drvannostren

Just recently booked an RTW to burn off most of my account's miles.

YVR-SFO (AC) [would've been cheaper with UA but as usual, even almost a year out, no space in J and in Y for days]
SFO-LIS (TP) [looking forward to the 339 and TAP's new business class]
LIS-BRU (SN) STOP [flying Brussels Air has proven to be difficult in the past so I'm just trying to knock it out with a short haul regional flight]

BRU-IST-BEY (TK) <24 [flying TK is always nice, even though the J class seat isn't great, but my main goal here was to have a long layover to check out the new airport and lounge, so I've got like 12.5 hours]
BEY-CAI (MS) STOP [being a dry airline with 2-3-2 business class on the 777s I'm not super interested in that, just crossing MS off the list after what I hope will be a nice 24 hours in Beirut!]

CAI-ADD-CPT (ET) STOP [I flew ET from GRU-EZE which I thought was kinda cool and random, this was the best way to get to CPT and not through JNB, plus another 350 *fingers crossed*]

CPT-JNB (SA) [purposely picked the 343 flight just to get that, I would've liked to fly SA long haul, but I had better opportunities]
JNB-SIN-BKK (SQ) <24 [got J class on the second daily JNB-SIN, it has disappeared twice from my booking and AP has rectified it both times and the agent tried to tell me the first time, they had swapped to an aircraft that was all economy class, I had to let her know, that didn't exist] (this one bothered me, cuz I had SQ 787-10 J class for SIN-BKK all set, then SQ pulled it out from under me on the day I was trying to book, so I get the crappy 330 instead.)
BKK-CAN (TG) <24 [another 350, but it was kinda just a way to get 24 hours in BKK and Guangzhou]

CAN-WNZ (ZH) <24 [crossing off Shenzhen, they always have Y space available, but I couldn't get J, I know nothing about Wenzhou, but hey, what the hell right?]
WNZ-TPE (CA)
TPE-SEA (BR) [would've booked TPE-YVR, but BR is switching the route to a 787 and isn't releasing any J space AT ALL, so I had to waste a segment going through SEA]
SEA-YVR (AC) [the other Y leg obviously, probably would've made my redemption cheaper had I not had to take this flight as well]

Basically max MPM, definitely max segments, $405, all around pretty satisfied with my redemption.

jasdou

drvannostren

Thanks, it's my 2nd or 3rd RTW, love maximizing the points, the planning is half the fun. I really wish I could've had a 4th/5th stop, but 24 hours will have to do. I can't take like 4+ weeks off from work, so I've built in a couple paid tickets to this, so the stop in Brussels really isn't a stop, it's just time for me to go home and go back to work...would've been nice to use it in Beirut, but the flights from Beirut to Vancouver aren't exactly cheap, whereas LHR/BRU can be . The Wenzhou stop could be interesting, I'm only going there because it fits and allowed me to stretch time until a day where BR had an open J seat. Would've liked to explore Shenzhen, but Guangzhou will have to do. Should be fun!

sunzi

Here's the miniRTW that I just booked for 3 people.

YOW-YUL AC J
YUL-ZRH LX J (stop)
ZRH-PEK LX J
PEK-KHN CA Y (destination)
KHN-PEK CA Y
PEK-HND CA J (stop)
HND-YYZ AC J
YYZ-YOW AC J

$363 and change per person. Wanted United long haul for the Japan segment but it wasn't available for the dates I wanted when I booked. It was available last month when I looked. Unfortunately, CA doesn't release business seats to KHN from PEK.

drvannostren

Super Elite 100k? $363 for multiple Air Canada J legs, including long haul is cheap to me. I paid like $450 for a huge RTW, but I'm convinced it would've been like $200 if I could've just gotten out of my SEA-YVR and YVR-SFO AC flights.

rankourabu

There is YQ on CA flight now. Even SEs pay that.

