RTW planning service
 

I was wondering if anyone knows an RTW planning service (fee based obviously). I want to build an RTW in First (where first is offered) that travels on as many different airlines as possible for my trip to Australia (SYD) in Jan 2022 just to see what they're all like. A day in a couple cities on the way would be good as well.

I'll take pointers here too (ie. if you've done something similar, what was your routing?) but it seems really time consuming to plan these out and figured someone who does it more often will be more efficient than I would be, and I'm OK with paying to save some time.

Do you want to pay in "miles" (award ticket) or money?

Miles. Aeroplan obviously, but I guess I also have Alaska and American Airlines that could be used to build some additional segments if someone offers that kind of thing.

Prince of Travel offers assistance with award flight planning for an hourly fee. I've never used his services personally but I know people who have and they've been very satisfied. (That being said just putting it out there as something I know)

Look here ---> https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trav...e-reviews.html

Airlines/aircraft/routes with first class are decreasing. Covid-19 has increased that.
With better airlines, business class today is better than first class a decade ago.
Getting first class awards can be hard.

Very few airlines with first class into AU. EK & QR. TK? Used to have QF, but the A380 are parked until 2023
AS with be in Oneworld by 2022, as are AA, QF, QR, BA, CX.

I have written here many times that the *A reward RTW are not very worthwhile - for almost the exact same number of miles you can usually construct
2 RTW's in opposite directions using return round-trip flights, since the reward RTW's have a very limited number of stops.

The *A revenue RTW's used to offer some good values, and do offer moderately good value still, but F is often unavailable, and J would get best value.
Even if F is available ( i.e.) on SQ - they charge exorbitant surcharges for each leg.

As someone who has flown well over 30 revenue RTW's over the years - some in first and some in business, I would say the best days of the F RTW
are well behind us.

I'll do it. My COVID-discounted rate is $500 USD per hour.

You won't be able to book until January 2021 as res systems generally only book 330-days out, so suggest you chart out your preferred selection of cities, airlines and routings and see if you're better off doing a mini-RtW with Aeroplan miles and a final home leg using your other miles. Or vice versa. Much will change through next year as we know how COVID vaccines and restrictions play out, which airlines survive and how their capacities on various routes evolve. It's really not that difficult to book such itineraries, so you may be able to save yourself money or miles by the time you can consider booking. And the new Aeroplan booking engine may improve things.

I highly recommend FlyerMiles.

YOWgary

Lol if it were CDN totally worth it, but that extra 30 percent .. :)

You are of course correct ... It's actually why I want help. I am just not patient enough to find the most efficient way to do it ... It may end up not really being rtw especially because I might mix awards. And of course I'm just getting out in front - I can't book 2022 until late Jan early Feb anyway, but I am suffering a lack of creativity for putting together something. I suppose it might be good to say some guidelines like take me from yyz to Europe somewhere then somewhere else on Europe then on a ME carrier to Asia then down to Australia etc.

A few quick comments:

1) As mentioned by others above, you will only be able to book 330-356 days in advance, so your award will need to be booked according to the new AE program. AE no longer has a RTW award,and the "mini-RTW" will no longer exist either. However, the new AE program will offer plenty of opportunities to build even more creative itineraries.

2) Due to the current situation, schedules are changing constantly. Many airlines have suspended or sevrely limited First class. The only AE partner currently offering First class to Australia is Etihad, though TG/SQ/possibly others may be an option again in the future.

3) In terms of planning your trip, my recommendation would be to think of airlines / stopovers in terms of the following categories:
(a) "must haves" (e.g. your main destination)
(b) "would be nice to have" / preferences(e.g. wouldbe interested in a stopover in x,y and z)
(c) any exclusions/limitations (e.g. do notwant to connect in country x under any circumstances)
,,,,along with ageneral idea of how long your trip (and certain stopovers) should be (min/max)

As someone who's done the "mRTW" with Aeroplan points, part of the fun and excitement is in learning about the routes and piecing together the itinerary. It's like solving a puzzle and it's really rewarding when you finally get all the pieces to fit together and you get off the phone and get the email with your ticket confirmation. Plus it definitely takes me more than a few hours to piece the trip together (and days to weeks of tracking availability sometimes) so I imagine that if you only pay someone for a few hours of work, it wouldn't be enough time for them to truly be able to narrow down on the "perfect" itinerary for you.

Could you expand on that? I haven't been following the AE changes at all since I probably won't plan a trip until 2022, but I'd love to read up on the to-be state and plan my next YYZ-AKL trip.

It's covered in-depth in https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-...n-program.html, but they've effectively eliminated mileage/routing/stopover restrictions, and will sell you anything you want.