Feb 8, 2018, 12:08 am
ANA RTW Award Booking Reports/Discussion
Feb 20, 2020, 8:30 pm
#241
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 82
I've been continually tweaking an itinerary, and have currently arrived at the following:
jfk-ist-ADD-DEL-BKK-SGN-TPE-ICN-KIX,NRT-jfk (stops are in CAPS).
Taxes+Fees are going to be on the expensive side (doing the math based on ita.matrix results in ~$850, and the Star Alliance RTW website roughly confirms that number), but I've managed to pack in basically every destination on our wishlist for this trip so I'm fine with it.
And the difficult part will be finding the last "NRT-JFK" flight and I'll have to snag it on the 1st day its available (and I have a few backup options), but most of the other flights have good availability.
What I am concerned about is the distance. GCMap has it at 21970miles, which is cutting it very close to the 22k limit and I know there are often slight differences between GCMap and ANA's mileage. Is there anyway to know for sure?
I also used the Star Alliance RTW tool, which I've heard often agrees to ANA exactly (https://roundtheworld.staralliance.c...-b489-960c61ac). It quotes a distance of 22208miles, however it seems that includes distance from KIX-NRT (I'm taking that as a ground segment, but the Star Alliance website tallies the same 22208 miles with that flight included and 22208 miles with that flight not included). KIX-NRT is roughly 306miles, so if I back it out then I would be just under at around 21900 miles. That's obviously pretty close though. Any way to know for sure so I know how many points to transfer in?
jfk-ist-ADD-DEL-BKK-SGN-TPE-ICN-KIX,NRT-jfk (stops are in CAPS).
Taxes+Fees are going to be on the expensive side (doing the math based on ita.matrix results in ~$850, and the Star Alliance RTW website roughly confirms that number), but I've managed to pack in basically every destination on our wishlist for this trip so I'm fine with it.
And the difficult part will be finding the last "NRT-JFK" flight and I'll have to snag it on the 1st day its available (and I have a few backup options), but most of the other flights have good availability.
What I am concerned about is the distance. GCMap has it at 21970miles, which is cutting it very close to the 22k limit and I know there are often slight differences between GCMap and ANA's mileage. Is there anyway to know for sure?
I also used the Star Alliance RTW tool, which I've heard often agrees to ANA exactly (https://roundtheworld.staralliance.c...-b489-960c61ac). It quotes a distance of 22208miles, however it seems that includes distance from KIX-NRT (I'm taking that as a ground segment, but the Star Alliance website tallies the same 22208 miles with that flight included and 22208 miles with that flight not included). KIX-NRT is roughly 306miles, so if I back it out then I would be just under at around 21900 miles. That's obviously pretty close though. Any way to know for sure so I know how many points to transfer in?
Feb 21, 2020, 8:26 am
#242
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Central Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 189
Very cool trip! Here are few thoughts that might apply.
-I would take the bullet train from KIX to NRT leg. Save those miles. You will need to use a subway connections on both ends but the train experience itself is worth it if you have not done this before.
-When you call in, and if they exist, have a couple Japan to USA options available so if you are over that 22,000 you can pick a slightly shorter last flight. HND to YYZ on Air Canada for example will save you 300 miles and you can pretty much walk from Toronto to NYC
-The difference in Business class from distance 20,000 to 22,000 levels is 20,000 miles cost. Valued at 2.5 cents (cost of an extra Amex point) that means hitting that level would be worth $500 per ticket. Quick check you can get some independent Business class seats from BKK-SGN from $300-$400 one way Economy only $100. So personally I would be run all the trip and at the end if agent still has you over 22,000 miles it would be worth it to book that leg on a separate ticket.
Good luck. Let us know how its ends up miles length and additional fees.
Feb 21, 2020, 8:42 am
#243
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Central Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 189
Using United.com is confusing me. I originally created a whole itinerary using United and found what I thought was availability on 7 or 8 different flights. When I called to book the ANA could not see any of them. It seams there is a ton of availability on United to go from Tokyo or ORD. I am I looking at this wrong? What are you using to find the flights you suggested? Again I really appreciate all your help with this!
- Use Google flights one way explore destinations map with nonstop and star alliance only checked. This gives me some idea of the direct flights that exist from any departure city that could be tied to a ANA award.