And no, your short AC legs would have saved you $50 at most.

sunzi

Not SE. I had first booked two tickets using my account. The agent quoted me in the 600's per person. Then, I used my wife's account to book the other ticket and it came out to $363. As a result of the discrepancy, the agent checked with ticketing to see whose was correct. Lucky for me, my wife's was and as a result it was changed on my two tickets.

drvannostren

See, it's this kinda thing that makes me think I would've saved $200. I was once booking an RTW and got given a high YQ. I had 1 short haul leg on AC and one short haul on TG. I was told "you pay the full YQ on the WHOLE itinerary, not on each leg, so the bigger your itinerary gets, the bigger the YQ gets even if it's just on a short haul".

Adding them up leg by leg doesn't work and there's virtually no way to calculate it yourself or even REALLY get super close it seems. When I was quoted $405 for mine, I just kinda thought "well it's in the ball park of what I expected, so I'll go with it".

But another report from someone in a situation like this just makes me question every time they quote me a price. I KNOW the routing rules and MPM etc, but the YQ always seems to be a total crapshoot.

stooples

Just booked my first mini-rtw for our honeymoon, this upcoming Christmas/New Year:

YYZ YUL AC 2 hr connection
YUL ZRH LX 1 hr connection
ZRH IST TK 3 day stop
IST DAR TK 8 day stop
DAR ADD ET 4 hr connection
ADD BKK ET 8 day stop
BKK ICN TG 12 hr connection
ICN YYZ AC

All in J. $450 in taxes pp ($220 was fuel surcharge!) but overall very happy with the booking. Fitting this in with the MPM was the challenge (basically maxed).

Firmanator

My first mini-RTW, living in Thailand and trying to visit family in Sarnia and Calgary. Booked 7 weeks before first flight. Length of journey: 74 days. $50 positioning flight to SIN.

SIN-ADD J ET 16H
ADD-CAI J ET 22H
CAI-BEY J MS 21H
BEY-IST J TK 19H
IST-ATH J TK 22H
ATH-ARN J SK 18H
ARN-CPH J SK 23H
CPH-KEF J SK STOP
KEF-YYZ Y AC 6H
YYZ-YZR Y AC DESTINATION
YZR-YYZ Y AC 21H
YYZ-YYC J AC STOP
YYC-YVR Y AC 3H
YVR-TPE J AC 14H
TPE-HKG J BR 11H
HKG-SIN J SQ

SIN-YZR MPM is 15453 (as per AP). I used 13316 outbound, 10306 inbound. Taxes by individual leg online were $970, but were only $772 when I booked with the agent, too much AC metal.
155K miles, despite the 2 layovers in Africa.

cennis

Looks like a crazy trip! Just wondering how did AP allow you to go to YZR (destination) twice? Is that some kind of backtracking, or does the second time not count since it is a layover?

asovse1

Might be YVR seeing how it connects to TPE in AC. :P

Firmanator

My understanding is... you can land in each airport only once, per direction. So, the second time on Oct 2 does not count because it is after the Destination Theoretically, my return ticket could be YZR to YYZ, KEF, CPH, etc to SIN.

But a second point to note is that YZR only connects to YYZ. So if my DEST had been YYC, I believe they would have to allow me to travel to YYZ twice anyway because there is no other option to get to and from YZR. But I'm only speculating on that. And it may need to get manager approval or something.

Though I've read lots, this is my first mini RTW, so I'll defer to experts in all cases of discrepancy.

cennis

I think the poster above is correct that the second YZR is probably YVR. Judging by the type of planes at YZR, I dont think YZR would connect directly to TPE, or even YYC.

YYC-YZR Y AC 3H
YZR-TPE J AC 14H

Also well done on planning this, I dont believe AP would have allowed backtracking at YYZ if YZR was not your destination. They aren't that flexible.

yscleo

Just booked 2 Y seats in Jan-Feb 2020
YYZ-ORD-TPE (AC and BR) stop
TPE-BKK-SGN (BR and TG) stop
SGN-SIN-SYD (SQ) Destination
SYD-YVR-YWG-YYZ (all AC, too bad nothing better)

$633.46 + booking fee $33.9 per person, for total of $1,334.72. Thought the tax/fees would be less, but oh well.