VirginSkies99

Im trying to book a business trip for my dad. He has to book the flights and gets reimbursed the money and me being a former trolley dolly and plane geek said I would do it. The trip is as follows:

EDI - SFO - PVG - WUH - PVG - EDI.

I looked at booking through RWT which worked fine for business and economy but when looking for PE fares the only flights available seemed to be LHR - SFO via LAX, none of the easier one connection flights to SFO.

Also this trip is being funded by two different companies. Is it possible to book the first segments (EDI - SFO) in PE and the rest in Club/Business class. Who would I have to contact if I wanted to book over the phone?

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated!

craigthemif

That is indeed a nightmare. Different airline alliances presumably, so your best bet is a business-focused travel agent such as CWT or Amex Travel, who should have numbers to call?

Or maybe with some creative routing a Oneworld round-the-world ticket would do the trick?

EDI-SFO one way would be quite expensive in PE - often not much less than the J equivalent. Not sure whether company 1 would be pleased to pay that fare. But in theory you could perhaps look on the ba.com website for a EDI-LHR-SFO in PE, with a return in Y that your father wouldn't actually use. (but by booking a return fare the cost would actually be lower, by booking into more restricted fare classes)

Then separately you could price out the SFO-China-EDI parts on presumably China Eastern or whoever flies some or all of the routes...

Gardyloo

Oneworld's RTW products such as the LONE3 (economy class RTW that would apply to your dad's trip) allow for flight-by-flight upgrades from economy to premium economy (offered by BA, Cathay, etc. - useful for your trip.)

Unfortunately the rules set a price of US$1450 per segment where PE is used. If you wanted your dad to have PE on all the longhaul flights, e.g. LHR-SFO, SFO-HKG-(PVG) and PVG-LHR, that would add US$4350 (say GBP 2720) to the base price - actually increasing the total cost by over 100%. (The base price for an LONE3 ex-UK is around GBP1890.) That would make the total cost over GBP4600 plus fees and taxes, a pretty terrible deal.

But one of the features of RTW tickets is that they're priced very differently from one "originating" country to another. While the UK isn't bad for economy class RTWs with Oneworld, it's not very cheap (compared to some) for business class RTWs.

So one - somewhat complicated - "work-around" for your dad's issue would be to purchase a business class RTW - but somewhere cheaper than the UK. For example, a DONE3 - up to 16 flights in business class (first class on domestic US flights) bought in Cairo, would cost around GBP3490 plus taxes and fees. In Jordan or Israel, it would be around GBP3700. Add a couple hundred quid for a one-way (economy) flight to one of those cities, and you're still well under the LONE3 + PE upgrades originating in the UK, and he's in business class - flat beds and all - for Pete's sake.

And by starting the RTW someplace besides the UK, at the "end" of the trip he could return to Edinburgh but as a stopover, not a termination, and still have a couple of available segments to use within Europe before ending somewhere back in the Middle East (doesn't have to be where he started) - so another business trip or holiday handled using the same ticket.

Not to mention all the Avios or other miles he might score.

Here's a sample route that would work. I'm not including any EDI-LHR segments as they're economy only and a waste of RTW segments (IMO.)

(EDI-BCN-TLV) - positioning flights, Iberia, around GBP500 in business class.

RTW - TLV-PHL-SFO-LAX-PVG-HKG-WUH-HKG-PVG-HEL-LHR-FCO-LHR-TLV

Notes - 1. LHR-FCO-LHR is a made up holiday in Italy. Could be anywhere in Europe, the Middle East, or Mediterranean Africa. 2. I've added a stop in Helsinki so that he could use Finnair rather than BA for longhauls, which would save hundreds of pounds - maybe more - in "fuel surcharges" that BA adds to RTW tickets. Similarly, I've shown using US Airways (AA) on TLV-PHL rather than BA through London, and AA from LAX to PVG - also avoiding "fuel fines."

He could return to Scotland after the trip is over using some of the many points earned in the course of the big trip.

Guy Betsy

Note - OP said that the trip is paid for by two separate companies so it has to be split up.

To the OP - best for this is to contact a local TA who may have deals. I know that for example, Trailfinders can construct their own RTW for less than what is offered as published by OW's fares.

VirginSkies99

Thanks for all the help.

I had another go at the RTW and managed to get it together I think. He has decided to go Club to make life easier (hard life eh!) also he is back in EDI for 3 days then off to Hong Kong and Singapore so he will be shattered!

Basically he will leave EDI to SFO with BA in J, then fly Cathay from SFO to WUH in J and back from PVG to EDI with BA. It's priced at Ł6000 all in which the company paying seems to think is good. My question now is he is BA bronze (hasn't travelled in awhile). If I put these in the miles calculator will it accurately reflect the tier points he will get? I estimated over 500? Or is it different if u use RTW?

Thanks for the advice again

flatlander

For BA tier points in business class it doesn't matter whether you bought a single, return, or RTW fare for the flights. But note that BA give different TP for BA flights than flights on other airlines, so ensure you put the airline into the BA TP calculator to get the right answer.

The BA TP calculator is down at the moment but by my reckoning he'll get 560TP. So even a trivial amount of additional previous flying will put him at BAEC Silver after this. Of course he'll have BAEC silver-like lounge benefits on his J ticket so he'll have the experience from the start of this trip.

Calchas

Try logging in.

So, EDI - SFO - PVG - WUH - PVG - EDI is actually EDI-LHR-SFO-HKG-WUH-HKG-PVG-LHR-EDI?

That would give 20 + 140 + 160 + 40 + 40 + 40 + 140 + 20 = 600 TP, plenty to be getting on with.