Questions and Answers

I’m still looking for a way to get back from MAD to MIA in J or F – revisiting all my options as it gets closer. Aeroplan was Tiffany’s suggestion but I wrote it off quickly as my initial search revealed a 110k cost per person for the one way. I was just searching again tonight and nothing has changed. But I’m wondering if I’m searching correctly ….?

I pick random dates anywhere from one to five months from now and consistently get 110k. Even if we go nearly one year from now, I’m getting the same 110k each way cost – surely the low level availability isn’t already taken for dates 350 days out? Is there a glitch in their site? Can anyone find a one way segment in J for 55K per person from Europe to N. America……anywhere….anytime?!

I think even more disturbing though is the taxes/fees == I’m seeing nothing less than ~$400/pp! The bulk of it being a “carrier surcharge.” That’ll definitely kill this option if accurate……
Thanks in advance.

Are you searching for two people or for a roundtrip? If so, Aeroplan lists the total price when you search.

Try searching on the United website — Aeroplan will be able to book any saver flights you find on the UA site. Stick to Swiss, Brussels, United, Turkish, & SAS to keep the fuel surcharges down.

Umm, yeah. Thank you for clearing that up 🙂 I knew something wasn’t right…..and that something was [B]me[/B].

-Too late to the party for Swiss ZRH-MIA. Darn. [Or am I missing another option?]
-VIE-MIA on Austrian is available, but a 09:55 departure from VIE means “positioning” a day ahead of time. No bueno.
[B]-MAD-LIS-MIA on TAP appears to be the most efficient available routing — how’s TAP J though?[/B]
-For LH, FRA -> IAD or JFK are the only open segments with 2 seats I’ve found so far. But I’d need to position on either end it looks like. Would you go further out of your way for LH J vs. TAP J??
-SAS not available.
-Turkish IST – MIA has the least surcharge via Aeroplan at $163/pp, but requires a 4hr positioning flight the day prior and will likely negate the lower surcharge.

Would I be any better off transferring MR to Singapore to get one of these Star Alliance options? Would I be able to get the TAP itinerary for better than $400/pp surcharge? Or the LH (FRA-IAD or JFK) segment?

Thanks again …

[LIST]
[*]Surcharges would be higher through SQ, so I wouldn’t do that.
[*]TAP isn’t great, comparatively.
[*]Check flights into Chicago, Houston, Newark too
[/LIST]
Good luck!!

Keep in mind if your positioning flight on TK and your overseas flight to US have a connection time more than 8 hours Turkish will pay for your hotel. So if you have to come in the day before and the first flight to US isn’t until next day they give you a hotel room.

Ok, still working on this – thanks if you’re still following 🙂

MarkS: interesting, thanks for that note.

Well, here’s where I stand…

How about[B] AirEuropa. [/B] 62.5k + $250/pp via FlyingBlue. Seems to be their new 787 business product on the MIA-MAD route. It’s direct. It’s a mid afternoon departure which gives us some time in MAD that morning. But there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of reviews on the new AirEuropa J. Can it really be [I]that[/I] bad?

The other options are falling further out of favor I think, as they either involve day-ahead “positioning” (Turkish, Austrian) or $400+/pp surcharges (TAP, LH), which is a hard to sell to the boss.

And it’s done – went with AirEuropa. Thanks again to all for bouncing around ideas.