bichoo

not sure on the mileage but the agent u spoke is to wrong, try calling back and try again. It's possible I got lucky and if that's the case, try your point of return as BKK or SIN and work in HKG as a stop.

cam_macleod

Updated my Feb2011 trip to this new routing:

YYZ-YUL on AC in J
YUL-ZRH on LX in F
ZRH-IST on TK in J (stop)
IST-BKK on TK in J
BKK-SYD on TG in F (turnaround)
SYD-ICN on OZ in J
ICN-NRT on OZ in J (stop)
NRT-YYZ on AC in J

Lessons learned that I had missed in the past which I'll document here for others:

• No points get refunded if you switch an F reward to a J reward (by dropping to J on all segments)
• The only way that SYD-SIN-NRT-YYZ or SYD-ICN-NRT-YYZ is allowed on a reward is by using an SQ routing. My agent had to hunt a long time to find that one.
• When you make a change, the full new fees and taxes are charged immediately, but the old fees and taxes are refunded "within one or two statements" i.e. 3-6 weeks. Nice little moneymaker.

Yukonprince

I changed my mini RTW last week.

Now you'd think they could process a refund in a similar time frame as the charges...

BTW - I may not like it but I have no problem with Aeroplan charging $90 for the change fee. It is a published fee and they have always told me at the time I booked the original ticket that a $90 change fee is in effect.

puzzling

I've just had confirmation for the following routing in (mostly) J.

SEP 01: UA YYZ --> IAD
SEP 01: NH IAD --> NRT
SEP 02: NH NRT --> TPE (destination)
APR 19: NH TPE --> NRT
APR 20: NH NRT --> FRA
APR 20: LX FRA --> ZRH (stop)
APR 26: LX ZRH --> ORD
APR 26: UA ORD --> YYZ

All in J except for the two segments in UA which are in Y. Taxes and fees come to $217.96.

igloocoder

Due to LH deciding to switch out their 3-class plane on the YYC-FRA route this winter (shakes fist menacingly towards FRA), our original F class reward started to have a decidedly J class feel to it. OZ also switched out their 3-class 777 on ICN-FRA to a 3-class 744. We decided to stay with that flight rather than change too much of the routing.

Here's the new routing that we worked through, paid the change fee for and have seen the same trend of charges billed and refunds being slow.

YVR-SEA (AC - Y) -- gotta have a Dash8 segment to make it real
SEA-FRA (LH - F)
FRA-ZRH (LX - J) STOP
ZRH-BKK (TG - F) STOP
BKK-HKG (TG - F) 17.5hr layover
HKG-ICN (OZ - J) STOP
ICN-FRA (OZ - F) 17.5hr layover
FRA-SEA (LH - F) 21hr layover
SEA-YYC (AC - Y)
YYC-YVR (AC - J)

colinyyz

Just booked:

YYZ-BOS (AC 3J)
BOS-FRA (LH 3F)
FRA-ATH (LH 3J)...<24h cnx
ATH-IST (TK 3J) stop
IST-BKK (TK 3F)
BKK-HKT (TG 2J1Y) destination
HKT-BKK (TG 2J1Y)...<24h cnx
BKK-PEK (TG 2F/1J) stop
PEK-ICN (OZ 3J)
ICN-LAX (OZ 2F/1J)...<24h cnx
LAX-YYZ (AC 3J)

In June/2011. Oh joy, only 10 more months of waiting!

Initial agent said (PEK/ICN/LAX/YYZ) was over mileage, but a quick click of the receiver and redial resolved that problem (next agent said it was an allowable routing, even though slightly over mileage). 11 segments total. When I called back to ask where my emailed itin was, they said they were having some issues as normally allowable limit was 10 segments, but they were putting through anyway. Last summer I was able to do 13 segments (was really hoping to beat the record this time!).

yycworldtraveler

Nice!

Check TG again for another J seat. TG often releases additional 'I' space on short haul/domestic routes after the first 2 are taken.

colinyyz

Thanks!

Interestingly enough, I noticed when I received the itins back from AE that the BKK/PEK HKT/BKK flights were confirmed in F (BKK/PEK) (and in J HKT/BKK), even though NH site didn't show availability. Perhaps this is what happened - good to know!

Yukonprince

Refund was posted in my account six days after the change but the bank posted it three days later - so really not so bad as I thought!

quickcanuck

I also got hit with this LH change and had to rebook through SEA to get an F seat, but there was no change fee because this was considered an involuntary sched change. Why did you have to pay a change fee?

djnas786

Hi guys and girls...,

I am new to this forum and also new to this Mini RTW concept. I was one of those clowns who thought that aeroplan was for booking a trip from YYZ to LHR and back. I now would love to book a mini RWT but have no idea on how to find all the flights I would need that could get me to my cities.|

I know you can make 2 stops plus a turnaround city. The cities I would like to visit are Sydney and Tokyo for sure, with one of either Istanbul, Dubai, or Bangkok.

Also I am debating, I have 220K points, I know most people on here book First class flights, I guess thats coded as a "J" flight at 120K pp. So i am not sure if I should just wait to collect 20K more points and take first class fights, or just book economy flights at 75K/pp? Booking economy will allow me to book right away and keep enough points to be half way to another mini rwt reward.

Any thoughts on what I should do and where I can find flights to match the cities I would like to visit??

I can use all the help i can get. Thank you all in advance for your feedback and thoughts...

cam_macleod

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

First, please go back to the first post in this thread, on page one. There you can find links to many helpful threads that will help you plan. This thread is not for questions, just for final bookings.

Thanks, and enjoy your travels!

Academic

The 120K is for an Award in First Class. I believe it's 100K for one in Business

It's never worth booking Economy long haul on points. That's a long way to sit in uncomfortable seats when for only a small premium you can fly in luxury -- and use the FCT in Frankfurt

Yukonprince

So.... how many rubber duckies have you collected so far ???

I have three "Mama" duckies and acquired two "Baby" duckies in the MUC F lounge on my recent mini RTW trip.

DaveTO

To save you a bit of time, the only way so far (barring an agent mistake) to get Sydney and Tokyo in one trip is to go Canada-Tokyo-Singapore-Sydney on Singapore Airlines. Unfortunately, it is really tough to get premium seating on this airline!

You can get Tokyo, Bangkok, and Istanbul on one ticket easily enough, but if you add Dubai in, it pushes the mile cost a lot higher.

If you can avoid flying on Air Canada, you'll save yourself $$$ in fuel surcharges...other than that, it is definitely worth splurging on at least business class for this long a flight.