Oops!...I Did It Again. I decided to become a millionaire with Eurobonus from SAS.
sasI have to say that the transition from Star Alliance to Scandinavian Airlines' Skyteam has indeed been full of very rich [...]
Virgin Atlantic
Vietnam Airlines
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
Saudia
Korean Air
KLM
Delta
China Eastern Airlines
Air France
Air Europa
Aeromexico
SkyTeam
Learn more from this trip
sasD I have to say. Scandinavian Airlines' transition from Star Alliance to Skyteam was indeed rich Of very positive and unexpected implications.
In this article:
In recent months, we have seen many status match campaigns that have enabled a great many users to obtain an elite card (or cards), farewell to Star Alliance has triggered a real hunt for Scandinavian frequent flyers.
I also liked some of the marketing campaigns both in terms of communication and interaction with old and new customers, one of which is definitely the "who wants to be a millionaire" campaign.
Chi non risika non rosika
When I read the rules of the challenge, which I remember. allows you to earn from 15 thousand to 1 million Eurobonus miles, I thought "too bad" I can't make it. Already having a number of flights booked between November and December, I had absolutely no time to jam in the hunt for the richest prize as well.
However, the possibility of Getting 1M miles for free doesn't happen every day, too big a prize not to even try, and so I decided to analyze my options.
15 flights with 15 Skyteam carriers
To qualify for 1 million Eurobonus miles, you must fly by 12/31 with 15 Skyteam carriers.
It may seem simple however, with Czech Airlines ending its history, Aerolineas Argentinas and AirEuropa not yet fully integrated, MEA blocked by the war in Lebanon, and ITA Airways excluded from the list of valid carriers for the challenge, the audience of valid companies is therefore 15. This means that to make a full house, one needs to fly on all the alliance carriers Skyteam remaining.
A challenge on 4 different continents
Given that 2 carriers are in America (Delta and Aeromexico) 4 in Europe (Virgin Atlantic, Air France, KLM, Tarom) one each in Africa and the Middle East (Kenya Airways and Saudia) and as many as 6 in Asia (Korean, Vietnam Airlines Garuda, Xiamen, China Airlines, and China Eastern) To take home the million Eurobonus miles, one must fly to at least 4 continents.
Unfortunately, the rules of the game require that flights be credited to the Eurobonus card and I don't have any status with SAS, so I won't be able to take advantage of the benefits of Flying or Flying Blue, much less have miles to use, although I could always transfer from Amex if needed.
My original programs
My final year-end flights were long defined. Two tickets booked with points and therefore flexible and modifiable.
A flight to Los Angeles with Finnair to try out the Finnish carrier's new business class and a trip to the East with Qatar. In the case of Los Angeles, where I am going this week I had not yet identified how to get back to Italy, the only certainty I had was to be back in Italy by November 11.
The other itinerary, on the other hand, involved flying First with Qatar to Hong Kong and to return to Italy I had taken a ticket with Air France again with miles.
What will I need during this challenge
Do not need any visa, at none of the stops where I'm going, has zeroed in on the bureaucracy and possible friction of this trip
L's only necessity will be to carry my Platinum American Express with me. and take advantage of insurance, priority passes and benefits in hotels.
Otherwise I would have subscribed a premium travel policy from Heymondo thanks to the 10% discount for TFC readers. Comprehensive, no deductible coverage that allows you to travel with peace of mind.
Obviously for such a trip, with no status and almost everything in economy, I will have to travel light and easy. So no indestructible yellow trunk, but only my trusty aluminum trolley Of the perfect sizes for all airlines, Ryanair included. As a reminder, throughout November there will be 20% discount on Level8 products by taking advantage of the code BSFPREE And free shipping.
The first flight will be SAS
To kick off the scavenger hunt and having to go to Helsinki to catch the flight to Los Angeles the first leg I will accumulate on the card Eurobonus will be right aboard SAS, from Malpensa to Finland, via Copenhagen.
Fortunately, I was already in the U.S.
Thursday afternoon I will arrive in LA and in my ideas was to fly to NY. staying in the former Conrad in Midtown where I had booked an error fare crazy and then go home with Neos.
First, I cancelled the hotel reservation in NY., so much so even hotel award reservations are flexible and designed a new itinerary.
I therefore booked with a handful of Avios an evening flight from LAX to Guadalajara Mexico where, the following morning, I will begin my hunt for a million miles.
With Aeromexico I will fly to Atlanta and from there with Delta I will be arriving at New York JFK. From the New York airport, I will board the A350/1000 of Virgin Atlantic direction London. The total expense for this itinerary, all in economy, is just over 800$.
