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oneworld / AA Explorer award with AA Miles (discuss, questions) [ENDED 8 APR 2014]

N.B. new oneworld/AA Explorer awards are no longer available as of the end of the day on April 7th, 2014.

Existing awards will be honored.

This thread is ONLY to inquire or add about existing oneworld Explorer awards; to comment on the loss of this booking option, please follow the discussion on:
Oneworld Explorer Awards Eliminated -- Effective Immediately [8 Apr 2014]

See the first post, below, for the rules that prevailed through 7 April 2014 and apply to those who booked Explorer awards prior to the end of these useful award tickets.

oneworld / AA Explorer award with AA Miles (discuss, questions) [ENDED 8 APR 2014]

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Apr 3, 2012, 10:47 am

#346

maxcalls

Join Date: May 2011

Location: Kansas City, MO

Programs: AA, United, Delta, Marriott, HH, Hyatt

Posts: 41

Omg , thank you very much guys.
Like seeing the diversity in views and such great sensible answers I guess I now know what I really need to focus on.

Flyer talk guys are awesome.
I'll post in a future thread what route and places I ended up routing and the experience I got.

Apr 4, 2012, 12:04 pm

#347

onlybeef42

Join Date: Feb 2010

Posts: 321

Quote:

Originally Posted by Austinrunner

Most of the Explorer award rules are AA-instituted and maintained. AA can waive them whenever it wants.

But AA cannot waive government-imposed taxes, duties, etc. If you were not required to pay them, you can rest assured that AA is paying them.

Why didn't you just do a DFW -> GLA award followed by a DUB -> AUS award? Both would be "oneworld and other airline" awards.

I had already traveled the LAN portion (aus-dfw-mex-lim-cuz-lim-mia-dfw) of the explorer award, so I was locked into a explorer ticket.

If I took AA's offer to cancelled my ticket due to the BUD issues they would not have refunded sufficient miles to book two new award flights making fixing the explorer award my only option.

Last edited by onlybeef42; Apr 4, 2012 at 1:20 pm Reason: Oneworld --> explorer

Apr 5, 2012, 9:04 am

#348

skit53

Join Date: Aug 2004

Programs: AA Explat, UA 1K

Posts: 389

Does anyone have a tip on how to book an explorer reward IF the return legs are not showing availability yet?

The first 3 legs of my trip are OK, but is there a way to hold it and add the other legs later?

Thanks!

Apr 5, 2012, 4:06 pm

#349

kraftar

Join Date: Nov 2006

Location: London, UK & Irvine, CA

Programs: BA Gold, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold

Posts: 138

Never done a RTW trip before but have decided to take the plunge. After reading through this thread I think I understand the rules (thanks Austinrunner)... here is my proposed itinerary:

PRG-LHR-LAX(stop) - HNL(stop) - ORD(stop) - SAN(stop) - LHR(3-month stop) - DXB(stop) - HEL(stop) // LHR - HKG(stop) - BKK(stop) - SIN(stop) - SYD(stop) -HKG-LHR-PRG.
49,406 miles (great circle mapper), using BA/CX/AY/QF

I'm using LHR alot but I think that's ok as it is only 1 stop, 2 connections, and 1 open-jaw departure.

Any other issues/concerns/suggestions? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Apr 5, 2012, 5:35 pm

#350

Austinrunner

Suspended

Join Date: Jul 2003

Posts: 4,861

Looks OK, although you'll have to pay fuel surcharges whenever you fly on BA. You'll also have to pay the air passenger duty when you stopover in LHR. Which class of service will you be flying? You didn't list AA, but from your itinerary, it's clear you'll be flying them, too.

Last edited by Austinrunner; Apr 5, 2012 at 5:41 pm

Apr 5, 2012, 5:41 pm

#351

kraftar

Join Date: Nov 2006

Location: London, UK & Irvine, CA

Programs: BA Gold, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold

Posts: 138

Quote:

Originally Posted by Austinrunner

Looks OK, although you'll have to pay fuel surcharges whenever you fly on BA. You'll also have to pay the air passenger duty when you stopover in LHR. Which class of service will you be flying?

Planning on flying business class. Haven't figured out how to avoid the BA/LHR issue since I'm based in London and want to stop in (or near) London twice on the trip for long breaks (once after the North American portion, and a second after dubai-helsinki).

