RTW Fare Question

[bambbbam2]

Hi All.. my apologies if this is a silly question, but if you can find a Qantas / OW RTW fare and appropriate travel plan, do you earn FF Points on the each leg, as if you were travelling on say 7 individual tickets?

 

[NM]

It really depends on the fare class and the airlines flown. The OneWorld Explorer and OneWorld Global Explorer RTW fares, for economy class are booked in L fare class. L is considered discount economy by most OneWorld airlines and the QF FF point earning varies. For example:

• QF - 100% points per mile flown, plus applicable status bonus
• AA - 50% points per mile flown, plus applicable status bonus
• BA - 25% points per mile flown, plus applicable status bonus
• CX - 100% points per mile flown - no status bonus
• AY - 100% points per mile flown - no status bonus
• IB - 100% points per mile flown - no status bonus
• LA - 100% points per mile flown - no status bonus

Of course, on Business Class and First Class fares you get the usual 25% and 50% cabin bonus as well on top of the 100% points per mile flown.

The points are credited for each flight sector on your ticket and measured as the distance between the origin and destination for that ticketed sector.

 

[BlacKnox]

Hi bambbbam2! I'm not the one to answer your question but I'll try and help others to do so. Depending on what class of ticket and the carrier you're travelling, you will be eligible for Qantas ffpoints. For example, Cathay is pretty stingy though American is generous. If you post what specific routes/ flights and carriers you're thinking of travelling, then people can comment intelligently. Be specific, and people here can perhaps answer your question .

 

[BlacKnox]

Well bambbbam2, it seems NM was online simultaneously. Thanks for the great answer NM.

 

[bambbbam2]

Thanks for the responses.

Well I need to go from Sydney to Vancouver and Amsterdam and back to Sydney (presumably the Vancouver bit has to be via LAX.)

I don't mind which order I do them in, I just wondered if cheaper to get a RTW ticket or try and buy 'direct' flights. If RTW is different in price, points earned might be a factor.

 

[QF WP]

RTW fares are always cheaper than point-to-point fares; thus it's a no-brainer...go for the RTW fare.

Just be careful about chosing a FF program to credit it towards...as well as booking the correct carrier (or codeshare flight number). For the FF number - I believe it's best to book it without any FF numbers in it initially, in order to check the kind of detail that NM offered above. There's a hell of a difference between QF and BA, for example...

 

[NM]

Well I need to go from Sydney to Vancouver and Amsterdam and back to Sydney (presumably the Vancouver bit has to be via LAX.)

YVR (Vancouver) is an interesting place to get to on a OneWorld Explorer ticket. This is the most common of the fully flexible RTW fares. In economy this is known as a LONE4 fare (for bokings in L economy class for 4 continents which is the minimum from Australia).

Now there are several ways to get to YVR. If you go through SYD-LAX you will then need to connect again through DFW or ORD since the AA flights LAX-YVR are codeshares operated by AS (Alaska Airlines) and since AS is not a OneWorld airline you cannot use these flights on a LONE4 fare.

Another option is to use CX and go SYD-HKG-YVR. This avoids clearing US immigration and customs at LAX. However, it does mean your trip back from Europe to Australia must only be a connection in Asia and no stopover in that direction. You can stopover in Asia (and use up to 4 flight segments in Asia) between after SYD-HKG and before HKG-YVR.

There are also some other RTW options that are made available through various airline partnerships rather than the major oneWorld products. But these are often very restricted in terms of destinations and finding one that will get you to YVR is going to be tough.

A LONE4 fare is going to cost more than a point-to-point SYD-YVR return fare. But you can take uo to 20 sectors (restrictions on sectors per continent apply) and it is valid ofr 12 months etc.

 

[NM]

RTW fares are always cheaper than point-to-point fares; thus it's a no-brainer...go for the RTW fare.

This is generally the case for Business and First class when the destination involves USA (beyond LAX), Europe or South Africa. But for economy class, its generally cheaper for a point-to-point fare since there are lots of discount fare options available.


