Yesterday I posted about American’s excellent business class fares to Asia, which go extremely well with the double miles promotion they’re running through the end of the year. Fares are as low as $2,200 roundtrip all-in from the west coast to Beijing (with routings allowed through Chicago), and as low as $2,800 from the east coast. Best of all the fares can be upgraded to first class using systemwide upgrades.
Well, it appears as if Delta and United are offering similar fares for the foreseeable future. While they don’t have equally tempting promotions, these are prices that are tough to beat if you’re looking to requalify for status this year or just get a head start on elite status for next year. For example, from Los Angeles to Beijing all three airlines have $2,185 all-in business class fares:
American:
Delta:
United:
While availability is sporadic, I’m seeing plenty of availability this year and lots of availability into the new year as well. For example, I’m even seeing availability for the fare some dates next March:
So if you’ve been eying a trip to China and are willing to spend a bit extra on business class, hop on over to matrix.itasoftware.com and you should be able to easily look up availability for your preferred dates using the flexible calendar feature.
While we’re on the topic of American’s double miles promotion, it looks like AAdvantageGeek and I have a bit of a disagreement as far as our interpretation of the terms and conditions go. AAdvantageGeek wrote an FAQ today on the promotion, and said the following:
Do the bonus elite-qualifying points count toward AAdvantage Elite Rewards?
No. From the terms and conditions “This offer does not increment the member’s prize eligible mileage balance”. Speaking of AAdvantage Elite Rewards, the deadline to register is December 15, 2012. Go here for more info to to see the list of gifts for this year.
As a reminder, the reason I’m considering booking a paid business class ticket to China is because it would get me over the 125,000 elite qualifying point (EQP) threshold for this year, which earns me 70,000 bonus AAdvantage miles through the 2012 Elite Rewards promotion.
From reading the terms and conditions of the 2012 Elite Rewards promotion, I don’t see any reference to promotional elite qualifying points not qualifying towards the total. AAdvantageGeek seems to be referring to the terms and conditions of the double miles promotion, which in part states:
I don’t interpret that as meaning it wouldn’t qualify towards the Elite Rewards program, since that would mean there’s no metric by which one can measure how many EQPs they have. I think they’re just referring to one’s Million Miler balance and also maybe miles towards sticker upgrades. But I’ve sought official clarification, and will post here when I find out for sure. How do you guys interpret that?
@ shids -- Keeping an eye on things, though not seeing anything equally good yet.
Hi Lucky,seems that the lax-pek deals dried up. Have you locatd anything else to generate approx 25k base EQM
@ A. S. -- See the latest post for official clarification. :)
Sorry about the downtime lately, I believe we switched servers overnight, so (in theory) it's supposed to get better.
PS: What's up with "Boarding Area?" It's blogs have been down a lot lately!!
When I first read it (the day I got the offer email) I was skimming and assumed that it meant that DEQMs are not RDMs. Only after I started considering the implications for Elite Rewards did I realize how vague this wording is. I, too, shot off an email to AA, but haven't received a reply. Between the chaos from September/October, Sandy, and this promo, I'm sure they're inundated!!
It is odd that they chose the phrase "prize eligible balance" rather than specifically mentioning "elite rewards", maybe they are two separate things.
Hopefully AA will clarify and the points will count: that would make this the most lucrative DEQM bonus promotion since 2009!