Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Most economical routing thru europe

I'm having a trip in a few months that will bring me thru europe, then asia, and back. Essentially a round-the-world flight. I'm trying to price out the air fares, but CX site is being a little dumb...

The main route I'm trying to price out is LAX-FRA-HKG-LAX, with secondary stops are TPE and PVG.. (lets leave that out for simplicity sake because of the whole china-taiwan thing and the potential direct flight).

I tried the booking on CX, and the site is routing me as LAX-HKG-FRA-HKG-LAX. Now this will surely get me lots of asiamiles, but its not very time economical. I've never booked any tickets with multiple airlines so I'm not sure how to do this.. Can someone offer pointers? Thanks :)

Basically Expedia, Travelocity, or a travel agent.

Consider a round the world ticket.

I have done some research on this subject, and the cheapest Business Class round the world ex-USA is just under $5000 with a VS/MH airline combination.
You can fly LAX-LHR-(other airline)FRA-LHR-HKG-(other airline)-TPE-(MH)LAX

Or you may wish to consider OW RTW as you can fly to China and Taipei as well.

Works out much better than buying three one way economy class. Let me tell you that you will most likely get only some ridiculously expensive full fare Y class for one way FRA-HKG flights if you travel on CX. One way flights are never friendly.

This really looks like an ideal itinerary for a 3 continent RTW on OW.

General rules: you have one flight each between the continents and up to 4 (6 in america) inside the continent.

So LAX-LHR (AA or BA) - 4 coupons in europe on BA, IB, AY - FRA-HKG - 4 coupons inside asia on JL, CX - HKG or NRT-LAX.

Check the oneworld forum. Lots of information and prices.

Very flexible is also the Star RTW. It is based on a maximum of miles (and 16 coupons). LAX-FRA on LH, then SQ or LH to Asia, TG, ANA, SQ to LAX. More information in the Star Forum.

How about PVG - NRT - ORD - MAN (I need to be in Sheffield, if possible would like to avoid London) - HEL - FRA - HKG - PVG. Does it look possible on an OW RTW ticket is another option better? I (we) would need to stop at each destination as the trip is planned to be mostly for work (sigh).

Any benefit of issuing the ticket through CX when a MPC tier member? AA flies ORD - MAN, don't they?

If getting to MAN is important: AA, BA and UA fly ORD-MAN.

On OW you could do:
PVG-NRT(JAL)-ORD(AA)(and 6 more coupons in the US)-MAN(AA,BA)-HEL(AY)-FRA(AY)-HKG(CX)-PVG(CX).

On Star: PVG-NRT(ANA,Air China)-ORD(UA,ANA)-MAN(UA)-HEL(via FRA, CPH, ZRH etc on LH, LX, SAS)-FRA(SAS,LH)-HKG(LH)-PVG(Air China).

In both cases you miss out several possible coupons. Are you travelling C or F?

If getting to MAN is important: AA, BA and UA fly ORD-MAN.

On OW you could do:
PVG-NRT(JAL)-ORD(AA)(and 6 more coupons in the US)-MAN(AA,BA)-HEL(AY)-FRA(AY)-HKG(CX)-PVG(CX).

On Star: PVG-NRT(ANA,Air China)-ORD(UA,ANA)-MAN(UA)-HEL(via FRA, CPH, ZRH etc on LH, LX, SAS)-FRA(SAS,LH)-HKG(LH)-PVG(Air China).

In both cases you miss out several possible coupons. Are you travelling C or F?

Thanks a lot and sorry for the thread hijack. :) Yes, getting to MAN would be important as there is a partner company to meet in the region. We would probably be travelling in C.

I'll look into further US destinations. Could visit a couple of East coast cities to meet local friends and break up the biz schedule a bit.

Thanks a lot and sorry for the thread hijack. :) Yes, getting to MAN would be important as there is a partner company to meet in the region. We would probably be travelling in C.

I'll look into further US destinations. Could visit a couple of East coast cities to meet local friends and break up the biz schedule a bit.

On OW the fare is coupon based. If you want to maximize miles it is a good strategy to look for the longest flights between the continents and then also the longest flights inside the continent. There is a lot of information about this in the oneworld forum.
Also keep in mind that the LH program rewards C and F with double and triple miles nicely and when you have status in LH it is also much easier to get awards than on most other programs.

