Originally Posted by
zoombee
Fuel surcharges (YQ) for JNB-DOH-LHR is I believe as much as JNB-LHR. I've been using ITA to look up specifics on one-way trips and looked that up a few days ago.
Most airlines actually charge YQ based on where you start and end (i.e. ignoring transit points) so turning stopovers to transits can both drop and raise your fuel surcharges. E.g. DFW-HKG-SIN is cheaper than DFW-xHKG-SIN.
More pertinent: ITA says the BA YQ for JNB-LHR is $278 and LHR-LAX is $252, whereas the YQ for JNB-xLHR-LAX on AA stock is only $220 (vs $556 on BA, that surprised me: it's mostly harmonized within oneworld). Plus you'll also save ~$200 in UK taxes so I make it about ~$500 less if you transit LHR vs stopping over. Also, if you're crediting miles to AA and are EXP then you'd earn 12k more RDMs.
It's modest, but Cathay has lower fuel surcharges than JAL so if you're not set on Tokyo you'd save money on switching to Hong Kong. Alternatively, if you ticket post April 1st then JAL"s fuel surcharges are dropping. See
https://www.jal.co.jp/en/inter/fuel/table_world.html and
http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_U...e-updates.html
If you make it a DONE5 and add South America it's only about $500 extra on the base fair and LAX-GRU-LAX has minimal taxes: you'd be flying 12k and if crediting to AA and you are EXP you'll get 2 x the 12k RDM bonus for about 50k RDMs plus a great trip to Sao Paulo.
Thanks for your suggestions. I think it's nice to have extra continent option and fly to S.America for additiona $500 + taxes, but for this trip, time is a bit limited and I am not sure how much extra miles I can get by adding S.America in the equation...
*** Adding S.America does not yield much more miles compared to maxed out DONE4 routing so I should save $500 + taxes and just choose DONE4.
*** As you suggested, manually priced YQ estimates for choosing QR instead of BA (BA option priced out via online tool) and, though not accurate, QR routing with a stopover in CDG instead of LHR should save me about $300-400 USD overall with YQ and other premium taxes that are posed when flying via LHR and BA. Rather save those $$ than fly via LHR (plus CDG is closer to where I need to be in Europe)
*** Also noticed that if I do ORD-HKG-HAN with CX instead of AA and JL combo, YQ and other tax components drops by about 2000 ZAR. I guess that's because CX only charges $45 for YQ on ORD-HKG route! Nice way to save, I think! It's another $150 so... a total savings of close to $500 is nice.
*** Alternative routing going East bound first yields a bit more mileage: JNB-HKG-DEL-NRT-HAN-HKG-JFK-LAX-ORD-SJU-DFW-YUL-DFW-DOH-CDG-DOH-JNB
Now, it's a matter of getting this booked and ticketed. I guess I can set it up manually with AA on the phone and then have Mind Pearl in SA issue the ticket for me, no?