help... it kind of is.

You need to just be able to free up one extra day. Do two ARN-ATH-ARN roundtrips, relaxed and not stressed and be home in time for dinner, or whatever. Call in sick, hire a carer for the day, tell whomever that your flight was cancelled. Be more creative. I'm not just being confrontational for the hell of it - I actually took time out to look for some flights, remember.