Originally Posted by
henry999
What is this 3497 of which you speak?
My mistake; my first RTW leg should be IB3497 OSL-MAD. Connecting via MAD was the only possible option for me, given the additional constraint that I wanted to route through DOH for onward Qsuite experience. The other option via HEL was more attractive to me (since I could then also try out AY which I've never flown) but the tool didn't allow me to choose that routing.
Originally Posted by
henry999
Not sure why you are faffing around with MAD, as you say it's not a stopover. Why not position BOS-OSL and then start your RTW OSL-DOH-...?
Correct that MAD is not a stopover. It just happens to be the connecting airport of both my positioning flight and my first RTW layover, so I was only looking into whether it could be a saving straw for my mistake of positioning too riskily.
Originally Posted by
dvs7310
The good thing is if that married segment opens up at any point, it'll be a free change...
From the customer service agent's words, it's (currently) not an option to pair QR152 MAD-DOH with QR942 DOH-SIN. They were able to change my MAD-SIN itinerary to route through LHR (but I declined since stopover/layover in DOH was of higher importance).
Well, perhaps the Doha stopover tours are overrated so I could live with not going out of the airport! I'll have another layover at the end of my RTW itinerary so I still have a chance, although it'd be in summer and I don't think it'd be fun to go out of the airport (I still want to visit Oslo in the summer so there's that constraint too).
Originally Posted by
dvs7310
Very interesting data point that QF is ticketing for IB too. That's sad, seems to be all of RJ, AT, and IB then that OneWorld is using QF for ticketing.
Could it be that QF is the first carrier in my itinerary that could issue RTW tickets AND flies a "significant segment"? (CX SIN-HKG is just a regional flight, for example).
Originally Posted by
dvs7310
On point 1: 40 mins is extremely unlikely, I don't know what IB's cutoff time is in OSL but at best you'd be at the checkin counter 20-30 mins pre-flight which there's no way they're going to check you in and take baggage at that point. You may or may not be able to OLCI but I wouldn't rely on it but that wouldn't help with checked bags.
Of all the (increasingly dwindling) options I could choose, I wouldn't want to have to go landside in OSL during a short layover. My plan is to pick the best of these options:
- (If IB counter at Boston could through-check) Fly my luggage in hold with me and do the same silly roundtrip MAD-OSL-MAD (and maybe even sillier since it includes a roundtrip from the plane to the luggage system back to the same plane, hence the risk).
- (If IB counter lets me through-check with short-checking) Fly my luggage in hold but skip the MAD-OSL-MAD roundtrip; let it stay in MAD airside until the MAD-DOH flight is ready to accept it (best option among the 3).
- (If IB counter lets me short-check my positioning flights) Fly to MAD, go landside, store luggage, go back airside to complete MAD-OSL-MAD without luggage, go landside to retrieve luggage, check it into my onward itinerary to SIN (seems like a viable option but still with some risk; basically my original "point 1.3" with more details that henry999 also added).
Basically, I'm seeking the wisdom from the experienced to see if I should just position earlier.