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HOT DEAL! Fly West Coast to Quito, Ecuador Biz <$900 BAM!
Hot Diggity I just love a good Mileage Run Opportunity. Here’s the Deets
I read about how you could fly west coast to Quito, Ecuador Biz for <$900 on Flyertalk’s premium fare deals which you should hit up. Then I found the following on the ITA Matrix. There are tons of dates avail. I picked the weekend of Oct 7th. There are numerous threads about routing through JFK to nab the transcon and earn more EQM. This one flies one leg with a retrofit 767 and lie flat, but if you tinker around and find dates that work for you there is a lot of evidence that you can make this work for lie-flats on most legs.
Don’t forget to use BookwithMatrix to book.
I wrote about this a few weeks back but it makes bookings suuuuuper easy.
Find the lie-flats. This 767 has been retrofit
If you weren’t award of the design of a retro-fit cabin it’ll look like the seat map below. It’s configured with all aisle access and a 1-2-1 layout.
American now explicitly tells you how many EQM and RDM you’d be earnings as well.
This one clocks in just over $0.05 per EQM. Not terrible, but typically the goal is to get it at 3 cents per EQM. There are some routings that can get the total EQM up over 21k. That’s down around $0.04. Not too shabby. I think the thing to take into consideration most when looking at running for this is the marginal value of the points. If you aren’t anywhere near hitting top or mid tier elite status then it may not make much sense to do it. If this will give you Executive Platinum then the marginal value of the points is in excess of the price. The increased benefits, system wide upgrades, and lounge access alone would be worth be it.
Marginal value of EQM increases the closer you get to Elite status
Example: You have 85k EQM with no further travel planned. For $851 you’d earn enough EQM to put you over the 100k threshold and give you Executive Platinum Status.
With Executive Platinum you would be earning first class lounge access on international travel, 4 system wide upgrades, increased earning potential ( 11x $ in 2017), and domestic upgrades. That’s a hell of a deal for $851. The closer you get to elite tiers the marginal value of your EQM points increases compared to the EQMs you earn early in your qualification year.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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