cdmca

Hi all,
For an ANA RTW, would the following route work:

IST-KIX
NRT-BKK
BKK-LAX
LAX-IST

Specificaly, would the NRT-BKK leg work given you can only travel in one direction?

Thanks!

jnguyen2020

Yes, that leg will work and ANA operator will let you do it since you're still within "Area 3" of ANA zone. Several people have confirmed this here.

cdmca

Thank you!

Additionally, does anyone know if multi-city/open jaw awards have the same booking rules as the RTW? Meaning, can I plug my segments into multi-city section of the ANA website and see if they would work on a RTW?

john c wisconsin

Yes in general. When using the tool add one additional "fake" segment. So if you are looking up a trip with five segments you need a sixth in there for number 5 to calculate. then the 6th one will often error out. I have seen some conflict with what should be united award availability showing up on properly on ANA site but in general this tool will confirm that ANA sees space you can book for RTW award.

cdmca

Very interesting on the "extra segment" tip. Will try now. Thank you.

UsernameChuck

Am i searching wrong on ITA? Or what am i missing? Everything seems to have a $175 surcharge to Europe, per ITA. I'll get charged this, right?

Here's an example:

Fare 1: Carrier UA UKI50NCS CHI to PAR (rules)$840.00
United States Passenger Civil Aviation Security Service Fee (AY)
$5.60
Carrier-imposed surcharge (YQ)
$175.00
US International Departure Tax (US)
$18.60
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF)
$4.50
Subtotal per passenger
$1,043.70
Number of passengers
x1
Subtotal For 1 adult
$1,043.70


Air Canada was the same thing


Fare 1: Carrier AC UKI50NCS CHI to PAR (rules)$840.00
Carrier-imposed surcharge (YQ)
$175.00
United States Passenger Civil Aviation Security Service Fee (AY)
$5.60
US International Departure Tax (US)
$18.60
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF)
$4.50
Subtotal per passenger
$1,043.70
Number of passengers
x1
Subtotal For 1 adult
$1,043.70

ijakov

So I booked my first ANA RTW in J for 3 people in Jun/Jul 2020 and am obviously very excited about it. This forum has been a great source of info and advice during our planning/booking process so I wanted to share back some of my findings/experiences that were not known/obvious to me and may be helpful to others. It was 115k miles per person for following itinerary

ZAG-IST-KIX on TK in J, 5 nights in Osaka/Kyoto
ITM-NRT-HNL on NH in Y, 5 night on Oahu
HNL-YVR-YYC on AC in J, 7 nights in Banff
YYC-LHR on AC in J, 4 nights in Scotland
EDI-FRA-ZAG om LH in Y

Taxes came at $650 per ticket - TK is the main contributor here. We could have saved $100 by replacing TK with NH on the first leg, but we would have to split our group and have an additional segment here. Also, IST-KIX will be operated on TK's new 787s with new J product and I was looking forward to try it.

Availability - looking for 3 seats was obviously major challenge and constraint, so I was focused on airlines opening up 355 days out and found that

- NH is most consistent/predictable in releasing award availability. They initially release fixed number of seats - 1,2 or 3 J seats per flight depending on the route - and then possibly some more at T-14. So there is decent chance for close-in availability, although again very dependent on the route.
- AC seems to have best J availability at 340-350 days out and on different days for different routes (eg HNL-YVR route has best availability on Mon and Wed, while on YYC-LHR it is on Tue and Wed). Also, they often have 3-4 J seats on a flight which was great for us. Later on their availability disappears, but does seem to come back occasionally/unpredictably
- TK & LH - again good availability 340-350 days out, then it is often pulled back and does not seem to come back

The most difficult (almost impossible) to find is J availability on the NH NRT-HNL route. The 2 seats released per flight are taken within minutes after release, so I decided to book Y now and hope to upgrade to J close-in. There was premium economy available here, but ANA does not allow it on *A bookings. Even if we end up in Y here, it will be on ANA's new A380

godbreath

Booking the RTW through ANA should count as an ANA award booking and not a *A booking. You should be able to book premium economy if its available.

ijakov

Really? Are you sure about it?

