RTW in J - Any Discounts ?

[lovestotravel]

Okay,

I am planning a RTW trip in J and have several flights already booked with points in J and a few booked on paid tickets.

With all the recent discounts on J fares I was hoping to find a discount RTW fare.

From what I can see the standard RTW fare in J is around $12,500 per person.

Any cheaper RTW fares on One World ?

Leaving from Melbourne and want to head to the USA and then Europe then home

 

[docjames]

You'll need to look at repositioning.

Since the OW fares were updated, ex-korea is no longer cheap but iirc Indonesia was quite well priced (even factoring in "repositioning" costs).

Others no doubt will have looked more recently than me and will chime in.

 

[Bundy Bear]

starting in NZ

Business = NZD 12,499 = AUD $9,999.20

starting in AUD

Business = AUD 11,199

oneworld - oneworld Explorer

so if you have any need to include NZ in your trip then its a worthwhile starting point.

Bali & South Africa are cheaper but more hassle.

 

[lovestotravel]

Thanks Bundy Bear, that's what I was thinking, but was hoping for a much cheaper figure given the "economic climate"

I am looking at the following trip

MEL-LAX
(Drive to SFO)
SFO-LON
LON-ZRH
ZRH-LON
LON-CDG
CDG-LON
LON-DXB
(Make own arrangements to/from Maldives)
SIN-MEL

Currently have most trips booked on points/tickets but can easily cancel for a small forfeiture of points.

Would get a nice load of status credits and miles from this trip, so it makes the $12k outlay not as bad, but it means I avoid travelling on EK's 777-300ER and SQ's 777-300ER/A380 as it would be a One World trip.

 

[docjames]

OW RTW fares have risen - my TA tells me it's to do with a re-arrangement of the revenue split agreement between the carriers (for the given fare) and hence the price rises. It is already considered a "disocuunted" fare and most airlines will now only offer significant discounts if you stay on their metal (rather than ticket you onto another carrier).


$10k ex-NZ is good value as it's easy to position/reposition. You'll purchase for closer to $8-9k ex-JNB or DPS but they're more difficult to get to/from. JNB might have worked if your trip was in reverse (unfortunately) with tha maldives side-trip but it's hopeless if going to US first and then on to UK/EU.

If you go ex-NZ you can fly via AKL to LAX, start the RTW in AKL, and return to AUS and leave the end trip MEL-AKL open (and either use later on another trip to US or "throw away".)

 

[lovestotravel]

Yes I thought they were cheaper last time I looked but hey $12,000 is still really a bargain when it will cost more than that for MEL-LAX-MEL on QF

 

[lovestotravel]

MEL-LAX
SFO-LON
LON-ZRH
ZRH-LON
LON-CDG
CDG-LON
LON-DXB
SIN-MEL

How many status credits and QF FF miles would this earn me ?
My calculations using http://slfft.allhyper.com/0.95/award.htm seem to be 25000 miles! + my QFF bonus (silver/gold)

Around 740 Status credits as well ?

Hmmm

 

[docjames]

Try this: MileageMonkey 0.95022

You wont be able to ticket that as a rtw due to too many sectors in EU (LHR-DXB counts as EU).


Lose one side trip (do separately) eg. MEL-lax,sfo-lhr-cdg-lhr-dxb,sin-mel

and you'd yield 20898mi + bonuses for cabin/status and SCs:
Y155 J620 F930

 

[lovestotravel]

Thanks docjames - Wasn't fully aware of ticketing limitations just in planning stages at the moment.

:mrgreen:

Have emailed my travel agent now with what I want to do and see what fare she comes back with

 

[docjames]

Was also thinking, if you wanted to stay on OW you could route DXB-HKG-SIN all within the cost (ie. get to SIN for free), then you'd only be up for return SIN-MLE (which may be significantly cheaper than trying from DXB). I presume given you're coming back to SIN that it's the easeist or closest, but there'd be plenty of other SEAsia options if you took CX to HKG then into any major Asian city (to travel to MLE and then fro MLE to SIN). Basically, use the RTW to get you closest to MLE!

Wow, that ended up wordy!:shock:

Edit: Colombo is closer, so you could maybe route DXB-HKG-CBO-HKG-SIN-MEL, or just do CBO-SIN yourself.

Edit2: Also, could go from DXB back to AMM then to CBO. There are also OW options CBO-SIN so no need to backtrack unless trying to max out the SCs!

 

[lovestotravel]

Hmmm more options

Another factor for me to keep in mind:

The bonus for all this is that with $25,000 spent on the tickets is that I will get back 75,000 SQ miles with the Westpac SQ card I am using at the moment so I am factoring that into the cost/benefit analysis.

75,000 miles is worth around $4500 in my books

So I will get:
16000 QF miles after deducting the penalty for canceling existing tickets
75000 SQ miles
W***er Platinum status guaranteed as I have lots of other trips planned for 2010

 

[estate]

I haven't seen much in the way of OW RTW fares, but if you're looking to pay less than $10k you might consider Swiss. I've booked a J RTW fare with them for $7,500 stopping in GVA, LHR and JFK. Into and out of Australia you fly with QF so you can still pick up a fair few points and SCs.

 

[Mal]

I haven't seen much in the way of OW RTW fares, but if you're looking to pay less than $10k you might consider Swiss.

BiggestFrights have a Swiss one advertised starting at $6449 - Australian Travel Agent : Best Flights - discount travel - Travel Agent Australia

As per my usual advice for that 'lovely' Perth based company, see what your local travel agent can do rather than chatting to them.