Ok – I’m behind schedule (as usual) so here’s part two of the LHR-ORD post.
So you remember the numbers? Good. I skipped Code shares for one reason – I wasn’t willing to handle them at this juncture.
BMI offer the UA flights of LHR-IAD-ORD and back for £362, with a £2 discount for going direct.
CO is one who also offers cheaper fares – £330 on the direct (the cheapest fare) with a stop in Newark costing an extra £2.
Sometimes codeshares can be beneficial (for example, I once scored a £90 discount on an LHR-SFO and back fare on one site vs the United site), but alas this time – not so much.
So lets get back to segments. One of the little beauty facts of the BMI programme is the minimum credit of 600 miles per segment (multiplied by the fare code bonus). For the lower frequent flyer like me who qualify by the skin of our teeth – this is good and very helpful in the grand scheme of things as you don’t know where your qualification level will be by the end of the status year.
Two good runs initially appeared:
LHR-PHL-ORD-DCA-LHR (with a bonus leg if you like) for £340. = 8980 miles or 9502 with a CLT leg thrown in
Whilst good on the surface, two little matters come to mind –
- Firstly, the LHR-PHL flight gets in comparatively late (and departs just as late), killing time that I need to spend in Chicago (the earliest flights get to Chicago for 19:20 – United will get you there for 2pm)
- Secondly… It’s US Airways. Nuff said?
- Yield: 3.58p/per mile
The United Equivalent which was LHR-IAD-ORD-CMH-IAD-LHR would yield 9154 for £342.
However. I did a bit more digging, and after a bit of fiddling with the United engine I managed to get LHR-IAD-ORD-CMH-IAD-EWR-LHR score a total of 9542 miles, which also throws in a Continental codeshare between EWR and LHR for a grand total of £2 more.
Matters that come to mind with this:
- Dulles immigration – hopefully the midfield will be open as it was before I get there
- Possible Moonbuggy fun
- The high chance my luggage will be lost between Chicago and London on the homeward run
- £2 for 40 status miles
- Yield: 3.58p/per mile
So the options are once again – US Airways or United with Continental.
Which one did I choose? You’ll find out in March when the trip report goes live…. but it should be easy to guess…
