KrisFlyer Star Alliance Round-the-World Award Planning

[ward_FF]

Hi All,

have been searching and doing a fair bit of research. Two problems that seem to come up are with RTW routes are;

1. travelling to japan from Australia, booking via Singapore only to get stung as you can not pass through Singapore on the way home

2. Transatlantic flights between the US and Europe

Solutions;

1.a) Travel back via Bangkok with Thai
b) Depart via Sydney and travel with ANA

2. The most attractive and available flights I have seen are through SIA; Houston to London or vice Versa. Plenty of availability that I have seen, SIA wouldn't be as popular with North American/European travellers through this trans route.... and you get SIA.

Obvious draw backs are your limited to Thai destinations in to AUS, must travel out of SYD (Bris might be included too) for ANA and some land travel possibly for the trans flight

 

[fna]

Hi All,

have been searching and doing a fair bit of research. Two problems that seem to come up are with RTW routes are;

1. travelling to japan from Australia, booking via Singapore only to get stung as you can not pass through Singapore on the way home

2. Transatlantic flights between the US and Europe

Solutions;

1.a) Travel back via Bangkok with Thai
b) Depart via Sydney and travel with ANA

2. The most attractive and available flights I have seen are through SIA; Houston to London or vice Versa. Plenty of availability that I have seen, SIA wouldn't be as popular with North American/European travellers through this trans route.... and you get SIA.

Obvious draw backs are your limited to Thai destinations in to AUS, must travel out of SYD (Bris might be included too) for ANA and some land travel possibly for the trans flight

the ticket i manage to get allows return on SIN. you can see that my first flight is MEL-exSIN-SFO and i come back via SIN as well.

US to EU seems ok, i think it has a lot to do with the luck you have with the consultant, i had one that just said come back later and another that helped me for hours to find something that worked.

 

[lilkid28]

I thought there have been number of successful bookings that transit through SIN twice as long as its not stopover two times.

 

[Zanzara]

I guess you may need to have a plan B routing as there's a risk that if you wait until the return sector becomes available, your outward leg gets snapped up by someone else. Or you are advised that you can't travel through SIN twice...

At least there's far more availability generally than QF and more choice of partner airlines to use...

 

[linnytea]

Hi everyone, thanks for all the useful information so far. My partner and I are planning a RTW trip in business class in March 2021. We currently have 2 separate Krisflyer accounts and will have 240,000 Krisflyer points in each account by the end of this year (once we transfer our velocity and amplify points to krisflyer). I am wondering whether we will be able to book the same itinerary for both of us using our separate krisflyer accounts, or whether we need to pool our velocity points and transfer to one krisflyer account to book the 2 tickets?

 

[lilkid28]

Hi everyone, thanks for all the useful information so far. My partner and I are planning a RTW trip in business class in March 2021. We currently have 2 separate Krisflyer accounts and will have 240,000 Krisflyer points in each account by the end of this year (once we transfer our velocity and amplify points to krisflyer). I am wondering whether we will be able to book the same itinerary for both of us using our separate krisflyer accounts, or whether we need to pool our velocity points and transfer to one krisflyer account to book the 2 tickets?

Don't see a reason why you cannot as long as there is availability for 2.

Welcome to AFF!

 

[Dannyism]

Just starting to put together a trip for 2021 shoulder season. Does anyone know if it's possible to put together an itinerary visiting 6 continents? I'm extremely flexible with destinations.

Looking at something like Melbourne - Singapore or Bangkok - Cape Town - Athens - Amsterdam - Houston - Buenos Aires or Santiago - Melbourne.

I'm not very familiar with routing in South America so I seem to be running into trouble choosing destinations with minimal back tracking between NA and SA and SA and AU.

Appreciate any suggestions.

edit: I'm thinking I'll need to drop either Africa or South America.

 

[Samis88]

Yes, your initial proposed routing at 32,759 miles falls within the 33,000 limit but you are correct - there is back tracking. Specifically CPT to ATH is NE (you are travelling in a westerly direction) and also IAH to SCL is SE.
It's better to go from SA to NA if you can. Maybe AMS to GIG then up to IAH. It is tricky in SA and if you try United you will nearly always be in economy. Hopefully others here have found a successful route which could help you.

 

[Denali]

Never been brave enough to plan RW but this thread is interesting/lots of info so thanks.

