the_p0et

Hey!
Not sure where to post this, since we don't know which alliance we'll go through. We will be teaching english in either China or Taiwan this year for about a year then want to go on a RTW or Circle Pacific trip. We want to see Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Singapore but can do that well we're teaching. For the trip after we're done teaching, we want to see NZ, a couple S. Pacific islands (doesn't matter which ones) and possible some of S.America. Right now we're just looking for the cheapest price we can find for this type of itinerary. We may have our flight from Canada - China already paid for, so we would leave from China, HK or Taiwan on the Circle Pacific trip and either have the final stop in Western Canada or go back to China and fly home to Canada from there.

Hope that wasn't too confusing!
Thanks.
Dan

Al B

Hi Dan.
The Star Circle Pac has the same rules as a RTW - travel must begin and end in the same country. [Of course there is nothing to stop you ticketing Canada-Taiwan or whatever and not using the last segment, but that's another matter!]

The basics for the *CircPac are :

Valid on SQ TG AC NZ OZ UA NH RG only. (Long list of excluded code flights).

a) - 2 levels available. CP1 at 22,000 mls max and CP2 at 26,000 mls max. Fares available for Y J and F.

b) - It's not a "true" CirclePac (where travel is limited to Pac Rim cities) and does allow you scope within SE Asia and the Far East for routings, but only YVR SEA SFO LAX SAN and HNL are permitted stops in Nth Am. [See permitted countries further down.]

c) - Travel must include 1 (and only 1) Nth Pac crossing and 1 (and only 1) Sth Pac crossing. Travel must route via Nth Am and/or Aust/N.Z. Only 1 crossing between Asia and Sth West Pac permitted.
(i.e. - Asia/S.E. Asia/Far East to Aus/N.Z./Sth Pac islands such as Fiji etc).

d) - No more than 28 segments (inlcuding ground). Travel *must* start and end in same country and cannot transit start point. Only 1 intnatl dep and 1 intnatl arrival in country of origin.
Ground segments counted in mileage.

e) - 7 days minimum, 6 mths maximum stay. Min of 3 stopovers required, except if departure country is in Sth West Pac then only 2 stopovers is minimum. Max of one stopover (24 hrs +) per city, included in the three permitted transfers per city.
No maximum stopovers - limited only by mileage, routing and number of segment restrictions.

f) - Classes booked (pending carrier) are:
Y cabin - H B or M
J cabin - C or D
F cabin - A

g) - Changes to other than up to the outbound 1st international leg can be made after ticketing at FOC for a reval only, or USD75 for a reissue. No charge if cancelled before ticketing, but 10% of fare paid as cancellation penalty after ticketing if no flights used. After departure, difference (if any) between fare paid and the applicable fare for the journey already travelled. [i.e. full published one way Y J or F fare, so forgeddaboutit !!!!]

Countries permitted to be used in the fare:
AUS / Brunei / CAN / China / Cambodia / Cook Islands / Fiji / HKG / Indonesia / Japan / Korea / Laos / Malaysia / Myanmar / New Caledonia / N.Z. / Philippines / Western Samoa / SIN / Tahiti / Taiwan / Thailand / Tonga / USA / Vietnam.

I've only got the ex AU fares with me, but it may give some idea.
CP1 (22,000 mls)
F - AUD8489 J - AUD6269 Y - AUD2839
CP2 (26,000 mls)
F - AUD10,189 J - AUD7529 Y - AUD3409
They're the published levels.

Only the basics, but it should help you get started. Cheers.

the_p0et

Wow! Thanks for the info. So is there a mileage calculator for the Circle Pacific ticket that I can use to see if my stops will be within the 24,000 miles? I was thinking about just not taking my last segment and stopping in YVR from China. You said no more then 28 segments including ground. Does that mean that the total mileage will also count the miles I took the bus from say Wellington, NZ to Auckland, NZ? Fly into Wellington, bus to Auckland and fly out of Auckland would be counted as 1 segment and all of the miles towards my total? You said Min of 3 stopovers required. Does that mean I would have to fly to at least 3 different cities per country I want to visit? And could you elaborate on "Max of one stopover (24 hrs +) per city, included in the three permitted transfers per city."?

Thanks!
Dan

Al B

The Great Circle Mapper is one tool that seems to be fairly close to the mileages in the various systems the carriers use. Do a search for it in this forum and you'll get the link in one post or other.

Ground segments are included in the mileage count, so the bus trip (!) from WLG to AKL is counted.

The minimum 3 stopovers (24 hrs+) is per itinerary. You need to have at least 3 of them in the trip.

You are allowed up to 3 transfers maximum per city, per itinerary/trip. Only 1 of these can be a 24 hrs + stopover. (You can use, let's say SIN, a total of 3 times per trip. Either 3 transits, or 2 transits and 1 stopover if you want/need to pass through there 3 times.)



