Is a DONE4 really that expensive??

[serfty]

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)?? ...

They were wrong and I needed to enlighten them. The rules state:

"Maximum two stopovers permitted in the continent of origin of which a maximum of
one stopover is permitted in each direction in the country of origin."

The guy was trying to tell me that I could not go AKL-xLAX-//-NRT-oSYD-oMEL-AKL.

I queried this and in eventually I was told by his 'supervisor' that the agent was correct and I was indeed limited to one stop over in each direction in the continent of origin.

I asked the difference between "continent" and "country" and was told that Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland are all in the same country/continent - it did not matter.

Told him I was starting in New Zealand but Sydney was actually in a different country called Australia ... ...

... ... :idea:

 

[burmans]

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.

True but that's an expensive way to pay, I could buy 300K US miles for ~ $5400 which gives me a * Alliance RTW booking. True there are some taxes and you need to buy over a period of offers but I've bought 250K points last 6 months and got 50K via the Grand Slam so definitely doable. Agree not totally apples with apples but certainly shows to me at least that DONE4 is no longer "cheap".

 

[anat0l]

True but that's an expensive way to pay, I could buy 300K US miles for ~ $5400 which gives me a * Alliance RTW booking. True there are some taxes and you need to buy over a period of offers but I've bought 250K points last 6 months and got 50K via the Grand Slam so definitely doable. Agree not totally apples with apples but certainly shows to me at least that DONE4 is no longer "cheap".

US is a freak initiative with their selling and burning of points. I wouldn't even start using them as a standard for comparison. If we used this as a standard then nothing beats it short of mistake fares. They are certainly an option, but I would not start comparing them against cash products necessarily.

One must also remember that with a DONE4 vs US J "RTW", you get points / status, more stopovers, comparatively more lenient routing rules and up to 6 more sectors. But again, not fair to compare the two products since they are really apples and oranges.

Incidentally, the *A RTW products are a marked increase higher than comparable ow products.

RTW products aren't cheap and likely not getting any cheaper. But compared to most fares by themselves, they are great value.



----------
Aust Freq Fly app: bringing this anat0l content to your mobile.

 

[gumpy]

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.

What Medhead said, you can do AKL - SYD/MEL and the shoot off as long as it's not a stop over (at the time I did this, the last time was over 1 year ago and the rules keep changing)

The thing is I don't mind the A330... it's not the best I know but like Sefty said, much better than Y or W anywhere else...


The thing is thought I usually head west so I try to start by heading to Asia from AKL and do the A380 to SYD from LAX.

 

[medhead]

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

Totally my fault, I reread it the same way. Sorry.


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

 

[Kefci2000]

What Medhead said, you can do AKL - SYD/MEL and the shoot off as long as it's not a stop over (at the time I did this, the last time was over 1 year ago and the rules keep changing)

The thing is I don't mind the A330... it's not the best I know but like Sefty said, much better than Y or W anywhere else...


The thing is thought I usually head west so I try to start by heading to Asia from AKL and do the A380 to SYD from LAX.

OK Found a connection via MEL (QF94)

Even found an AUK-MEL-LHR connection!!!

So the question is would they enforce the AUK-MEL and MEL-AUK legs via Jet Connect?? Given my address on QF FF is Melbourne they might get sus??

Yes acknowledge going the other way you can hold MEL-AUK for a later date.

 

[burmans]

One must also remember that with a DONE4 vs US J "RTW", you get points / status, more stopovers, comparatively more lenient routing rules and up to 6 more sectors. But again, not fair to compare the two products since they are really apples and oranges.

Absolutely agree with all of this but $8K plus is a lot of money to pay for these privileges and I'd want to be sure they were actually worth this much to me. For some of these (not points/status) you could add onto your RTW fare fairly cheaply.

US is a freak initiative with their selling and burning of points. I wouldn't even start using them as a standard for comparison. If we used this as a standard then nothing beats it short of mistake fares. They are certainly an option, but I would not start comparing them against cash products necessarily.

Find this harder to agree with, in comparing products I think I'd always want to include the cheapest in my comparison even if I rule it out fairly quickly due to it's limitations. My main point was though in direct reference to the thread title. Once upon a time DONE4 was outright cheap for a RTW J, now it's only cheap if you really max out those things you mention but less so on a vanilla RTW where US J RTW should probably be considered.

 

[Leumas]

OK Found a connection via MEL (QF94)

Even found an AUK-MEL-LHR connection!!!

So the question is would they enforce the AUK-MEL and MEL-AUK legs via Jet Connect?? Given my address on QF FF is Melbourne they might get sus??

Yes acknowledge going the other way you can hold MEL-AUK for a later date.

Don't quite understand what your concern is... Are you worried they won't do JetConnect flights? If that's your concern, you don't need to worry. As long as it's a OW flight number, they don't care.

Whenever I do DONE's, I always go WLG-SYD, and you've no choice but JetConnect flights.

Not entirely sure about your concern about your Melbourne address either.

