RTW Planning Advice

[serfty]

VelociRaptor, you are allowed four flights per region ...

6 in North America ...

 

[Skyring]

VelociRaptor
So you could, for example, have stopovers in NRT (or HKG) and then also in SIN and NRT again. You can only go back to MNL once since it is your starting point.

You don't need a stopover in SIN - just arrange an overnight transit and spend the hours in the airside hotel.

Of course, Singapore is a fascinating and historic city. However, although I've flown in and out any number of times, I've never yet left the airport.

(Having said that, seeing new places is half the fun. I flew to Istanbul and back last year just to burn two of my four Europe sectors. Spent the evening and morning up to lunch time in that ancient city and had an excellent time. The BA flights themselves were blah.)

 

[VelociRaptor]

Ah okay, think I have it sorted now. If when I first fly out, I don't stop over in NRT, I can do the SIN and NRT stopover on the way back.

This is what the trip looks like now, and validates in mileage monkey:

MNL-NRT-HNL-LAX,SEA-ORD,DCA-DFW-MEX-MIA-LIM-SCL-GIG-LHR-SIN-NRT-MNL

Now to sell a house so I have the funds to book the trip

Cheers for all the advice

VR

 

[Danger]

With the South African Rand looking pretty attractive for a DONE4 at the moment, I'd appreciate the experts' views on the following draft:

JNB-CPT-LHR-CAI-AMM-VIE-HEL-JFK-MIA-DEN-DFW-ORD-SFO-LAX-MEL-SYD-JNB.

Mileage Monkey shows it to be valid but I'm open to tinkering for (QF) mileage and SCs - indeed, any suggestions.

 

[serfty]

Need to know where you MUST go, where you'd LIKE to go and where you DO NOT WANT to go.

Also, what time(s) of year ...

 

[Danger]

Thanks, serfty. No musts at all on this trip but the places I'd like to go (at some point, not necessarily this time) include Vienna, Stockholm, Moscow, Copenhagen, Amman, Cairo, Toronto, Denver, Detroit, Mexico City, Anchorage and Seattle.

Places I've already been include Paris, Hamburg, Edinburgh, Madrid and Zurich; Dallas, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Las Vegas and San Diego.

I've no intention of staying more than 24 hours in London. And I can't think of any do nots either. This is more about trying to see new places, maximise SCs and mileage and check out some nice lounges!

No particular time of the year either but I'm leaning towards a May departure.

 

[Skyring]

Thanks, serfty. No musts at all on this trip but the places I'd like to go (at some point, not necessarily this time) include Vienna, Stockholm, Moscow, Copenhagen, Amman, Cairo, Toronto, Denver, Detroit, Mexico City, Anchorage and Seattle.

This is more about trying to see new places, maximise SCs and mileage and check out some nice lounges!

No particular time of the year either but I'm leaning towards a May departure.

May is good, as is September - it's pretty nice everywhere.

I spent two nights in Seattle last week. Some great sights to see. I particularly enjoyed the Museum of Flight and getting to tour a Concorde and Air Force 1. You can sit in a Blackbird coughpit which is cool.

Just wondering if you can alter your itinerary to get QF108 from JFK to SYD via LAX. It counts as one sector. It's an intercontinental sector, rather than a North American one, so in effect you get JFK-LAX as a freebie.

Mind you, it's about as long as the SYD-LHR run, with only an hour or so break to refuel. - Best done at the front of the plane.

 

[Danger]

QF108 is a good suggestion, thanks. I'll have a play with a re-schedule.

Is it possible to fly from CPT to a city other than LHR, so that I could fly out of LHR to a destination in the US other than JFK? (I know CPT-MAD is an option but I'm not fussed about flying Iberia.) If I did this I could take QF108 as the final flight and make that my only stop in New York, rather than arriving into there, travelling around then going back there again for QF108.