[This message has been edited by Al B (edited Jan 23, 2004).]

Kiwi Flyer

Great circle mapper http://gc.kls2.com

I wouldnt recommend bussing between AKL and WLG without stopovers. It is at least 10 hours with minimal breaks. While some parts are scenic, a lot of the trip is through farmland.

OTOH if you are using it over a period of several days with stopovers in for example Taupo, Rotorua, Waitomo then bus is much better than flying.

You can get cheap one way airfares on both NZ and QF (the cheapest dont earn miles) as a separate ticket if you need to. There are plenty of flights so availability is generally good if you avoid obvious busy periods (morning and evening "commuter").

fly_yag

I'm just a little confused about this rule. I am looking at using this fare but my departure would be leaving from YWG. Would I be allowed to fly (no stopovers) YWG-YYC-LAX-Somewhere in the S. Pacific or would I need to book the YWG-LAX fare seperately from the Circle Pacific leaving from LAX?

Al B

You got it Dude. Can only start a :-: Circle Pac from NthAm at YVR SEA SFO LAX so you need to make your own way to one of these start points. AC at one stage offered an excellent Circle Pac fare in conjunction with SQ and NZ where you could buy an add-on at minimal cost from cities east of YVR in Canada, but that vanished early last year from memory.

gumbi_88

At least with your Asia trips, have you considered looking at the CX All Asia Pass? You would have to fly through HK on each trip and I think you need to have everything ticketed in advance, but if you don't mind the restrictions, you could save some money over a Circle Pac fare.

http://www.cathay.ca/offers/aap/subdefault.asp

fly_yag

I've looked at some of the other options but I plan on using the pass for an extended vacation of around 3 months or so. Ideally I was planning on flying a routing of YWG-YYC-LAX-NAN-AKL-SYD-SIN-BKK-VTE-BKK-PEK-NRT-YVR-YWG so I really wanted the south pacific option. I have quite a number of *A silver and I was planning on accruing some more on this itinerary. I'd prefer not to use Oneworld since at the moment I don't have any points or status. Any more advice would be welcomed.

xlrsdog

I am about to go on a trip from LAX to TPE, HKG, PER, SYD, BNE, AKL and NAN. The first part of the trip (LAX, TPE, HKG) are set in stone, the rest will change.

How flexible is the Circle the Pacific airpass? Can I lock in the first part of the trip and fill in the blanks later? Can I back track the locations - HKG to AKL, then to PER, or does it need to be in one direction? If I buy a J cabin pass, what happens on a two cabin aircraft?

I am not concerned with the price as much as the flexibility. Am I better off with a CP2 or point to point tickets?

Al B

As long as the segments up to and including your first international/intercontinental flights are confirmed, you can keep the dates of the rest of the segments open. (Bit pointless as you are allowed free date/time changes at any time anyway).
Rerouting mid trip is also permitted, however there will be a reissue fee for any voluntary ticket reissues.

No restrictions on routing, apart from the city stopovers/transits rule, origin country dept/arrival rule and the 1 only crossing of both Nth Pac and Sth Pac, as well as incorporating both AU/NZ and US/CA in one trip.
Your mileage limits will affect any plans to do massive backtracks like HKG-AKL-PER-AKL-SYD etc more than anything else.

As far as 2 cabin aircraft go, you'll find if there are 2 cabins on the international flights they will be Business and Economy anyway, so that's a moot point. None of the :-: partners run just a First and Economy on long haul Internationals that I can think of.

xlrsdog

Thanks Al B. I think I will give it a try. I can't find anyone at work who has ever travelled on an airpass and our travel agent doesn't have a clue either. From what I have read here, this seems perfect for the type of travelling I do.

My only problem is trying to keep under 26k miles.

ac777

There are great Circle pacific fares out of SFO and LAX. The airlines will quote a fare for the TA once they send a routing eg book SFO-HKG-BKK-SIN-SYD-SFO on SQ/ UA etc and send it off to SQ for pricing. These are not published so TA's have to get it from the airlines. The RTW can be done on the websites.Hope it helps.

Gotta Requalify

Is this rule still in effect?

If Melbourne is classed as South West Pacific then can I stop only in SFO and KUL?

If I arrive in LAX and depart from SFO - without a flight inbetween, I understand the distance is included in the total allowance - but is this treated as one stop over or two?

And in regards to the 3 stop over rule. If I go HKG-SIN-KUL-SIN-MEL, that only passes through SIN twice - is that allowed?

Al B

Yep - if travel commences in SWP, two stopovers minimum applies.

Both ends of the ground segment are counted as one stopover under number of stopovers rule but each city is counted as a city stopover under the city stopover rule, so you would be unable to stop at either of them again on the same trip.

As long as at least one of them is a transit of less than 24 hours, yes.