You worry too much.

 

[Kefci2000]

Don't quite understand what your concern is... Are you worried they won't do JetConnect flights? If that's your concern, you don't need to worry. As long as it's a OW flight number, they don't care.

Whenever I do DONE's, I always go WLG-SYD, and you've no choice but JetConnect flights.

Not entirely sure about your concern about your Melbourne address either.

You worry too much.

I actually dont want to fly either leg!!!

Wondered if they would get upset if I just said.......oh I was already in Melbourne so skipped AUK-MEL leg etc.... I assume everyone would do this if you could get away with it

 

[anat0l]

I actually dont want to fly either leg!!!

Wondered if they would get upset if I just said.......oh I was already in Melbourne so skipped AUK-MEL leg etc.... I assume everyone would do this if you could get away with it

Nope - doesn't work that way. You no-show for any leg like that and you could be up for expensive consequences and/or cancellation of the remainder of a ticket.

You'll need to cough up for a positioning flight (and/or a night at a hotel). The understanding, of course, is that such consequential costs still come out economical compared to paying for a DONE4 that starts in Australia (I hope this is right).

 

[Kefci2000]

Nope - doesn't work that way. You no-show for any leg like that and you could be up for expensive consequences and/or cancellation of the remainder of a ticket.

You'll need to cough up for a positioning flight (and/or a night at a hotel). The understanding, of course, is that such consequential costs still come out economical compared to paying for a DONE4 that starts in Australia (I hope this is right).

Thanks

I think all too hard as it would mean a 6am flight MEL-AUK to catch a 2.30pm Flight AUK-SIN (instead of 5pm from MEL) then arriving home at 3pm instead of 9am.

Yes probably save $1.5-2k but given it is a work expense.......was trying to justify a bit more travel later in the year by saving money now

 

[Mwenenzi]

Even found an AUK-MEL-LHR connection!!!

AUK-MEL in a B737 will be interesting .
Alaska Airline do fly into AUK at times with B737 combi [?] or some aircraft (as in a Seat 2A TR)
AUK a small airport in nowhere in Alaska Alakanuk Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Great Circle Mapper But AKL-MEL in a B737 is just boring

Need to be careful codes !. Ask the people who go to Sidney

 

[Kefci2000]

AUK-MEL in a B737 will be interesting .
Alaska Airline do fly into AUK at times with B737 combi [?] or some aircraft (as in a Seat 2A TR)
AUK a small airport in nowhere in Alaska Alakanuk Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Great Circle Mapper But AKL-MEL in a B737 is just boring

Need to be careful codes !. Ask the people who go to Sidney

Haha.....thanks for that.....might also end up in Melbourne, Florida.........

 

[dfcatch]

Told him I was starting in New Zealand but Sydney was actually in a different country called Australia ... ...

... ... :idea:

Perhaps the AA desk in Dallas is now manned by kiwis

They seem to think Australia is the same


Except when it comes to rugby.... bro

 

[medhead]

Thanks

I think all too hard as it would mean a 6am flight MEL-AUK to catch a 2.30pm Flight AUK-SIN (instead of 5pm from MEL) then arriving home at 3pm instead of 9am.

Yes probably save $1.5-2k but given it is a work expense.......was trying to justify a bit more travel later in the year by saving money now

Not really that hard. A transit is less than 24 hours. So you do MEL-AKL-MEL and make sure you arrive back in MEL <24 hours before your onwards flight from MEL.

 

[Kefci2000]

Not really that hard. A transit is less than 24 hours. So you do MEL-AKL-MEL and make sure you arrive back in MEL <24 hours before your onwards flight from MEL.

Not sure that work would see it that way when i cost circa $1k per day gross.........

On PA it is a no brainer......

 

[medhead]

Not sure that work would see it that way when i cost circa $1k per day gross.........

On PA it is a no brainer......

If you save $2k your still $1k in front, you can also get work done on the trip across the ditch, plus half a day before QF94, if work is that keen. Anyway, I'm not being totally serious suggestion on my part, just an idea.

 

[Kangol]

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.

How do you leave it "open" - how long do they give you?

 

[serfty]

You can book a segemnt as open. i.e. Indicate travel from AAA-BBB but not actually specify a flight.

You firm this up and book an actual flight when you know when you are travelling.

I prefer not to as it's easy enough to change a segment (date/time/carrier) in any case.

Also, leaving lightly traveled city pairs open can be dangerous as oneworld carriers may decide to no longer operate direct.

 

[beardoc]

I am someone that routinely does DONE4 and DONE5 fares ex-JNB, with a placement final leg of the QF63 SYD-JNB at the end of each flight. It does result in a severe loss of flexibility (the only flights out are to HKG, MAD, BCN or LHR), and it's a BIG detour for someone that wants to go to Europe and the USA, but I now routinely do this, and it's easy to price an itinerary with around 1900SC for around AUD8000 all inclusive (but then that's doing a LOT of backtracking and using the US legs in domestic F on AA).