Originally Posted by
john c wisconsin
Very cool trip! Here are few thoughts that might apply.
-I would take the bullet train from KIX to NRT leg. Save those miles. You will need to use a subway connections on both ends but the train experience itself is worth it if you have not done this before.
-When you call in, and if they exist, have a couple Japan to USA options available so if you are over that 22,000 you can pick a slightly shorter last flight. HND to YYZ on Air Canada for example will save you 300 miles and you can pretty much walk from Toronto to NYC
-The difference in Business class from distance 20,000 to 22,000 levels is 20,000 miles cost. Valued at 2.5 cents (cost of an extra Amex point) that means hitting that level would be worth $500 per ticket. Quick check you can get some independent Business class seats from BKK-SGN from $300-$400 one way Economy only $100. So personally I would be run all the trip and at the end if agent still has you over 22,000 miles it would be worth it to book that leg on a separate ticket.
Good luck. Let us know how its ends up miles length and additional fees.
Yeah. Bullet train from KIX to NRT is what we are planning (definitely not flying that part, as there a few things we want to do in between those locations). I'm mostly just concerned about the # of miles, and whether my count is accurate. You present a bunch of good backup options:
1. I have a bunch of backup Asia-NA flights in mind if I do happen to be over 22k, and the bonus is those are easier to find availability for than the NRT-JFK flight. NRT-LAX is one (and I'm guessing/hoping that it might have the new ANA business class by March 2021), NRT/HND to ORD is another (and I have a Southwest companion pass to make getting back dirt-cheap). Ditto for NRT-HNL, (and we can arbitrarily tack on a few days in Hawaii). I can also change from "JFK-IST" to "BOS-IST".
2. You mentioned YYZ, but my research indicates that ANA RTW trips need to end in the same country they start (and our trip would then start in the US but end in Canada, making it an invalid itinerary). I have a couple of alternate Canadian itineraries that shave off slight amounts of miles. If I get myself to Montreal, I can replace the "JFK-ist-ADD" start of the trip with "yul-fco-ADD" or "yul-vie-ADD", and this allows returning to Canada and also saves us about ~$200 in fees which essentially pays for the extra flights to Canada.
3. I can also shave off ~100 miles with a "ewr-yul-fco-ADD" start to the trip such that I don't need to start or end in Canada, and still saves the ~$200. The main issue with that is that the flights are too short to get a full nights's sleep, and things could get hectic. The flight arriving in FCO would be in the morning and then we'd depart that same evening (on another ~6h flight). We are also doing a paid flight outside of the itinerary (~$200 to go roundtrip from ADD-NBO and do a safari). That would make the first few days very crazy (EWR-YUL-FCO-ADD-NBO without sleeping in proper hotel bed), and take up an extra day to get there, even if it would save some $.
4. Awesome idea on the paid economy leg, and effectively adding another ground segment. I had some previous itineraries with more non-stopover flights within Africa/India, and had considered booking a paid flight in-between cities... but it was going to effectively turn 1 or more connections into stopovers using ANA's rules (both ends of a ground segment count as a stopover) which would put us at 9 stops, so I ruled those out. Now that the itinerary is simpler and with almost all flights already counting as a stop, a short Asia flight is a good candidate to fill in with a paid economy flight. The BKK-SGN leg is a good candidate.
5. Or... I could also do the ICN-KIX leg as paid. Unlike paying for the BKK-SGN segment, doing ICN-KIX as paid actually takes out a stop from the RTW trip (KIX will no longer be considered a stop). This would allow us to actually contemplate some more exotic itineraries we had previously tossed out (ewr-yul-CMN-cai-ADD-DEL-BKK-SGN-TPE-ICN,HND-jfk, which comes in at 21,800, ~$800 and 8 stops).
Thanks for the advice. Definitely some good options here. I think I'm going to research some possibilities with #5 . Assuming nothing jumps out at me, will probably attempt our original itinerary and if we're over on miles flown then will look to utilize backup options in this order: #4 , #1 , #3 , #2 .