I just discovered this site today—great.
Although I have looked back at past year postings, sorry if this is repetitive.
I have a series of questions and would appreciate inputs on any of them.
My wife and I in the fall will be taking a ONEx trip, the exact form of which will depend on answers to a series of questions.
First the background. (a) Our home is in YVR (but could consider starting and ending elsewhere). (b) We need to be in Queensland, AU (TSV) from approx. Nov. 21 until Jan. 9 and would like to spend time in AU after that. Also we need to be in CPT and Namibia for about 5 weeks- but could be any time within the next year. (c) There are a lot of places we want to see (SA, Asia, EU, etc), but are reluctant to be traveling for 4-6 months straight. (d) We are willing to pay for A class but if not available on our routes would go for D class. (In the past we have always travelled economy so this will be a treat).
Hence the following questions.
1) Is it logical to consider breaking up the trip and to fly back home once or twice (suffering through the cheapest economy flight) in order to pick up the higher end RTW flight after a break? (see point c above). Is there a commonly accepted way to do this?
2) In general (realizing that it depends on the route), is it worthwhile to consider a AONEx versus a DONEx? In general, are A routes being phased out?
3) Is there a site that gives a definitive answer to what is west-bound and what is east-bound? I’m thinking in particular if NA to SA is specified only as E or W (which would restrict if one decided to fly on to Asia versus Europe) and if flying from SWP to Asia (or vice versa) is specified as E or W (or can it be either)?
4) Can one keep coming back to the same hub (eg. SCL) if one avoids stopover there? It would seem very difficult to only pass through a hub once in regions where the connections are limited (as in SA).
5) Any suggestions about whether to visit CPT (and Nambia) in the fall before Australia in Nov-Jan or in the spring, would be appreciated.
6) Given that we need to spend time in Australia and Southern Africa (and would like to use all possible segments in these regions) it seemed preferable to consider Oneworld versus Star Alliance, but is there a site that compares pros and cons?
I have a few other questions, but any advice on these would be appreciated. Thanks.