During the booking process, I have asked 3 or 4 ANA CS reps about it and all replied straight 'no pe on rtw booking as pe can be booked only on tickets with ana metal only'.

godbreath

just going off of what other members said on this thread. i dont have any first hand experience doing so

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31246324-post151.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31246324-post152.html

r0m8470

Just came back from my 2nd RTW. I thought I posted some thoughts on what I see, and tips for others to use.

My itinerary:
MSP-YYZ-FRA-AMS (stop); MSP to FRA all on Air Canada business, domestic first on MSP to YYZ, and reverse herringbone on YYZ to FRA. FRA to AMS on LH intra-Europe business (standard coach w middle seat blocked).
AMS to FRA on rail (count as a segment)
FRA-PEK-NRT; on Air China, BE seats on FRA to PEK (2-2-2), PEK-NRT not sure who the mfg is, but the seats are 2-2-2 as well, but very open, similar to LOT 787 business class.
HND-ITM, on NH, coach only redemption for domestic Japan.
KIX-PEK-YVR-SEA; KIX-PEK on NH new A320 neo coach, no business space. The PEK to YVR on Air China, same BE seats. YVR to SEA is all-coach 22 min flight time Air Canada Dash-8 aircraft.

Air China notes:
The FRA to PEK segment is on 777-300ER, and the aircraft has first class section. The seats and general plane conditions though look worn down. Services are surprisingly good. Had low expectations but the cabin crews are all super pleasant. Flew Air China 4 years ago on PEK to VIE route on their A330 angle flat, and the experience was miles away different. Seats, catering and service are all better. The PEK to NRT segment was on A330 with 2-2-2 lie flats, and the plane condition is just as bad as the FRA to PEK segment. One thing of note though - the flight attendants kept the bathrooms very clean. I do want to emphasize, that when I say the plane conditions being worn down, it looked old, but still clean.

The PEK to YVR is on 777-300ER as well but no first class section. On this segment, everything are better than the FRA to PEK segment. Services, air crew and catering are all top notch. Aircraft is on a much better state. We have some concern about Air China, but after this trip, we'll have no hesitation anymore.

If flying Air China, try to get connection done at PEK, not PVG. PEK allows check through luggage. We flew and connected at PVG from CPH back in 2017, and we had to exit security and checked luggage. Not sure if it were because our CPH to PVG was on SK, and PVG to NRT was on NH - and this time, we flew FRA-PEK-NRT all on CA, but PEK (as long as it is through terminal 3) is a better airport than PVG.

NH domestic leg:
It is very useful to have ANA app, or print out of itinerary ready. We travel with 1 large luggage - 31 kg or thereabouts for clothes and other things for 3+ weeks. It is 10 kg than standard coach allowance. The ANA desk at HND tried to have us pay the 10 kg extra even though the segment is part of a business class RTW. There were some language barrier, but after about 25-30 min haggling and use of Google translate, we managed to get ours checked w no extra charge. Same thing almost happened at KIX, but I had the print out of our ticket details ready then and that cut short all attempts to put extra charges on our luggage.

We use a positioning ticket from SEA to MSP on Delta. My SkyMiles Gold did not get us any upgrade (insert SkyMiles joke here). We stayed at the onsite IC hotel at MSP, and had a very pleasant stay.

Vism

Are any Diamond members able to please check HND - VIE 12/16/19 to see if there is any availability showing?

Thank you!

synergypi

Yes, at least 3 seats in economy and 3 in business.

tensixmom

Not looking good (as far as this newbie can tell) for business class in ANA from California to Tokyo next November. Right now the calendar only goes out to November 3-4 but there is nothing for those dates. I have less than 2 weeks before my dates will open but no real hope that I will get lucky.

Anyone have any tips to increase my chances?

synergypi

Bookings for the new 2020 SFO HND flight will start in a couple weeks so that could open up a bunch of awards., assuming it's a year round route.
Also, if you're booking awards on ANA, calendar goes to Nov 23rd.