The largest MR (people size).
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Didn't know where to put this thread (it's mileage related but not quite serious enough)......
I wonder if it would be possible to coordinate the largest group of people who simultaneously undertake an MR/SC run (i.e. the same MR/SC run).
Now before you jump on me, yes I realise there are some kinks in making something like that happen, and one of them is that on MR routes, you'd be lucky to find enough lowest bucket fares to get a satisfactorily large group of people at an MR-able rate.
But the idea kind of strikes a chord, doesn't it?
The FT AGM had a bumper of at least a dozen people flying QF175 SYD-BNE - not an MR but it was a lot of us (I guess even funnier when 90% of us were Final Call paged by name over the SYD T1 PA system ).
I was recently on an SC run BNE-SYD-MEL in JQ *C and had 2 fellow "runners" on the SYD-MEL leg (well, for one it may not be a run as such - already WP, but we got SYD F Lounge out of it as well). That's 3 people....of course JQ *C is now $349 and well out of decent SC run range
I wonder how QF conference rates (group travel) are.......
Just me brainstorming again........ MR is almost a non-exist in Australian domestic now (except for the odd QF-Link)....
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Hmmm...not quite the thread I anticipated. I thought there would be more responses than this, for one, and a bunch of people saying that it mightn't or cannot work.
Currently I'm eyeing something like SYD-ABX-SYD-PQQ-SYD-CFS-SYD. These fares are $79 per leg starting from October, and $89 for most (but admittedly not necessarily conveniently-timed) BNE/SYD flights. (Some flights differ in price, but some weekends have $79 all day for them.) That's $7.9 per SC or 12.658 points/$; not really MR rates (QF Link have a SYD/PQQ points promotion going on, but the fares are all $131 - so much for that!). As for SC chasing, that's the best deal in Australia for now.
You can cross the Tasman and the fares are much cheaper in NZ (as low as NZD59 sometimes, or perhaps NZD69.)
Or, you can cross the Pacific to the US for SC runs via YUPP/KUPP (P class, or Restricted First) - you can get as low as $3 - $5 per SC there; not sure of points ratio but the main thing is status there.
Credit card charges need to be factored in for Australian fares (or ex-AU). For NZ or US MRs, need to factor in the cost of an overseas return trip, plus time, hotel and transport costs.
Hmmm...not quite the thread I anticipated. I thought there would be more responses than this, for one, and a bunch of people saying that it mightn't or cannot work.
anat0l,
I'm sure a few such as myself are watching with interest.
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Re: The largest MR (people size)
Interesting logistics involved. Much easier to get people co-ordinated onto an "Inaugural Flight" or tied into transport to another event.
Different people have different ideas as to what they consider a SCRUN, and the lengths they would be prepared to go to for it.
Eg - some would be happy to spend a Sunday flying Sydney - Adelaide, having a few drinks in the QP or lunch at a nearby foodie place, then flying back home. Others would be happy to tie a work trip from Adelaide to Sydney on the Sunday Arvo with others (ie not really a SCRUN, but happy to co-ordinate it with other plans). Others would be happy with flying eg SYD-PQQ-SYD-ADL-SYD type of flights. That sort of set of flights may assist with getting some people to join some of the legs as they feel appropriate.
Last of all, always (as you should know!) beware of Qantas changing schedules, cancelling flights or weather related issues getting in the way. There are also issues with getting a lot of cheaper fares in buckets people want to book into.
IMHO, the SYD-AKL vv run would be great, but not really sure whether that's achievable, esp. considering the forced overnight and way to early in the morning departure from AKL. Perhaps an ex-NZ fare could be found to get people back home at a reasonable hour!
I am still interested, unfortunately I have to say work permitting, if you can come up with a convenient routing that does not include any flight, or possible flight, on JQ....
There aren't a lot of mileage runs, so I'm going to focus on SC runs...since most of us are probably after the status.... inc. me. I'm currently 110 SC away from SG; I preferably want to get SG before end of Oct when I have a small travel burst, and QC access would be handy.... (It would actually be 80 SC to go if QF wouldn't be such a PITA and credit my NZ MR sectors - I've already called QF twice about this, as well as a whole stack of hotel points not credited.......)
Well, QF decided to have a QFLink promo that gives 400 extra points per SYD-{ABX,PQQ,CFS,TMW} for the months of September and October. Problem is that they jacked the prices up from ~$79 back to ~$130 or so as soon as the promo was introduced. Dammit.
The other option I found was something like SYD-CNS, which was on sale until tonight (as of this post date) at $159. Nice rate of $159/20 SC = $7.95/SC (ex C/C charges), but since I fly from BNE I either have to award flight it down and up from SYD, or pay for it, which bumps up the rate to $8.40/SC. The award flight option to/from SYD (ex-BNE) then SYD-CNS twice (separate PNRs) gives $8.125/SC inc. C/C charges. It does require an overnighter, though - bumps up price. (Only one SYD-CNS-SYD can be achieved in one day. Really strains the flights in and out of SYD too.) I think I'll let that one lapse.
The winner is still LAN D runs, use lan.com to book separately SYD-AKL and AKL-SYD. About AU$1122 (figuring by exchange rate from xe.com I used as of this post, plus my card charges 2.5% for international currency fee) for 160 SC, which gives a rate of ~$7.012/SC. Even after factoring in SYD postitioning flights, you still easily get a rate less than $8/SC. Of course, as Mal said, flight times are rather ungodly; more suggestive to pulling an all-nighter in AKL or sleeping in AKL airport (very little business case to get a hotel for such a short stay!). Also, lan.com insists on some sort of booking window (I think it must be at least 2 weeks before departure - guess.....)
On the other hand, I wonder how many D seats there are on such LAN flights. seatcounter.com gives 4 seats for all of D, I, J, A and F; I think the D and J inventories are the only ones available for cash sale. Not much of a record breaking (by person) MR/SC run, unless some of us are prepared to fly F (which is a bit farcical for the price and the short distance). I also some of you have your SWMBOs to answer to; they mightn't like the idea of quickly hopping across the Tasman for the weekend just to get status.
How much would some of you be prepared to pay for an SC run (or MR for that matter) in terms of rate, i.e. either A$/SC or miles/A$? Also would you have 'terms', e.g. don't want to go overseas, etc.
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