American begins non=stop between Dallas/Ft. Worth and Lima, Peru April 1, 2013, and to promote the new route they’re offering up to 20,000 AAdvantage miles:

Participating Airlines: American Airlines

Award: Bonus Miles

Offer: The More You Fly. The More You Earn. Starting April 1, American Airlines begins nonstop service between Dallas/Fort Worth and Lima, Peru. To celebrate, we’re offering up to 20,000 AAdvantage bonus miles every time you fly a round-trip on our new route.

Start planning your trips and book now, because the more you fly, the more bonus miles you will earn!

Earn 20,000 AAdvantage Miles

Business Class and Economy Class fares booked in Y, B or H

Earn 10,000 AAdvantage Miles

All other Economy Class fares

Offer Dates: April 1, 2013 through June 30, 2013

Promotion Code: AALIM

American has been aggressively promoting this new route, this bonus offer is in addition to some steeply discounted fares that they’re already offering to Lima. Both economy and business class fares are half what they were from Dallas this time last year: Business Class for $1,324 and Economy for $724.

The DFW to Lima segment earns 6,714 miles, round-trip. If you’re an AAdvantage Platinum or Executive Platinum member, you’ll earn 100% bonus miles, so round-trip you’ll bank 13,428 AA miles.  Add to that an extra 10,000 or 20,000 bonus  miles, and when you consider that round-trip economy MileSAAver awards are available for 30,000 AAdvantage Miles,  it’s almost like  buy one, get one free!.

Registration is required before you travel using promo code AALIM.   Go here for complete terms and conditions.

Photo: Papas Rellenas – Plaza de Armas – Arequipa
Credit: Robert Luna on Flickr

In the last week there have been some incredible fares to South America.  Here are a few of the bargains we’ve seen (via The Flight Deal):

Business Class – American/LAN: New York – Easter Island, Chile. $1,009

Business Class – LAN/American Argentina: Dallas – Buenos Aires, Argentina. $930.

Business Class – American: New York – Santiago de Chile, Chile. $902

These Business Class fares are cheaper than coach (as of last night, there was still some availability)!

Here’s another great deal to South America: Dallas to Lima for about 50% off!

My brother-in-law’s folks live in Lima, so we’re always tracking fares to there from Dallas.

Los Angeles, New York, and Miami always get the big sales, but prices very seldom fluctuate from Dallas: Economy fares stay around $1,300 and Business Class holds steady at about $3,600.

We’re all excited that American will soon start direct service between Dallas/Ft.Worth and Lima, but we weren’t expecting to see any super discounts.  If anything, we fully expected that the price would increase now that we have the convenience of a non-stop flight.

DFW/Lima is one of those perennial destinations that I follow with Kayak’s fare tracking feature. Yesterday I received an alert that the fares were about half of what they normally cost.  Take a look at these fares:

Business Class: $1,353 round-trip

Economy Class: $703.64 round-trip

For Dallas, this is a crazy cheap fare!

From the fare rules:

RESERVATIONS FOR ALL SECTORS ARE REQUIRED AT LEAST 14 DAYS

TRAVEL FROM LAST STOPOVER MUST COMMENCE NO EARLIER THAN 3

VALID FOR TRAVEL COMMENCING ON/AFTER 01APR 13. TRAVEL ON

THIS FARE COMPONENT MUST COMMENCE BY MIDNIGHT ON 12JUN 13.

TICKETS MUST BE ISSUED ON/BEFORE 26FEB 13.

I looked at fares from some other markets and didn’t see anything that looked obviously inexpensive, but then I don’t really follow fares to Lima from many other cities.  So I’m not sure if this sale is specific to Dallas.  If you find a great deal to Lima from your city, let me know in the comments section.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a big fan of The Flight Deal.  I check their website several times a day, subscribe to their Daily Deals Newsletter and follow them on Twitter.  If you consider a crazy cheap fare as reason enough to travel, then you should be following The Flight Deal too.

This year they’ve found some great deals like $397 fares to Hawaii, sub-$800 fares to places like Istanbul, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and some sub-$200 fares to LA, San Francisco, New York, and lots of other cities.

What makes them different than all the other fare tracking sites is that they look for value and not just a low price.  They only publish deals that are priced at 6 cents per mile or better.

Now that we’re coming up on the end of the year, many of you may be looking for some mileage run opportunities in order to maintain your AAdvantage elite status or to bump you up to the next level.

Miami, Los Angeles, New York are highly competitive markets, so finding a good AA mileage run is pretty easy. It’s a lot tougher though if you’re in Dallas or Chicago.

