V-Flyer

Am in the US next week and could do with grabbing some TP to ensure retention of FC gold. I've found a first rtn on the 19th October from MSP-ORD for £299 which I believe would be a 6TP round trip.

Anyone see any better alternatives on a DL flight? need to be a single day rtn or worst case out PM on 19th and back before 10:30am on 20th to ensure good time to start trip back to UK

Virtual beers to any advances on price/tp gained

Cheers!

Are you based near MSP?

only for the duration of a meeting...based in the UK

How many TP's do you need?

Starting your trip from a hub reduces your earning potential versus travelling through a hub. For example, I made 2 TP runs from LAS last year, each resulting in 12 TP.

I travelled...

LAS > SLC > OAK > SLC > LAS
LAS -> LAX -> SAN -> LAX -> LAS

Each sector in first was worth 3 TP - so 24 TP in 2 days. The highest earning potential is when you can fly to short flights with a hub in the middle. LAS -> SAN was easy (until a man with a rifle shut down SAN airport! - http://ktar.com/story/740970/report-man ... ghborhood/).

I found only one option that could be better, If your budget is slightly higher you can marginally better TPs/£ if you go to ATL:

MSP->DFW->ATL->MSP (there was only non-stops back to MSP) for £394 which would give you 9 TPs. £43/TP as opposed to £50/TP on your ORD option, depends on how close you are and your tolerance for faffing about! :P

Or for £39 per TP (12 TP, total £476):

OMA-MSP-ORD and ORD-MSP-OMA.

However you do have to get to and from Omaha ...

Yeah, I'm pretty much welded to MSP as the starting point and basically looking to utilise the evening or worst case an overnight to fit in some form of TP earning potential. If I had been a bit more alert I could have used an additional day as holiday and buzzed about on a couple of trips or an indirect hub-hopping route.

Appreciate the responses, thanks... will take a look in more detail later

Found 10 TPs for $550/£437:

MSP-DTW-CVG (1st leg in F, 2nd leg in Y)
CVG-ATL-MSP (both legs in F)

Or 12 TPs for $657/£532:

MSP-DTW-BWI (both legs in F)
BWI-ATL-MSP (both legs in F)

Both of those £43-44 per TP, which looks about the best rate you'll get out of MSP.

Gumshoe, do you have the details on the first one you can share?

Sure.

Outbound:
DL2798 - MSP 0630 DTW 0911 (in First)
DL4855 - DTW 1015 CVG 1124 (in economy)

Return:
DL932 - CVG 1836 ATL 2028 (in First)
DL526 - ATL 2225 MSP 0014 (in First)

Total $540.20

So a very long day although if you'd prefer to overnight in CVG there's an option for $10 more that leaves CVG at 0920 on the 20th and gets into MSP via ATL at 1345.

Those flights at 0630 out of MSP and 2225 out of ATL do seem to be your best bet for same-day cheap TP runs so you may be able to find other options involving connections.

Found this one..a 12TP but seems when i try to book it then price jumps to $1300....at $484 would be worth the effort

Matrix Airfare Search
Minneapolis/St Paul (MSP) to Lexington (LEX) — Wed, Oct 19

Minneapolis/St Paul (MSP) to Detroit (DTW) — Wed, Oct 19
Delta 1357
Dep: 5:40 pm
Arr: 8:26 pm
1h 46m
Airbus A319
First (P)
Layover in DTW
1h 34m

Detroit (DTW) to Lexington (LEX) — Wed, Oct 19
Delta 4688
Dep: 10:00 pm
Arr: 11:16 pm
1h 16m
Canadair RJ 900
First (P)
OPERATED BY SKYWEST DBA DELTA CONNECTION
Lexington (LEX) to Minneapolis/St Paul (MSP) — Thu, Oct 20

Lexington (LEX) to Atlanta (ATL) — Thu, Oct 20
Delta 2501
Dep: 5:35 am
Arr: 6:59 am
1h 24m
MD-80
First (P)
Layover in ATL
0h 36m

Atlanta (ATL) to Minneapolis/St Paul (MSP) — Thu, Oct 20
Delta 2610
Dep: 7:35 am
Arr: 9:15 am
2h 40m
Boeing 757
First (P)
Breakfast
Mileage
2,031 total miles
CO2 Emissions
1,248 kg (estimated by ITA).
Airport Information
Minneapolis/St Paul International (MSP)
Lexington Blue Grass (LEX)
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW)
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International (ATL)
Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees)
US$484.20
Total cost for 1 passenger
US$484.20
How to buy this ticket
Tickets cannot be purchased directly from ITA Software.
Provide this information to a travel agent to help them match the fares found.
Make sure to provide the exact booking and fare codes shown.
Fare for 1 adult
Fare 1: Carrier DL KR7KA0FB MSP to LEX (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code P
Covers MSP-DTW (First), DTW-LEX (First)
US$204.19
Fare 2: Carrier DL KR7KA0FB LEX to MSP (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code P
Covers LEX-ATL (First), ATL-MSP (First)
US$204.18
US Transportation Tax (US)
US$30.63
US September 11th Security Fee (AY)
US$11.20
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF)
US$18.00
US Flight Segment Tax (ZP)
US$16.00
Subtotal per passenger
US$484.20
Number of passengers
x1
Subtotal For 1 adult
US$484.20
This ticket is non-refundable.
Changes to this ticket will incur a penalty fee.
Fare Construction (can be useful to travel agents)
MSP DL X/DTT DL LEX 184.19KR7KA0FB DL X/ATL DL MSP 184.18KR7KA0FB 1S20.00 1S20.00 USD 408.37 END ZP MSP DTW LEX ATL XT 30.63US 16.00ZP 11.20AY 18.00XF MSP4.50 DTW4.50 LEX4.50 ATL4.50
Total Airfare & Taxes
US$484.20
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Unfortunately ITA Matrix isn't always reliable when it comes to fares.

On DL's website, even economy on that itinerary is coming in at $784!