Apr 5, 2012, 7:52 pm

#352

Austinrunner

Suspended

Join Date: Jul 2003

Posts: 4,861

This will give you a good idea of the BA fuel surcharges and UK air passenger duties that you would pay under your proposed itinerary:

PRG -> LHR (BA) -> LAX (BA) (fuel surcharge of £133.40)
LAX -> HNL (AA)
HNL -> ORD (AA)
ORD -> SAN (AA)
SAN -> LHR (BA) (fuel surcharge of £267.20)
LHR -> DXB (BA) (fuel surcharge of £159.50) (air passenger duty of £130.00)
DXB -> HEL (AY)
Open Jaw
LHR -> HKG (CX) (air passenger duty of £162.00)
HKG -> BKK (CX)
BKK -> SIN (CX)
SIN -> SYD (QF)
SYD -> HKG (CX or QF) -> LHR (CX) -> PRG (BA) (fuel surcharge of £22.50)

TOTAL of BA fuel surcharges and UK air passenger duties: £874.10

If you fly BA for your HKG -> LHR leg, you would have to pay an additional fuel surcharge of £188.40.

Apr 5, 2012, 11:44 pm

#353

Sagy

Original Member, Ambassador: OneWorld Alliance

Join Date: May 1998

Location: Austin, TX, USA

Programs: AA ExecPlat & 3MM; Marriott Titanium

Posts: 1,015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Austinrunner

...
ORD -> SAN (AA)
SAN -> LHR (BA) (fuel surcharge of £267.20)
...

kraftar,

You might consider replacing SAN with LAX and do the LAX-LHR leg on AA. Yes there is a difference in the J product and this is a long flight, only you can decide if it is worth the £267.20 minus the cost of getting from LA to SD and back.

Apr 6, 2012, 1:25 am

#354

kraftar

Join Date: Nov 2006

Location: London, UK & Irvine, CA

Programs: BA Gold, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold

Posts: 138

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sagy

Thanks again Austinrunner and thanks Sagy! I could do some tweaking like
PRG-MAD-LAX (IB) instead of PRG-LHR-LAX. That leads to a couple of questions:

1. is BA the only airline w/ a fuel surcharge I need to worry about? What about Iberia?
2. what is the relative ranking of the airlines' business class? I'm working under the assumption that CX > BA > AA. But I don't know where QF, AY, IB, S7, RJ and Air Berlin fit into the equation.
3. is OVB allowed as a destination? If so, is it worth visiting?

Apr 6, 2012, 1:36 am

#355

Austinrunner

Suspended

Join Date: Jul 2003

Posts: 4,861

IB has a fuel surcharge, but it's minimal (a maximum of 30 euros).

Novosibirsk? Yes, it's allowed.

Last edited by Austinrunner; Apr 6, 2012 at 1:44 am

Apr 6, 2012, 1:41 am

#356

kraftar

Join Date: Nov 2006

Location: London, UK & Irvine, CA

Programs: BA Gold, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold

Posts: 138

Quote:

Originally Posted by Austinrunner

IB has a fuel surcharge, but it's minimal (a maximum of 30 euros).

Thanks again Austinrunner! is there a thread somewhere which lists the fuel surcharges so I don't have to keep bothering you?

Apr 6, 2012, 5:58 am

#357

Austinrunner

Suspended

Join Date: Jul 2003

Posts: 4,861

If you enter your itinerary at the ITA website, it will list all the charges, taxes, fees, etc. that you will be required to pay. The one exception are the IB fuel surcharges.

Apr 6, 2012, 7:15 am

#358

kraftar

Join Date: Nov 2006

Location: London, UK & Irvine, CA

Programs: BA Gold, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold

Posts: 138

Thanks once more. I missed that at the very bottom of the OP.

Apr 9, 2012, 10:15 pm

#359

skit53

Join Date: Aug 2004

Programs: AA Explat, UA 1K

Posts: 389

Just wanted to check if this was a valid itinerary:

BKK-KIX (stopover)-HEL(stopover)-CDG(stopover)-HKG (stopover) -JFK (stopover)-HKG (connection)-TPE

31k miles.

Thanks!

Apr 10, 2012, 8:29 am

#360

BharatiyaNari

Join Date: Oct 2011

Location: DEL

Programs: AAdvantage, Global Entry, United Silver

Posts: 44

Open jaws stopover

Hi,

If I have an open jaws stopover as part of an explorer award, which city counts for the "no more than 1 stopover per city" rule- the arrival city or the departure city?

For example, if I try to book the following as part of an explorer award:

HKG-ORD-MSN (open jaws stopover) ORD-MCO-ORD(stopover)-HEL

would the second stopover in ORD be allowed after the 1st stopover between MSN and ORD?

Thanks!