TheResidence

Hey guys,

I am finally able to redeem my Star Alliance First Class RTW through my Krisflyer membership (360,000 miles) and I wish to seek your advice on the best Star Alliance RTW itinerary one can ever experience once in his/her lifetime.

Personally, I don't think the destinations matter so much to me because I don't think I am going to stay more than 2 nights in each place. Honestly, I am looking at most a 14 days RTW trip.

But I guess I simply want to enjoy the (i) best first class experience (ii) flying as many Star Alliance airlines as possible. And also, (iii) comfy luxurious first class lounges (will i be eligible? or not?) at each airport would be great too.

I understand that for this RTW, the main restrictions are (i) 7 stopovers and (ii) up to 16 segments.

Hope you guys can help me out.

In detail, the restrictions are:

ROUND THE WORLD AWARD RESTRICTIONS
• Normal Star Alliance Award travel restrictions apply.
• You must travel in a continuous eastbound or westbound direction, beginning and ending in the same country. You must make only one crossing of the Atlantic Ocean and only one crossing of the Pacific Ocean. You are allowed an origin open-jaw in the same country.
• Your total travel distance must not exceed 35,000 miles. You are allowed a maximum of 16 segments in your itinerary.
• You may include a maximum of seven complimentary stopovers in your itinerary. The same stopover restrictions for Star Alliance Awards apply for Round The World Awards. In addition, you may stop over only once in each city and no more than twice in any one country. You may not purchase additional
stopovers. Surface sectors are permitted but count as stopovers.

=> Thanks in advance

Unterwegs

I believe your main issue will be finding award space, especially when you have a relatively short timeframe. Instead of looking for airlines and places with good lounges I would start trying to find availability.

To answer some of your questions:
- You can use the lounges. Very high on my list is the LH FCT and the FCLs in FRA and MUC. Most airports have no dedicated F lounge and even if they have one (like LAX) they are not much better than the regular lounges.

- You are probably familiar with the Private Room in SIN, which is overrated in my opinion. The LX FCL in ZRH is relatively good, also the F lounges in BKK (massage only when you fly Thai) NRT and ICN.

- Good airlines for F are LH, LX (only on the 330), NH, OZ, SQ and also TG. Avoid UA.
NZ, SA and most (all?) other Star airlines don't have F.

sbm12

If you can get OZ ex-ICN, SQ ex-SIN and TG ex-BKK that's a good start. Added bonus if you can get both LH and LX from ZRH and FRA, though that can be a challenge because FCL/FCT mostly applies to long-haul flights, though it will also apply if you can get the connections to work correctly. For UA the only reasonably nice GFL is probably SFO.

I wouldn't worry about CA F product or lounges.

ramkashyap

Try to get a LH F segment operated by the 747-400. The bed and seat is a unique experience.