I asked the experts at The Flight Deal to share some advice for finding a good deal, especially from DFW and ORD, and they were kind enough to offer these tips:

Are good deals on American possible from Dallas and Chicago?

Dallas and Chicago are two of the top ten most expensive United States airports to fly out of according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. It is even more so for American Airlines’ flyers. Since August 2011, only 20% or 28 out of 135 of our published deals from Chicago are on American Airlines. We only recently started coverage for Dallas, but based on our limited data set, the number of American Airlines deals is even worse.

Faced with lack of deal selection in general, how should you go about finding good deals?

How?

Use scheduled fare updates to your advantage.

Airline fares are not updated in real time . Legacy carriers like American Airlines rely on global distribution systems (GDS) like Amadeus, WorldSpan and Sabre to distribute their fares to travel agencies and websites. Due to the legacy platforms that both the suppliers and distributors exist on, fare data is sent in batches at predefined times. They are sent at 10AM, 1PM, 4PM and 8PM Eastern on weekdays and only once at 5PM Eastern on weekends.

While fare updates can theoretically happen every day, airlines still have most updates on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10AM and 4PM. We search 15 minutes after the update times to let the fares propagate throughout the distribution platforms and that’s when we find all the best fares! For example, if United attacks American fares at 10AM, and if American responds, it will likely happen in the next batch update. This happened in Dallas with the recent $397 fare to Honolulu that United put out and to which American subsequently responded.

Where?

Warm weather and Chinese destinations are the cheapest.

If you need a starting point, focus your search on warm weather or Chinese destinations. Based on our experience, for domestic mileage runs, San Juan in Puerto Rico, Hawaii and St. Thomas are the cheapest destinations.

For international travel, we found that Beijing and Shanghai are the cheapest destinations. If last year is any indication, in the next few weeks, prices on American Airlines from Chicago to Beijing or Shanghai will be around $800. We started coverage for Dallas only this August so we don’t have enough data points for international runs from Dallas just yet.

Anything else?

When JetBlue and Virgin America enters a particular route, prices go down.

Prices for business heavy routes like San Francisco/Los Angeles to Chicago have dropped since Virgin’s entrance while the same is true for Dallas to Boston due to JetBlue’s entrance.
Sub $200 fares for San Francisco/Los Angeles–Chicago and Dallas–Boston can happen. All these fares are possible because JetBlue and Virgin America are now competing with American on those routes. When these low fares come up, use the AA.com 24 hour risk-free hold function because the fares won’t last. In August, AA had a $121 DFW-BOS fare that lasted 3 hours.

Is there a “But”?  

There’s always a ‘but’. Without Double Elite Qualifying Mile (DEQM) promotions, sub-4 Cent Per Mile (CPM) fares are really rare from Dallas and Chicago.

If you have BA Avios points, use them to start your mileage runs from either New York, Los Angeles or Boston where AA deals are much more abundant.  Otherwise, be realistic with your CPM expectations. You pay more, but you have a lot more nonstop flight options than other cities.

Summing it up

Good deals on AA out of Dallas and Chicago are possible. When they appear, use the AA 24 hour risk-free HOLD to firm up your travel plans. Don’t over-think it.

That’s excellent advice to which I’d like to add that you should:

Follow @TheFlightDeal on Twitter

Subscribe to their Daily Deals Newsletter

Read them online at TheFlightDeal.com

A big thanks to Matt and the Flight Deal team!

UPDATE:  Looks like this deal is gone.  Here’s a great American Airlines fare deal that came to me via an alert from my favorite fare tracking site The Flight Deal: Miami or Dallas to/from Honolulu, Hawaii for $391 or $397. Roundtrip, including all Taxes.

Availability looks good through October through mid November.

A 7 day advance purchase is required and travel must begin by November 14, 2012.  If you’re thinking about using your miles for an upgrade to first class, I’m finding decent upgrade space on flights connecting through LAX.

Follow this link to The Flight Deal for more details.

Cathay Pacific is offering some great fares to Hong Kong from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York JFK.  These fares book into Q, so you won’t earn any AAdvantage miles, but at $895 round-trip you might not mind.  Here are the details:

Two Weeks Only: 35% Off Flights to Hong Kong

This summer, fly nonstop to Hong Kong with our special fare of $895* available from now until July 23, 2012.

Here’s the fine print:

• Cannot be combined with any other fare or offer.

• The fares detailed in the offer/promotion are subject to availability and offered on a first come, first served basis. The limited number of seats for the subject fare allocated to a particular flight may be fully booked although seats are still available in other fare types in the same class of travel.