Another criteria is how to maximize the experience. Since i usually buy RTWs in F i know more about the differences of the airlines in F.

On OW i like CX and JAL, QF and BA are somewhere in the middle with LAN (not sure if they even have planes with F left) and i dislike AA.

On Star i like SQ and ANA, LH also good as long as you are on an airbus or travel with somebody (not enough privacy on the 747). Thai is ok with the new seat, same as Asiana (but you are never sure if your plane has the new seat, i try to avoid the risk) and dislike UA (never flown their new F, but the old is more like a good business class).

So, correct me if I'm wrong:

In short.. If I "piece" together my flight using airlines that are not necessarily OW, the pricing may be cheaper.

But, I saw a "flat rate" fare on the OW site, which means I can fly many segments to maximize my miles gained, essentially a MR?

This is confusing!

On OW the fare is coupon based. If you want to maximize miles it is a good strategy to look for the longest flights between the continents and then also the longest flights inside the continent. There is a lot of information about this in the oneworld forum.

I think that my interest is more in schedules and comfort than getting every possible mile squeezed out. This because there is only limited time and meetinsg to be had and presentations & production facility visits on arrival at each port of call. If I could add Moscow or St.Petersburg and two US East Coast cities to that itin then that would already be perfect.

Also keep in mind that the LH program rewards C and F with double and triple miles nicely and when you have status in LH it is also much easier to get awards than on most other programs.

My main interest for redeeming miles is in upgrades, also for family members and my boss. Flight awards are less important.

Another criteria is how to maximize the experience. Since i usually buy RTWs in F i know more about the differences of the airlines in F.

On OW i like CX and JAL, QF and BA are somewhere in the middle with LAN (not sure if they even have planes with F left) and i dislike AA.

On Star i like SQ and ANA, LH also good as long as you are on an airbus or travel with somebody (not enough privacy on the 747). Thai is ok with the new seat, same as Asiana (but you are never sure if your plane has the new seat, i try to avoid the risk) and dislike UA (never flown their new F, but the old is more like a good business class).

Thanks, I have mostly flown AY, CX and JL in OW and OZ in Star on longhaul so any information on the rest is helpful.

Will take a good look at the OW forum. Cheers.

So, correct me if I'm wrong:

In short.. If I "piece" together my flight using airlines that are not necessarily OW, the pricing may be cheaper.

But, I saw a "flat rate" fare on the OW site, which means I can fly many segments to maximize my miles gained, essentially a MR?

This is confusing!

If you want to fly in C or F: RTWs are usually significantly cheaper than a string of oneways. Also it depends where you buy the ticket. US$ based countries and currencies which usually move with the US$ are cheaper than Euro-based. Lots of information about this in the OW and Star forum.
In addition the more you make use of the possibilities (using up to 16 coupons, long flights on OW etc) the better the saving is.
In addition these tickets are very flexible. Date changes are free, routing changes cost a small amount (compared to the fare).

On OW you pay a flat fee (dependent on the number of continents and the starting point). Then you have a max. of 16 coupons and a max of 4 coupons inside one of the 6 continents (6 coupons in the US). Some other restrictions.

On Star it is distance based. Add all the sectors (including surface) and you need to be below certain limits. Flat fee again, dependent on starting point.

Skyteam also has something similar, but Skyteam has less airlines, so routings are much more restricted.

In addition there are also some RTWs as a combination of two airlines. Sometimes they are cheaper, but possible routings are extremely limited.

Personally i use a lot of RTWs, sometimes have 2 or 3 open and change them midway. Good starting points are BKK/SGN or South Africa. Use the last flight of the old RTW to start the next......

Star RTWs in F are a great mileage (comfortable but expensive) run. On the LH mileage program with tripe miles in F one RTW (the mid or long version) is enough to make star gold and gets you triple miles, almost enough for an F award between the US and Europe.

Thanks for all your useful info. I'd like to stay with OW RTW flight. So if I booked the rtw flight, how do the miles/MPC segments all add up? I'd really have to figure out whether I have the time to city hop!

For miles and status RTW sectors are as any other sector: check the booking class and check how many miles/points etc you get for that distance in that class.
Keep in mind: only two stopovers in the continent of origin. So is is often better to start in da different continent, especially when you travel regularly.