<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by cyence:
Just registered. Bit intimidated by the knowledge here. Makes my Travel Agent look like a beginner. Family of 5 going rtw traveling from Toronto to Ecuador, Samoa, Fiji, Auckland, Brisbane, Joberg, Toronto. According to my agent this means OneWorld: yyz-uio-sti-akl-bne-jnb-lhr-yyz. It also means separate flights at additional cost from NZ back to Apia then on to Nandi before continuing. Furthermore, returning to Toronto from Joberg has to be via London adding a 5th continent to the fare. Is this what you would do? To add insult to injury, my Diners Club card accrues points on a Star Alliance carrier while my credit card points may be transferred to BA.
Any suggestions would be most welcome. Be gentle.
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You are right about one thing - you need a better travel agent!
However, you will also notice the best ones are actually not travel agents!
Just before I say anything, as a suggestion, please spell out your inquiry more clearly next time, because when I first read your question, my head just went globetrotting at the same time! And I still haven't figured out what does that have to do with your credit cards and I am Canadian, I know which cards you are talking about. Even that, I am somewhat lost.
Now let's make one thing clear, you intent to buy a RTW fare using money in a specific class travel to all the destinations you listed above in one single trip. So you are not using points and etc. If this is correct, then here is the solution for you:
Buy a RTW fare on Oneworld and use the following arilines: AA, LA, FJ, QF and maybe BA as well. For the purpose of RTW fares, FJ (Air Pacific is allowed). Here is what your itineary look like roughly:
On AA (American Airlines)
YYZ-MIA-UIO
On LA (Lan Chile)
UIO-SCL-AKL
On FJ (Air Pacific)
AKL-NAN-APW-NAN-BNE
On QF (Qantas)
BNE-SYD-JNB
Now here is the tricky part:
The RTW fare allows you to purchase QF codeshare on SA (South African Airways). However, I don't think they code-share on the North-America - Africa route though you must check with Qantas to be certain. If they do, that would be the best as you can continue on QF to do a JNB-JFK, then LGA-YYZ on AA. BTW, FYI, JFK and LGA are both considered New York City. In the more likely scenario, you will have to do JNB-LHR-YYZ on BA as the last part of your journey.
In any case, you require the Oneworld Global Explorer RTW at 34K miles in order to do this on one itineary so given the difference in mileage between JNB direct to North America or via LHR is only about 1,000 miles or so, it makes no difference on the price you need to pay. And you are looking at about $4900 CAD for the itineary in economy or $8500 for Business class.