• This is a limited time and limited availability offer. Only available for a limited time through 11:59:59 PM PST on 23Jul2012 (or until deemed sold out). If you cannot find availability for the dates that you have selected, please adjust your travel dates.
May be eligible for Asia Miles & AAdvantage Miles, depending on fare class booked.
Waitlisting is not permitted.

• Departures between Friday – Sunday will incur an extra charge of $25 for each transpacific sector.

• Fares listed above based on a sample search for mid-week transpacific departure dates.
Cancellation Fee: $100 applies (non-refundable after departure).

• Change Fee: $100 applies per change per person.

• Minimum Stay of None. Maximum Stay of 6 Months.

• Electronic ticket purchase only.

• All fares, government taxes and fees, and surcharges are subject to change at any time.
This fare can only be purchased online by a U.S. resident with a valid U.S. credit card billing address and U.S. mailing address.

Go here for complete details.

Last Friday I offered a reader give away to bring attention to the American Airlines Kids in Need Program and 100 free AAdvantage miles Facebook promotion that raises miles to provide air transportation for critically ill children, and their parents/guardians, in need of medical treatment. It’s a good cause and I’m donating 1,000 AAdvatange Miles to the program.

I also offered to give away 1,000 miles to a randomly selected winner. Congratulations to WLS!

WLS mentioned St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital which is one of the many organizations that benefits from American’s Miles for Kids program.  Thanks to everyone that participated!

Speaking of winning miles, don’t forget that the Frugal Travel Guy gives away 2,500 AAdvantage Miles to the reader with the best American Airlines or AAdvantage related tip.  Go here to share your advice.

Discounted First Class Fares

I was looking at fares to Los Angeles and noticed that some of the First Class fares were unusually cheap. I searched my Google Reader feeds to see if I had missed the news on a fare sale and found threads on Flyertalk and Milepoint about Delta offering some deeply discounted fares on several routes and American matching them. (Credit goes to FlyerTalk member mikesinla, he was the first person to post the info anywhere).

Even though this has been going on a for at least a couple of weeks (I missed the news while I was on vacation), I was still able to find some of these discounted fares in July and August.

Here’s a look at some of the routes and fares that I found:

DFW to Los Angeles

DFW to Seattle

DFW to Miami

New York JFK to San Francisco

Anyway, if you’re planning some upcoming travel it’s a good idea to look at the First Class fare column to see if you can spot any bargains.  You might be able to enjoy the baked on board cookie for not much more than coach!

American has a big fare sale to Europe going on and some of the best deals are on Business Class tickets. The sale runs through September 1, 2012 and some of the discounts are as much half off the more typical price.

Here’s a look at a DFW to Paris fare after the end of the sale:

;

And here’s the discounted price for the same route during the sale:

That’s a 46 percent discount! Some of the cities included are London, Brussels, Helsinki, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Zurich, and Rome.

These fares require a Saturday night stay and have to be purchased by July 3. Travel has to be completed by September 2.

Go here for full details.

Speaking of fares, have you ever wondered who sets the prices? Here’s an interesting behind the scenes look at the revenue management department at American Airlines.

;

From now through June 7 Brazil is on sale!

Brazil Flights on Sale:

American Airlines is offering discount airfare to Brazil now at AA.com. Purchase your tickets on AA.com by June 7, 2012, and start travel between June 14, 2012, and July 10, 2012. All travel must be complete by October 8, 2012.

Here are some samples from American’s cornerstone markets:
Prices shown are each way, based on round-trip purchase on AA.com.

From Dallas / Ft. Worth (DFW)
• Rio de Janeiro (GIG) $446
• Sao Paulo (GRU) $521
• Manaus (MAO) $553
• Brasilia (BSB) $628
• Miami (MIA)
• Manaus (MAO) $421
• Brasilia (BSB) $496
• Rio de Janeiro (GIG) $496
• Sao Paulo (GRU) $521

From Miami (MIA)
• Manaus (MAO) $421
• Brasilia (BSB) $496
• Rio de Janeiro (GIG) $496
• Sao Paulo (GRU) $521

From New York Kennedy (JFK)
• Rio de Janeiro (GIG) $471
• Sao Paulo (GRU) $521
• Manaus (MAO) $532
• Brasilia (BSB) $603

From Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
• Manaus (MAO) $553
• Rio de Janeiro (GIG) $603
• Brasilia (BSB) $628
• Sao Paulo (GRU) $628

From Los Angeles (LAX)
• Rio de Janeiro (GIG) $533
• Manaus (MAO) $553
• Brasilia (BSB) $628

You won’t have to sacrifice comfort for a good deal. Business Class fares are also on sale:

Business Class Savings to Brazil

Save big on your next getaway to Brazil with special Business Class prices. Purchase your tickets by June 7, 2012, and start travel by August 24, 2012, to save. All travel needs to be complete by August 31, 2012.