 

[Danger]

With great efficiency AA in South Africa have processed my draft DONE4 in just 72 hours and all by email. The routing is as follows:

Johannesburg to Durban to Cape Town to London Heathrow (transit only) to Dubai to Amman to Istanbul to Helsinki to New York Kennedy to Chicago to San Francisco to Las Vegas to Dallas/Fort Worth to Vancouver to New York Kennedy to Sydney (via LAX, QF108) to Johannesburg.

My concern is they've come back with what seems to be an extraordinary amount of taxes. The base fare is 45000 rand and taxes have been quoted as 7526, well over 10%.

To those with experience does this seem right?

 

[serfty]

Percentage/ratio of

to Base fare is not a good guide; especially when the base fare is really low in relation to other counties.

SAR7526 is worth about USD760; quite within reason by today's standards.

 

[Danger]

I'm currently ticketed on:

Johannesburg-Durban-Cape Town-xLondon Heathrow-Dubai-Amman-Istanbul-Helsinki-New York Kennedy-Chicago-San Francisco-Las Vegas-Dallas-Vancouver-New York-Sydney.

This was all planned for departure 3 May. However, work complications now mean I'm forced to look at a departure in mid-January. The problem is I can't find a flight between Istanbul and Helsinki (it appears seasonal with Finnair).

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I might get similar mileage and status credits (with Qantas, as a Platinum)?

Paris would be a welcomed option; Istanbul is a must; Helsinki is neither here nor there; Dubaai is neither here nor there although it's a long flight and I like the earning.

 

[Evan]

You could just fly back from IST to LHR on BA, then onto JFK.
E

 

[Danger]

Thanks, Evan. I hadn't thought of the obvious! I just did a quick mileage calculation and IST-LHR-JFK earns quite a bit less than IST-HEL-JFK so it's an option but not the preferred one.

 

[Evan]

Thanks, Evan. I hadn't thought of the obvious! I just did a quick mileage calculation and IST-LHR-JFK earns quite a bit less than IST-HEL-JFK so it's an option but not the preferred one.

Depending on who you are crediting to it may still be a better option. eg to QF then BA & AA flights earn status bonus as i understand.

You could do IST-MAD-JFK, but same as via LHR you loose 20 status credits if flying QF

Fancy a side trip to Madrid ?
Or something crazy like LHR-MCT-AMM-IST-AMM-JFK

E

 

[Danger]

I hadn't considered Oman. AMM to JFK is also a very decent SC earner (to QF). I'd rather not have to 'waste' a stop by going through AMM twice but it's certainly worth considering. Thank you.

 

[Danger]

Using the final sector SYD-JNB of the above at Easter 2010 I'm positioning for another DONE4, the bulk of which will be in November and December. The plan is:

WDH (Windhoek, Namibia)-JNB-SYD-LAX-ORD-MIA-PHL-DFW-JFK-SFO-LHR-TLV-MAD-BUD-LHR-MRU-JNB.

All are stopovers except both transits at LHR. Great Circle Mapper gives me 44403 miles and my calculations say 98779 QFF points with 1770 SCs. The points earned seem very high to me but all the longhauls will earn me 2.25 points per mile as a WP (JNB-SYD-LAX on QF and JFK-LHR on BA).

Plugging it all into the oneworld online booking tool and clicking book now I get an error message "Sorry, booking engine could not be contacted. Input string was not in correct format". All flights and dates are, I think, okay. That's the first issue which I think may have something to do with originating in Namibia because if I change the first departure to CPT it's not a problem.

Would AA in South Africa ticket ex-Namibia? The Namibian dollar is slightly better than the South African rand with both countries having the same base price of 48000.

Any thoughts on further maximising points? The must-go destination is really only New York and I'd like to avoid Amman, Dubai, Paris, Helsinki, Istanbul and Zurich where possible.

 

[docjames]

I'd like to avoid Amman, Dubai, Paris, Helsinki, Istanbul and Zurich where possible.

Curiosity has got the better of me: Why??


BTW, sounds like a great trip.

 

[Danger]

Sorry, I should have given a bit more info. They are all places I've been. With the exception of Paris (and maybe Zurich) I'm happy to have been to them and to now go elsewhere.