Thank you for your very helpful response - I have a couple more questions (well, that's a lie - I have a lot more questions but will try to control myself!)
Originally Posted by Al B
You will need the "Circle Pacific" option, rather than the Circle Asia - Circle Asia is a fare that involves travel via Sth West Pacific, Far East and Asia only, whereas the Circle Pacific includes those areas plus North America. Having said that, Toronto is not a valid city for the Circle Pacific and you would need to start and end the trip in any of Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle or Honolulu.
Right - I keep flipping those two fare names in my head for some reason.
Originally Posted by Al B
Options ? Hmmmm. Well here's mine - am sure there will be others from other posters.
1) - Buy a cheapie to/from YVR/SFO/LAX etc to link with the Circle Pacific. The Circle Pacific will set you back CAD6469.00 or USD4725.00 in Business Class - although you may find better deals through consolidators like TourEast etc.
The difference between the USD and CAD pricing is substantially more than the current exchange rate - is one price the cost of leaving from the US versus the cost of leaving from Canada? Otherwise I'll pay in US dollars!
Originally Posted by Al B
2) - Get your own discounted business fare from Toronto to Hong Kong and return, then use the Circle Asia pass from there. Again, you will need to do "your own thing" to/from Siem Reap and Tasmania and return from New Zealand to Hong Kong.
Do you know the pricing for the Circle Asia pass (roughly?) I'm getting quotes from airbrokers.com on discounted business so I can compare.
Originally Posted by Al B
Given the combined cost of the two fares (yours and then the Circle) this option is probably not preferred. Unless you use your points (I'm presuming Aeroplan?) as alluded to in your post for YYZ-HKG-YYZ.
I've got a bit of a points problem - We have enough Delta points for 2 economy tickets but the routing is awful....YYZ - ATL - ICN - HKG....over 32 hours, and I can't imagine doing it in economy.
On Aeroplan we only have enough points for one economy or business seat - AC has a non stop YYZ to HKG flight which might make economy bearable (no J class available right now for our dates) and we could purchase another economy ticket (YYZ - HKG; SYD - YYZ) for about $3000 Canadian.
If I can find a better Delta routing and we could get J class on both AC and Delta we would consider flying separately if the departure/arrival times were similar.
Originally Posted by Al B
3) - Get a RTW fare and go east from Toronto first, through Europe to Hong Kong and then follow the rest of the itinerary.
Business Class fares for the Star1 (29K miles max) from Canada are CAD9599.00 published, but a consolidator may have better.
I've looked at the full RTW and would love to so we could stop in India but the cost is too high - rats!
It's making unnaturally happy talking in airport code!
Thanks again for your help!
Liz in Toronto