Goodbye first class
The first week of December, as mentioned, I was supposed to fly to the east., but I could not fit all flights inside this ticket so I decided to cancel all reservations and start from scratch.
I must say that I did not give up lightly on the chance to (re)try Qatar's first class, but With 1 million miles I can take away many more experiences.
The keystone
The keystone, which made me realize that my madness could be feasible, was when I remembered that Kenya Airways performs a flight fifth freedom between Bangkok and Guangzhou, without this route I could not have drawn the itinerary.
The Asia campaign
To complete the most complicated part of this itinerary I had no choice, zero convenience and little time to spare. Seven days to put on the record at least one qualifying flight with Xiamen Airlines, Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines, China Airlines, China Eastern, Garuda Indonesia, Kenya Airways, and Saudia. Always paying attention to the class Of the ticket, Because not all of them entitle to accumulate points.
The departure from Malpensa to Amsterdam with KLM, another company with which I need to accumulate at least 1 flight, from here aboard the 787 of Xiamen Airlines direction Xiamen port city on the southeastern coast of China, I will not, however, have time to be a tourist or shoot a 24h episode a... because a few hours after landing I will leave with China Eastern Nanjing direction.
After a night at the hotel and a shower, we set off again with Korean Air direction Seoul, a city where I was recently and which I will not have time to visit, a couple of hours in the lounge (Priority Pass) and I will fly to Taiwan aboard an A330 from China Airlines.
Everything has to fit together perfectly, in my itinerary I have little room for unforeseen events and delays even Because they are all separate PNRs. From Taiwan I will depart for Bangkok, via Hanoi, with Vietnam Airlines. Needless to say, in Thailand I will not stay long, just long enough to hop on a Singapore Airlines flight and after a stopover in Changi I will depart for Jakarta.
Since SQ is Star Alliance and I didn't have any SkyTeam alternatives, I chose the cheapest possible solution, at the moment I am in waiting list to redeem this ticket using only a handful of Krisflyers to reach Indonesia, but in case of need I also have the option on a different airline.
After a night at the hotel, a shower and hopefully a few hours of sleep I will depart aboard the Garuda Indonesia Guangzhou direction, and from there I will be able to board the A330 from Kenya Airways for Bangkok.
If everything goes smoothly at this point I will be able to breathe a sigh of relief and say "I did it," because I will only have to embark the next day on the 787 from Saudia and fly to Malpensa after a stopover in One of the most beautiful lounges in the world in Jeddah.
To complete the work I will be "only" missing 2 flights.
From Milan to Paris with Air France and from Paris to Bucharest aboard Tarom, probably the smallest company among those active in the Skyteam alliance, and then return to Italy in some way.
Plan B
I booked a couple of flights with miles in case something goes wrong and I also kept a little trick up my sleeve, which is to transfer some MR points toward Eurobonus and redeem an award ticket with AirEurope. The only way to validate a flight with this company for the purposes of the challenge is just to redeem it with points, if something goes wrong I can then use this solution to make up for the missing flight.
In any case 100k Eurobonus miles will be the consolation prize
The challenge launched by SAS has 3 goals.: 15k miles if you fly with 5 ST carriers, 100k if you make at least 10 routes with as many companies, and then the million-mile super award to those who make en plein.
Since I spent about €5,500 to book all these tickets, the 100k mile award alone should (almost) pay back the investment not including, of course, hotel rooms and other travel expenses. In addition to this I will have the opportunity to record several videos to post on the YT channel: 4 new business classes (Xiamen, Kenya Airways, Saudia, Aeromexico) and as many economics (Virgin Atlantic, Korean Air, China Airlines and Garuda), That is, 2 months of publications.
How much are 1M Eurobonus points worth
It is always difficult to put an exact value on points in a loyalty program, but to have a term of comparison a one-way business class ticket from Europe to the U.S. aboard SAS costs 50k miles, this means that I will have the opportunity to detach as many as 10 round-trip itineraries, so no less than 25 thousand euros.
If, on the other hand, I look at flights with Skyteam partners. a ticket from London to New York with Virgin Atlantic costs 78k Eurobonus miles, more expensive than with SAS, but the Virgin cash ticket is also considerably cheaper than Scandinavian.
If I needed to fly to Brazil. I will have enough points for 5 tickets, still in business class, round trip with Air France, worth between 13 and 18 thousand euros.
Without forgetting that tickets being totally flexible the counter value of the tickets will be even higher since the cheapest business class fares are never cancelable.
In conclusion
The challenge issued by SAS was too greedy to pass up, the good fortune in my case is that I was already planning a flight to the U.S. and had not yet bought any return tickets, but without the Kenya Airways fifth freedom flight I would never have been able to complete the treasure hunt.