 

[mel-world]

I know it has been mentioned earlier in this Thread that putting together a RTW in F is not worth it anymore due to the lack of F availability now but interested in which airlines still offer F across the Atlantic. Even if you need to use a J sector or two across NA, or unless LH or LX has F to SFO or LAX, for instance and you were willing to use less flights to get longer sectors in F.

 

[pgsdiver]

Even if you need to use a J sector or two across NA, or unless LH or LX has F to SFO or LAX, for instance and you were willing to use less flights to get longer sectors in F.

Good luck finding J across NA. I searched for weeks and found nothing. Please let us know if you find some.
Regards,
Peter

 

[Dannyism]

Great discussion and tips. Thank you all.
I booked our first Star Alliance RTW yesterday. (Did a OneWorld RTW business in 2018.) Fortunately transferred enough velocity points in November/December last year before the transfer devaluation so had 480,000 KrisFlyer miles available.No longer need to start in SIN and go Air China to Panama City (PTY) as was really lucky and found business class availability BNE to Vancouver (YVR) with Air Canada AC36 on 11 August 2020 arriving 7am,, only one day earlier than our plan, Then fly to Toronto (YYZ) AC126 which leaves at 22:30 so we can spend the day exploring Vancouver! And fly on from YYZ with Air Canada Rouge to PTY at 8:30 the following morning. Gives us an extra day in Panama City to unwind from any jet lag!

So the rest of the itinerary flies PTY - BOG Stopover - EZE stopover (land sector) GIG-LIS-LYS stopover,LYS-FRS(stopover, land sector), then ATH-IST-SIN-BNE. Charges of almost SGD1,000 each, of which the dreaded fuel surcharge accounted for 50%! Not too bad and cheaper than paying to fly to Singapore and back separately.
Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro has no direct flights with Star Alliance so we are paying separately to fly AEP- IGR (Iguassu Falls) then IGU - GIG. And we are spending time in Europe doing an Albatross land tour and then an Oceania cruise ending in Athens.
So have used up our 7 stopovers and miles at 33,100 are less than the 35,000 limit.

Thanks for posting, I think I'm going to copy this itinerary pretty closely. There seems to be good availability for the following airlines, Air Canada, Avianca through Bogota, TAP, Aegean to Athens, Turkish and Singapore.

 

[ward_FF]

With KrisFlyer, you have to book it all in one go. Once the booking is finalised, you have to stick with the initial routing and can only change dates or the airlines used on individual segments. Date and airline changes cost USD50 each, last time I checked.

Basically, this means that you'd need to wait until all flights are available before booking, or otherwise use dummy dates for the later flights and try to change them later.

Alternatively, you can cancel the booking for a USD75 fee and receive a refund of the miles & taxes paid.

Changes and cancellations can only be made before taking the first flight on the booking.

Hi Mattg,

i have never seen this until now about booking all legs at the same time.....

so what you are saying here if i want my itinerary to be 18/12/2020 - 28/01/2021 i have to wait until the flights for the 28/01/2021 become available... which would be early Feb 2020ish...

Is that right....?

I hadn't realised this and thought you could book one flight at a time under the RTW ticket, so when the award tickets are released you could get the best available...

 

[Samis88]

Hi Mattg,

i have never seen this until now about booking all legs at the same time.....

so what you are saying here if i want my itinerary to be 18/12/2020 - 28/01/2021 i have to wait until the flights for the 28/01/2021 become available... which would be early Feb 2020ish...

Is that right....?

I hadn't realised this and thought you could book one flight at a time under the RTW ticket, so when the award tickets are released you could get the best available...

Sorry but Krisflyer staff did insist on this. The only way around it if you think you will miss earlier leg seats is to book the real fights for the start of your trip when available and use earlier dummy dates for the last leg(s) and then when seats for the later flights become available ring back and change the ticket - you can change more than one leg dates/class at the same time but the total changes on the day you call result in a new ticket being issued and you pay a fee for this which is USD 50 per person (or possibly USD 25 pp if only Singapore Air flights are affected). Remember you can grab economy seats if flying business class because sometimes business saver seats open up later for some reason. I just did that with Turkish Airlines after waiting for a couple of months until Award Nexus told me saver business seats were available on my economy leg.

 

[ward_FF]

Hi All,

I had a very seamless process booking my Star Alliance Booking via Krisflyer this morning.. I was right on the dates with most of my flights when they became available (except 1 flight - internal US) and in particular a hard flight from Vancouver to Tokyo with ANA, which seems to have unreliable availability....

