I'm thinking about pursuing a oneworld award but have never redeemed one of these awards before and was hoping for a little guidance. For an itinerary I am thinking of two possibilities:
JFK-MAD(stop)-AMM-BKK(stop)-HKG(stop)-JFK
or
JFK-MAD(stop)-TXL-BKK(stop)-HKG(stop)-JFK after March 20 when Air Berlin joins the alliance.
In either case, the Great Circle Mapper tool estimates the total distance at about 19,200 miles so this should be Zone 6. I would be hoping to book 2 business class tickets for 130k miles each. I am also willing to be flexible about the length of the stops but in general would be thinking about 4-6 days in Spain, 6-8 days in Thailand, and 3-4 days in Hong Kong.
So I've done a little bit of work planning what I would like but have two questions I'm hoping the knowledgeable folks here can help me out with.
1. Any estimates for what the total taxes and fees I will be paying for each business class ticket? Carriers would likely be AA, IB, RJ or AB, and CX. Not looking for anything exact, but a rough estimate would be helpful. I don't believe any of the planned carriers are known for large surcharges, but I'm not positive.
2. For a couple of reasons, I will not be able to book these tickets until late March/early April. Also, I would be planning to travel during the 2012 holiday season with limited flexibility. I would plan to depart Dec. 21-26, have a trip length of 15-21 days, then return to New York sometime around Jan. 6-13. So while I will have some wiggle room I realize this can be a busy time to travel. I've already checked using the Qantas tool and acceptable flights are currently available. But will this persist? My question really is what are the odds I can realistically snag two of these business class tickets at 8-9 months in advance?
Thanks in advance for any help.