Originally Posted by
BrewerSEA
I started planning to take an RTW this coming summer ages ago, and fairly recently decided on an AONE4. My goal is to visit all of these places (other than the US cities) but also to maximize mileage (I'll go from statusless to EXP only using this trip!). I'd love any advice about different routings or really anything else.
I'm based in Seattle but will fly out of JNB as it is about the same price to fly J from Seattle round trip and start in South Africa as it is to just start in Seattle, and, as a bonus I can actually SEE South Africa, which isn't a possible routing starting in Seattle as Kenya is higher up on my must-see list.
Anyway, here goes:
Positioning: SEA-xDFW-xLHR-JNB then NBO-xLHR-xORD-SEA
- Johannesburg (JHB) - xLHR - Amman (AMM)
- Amman (AMM) - Sulaimaniyah (ISO)
- Sulaimaniyah (ISO) - xAMM - London (LHR)
- London (LHR) - Singapore (SIN)
- Singapore (SIN) - Bangkok (BKK)
- Bangkok (BKK) - Tokyo (HND)
- Tokyo (HND) - Beijing (PEK)
- Beijing (PEK) - Hong Kong (HKG)
- Hong Kong (HKG) - New York (JFK)
- New York (JFK) - xLAX - xORD - Seattle (SEA)
- Seattle (SEA) - xLHR - Nairobi (NBO)
I want to keep the HKG-JFK flight on there to experience the longest non-stop flight on OW (and in CX F, to boot!).
Thanks for any and all help!
First, a minor typo - Sulaymaniyah is ISU; ISO is someplace in North Carolina.
Your itinerary is fine; however have you looked at the all-in costs starting in Jordan instead of SA? At today's exchange rates, an AONE4 starting in Jordan looks to be around US$700 cheaper than one starting in South Africa, and I expect your positioning costs would be lower, too.
In addition, by starting in SA you'd have to ticket with BA (if you use the online tool) which would subject you to very big fuel surcharges in addition to ordinary taxes. By starting in Jordan you could have AA issue the ticket (as the RJ issuer of record) which would reduce those charges to some degree (from some to a lot, depending on detailed itinerary and stopover points.)
The one hitch that would result from starting in Jordan would be that you couldn't transit Amman after ISU (no transiting the point of issuance) so your Iraq trip would probably need to be made prior to the actual start of the RTW. On the other hand that would save you a couple of segments you could use elsewhere. Oneworld doesn't seem to have a published RTW fare for Iraq, so starting in ISU is off the table for now.
You might apply the difference in access costs to a separate flight from NBO to DAR, then proceed to Asia on CX's JNB-HKG flight, giving you an itinerary like this:
AMM-LHR-NBO//DAR-JNB-HKG-SIN-BKK-HND-PEK-HKG-JFK-LAX-ORD-SEA-LHR-AMM
(Although I'd be tempted to use your N. America transcon to do JFK-YVR or v.v. rather than JFK-LAX, but it's your call.)
Anyway, you could experiment using the online tool to see what the difference is in bottom line, or how it would work with your schedule.