Originally Posted by
Dr. HFH
Hi, -- I would be grateful for any thoughts/suggestions on an itinerary that I will likely start on April 15th. 1) Must stop in BOS and BKK 2) DONE3 3) maximize mileage 4) my understanding is that there's no oppressive tax at LHR if you're connecting (<24 hours) as opposed to stopping. If I can't avoid the tax, I'll substitute CDG for LHR. 5) starting point is somewhat flexible, looks like TYO hits the balance of convenient to me and cheap price, but I'm open to other suggestions, always. I won't start in Pakistan, it's below my personal safety threshold. CAI would be fine, I've started these there in the past, but my impression is that it's extremely difficult to get one ticketed out of CAI now. Here's what I have so far: NRT-BOS-DFW-ANC-DFW-BOS-LAX-DOH-MAD-DOH-LHR-DOH-ICN-CMB-BKK-CMB-NRT. 55,218 miles according to MileCalc.com.
Are you crediting to AA or QR?
If AA, that's an awful lot of AA segments that could credit as Revenue instead of Distance and earn quite poorly, you might consider restructuring your US domestic segments to use AS metal or codeshares instead. BOS to DFW is also available as a JL codeshare, but not sure you can ticket it as a JL codeshare if you stopover in BOS, definitely worth a try. Codeshares have to be entered manually, so will require a phone agent vs. the OneWorld tool.
Not sure when you're planning BOS-ANC, currently in winter season AS has an ORD flight on Saturday and Sunday that doesn't count as your 1 allowable transcon. That can be booked as AS 6392 and AS 97, that goes to daily in summer season.
Your final transcon also could be via SFO instead of LAX to get an AS flight instead of AA... sure I know AS doesn't have a premium cabin like AA and the lounge situation in SFO isn't great compared to the QF lounge in LAX, but if maximizing mileage is the goal, that would earn better. (assuming again that AA credits your flights as Revenue instead of Distance, which can go either way it seems).
Similarly UL is the least sexy of OW partners crediting premium cabin to AA (no cabin bonus on D and I fares). For the last stage, instead of UL BKK-CMB-NRT you'd earn a lot more miles doing MH BKK-KUL and then JL KUL-NRT. JL now has a 150% cabin bonus on D fares.
If you're planning to credit to QR ignore everything I said and use the Q Points calculator, I forget if all partners earn Q Points equally or not.