Star Alliance - STAR 29000 Question

Hi! I have a question concerning a Star RTW 29000 Miles ticket:

ZRH - FRA - LHR - YVR - YXY
YXY - YVR
YVR - SFO
SFO - LAX - RAR
RAR - AKL - NOU
NOU - AKL
AKL - SYD
SYD - SIN - ZRH

Is there a shorter way to connect these destinations? Maybe I can reach NOU from somewhere else?

Also I would be happy if someone could check that the mileage is under 29000.

Which Mile Program should I choose? United, or Lufthansa or maybe Air NZ?

Thanks
Adrian

gruezi Adrian

what is your mileage calculation? (per segment)
for an advice regarding the best ff-program we would have to know in which class you will fly and what you want to 'maximise? (how much is future 'status' worth, or is a free ticket your highest priority? how a regular flier are you/will you be from now on/after the rtw?)
for some segments you will have a choice of StarAlliance-airlines (example SIN-ZRH: Singapore or Lufthansa). Which one will you book/prefer?

[This message has been edited by Rudi (edited 05-10-2001).]

Gruezi as well,

There is an excellent distance calculator available at http://www.chicago.com/airliners/gc.html This is actually a great circle calculator, so the distances between cities will vary slightly from those used in fare calculations, but it's a very good approximation. Viel Spass!

The Great Circle Distance Calculator (http://www.chicago.com/airliners/gc.html) Jim_B mentioned shows your routing at 28,801 miles. Looks like you have used the limit.

Thank you everybody, I have now the Mileage:

ZRH – FRA 178
FRA - LHR 406
LHR – YVR 4713
YVR - YXY 924

YXY - YVR 924

YVR – SFO 800

SFO – LAX 337
LAX – RAR 4670

RAR – AKL 1873
AKL – NOU 1154

NOU – AKL 1154

AKL – SYD 1345

SYD – SIN 3907
SIN – ZRH 6405

Total 28790

I'm going to buy an Economy Class Ticket. I don't have any prefered airline of the Star Alliance group.

Should I book all possible flight with Lufthansa, and would that be enough to get a free flight within Europe? How does for example Lufthansa count the miles of other Star Airlines Partners? Full, some percentage or not at all ...

Thank you,
Adrian

First up, nearly all flights eligible for a Star RTW are creditable to any program within the group. Caution may be required on some Asian flights.

Putting them into Lufthansa would get you 31'221 miles, just enough for a free European ticket. (LH credits all flights at a minimum of 1'000 miles.)

On Air Canada, for another example, you would only get 28'445, enough to get you to Germany (by claiming on Lufthansa) and almost enough to do so in business (which would require 30'000). The difference is that AC only gives a 500-mile minimum, and only half mileage on the two within-Canada segments.

If you're planning on doing more travel on Star carriers, using Air Canada would also have the advantage of putting you within 7'000 miles of Star Alliance Gold status. Others here can tell you more about the advantage of that, but a major one is access to airport lounges.

United would not be a good choice--you get only the same accumulation as on AC, but are much farther from Gold.

Air New Zealand figures rewards on Lufthansa (and probably Austrian) by distance. You could go up to 2'000 kilometers on the points that itinerary would give you.

LH miles&more 'pays' (in brackets for passengers with already LH Frequent Flier status) on all StarAlliance carriers:

100% (125%) status miles in paid eco
200% (250%) status miles in paid business
300% (375%) status miles in paid first

minimum miles rule for LH's miles&more program (double for paid business, trible for paid first; add 25% for Frequent traveller status).
UA: 1000 minimum miles
SK: 500 minimum miles for flights within Scandinavia (excl. Finland), all other flights 1000 minimum miles
OS, VO, NG: 1000 minimum miles
SQ: 500 minimum miles
AC: 1000 minimum miles for international flights, 1000 minimum miles for flights within Canada when booked in Y or M, 500
minimum miles otherwise
NZ: 500 minimum miles
AN: 500 minimum miles
BD: 1000 minimum miles
MX: 500 minimum miles within Mexico, 1000 minimum miles for international flights
TG: 500 minimum miles
RG: 1000 minimum miles
NH: 1000 minimum miles only for international flights

Hope this hasn't been covered before.

How are the mileages calculated? Is it each segment or is it the direct distance from origin to next stop-over (for example as in UA upgrades using 500 mile certs)?

the miles are calculated per (flight number / flight coupon issued (without any stopover in between)

If the 'connection' is one (the same) flight number ask for one flight coupon for the whole flight (possible even with a change of gauge, but must be one through flight number). The negativ effect will be, that the miles credited into your ff-account will also be lower ...