Here’s a look at some Business Class Fares:
Prices shown are each way, based on round-trip purchase on AA.com.

From Dallas / Ft. Worth (DFW)
• Belo Horizonte (CNF) $1774
• Brasilia (BSB) $1774
• Recife (REC) $1774
• Salvador (SSA) $1774

From Miami (MIA)
• Belo Horizonte (CNF) $1517
• Brasilia (BSB) $1517
• Recife (REC) $1517
• Salvador (SSA) $1517

From New York Kennedy (JFK)
• Belo Horizonte (CNF) $1774
• Brasilia (BSB) $1774
• Recife (REC) $1774
• Salvador (SSA) $1774

From Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
• Belo Horizonte (CNF) $1774
• Brasilia (BSB) $1774
• Recife (REC) $1774
• Salvador (SSA) $1774

From Los Angeles (LAX)
• Belo Horizonte (CNF) $1774
• Brasilia (BSB) $1774
• Recife (REC) $1774
• Salvador (SSA) $1774

I did some sample searches from Dallas to Sao Paulo and Brasilia, both inside and outside the fare sale window.  The round trip savings for a coach ticket averaged around $500.

The savings in business class were between about $1,100.

If you’re thinking about a quick,  4 day Rapid Travel Chai style weekend,  you may be a little disappointed (from the fare rules):

A 7-night minimum stay is required.

Some more info from the fare rules:

Reservations are required.  Tickets booked on AA.com must be purchased at least 7 days prior to departure, or within 1 day of making reservations, whichever comes first, but no later than 11:59 p.m. (CT) June 7, 2012.

Start travel by August 24, 2012. All travel needs to be complete by August 31, 2012.

Discounted Coach fares are available from 35 cities, go here to check the price from your city.

Discounted Businss Class fare are available from 28 cities, go here to check prices.

Feel free to share the results of your fare saerches.  Let me know if you find any really great prices.

Photo: Praia Juaquina, Florianopolis, Brazil, December 20 2008.
Credit: Mike Vondran on Flickr

A big thanks to reader @chriscottdallas for letting me know that American and Delta launched a new fare sale between Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) and New York LaGuardia (LGA).

Last week, Delta started their new non-stop service between the two airports.  For the first six days prices held on the route, but over the weekend both airlines began offering round-trip weekend fares for less than $340.

You’ll find good availability in April:

Lots of availability in May as well:

These fares require a 10-day advance purchase and a Saturday-night minimum stay.   As long as inventory last, prices should be good through May 23.

By the way, both airlines have targeted promotions in place:

Delta – Fly from LaGuardia Airport and get a $25 Gift Card

American – Double Elite Qualifying Miles between LGA and DFW

Two other items….

I’ll have another update later today and will announce the winner of Friday’s reader giveaway.

And don’t forget that each Monday, AAdvantage sponsors the Frugal Travel Guys’ Deal of the Day: share your tip for a chance to win 2,500 AAdvantage Miles.

Late yesterday evening, American launched a Leap Day Fare Sale to several domestic and international destinations.  From the email that I received:

Savings like this only come around once every four years. American Airlines and American Eagle are offering you our best prices across the U.S. and to Europe, Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Plus, this special sale includes amazing deals for First Class and Business Class travel to international destinations.

I took a look at some fares from Dallas and didn’t see anything that looked crazy cheap. Most of the fares from DFW were inline with some of the previous fare sales.

Los Angeles, JFK, and Miami had (what looked to me) to be some pretty good prices, especially in Business Class. For example, JFK to Santiago is available for about $800 round-trip in Business Class. You can find fares from LAX to Tokyo (Narita) in Business Class for less than $3,000.

You’ll find fare deals from more than 120 markets, not just the big hub cities.   Here’s a list of links and travel dates:

Domestic — Main Cabin
Begin travel by June 8, 2012
Complete travel by June 12, 2012
Purchase tickets by March 1, 2012

International — Main Cabin
For Europe, begin travel between April 2, 2012, and May 17, 2012
Other destinations begin travel between March 14, 2012, and June 8, 2012
Complete travel by June 12, 2012
Purchase tickets by March 1, 2012

International — Business Class
Begin travel between March 14, 2012, and June 8, 2012
Complete travel by June 12, 2012
Purchase tickets by March 1, 2012

International — First Class
Begin travel between March 14, 2012, and June 8, 2012
Complete travel by June 12, 2012
Purchase tickets by March 1, 2012

The fare sale ends 11:59 p.m. (CT) March 1, 2012.

Spot any great deals from your home airport?  Share them in the comments section.