Rudi

(AC, LH, RG, SK, TG, UA)


I am interested in a price comparison in/from different countries.

Here are the actual prices in Switzerland:

1=eco 2=business 3=first (there is no first on AC)
A=max 25'000 miles, B=max32'000 miles, C=max 38'000 miles

1A SFr 3'400=2'267$
1B SFr 3'740=2'493$
1C SFr 4'080=2'720$
2A SFr 5'800=3'867$
2B SFr 6'700=4'467$
2C SFr 7'300=4'867$
3A SFr 8'600=5'733$
3B SFr 9'900=6'600$
3C SFr 10'88=7'200$

If some of you would please invest a little bit of time (a telefon call, or even better ask at the ticket-counters: AC, LH, RG, SK, TG, UA, here in Switzerland they did let me copy a internal-paper with the rules) to find out. I appreciate.

megamiles

Rudi,

I presume that you are looking for round-the-world fares on star-alliance. Is that correct ? I'd be happy to telephone my agent and check in Seattle or Toronto

Rudi

yes please - STAR ALLIANCE

Rudi

from dlbrown1: This is from/to St. Louis, Missouri in Business, your category 2A. The price I paid was $4604 plus tax of 95.51.

Rudi

Here some (only max 32'000 miles prices from Australia from UA desk today in Zurich, Switzerland):

2A: Australian$ 2'939 (SO LOW they double-checked on my request)
2B: Australian$ 7'579 (that matches Switzerland)
2C: Australian$ 9'945 (matches Switzerland too).

But I have to buy the ticket in Australia (I can make the reservations here, but buy there).

megamiles

I telephoned to an agent in Seattle
(Round the World Travel - listed at www.netfare.net) - I can hit all 6 Star Alliance partners with a SEA-YYZ-LHR-CPH-ZRH-DEL-BKK-HKG-LAX-SEA (unlimited travel in a single direction excluding Australia) and the fare in eco. class is USD $2549

Hope this helps.

Rudi

thank you for all info's so far. In a week or so (I hope to get some more till then) - I'll try to make/give an overview of all informations - and than let's do what we like here most: DISCUSS/ARGUE/QUESTION POSSIBLE STRATEGIES .... i am looking forward.

MileCrazy

this would be a good, cost-efficient strategy for united's promotion of flying all 6 star-alliance members between sep15 and nov15 for 50,000 bonus miles. would the round-the-world ticket(s) qualify for the promotion since most of the airlines only award mileage for certain, restricted classes? what "class" of ticket would the airlines place on a round-the-world itinerary?

megamiles

Yes, the round-the-world ticket does fully qualify for frequent flier miles (at least the one I checked out) and you can get over 120,000 miles this way. (Check out Rudi's post in United a while back).

BTW, $2549 isn't the best round-the-world fare that I can get. However it is the lowest that allows the traveller to hit all 6 Star-Alliance partners and collect the bonus. Obviously saving $200-300 isn't worth it if you have to forego the big bonus for using all 6 Star Alliance carriers - it's better to pay the extra and get 3 b-class within N. America out of the bonus.

Rudi

there are finesses about a one-years-travel-planning with combining different (2 ore more) round-the-world-tickets.

different targets can be hit:
- first of all: the travel-plans should nevertheless be reasonable and suite your needs (beside satisfying our thirst for miles)
- each ticket should just be under the mileage-limit of it's price-category (25'000, 32'000, 38'000)
- only the first ticket is the one which starts and ends at your home-airport
- the other ones you buy at the cheapest stop-over-places (but you made the reservations already before)
- for the star-alliance-promotion (sep-15 to nov-15) you make a puzzle of all 6 carriers (you don't have to fligh to Brazil or Thailand if it doesn't suit you: Thai you can fly one segment Zurich-Amsterdam, VARIG you can also make one segment from the Continent to London.

- Do the long-distances with YOUR carrier (the one you have the highest ff-status): to increase bonus-miles and to have better choices (vouchers/miles) and priorities (confirmable/100 hours etc.) for upgrades; no code-share-bookings are done by Star-Alliance on these tickets

- If in eco do only absolut necessary (and short) segments with Thai (they credit only 50% of flight miles).

more to follow

BlondeBomber

In the same vein, what is the cheapest fare that would earn about 20,000 miles on any Star-Alliance carrier. I am an Aeroplan Elite and close to Super Elite. I probably won't need the full 20,000 miles but I figure it will take me some place nice. Any suggestions?

BlondeBomber

Forgot to mention, I live in Canada but could just as easily fly out of Europe on an upcoming trip or out of U.S.

megamiles

The cheapest way to get around 20,000 miles on a Star Alliance Carrier would be to take United to the Far East/Australia/India. Look up United's Pacific E-Fares on their website www.ual.com (they change often). A couple of current examples listed below. Aside from that you can buy a consolidated ticket to Singapore on Lufthansa from Toronto for around CAD $1500 and go via Frankfurt. I'm been told that Cathay Pacific has some great fares out of Vancouver; however I have no personal experience in that regard since my home is in Toronto

Pacific Economy E-Fares
-----------------------
Chicago (ORD)Auckland (AKL) $925.00
Los Angeles (LAX)Delhi (DEL) $900.00

BlondeBomber

Thanks for the info Megamiles. I can't use Cathay as it doesn't count as "qualifying" status miles to Air Canada's Aeroplan(it's unfortunate because they have some really cheap fares right now). The United possibilities look good but not as cheap as Cathay's.

Rudi

Here is the answer to "What fare codes Star-Alliance round the world tickets use" (taken from the official Star Alliance RTW Ex Switzerland Quci-REference-leaflet):

First Business Economy
UA A D B
TG P J M
SK F/D C B
RG F C H
LH F D B
AC F C B

All these fares qualify for mileage-account and status miles - also for use of upgrade-vouchers/mileage-awards for upgrades from eco to business for individuel segements - but (since two months) no upgrades from business to first anymore. And the always book the flight-number of the actual carrier (no code-share-flights) on these tickets.