Originally Posted by
herschelflyer007
Hi,
Long time lurker, first time poster. This is my second Done,last one being a Done3, organised by travel agent.Not sure if this is the right place to ask for any areas i can improve (i.e. save $$, earn greater miles etc) my Done4 ex AMM. I am planning to book for Sept 2013 as partial work travel.
Currently this is what i have constructed:
AMM-CDG-HEL-MUC-LHR-BOS-JFK-IAD-YYZ-SAT-SFO-NRT-HKG-SYD-BKK-AMM
The CDG stop is just transit (>24hrs)for a surface sector, and possibly HEL will be transit stop aswell. I am wanting to add more sectors in Northern Europe if possible.
Q1)If i land in SYD is it a valid stop,or i will have to create Done5 instead?
2)I must to go London for a few weeks, but from my reading that on this forum, pax taxes make it more expensive. Can anyone suggest an alternative ?
3)What is the cost of adding two additional sectors for Europe?
4) How can i ticket this, AA rtw desk, then Emeco still available? With what going on in CAI atm, is there an alternative?
I am halfway to AA platinum, so i should hit PLT status halfway through
Any help would be appreciated. I plan to book this is the next few days if possible.
Thanks in Advance.
Until the experts come along, I'll have a crack.
1) Adding Sydney makes it a DONE4. If you leave Sydney out you'll have only a DONE3 (Europe and the Middle East, North America, Asia) which will drop the cost quite significantly. Additionally, if you stick with Sydney, your second entry to Asia must be less than 24 hours, as per rule 2(e)(2).
2) Yes, the UK departure tax is significant and will add well over USD100 to a ticket like this. Unfortunately, your options out of MUC are severely limited. It doesn't look like you can wait a couple of months but if you could Qatar is supposed to be joining oneworld, at which point you will be able to fly MUC-DOH and then onwards to the US (such as JFK, IAH and ORD). Ideally, if you can limit LHR to a transit (less than 24 hours), or ideally don't go there at all, your itinerary will be much cheaper. As you're already going to CDG, a good option is to take the Eurostar to and from London, or buy a separate Economy ticket.
3) It used to be possible to purchase additional sectors (for roughly USD500 per sector (in Business)) and may still be but I can't find it in the fare rules. Regardless, you still cannot go above a total of 16 sectors for the entire itinerary.
4) A valid itinerary can be booked through the online tool and that's also a good place to validate an itinerary. It's located here:
http://www.oneworld.com/flights/plan-book-online/. That will also give you the price. Generally, the carrier of the first sector will be the ticketing carrier but I believe there are some exceptions.
Some other tips:
i) Avoiding Muscat will also drop a fair bit off the price (maybe USD200 to USD300).
ii) BOS-JFK-IAD is essentially wasting a sector because the cities are so close together. Considering dropping one or two and catching the train instead (or getting separate tickets).
iii) On AA two class domestic flights a DONEx books into A (First) class which boosts mileage earning. The flights to and from, Canada, however, will book into Business.