MEL > SIN(SQ)
SIN > BKK(TG) connection
BKK > DXB(TG)
DXB > IST(TK) connection
IST > HEL(SK)
HEL > ARN(SK)
OSL > LHR(SK)
LHR > DEN(UA)
VYR > HND(NH)
NRT > SIN(SQ) connection
SIN > MEL(SQ)

ALL J, 2 PAX, all confirmed and VERY HAPPY!

 

[gluewell14]

Also just redeemed my Star Alliance RTW in J! A couple tries with the KrisFlyer call center but we got there in the end! First time I called I was told I needed to email sq_reservations with my itinerary, they got back the next day saying it was invalid as I went through SIN twice... Decided to call back and got a wonderful agent who took my itinerary over the phone (I had the paid Star Alliance itinerary code but she just wanted the flight details). All had award availability but for some reason she was getting the total cost to ~280k points. She asked if she could look into it and took down my details, reserved the flights, and rang me back 36 hours later to confirm that it was indeed 240k. Paid taxes over the phone ~$430, points deducted, and ticketed immediately!

Not the most exciting RTW but the routes/dates I wanted/could get off work.

ADL-SIN (transit) [SQ]
SIN-(HKG)-SFO [SQ]
IAH-FRA [UA]
FRA-ZRH [LX]
ZRH-SIN [SQ]
SIN-ADL [SQ]

Any seat recommendations?

 

[ward_FF]

Also just redeemed my Star Alliance RTW in J! A couple tries with the KrisFlyer call center but we got there in the end! First time I called I was told I needed to email sq_reservations with my itinerary, they got back the next day saying it was invalid as I went through SIN twice... Decided to call back and got a wonderful agent who took my itinerary over the phone (I had the paid Star Alliance itinerary code but she just wanted the flight details). All had award availability but for some reason she was getting the total cost to ~280k points. She asked if she could look into it and took down my details, reserved the flights, and rang me back 36 hours later to confirm that it was indeed 240k. Paid taxes over the phone ~$430, points deducted, and ticketed immediately!

Not the most exciting RTW but the routes/dates I wanted/could get off work.

ADL-SIN (transit) [SQ]
SIN-(HKG)-SFO [SQ]
IAH-FRA [UA]
FRA-ZRH [LX]
ZRH-SIN [SQ]
SIN-ADL [SQ]

Any seat recommendations?

awesome stuff! looks good!

 

[Tomsk85]

Hi all, many thanks for great and valuable information in regards to RTW fare.
I am just wondering...about First Class RTW.
Are those Suites or Suites are a different class not for redemption?
if First class is just slightly higher than Business then there is no point of wasting points.

I am thinking about RTW in Business for 2 persons currently. My points balance is more than 1 million Krisflyer miles so it would be more that enough.

I have done 2 RTW in economy already with one World in the past.
But this time I want to plan something unique like an expedition, non popular places with the main focus and time in Latin America and South America.
There are so many interesting places to explore and develop your own opinion on things like Nazca, Easter Island etc. Also Mexico ancient cultures.

any advice or info much appreciated.
Going to research bout First class and actual value for points if its worth it or not.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Hi all, many thanks for great and valuable information in regards to RTW fare.
I am just wondering...about First Class RTW.
Are those Suites or Suites are a different class not for redemption?
if First class is just slightly higher than Business then there is no point of wasting points.

I am thinking about RTW in Business for 2 persons currently. My points balance is more than 1 million Krisflyer miles so it would be more that enough.

I have done 2 RTW in economy already with one World in the past.
But this time I want to plan something unique like an expedition, non popular places with the main focus and time in Latin America and South America.
There are so many interesting places to explore and develop your own opinion on things like Nazca, Easter Island etc. Also Mexico ancient cultures.

any advice or info much appreciated.
Going to research bout First class and actual value for points if its worth it or not.

Suites are F. There are less Suite seats available to redeem than J, so J are easier to get.

*A F is good, but for RTW there are many routes without an F Cabin. Hence why people book J RTW.

For South America it is difficult to get *A redemption (or Oneworld for that matter). So many people will add on say a paid leg from North America.

 

[iainm]

Does the 35000 mile limit only apply to the direct flight distance or the total distance of all legs if not direct
can you back track if direct flight not available