Rykoshet

There's a separate search on Expertflyer for award seats and one for regular seats. You have to explicitly search for award travel.

CanadianMike

2 questions;

Called in yesterday to make changes to a mini-RTW itinerary I have. Departure date is this Sunday, June 2nd.
Didn't receive an updated itinerary email yet, and checking the AE website the status says "unticketed".
Normal? Or should I be calling in and pressing them on this to ensure no issues?


Second question. As this is my first mini-RTW I was just curious what happens in the event of IRROPS.
Does re-booking have to be the exact same flights as the mini-RTW itinerary, just the next day?
Or are they pretty good about re-booking as if you were any other passenger with IRROPS.
I have a couple of connections that are 2 hours or less.

Rykoshet

No, you will be treated like any other passenger. You can call Aeroplan and often adjust your future legs for free, even possibly exceeding MPM.

If you're not gaming the system for 24-hour layovers, you can discuss with the Airline that is having the IRROP about going directly to the end destination rather than re-doing all the same flights.

aleks77

Got it! Aeroplan is down for maintenance so my research continues tomorrow. So far tho the outbound leg, yvr-yul-zrh-bcn-ath-cai-nbo-add-sez , i was able to find flights to YUL but with 1 stop, direct one was with Air Canada Rouge, then from YUL to ZRH no problem direct flight, but from there ZRH-BCN was a stop over flight with 11h layover. And same with the others. I did find ZRH-IST-ATH.

I was able to piece togther the following if going to Japan first;

YVR - NRT - AC - Y (hopefully upgrade before or at the gate?)
NRT - ICN - ET - J
ICN - ADD - ET - J
ADD - NBO - ET - J
NBO - SEZ - CASH
SEZ - ADD - ET - J
ADD - TLV - ET - J
TLV - IST - TK - J (23 hours in Istanbul!)
IST - ZRH - TK - J
ZRH - YVR - AC - J

5 Ethiopian air flights tho....their new J product looks decent actually but probably wont even get it.

Rykoshet

Why are you not doing ICN-ADD, ADD-SEZ (economy even), SEZ-ADD, ADD-NBO, NBO-IST ? This way you don't have to pay for a ticket.

Ethiopian Air is a great product (mmm Inejera), especially if you're flying on the 350 or 787. Hopefully they've learned from their mistake (letting someone who would never get a job ferrying passengers around in a charter plane in North America sit as FO on a B737...). You're travelling to East Africa on routes dominated by ET, not sure what you expected your carrier to be.

Also, as others have pointed out, you're taking two very, very expensive Air Canada flights. YVR-NRT may be showing $250 CAD in taxes now, but when you add on your other flights, Air Canada may decide to increase the scamcharge based on your end point. Look it up in other threads. You really want to do whatever you can to avoid that. Can you route via LAX, SFO, or SEA for a trans-pacific flight on ANA or Asiana?

aleks77

The problem with this routing is its difficult to find flights out of NBO that dont connect to ADD, cant transit ADD twice in one direction. I did find a flight that goes NBO-CAI-IST-ZRH but it leaves August 9th 4am, so we lose a day but it is an option. However from ZRH to YVR is via LHR and its in J AC on the way home.

LAX-NRT - goes through YVR in J
LAX-HND - none available
LAX-KIX - through YVR in J
SEA-KIX - through YVR in J
SEA-HND - none available
SEA-NRT - goes through YVR in J
SFO-KIX - through YVR in J
SFO-HND - none available
SFO-NRT - through YVR in J

through ICN is an issue, hard to find flights to Japan for some reason from ICN.

Also, we are not set on SEZ, we actually think Maldives wouldnt be a bad option, can use my Bonvoy points for the hotel. So im gonna look into flights for this option also tonight.

aleks77

Doesnt look like i can make MLE happen, the MPM from YVR is 14,270 and NBO is 14,273.

aleks77

Came up with this, since the only flight we could take out of NBO to CAI was 2 days earlier than we wanted to, decided to spend 23 hours in IST and 14 hours in Prague (another choice would be Berlin)

YVR-NRT - AC - Y - stop
NRT-CAN - NH - J
CAN-ADD - ET - J
ADD-SEZ - ET - Y - destination
SEZ-ADD - ET - J
ADD-NBO - ET - J
NBO-CAI - MS - J
CAI-IST - MS - J
IST-PRG - TK - J
PRG-FRA - LH - Y
FRA-LHR - LH - J
LHR-YVR - AC - J

Saves us $1500 not having to buy the one-way cash ticket from NBO-SEZ

asovse1

NBO is your point of turnaround? (I think yes because you mentioned the MPM)

You can't stop (layover) in ADD twice on one side of a point-of-turnaround.

aleks77

My turnaround is SEZ which has MPM of 14,956

aleks77

Just realized i still have a stop i can use, since im not doing Open-Jaw anymore, might go with this instead;

YVR-NRT - AC - Y - stop
NRT-CAN - NH - J
CAN-ADD - ET - J
ADD-SEZ - ET - Y - destination
SEZ-ADD - ET - J
ADD-NBO - ET - J
NBO-CAI - MS - J
CAI-IST - MS - J - stop (48 hours)
IST-ZRH - TK - J
ZRH-LHR - LX - J
LHR-YVR - AC - J

aleks77

There is a flight available YVR-LAX-NRT on united in Y. Would this be a better choice than AC Y direct to NRT as far as YQ goes?

It actually gets to NRT an hour and a half earlier too which is nice

rankourabu

Yes, this would save you about $500 pp - downside - no standby for J.

wildace

Silly question - but how long can a stopover be for in this type of itinerary?

Also, any luck finding being able to change ZRH-LHR-YVR to ZRH-YUL/ORD/BOS-YVR using LX as your TATL and AC or United to get to Vancouver but still in J class? Or will that exceed your MPM? That AC TATL flight is likely up to $500 in YQ, a very unnecessary YQ.

Also a tip, avoid LH and Austrian within Europe, they still scamcharge the YQ. Best airlines are Brussels Airlines, Aegean, SAS, and/or Swiss from what I was finding in my own little trip planning.

rankourabu

There are no limits - as long as your entire itinerary is finished within a year from booking.