[futaris]

12,000 miles if you credit a return trip to BMI:

cheap flights from the uk, Europe and worldwide | bmi

[QF009]

Originally Posted by futaris

Has anyone tried doing a one-way award Zone 9 - Zone 9 with a stopover? e.g. BNE-AKL-MEL or BNE-AKL-NAN ???

I don't see why that can't be done. You're supposed to go on 'the most direct route', unless the destination you want to reach can ONLY be done a certain way like BNE-AKL-MEL or even with a totally convoluted routing via a different zone, which leads to some rather interesting ways to save miles. Look up LHR-UUS (something like 6000 miles + cash zone1-2 in F) with a long transit at the final point before proceeding to UUS. Or Australia-cities in Hawaii not served by NZ. (Hint: OZ does fly to Russia, and UA has a great network from the mainland to Hawaii)

As for a stopover it's a hit or miss. Some agents will say no because you're only allowed 'enroute' stopovers and whilst BNE-AKL-NAN with a stop in AKL is 'enroute' the same cannot be said for BNE-AKL-MEL. But hang up and call back often enough and there are good chances that an agent will okay the route - you just have to make sure you tell them that you're entitled to a 'free stopover' rather than an 'enroute stopover.' Then again some of them might not even have a clue where all these places are...

I had lots of fun routing GRU-MEL. Zone 4 to 9, ended up going via MUC, ICN, HKG and SIN. I didn't do that route because I thought it's fun to fly an 'extreme' routing but because it was the only way I could find F availability all the way. The first agent I had was clearly clued up in geography and said that I had to take the most direct routes (either GRU-MUC/FRA-SIN-MEL in F or GRU-MUC/FRA-BKK-MEL in F/J or GRU-JNB-SIN/BKK-MEL in J). No availability? Tough, or pay for a Zone 4 to Zone 8 GRU-HKG (which was already in itself more expensive than 4-9) + a Zone 8-9 HKG-MEL to ticket the routing I wanted. So I hung up and called again - and the 2nd agent who obviously didn't consult a map okayed the routing as a 4-9.

In the case of the routing described in post 95 it was pretty much okayed instantly when we didn't find anything on LH/LX and I suggested going via SIN.

Though note in both instances I didn't have any stopovers, just long transits. Didn't want to push it, but people have been successful. YMMV.

A few extra hours of flying in F doesn't hurt I suppose.

Tip: The BD agents are completely unhelpful beyond the 'standard' routings that shows up on their screen so make sure you work out availability on the ANA tool before calling up. They will not help you with alternate routings to find availability, you have to do the legwork yourself and feed your itinerary to them flight by flight.

BTW I wouldn't advertise any successful rule bending on FT... lots of BD lurkers there. We're still safe here as I don't suppose people from downunder let alone this forum are on their radar quite yet.

This is by far one of the BEST schemes in the industry, miles are easy to both earn and burn.

[QF009]

Ooh.... I wonder if anyone's redeemed to GUM (also zone 9)? Using the "only way to get there" exception to get to GUM could be very good value...

[QF009]

As of 16th July, cash and miles bookings can no longer be used on LH F. Meaning if you want to redeem on LH F you have to pay full miles.

[ANstar]

Well just redeemed SYD-SIN-PVG (stop) -KIX on SQ/NH

18750 Miles + around $550 AUD in cash/taxes.

Got F between SIN-PVG, J for the rest.

[QF009]

Just redeemed for my Easter trip to TPE:
MEL-SIN SQ
SIN-TPE SQ (stop)
TPE-HKG TG

All in J, 18750 miles + around A$610 in cash/tax/fuel.

Could've got SIN-TPE in F for the same cost but wanted to make my transition to whY on QF30 HKG-MEL easier.

[QF009]

SIN-LHR now showing as A380... Suites here I come!!

Originally Posted by QF009

Got the first bit done... and with this I conclude that DC is truly like stealing candy from a baby.

HKG-ARN Zone8-Zone2, 25 000 + GBP170 for F.

Here's the routing I ended up with:
HKG-SIN SQ F
SIN-LHR SQ F
LHR-ARN SK C



Was another GBP100 or so in tax and fuel fines.

Full miles was this would've been 50 000, but I reckon the cash offset is pretty nice value.

Such a shame LX/LH had no availability in F hey.

[futaris]

What's the easiest / cheapest way to get 1000 miles into BMI? I think you need to do a car rental / hotel stay to get any miles into BMI.

I've got 11,500 miles from the survey and this signup, and I'd like to redeem a one-way economy Zone 7 - Zone 9 using Cash & Points...

I suppose I could go for 15,000 miles and redeem one of the suggestions that QF009 came up otherwise...

edit: Whoops, didn't see buy miles on bmi.