Is a DONE4 really that expensive??

[turnip666]

Hi All

I have an upcoming holiday/ business trip potenitally in April/ May. Need to be in SAN Diego April 11 th and then have a few weeks to travel.

Was looking at a status run and used the booking tool to price up a possible DONE4 on the QF website. However I was stunned at the cost over $13,000 leaving ex Brisbane to the US, Europe and Hong Kong:shock:.

The main stops were BNE LAX JFK LHR and HKG. Then to make up the numbers I randomly aded stops in the US and a few in Europe.

IS this really what it would cost or have I made some selection errors?

Regards

 

[simongr]

That seems about right booking through QF exOz - prices have gone up a lot in the past few years

 

[serfty]

Base fares vary with country of origin/booking.

See this site for comparison: RTW Fares Comparison for DONE4

 

[JohnPhelan]

Was looking at a status run and used the booking tool to price up a possible DONE4 on the QF website. However I was stunned at the cost over $13,000 leaving ex Brisbane to the US, Europe and Hong Kong:shock:.

Yes, that's the right price ex Australia. I've just come back from one. They aren't as cheap as they used to be, but still quite good value. (As a comparison, have a look at the J return fare to New York!) Of course, the value is even better if your point of origin can be outside Australia!

 

[turnip666]

Thanks all.

THE US price seems more attractive and there is award availability in PE to DFW around when I need to be there.

However that would mean purchasing via the AA website. I'm sure there is a thread on this which I will look up, but this is do able?

Thanks again

 

[serfty]

It does not work like that.

If you purchase in the USA for an Australian originating xONEx, you pay the higher of the Oz and USA prices:!:

Hint: NZ can be quite inexpensive to get to ...

 

[gumpy]

Thanks all.

THE US price seems more attractive and there is award availability in PE to DFW around when I need to be there.

However that would mean purchasing via the AA website. I'm sure there is a thread on this which I will look up, but this is do able?

Thanks again

I used this product a lot for work. The way we did it is we purchased it ex AKL for the 2k saving. We left the SYD > AKL leg open for the next RTW trip.

Even still cheap return fares to AKL for the trip are well under 2k so you win what ever you do...

 

[simongr]

I used this product a lot for work. The way we did it is we purchased it ex AKL for the 2k saving. We left the SYD > AKL leg open for the next RTW trip.

Even still cheap return fares to AKL for the trip are well under 2k so you win what ever you do...

LAN still have great J fares SYD-AKL-SYD.

DONEs work really well as you describe if you have a need for constant travel to the US and Europe - if I change roles/jobs with travel I will be putting a proposal to my new boss to invest like this for ongoing savings.

 

[gumpy]

LAN still have great J fares SYD-AKL-SYD.

DONEs work really well as you describe if you have a need for constant travel to the US and Europe - if I change roles/jobs with travel I will be putting a proposal to my new boss to invest like this for ongoing savings.

100%, you can save a boat load by using this fare instead of J return... your boss will love you for this saving... My boss did and it guaranteed me 1.5 DONE4s a year... =) which meant small holidays tacked on to the end of the business trips... loved it... pity I changed jobs...

the LAN flights are a gem...

 

[simonpenny408]

So - obvious question from the price link...

If DONE4s are so cheap ex-Seychelles, how do you do a positioning flight there and back. From my cursory investigation it appears not to be served by the OW network. I can feel a very pleasant and lucrative jolly coming on if its doable. Crab on the beach anyone??

 

[tuapekastar]

So - obvious question from the price link...

If DONE4s are so cheap ex-Seychelles, how do you do a positioning flight there and back. From my cursory investigation it appears not to be served by the OW network. I can feel a very pleasant and lucrative jolly coming on if its doable. Crab on the beach anyone??

I think there are quite a number of countries from which xONEx fares are priced that are not served by oneworld.

There is one fare rule to be wary of (and has been alluded to already in this thread), and that is the one that essentially says that if a xONEx originates in one country, but is purchased in another country, then the higher fare shall apply. (e.g. fare is ex-AKL for say 10K, and fare is purchased in Australia where the DONE4 costs say 12K, then it should cost you 12K even though your fare is originating in AKL).

It's all a matter of semantics. I commenced my DONE4 (and I only have experience with one of them) from AKL (booked and priced via AA in Dallas over the phone, I recommend this as the taxes etc. are considerably less than doing it via say QF) but when I rang AA NZ to ticket it the guy (who may have actually been in an Australian call centre) realised I was from Australia (credit card number and accent I guess) and wanted to charge me the more expensive ex-OZ fare. My take on it was that as I was ringing 'AA NZ' then I was purchasing it in NZ. I said 'hang five' and rang back the following week and got a different agent who immediately ticketed it no problem, but it's certainly one 'rule' to be aware of, and have suitable arguments/contingency plans ready if someone tries to sting you for the higher fare.

For a bit of fun, and acknowledging that it's not exactly comparing apples with apples, I priced my itinerary as a series of one-way end-on-end business class fares and came up with ~35K versus the ~11K I paid for the DONE4, which does indicate it is a product of some value.

 

[Kefci2000]

I used this product a lot for work. The way we did it is we purchased it ex AKL for the 2k saving. We left the SYD > AKL leg open for the next RTW trip.

Even still cheap return fares to AKL for the trip are well under 2k so you win what ever you do...

Have you worked your way around the QF25 problem??

Could not stand the thought of 15 hours on an A330 in Skybed MK 1 !!!! Then a long delay back to Melbourne. I looked into this option but this put me off more than flying to AUK to meet first flight.

 

[serfty]

...
Could not stand the thought of 15 hours on an A330 in Skybed MK 1 !!!! ...

To me it's a better option than 15 hours in any economy or Y+ seat.

 

[medhead]

What is the QF25 problem? I understand that is the only flight AKL to the USA. But why not start the DONE by flying to SYD/MEL (edit: as in first flight is AKL to Oz) and get an A380 to the USA? A few extra hours on an aircraft to avoid QF25 :?:


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app so please excuse the lack of links.

 

[markis10]

What is the QF25 problem? I understand that is the only flight AKL to the USA. But why not start the DONE by flying to SYD/MEL and get an A380 to the USA? A few extra hours on an aircraft to avoid QF25 :?:


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app so please excuse the lack of links.

Then your fare would be at AU pricing rather than NZ pricing!

 

[dfcatch]

Can't you do AKL-SYDx-LAX......LHR-SIN-SYD(stop)...-AKL ?

 

[serfty]

Then your fare would be at AU pricing rather than NZ pricing!

Can't you do AKL-SYDx-LAX......LHR-SIN-SYD(stop)...-AKL ?

Absolutely!

(Just be aware that if booking using the AA ATW 'desk', some seem to think the SYD and AKL are in the same country and try to limit your [already restricted] stopover flexibility.

)

 

[dfcatch]

Both are SWP so they would be correct no?

But even if both are SWP, you are still allowed a stopover in gateway city (in this case SYD)??

Have I missed something that prevents this from working?

Markis got me worried that my theory is flawed.

 

[medhead]

Then your fare would be at AU pricing rather than NZ pricing!

Sorry, I wasn't clear. The first flight of the DONE would be AKL-SYD/MEL.


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app so please excuse the lack of links.

 

[markis10]

Markis got me worried that my theory is flawed.

I took the post to say the first leg should be ex Syd, no trying to get you worried!