Originally Posted by
fbnewyork
Looking at travel plans for 2012-2013. Still working, so I cant do one long trip. Been thinking about somthing along the lines of the following.
JFK-LHR-TLV-MAD-LHR-DEL-HKG-SYD-CNS-SYD-SCL-EZE-MIA-SJU-DFW-JFK.
1) How long could I break this up into. I have read one year, I have read one year from ticketing, and I have read that the last segments can be open and booked at a later time?
2) Would I be violating rules if I broke the trip up (Say by returning to JKF after LHR, SCL, MIA)?
3) The cities are not set in stone. If fact they are all places I've been before, and wouldn't mind going back to.
4) I have not started to look and see if any seats would be available on these legs(Via EF). Just wanting to see if it is feasible, and how it would price out (in J) vs. Individual trips.
Thank you.
1. The ticket is good for one year. Since the move to e-ticketing, it's much harder to have open segments (requires paper tickets which the airlines are increasingly unwilling to produce.) However you can put "dummy" dates into the PNR and then just change them later at no cost.
2. You can break the trip anywhere. Many people (myself included) usually start in some less-expensive issuance country, travel around a bit, then come home and resume that pesky work thing, then continue/complete the trip at a later date. If you want to suspend the trip in some intermediate place, fly home on your own dime, then return and pick it up again, no worries.
3. (No comment.)
4. None of those segments, with the possible exception of SYD-SCL, should present any troubles with availability. Of course a lot can change in a year (and especially note new carriers/routes as Oneworld changes/expands.)
However you ought to use EF to check some prices; for example a DONE5 bought and started at TLV is something like $3700 cheaper than one bought and started in the US. By starting in Europe you might think about point (2) above - you could go Europe > Asia > SWP >- S America > N America/home > Europe, save money and achieve the break you're seeking. Plus, you only get two stopovers in the continent of issue; that would help you in North America, where your current itinerary would probably require more stopovers than allowed, and you'd run into a problem with the rules regarding stopovers in the country of issue prior to/after the first/last international segment. Have a look at the rules on the Oneworld site ASAP.