Need Advice on TP earning with Delta and Virgin America

Hi All --

I'm about to leave for a trip to Vancouver, and I really need to maximise my TP earnings on this trip. It's a bit of a noob question, but here goes:

I'm thinking about flying PE LHR-IAD and SFO-LHR open jaw, but getting from WAS to YVR (or even SEA) is going to involve multiple stops.

So my question is, if you're flying multiple stops on Delta, are you getting TPs for each leg? What if you book the tickets individually (although financially that might not make a lot of sense).

Also, anyone have any good ideas for a TP run on Virgin America from the west coast? I can spend a day starting from and ending at SFO, as long as it's worth it.

Any advice is appreciated!

travis

BTW, here's what I'm thinking:

Book LHR-JFK VS PE
Book JFK-IAD (or DCA) DL Economy
Book SFO-JFK DL Economy
Book JFK-LHR VS PE

I figure that will make 8 TPs and cost the same as a PE return ticket, just take a bit more time. I'll also look into the cost of higher classes on DL.

Then I'll need WAS-YVR (or SEA) which will be 1 or more TPs. Then I'll probably take Amtrak down to California and then back to SFO -- I need to go to SBP, which isn't served by any TP partners.

That will leave me about 15 TPs to make by September. I don't have any travel planned, but have been reading the TP run threads and would consider a day's worth of flights out of SFO on either VX or DL. Any advice greatly recieved!

Travis

You may also find that to pay the extra for DL flights is not as much as you think but you get 3 TP per flight.

Thanks dude. I'll look at that, especially for JFK-WAS. Might be a deal there, since the flight isn't very long.

You may also find that to pay the extra for DL flights is not as much as you think but you get 3 TP per flight.

I meant say pay the extra for First class - on a short route it can be just $80-100 so a cheap way to get an extra 2 TP

I flew BOS-MSP-SEA on DL in September (with a shorter than planned for 20 minute plane change in MSP). It was one ticket, but two separate flight numbers and I got 3 TPs for each leg.

Thanks folks!

Seems VS FC can't book first class on DL flights for some reason. The connecting flight to WAS from JFK cost £16, so that's not going to be cheaper to book direct, but maybe I can get a paid upgrade at a reasonable price.

The flight they proposed to go WAS - SEA was not that cheap, so I split the tickets and will try that direct with Delta.

Also, I read recently on statusmatcher that some people have been able to status match to Delta Gold. Just FYI for anyone who is about to lose FC Gold and is looking for some kind of status.

So, in the end, I split the DL IAD-MSP-SEA ticket out of VS and booked it directly, FC was $100 per leg, which I thought was a good deal for the TPs and a kinda crappy meal.

That, and taking a nearly free DL connection from VS for both transatlantic legs (JFK-IAD, SFO-LAX, £16 each, only economy available) takes me to about -10 TP to complete by September.

Any ideas? TP run out of SF? I guess a DL FC SFO-LAX x2 (12 TP) would put me over the top for $1080. And only take a couple of hours out of my day. But it's a bit expensive.