For example, you can get to USA from Australia for under $1000 at the moment with the special fare SYD-NRT-USA using QF to NRT and AA to various USA ports. Then pick up a cheap connection from the AA entry point (LAX, SJC, ORD, DFW etc) to YVR. You can probably get SYD-YVR for around $1500 (plus taxes). A LONE4 is going to cost upwards of $3300 depending on the season.

But when comparing a DONE4 (business class RTW fare) with a full J point-to-point fare, the DONE4 will likely be cheaper most of the time. The cheapest way to get there in business class will be a DCIR22 Circle Pacific fare.

You could consider a LCIR22 fare as a cheaper option to the LONE4. Must cross the south pacific in one direction and north pacfic in the other. You could fit SYD-LAX-ORD-YVR-HKG-SYD routing into the 22,000 mile limit for the fare, and include stopovers in each of the locaitons. LCIR22 costs $3069 plus taxes, compared with LONE4 (peak season) of $3239. Low season LONE4 is $2939 so that is cheapest option in travelling outside the peak season, which is based on the date of the first international flight sector - peak is 31 May to 18 Aug and 6 Dec to 24 Dec.

For travel to YVR also look at Air Canada pricing. They have started flying non-stop with A340 SYD-YVR and stop in HNL on the YVR-SYD route. They may have some good promotional fares trying to fill seats given the extra capacity of the A340 vs 767 previously operated.

 

[QF WP]

NM, it was this point that bambbbam2 made in his second post:

I need to go from Sydney to Vancouver and Amsterdam and back to Sydney (presumably the Vancouver bit has to be via LAX.) I don't mind which order I do them in, I just wondered if cheaper to get a RTW ticket or try and buy 'direct' flights

that I was focusing on when I responded thus:

RTW fares are always cheaper than point-to-point fares; thus it's a no-brainer...go for the RTW fare.

and you replied:

This is generally the case for Business and First class when the destination involves USA (beyond LAX), Europe or South Africa. But for economy class, its generally cheaper for a point-to-point fare since there are lots of discount fare options available.

For example, you can get to USA from Australia for under $1000 at the moment with the special fare SYD-NRT-USA using QF to NRT and AA to various USA ports. Then pick up a cheap connection from the AA entry point (LAX, SJC, ORD, DFW etc) to YVR. You can probably get SYD-YVR for around $1500 (plus taxes). A LONE4 is going to cost upwards of $3300 depending on the season.

I was thinking that if all destinations were put together in one RTW ticket, then that would be cheaper than individual returns (SYD/.../AMS/.../SYD and SYD/.../YVR/.../SYD) - as I know first hand about the problems in connecting ex-LAX for VYR having travelled there and to SEA on a number of occasions).

I highlighted the Europe in that comment, as you seemed to disregard AMS in your answer and solely concentrate on SYD/YVR options...

Then again, maybe I should stick to what I know best .... hmm, now just what was that again :?:

 

[NM]

Hey Lindsay, I totally agree that once you include USA and Europe, it is generally best for RTW fare. I just wanted to make clear that the general nature of RTW is always cheaper than PTP is not always the case.

Of course, you know me and how I make the most of the "features" of RTW and Circle fares! For me, I would be willing to payt a little more for a economay RTW and get to more places than the minimum of YVR and AMS as orginally requested - only for the extra FF points and SC's of course :wink: .

The only time I use PTP international fares now is for Asia destinations. Going to KUL next month, so that will be economy PTP fares :cry: .

 

[bambbbam2]

Thanks for the comments. I have been using the 'OneWorld Explorer Validator' and I can work it fine, but if I put in the itinerary found at:

http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn/au/specials/oneworldExplorer#example1

I run this through the validator and it comes up with an error. So is the example not true, or is the Validator incorrect?

 

[NM]

I can't see anything wrong with the example. What does the error message imply is the problem?

 

[bambbbam2]

Sure.. using the link here:
http://jph.bytestacker.com/award.htm

with the example given,
adl-Syd-bkk-sin-hkg-lhr-ath-mad-lhr-yvr-jfk-mia-mex-mia-lax-syd

then I get this error:
13: MEX-MIA: 4th of 6 (North America)
14: MIA-LAX: 2nd of 1 (North America Transcon)
Rule violated!!!! [MIA-LAX] Max 1 segment(s): North America Transcon