- Then I use Expertflyer (i have basic subscription) to search that airline and route for one ticket only for a 7 day span and "direct nonstop" connection preference. When results come up add filter out to show available only.
- If I find something as available I jump to ANA website, use award booking, multiple cites and put in what I found on Expertflyer PLUS a misc entry after that date for the search to work. If it shows up there the ANA agent should be able to see it. Generally I run it for one ticket first and then update it to two etc. For your trip there is actually ONE ticket from NRT-ORD in business on 6/7 but only one. If for example you could have found one on the 7th and one on the 8th it might be worth splitting up for a day of travel. We had to do this with 3 people traveling. We found a great set for two of us and then I flew out separate on another day.
I like the thought of Japan first then to ICN then home. Good chance you can find the flights to do that and saves you a hop back. I think ICN-ORD for two seats was available 3 days that week.
Good luck.
Feb 21, 2020, 12:12 pm
#244
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 82
Very cool trip! Here are few thoughts that might apply.
-I would take the bullet train from KIX to NRT leg. Save those miles. You will need to use a subway connections on both ends but the train experience itself is worth it if you have not done this before.
-When you call in, and if they exist, have a couple Japan to USA options available so if you are over that 22,000 you can pick a slightly shorter last flight. HND to YYZ on Air Canada for example will save you 300 miles and you can pretty much walk from Toronto to NYC
-The difference in Business class from distance 20,000 to 22,000 levels is 20,000 miles cost. Valued at 2.5 cents (cost of an extra Amex point) that means hitting that level would be worth $500 per ticket. Quick check you can get some independent Business class seats from BKK-SGN from $300-$400 one way Economy only $100. So personally I would be run all the trip and at the end if agent still has you over 22,000 miles it would be worth it to book that leg on a separate ticket.
Good luck. Let us know how its ends up miles length and additional fees.
-I would take the bullet train from KIX to NRT leg. Save those miles. You will need to use a subway connections on both ends but the train experience itself is worth it if you have not done this before.
-When you call in, and if they exist, have a couple Japan to USA options available so if you are over that 22,000 you can pick a slightly shorter last flight. HND to YYZ on Air Canada for example will save you 300 miles and you can pretty much walk from Toronto to NYC
-The difference in Business class from distance 20,000 to 22,000 levels is 20,000 miles cost. Valued at 2.5 cents (cost of an extra Amex point) that means hitting that level would be worth $500 per ticket. Quick check you can get some independent Business class seats from BKK-SGN from $300-$400 one way Economy only $100. So personally I would be run all the trip and at the end if agent still has you over 22,000 miles it would be worth it to book that leg on a separate ticket.
Good luck. Let us know how its ends up miles length and additional fees.
1. I have a bunch of backup Asia-NA flights in mind if I do happen to be over 22k, and the bonus is those are easier to find availability for than the NRT-JFK flight. NRT-LAX is one (and I'm guessing/hoping that it might have the new ANA business class by March 2021), NRT/HND to ORD is another (and I have a Southwest companion pass to make getting back dirt-cheap). Ditto for NRT-HNL, (and we can arbitrarily tack on a few days in Hawaii). I can also change from "JFK-IST" to "BOS-IST".
2. You mentioned YYZ, but my research indicates that ANA RTW trips need to end in the same country they start (and our trip would then start in the US but end in Canada, making it an invalid itinerary). I have a couple of alternate Canadian itineraries that shave off slight amounts of miles. If I get myself to Montreal, I can replace the "JFK-ist-ADD" start of the trip with "yul-fco-ADD" or "yul-vie-ADD", and this allows returning to Canada and also saves us about ~$200 in fees which essentially pays for the extra flights to Canada.
3. I can also shave off ~100 miles with a "ewr-yul-fco-ADD" start to the trip such that I don't need to start or end in Canada, and still saves the ~$200. The main issue with that is that the flights are too short to get a full nights's sleep, and things could get hectic. The flight arriving in FCO would be in the morning and then we'd depart that same evening (on another ~6h flight). We are also doing a paid flight outside of the itinerary (~$200 to go roundtrip from ADD-NBO and do a safari). That would make the first few days very crazy (EWR-YUL-FCO-ADD-NBO without sleeping in proper hotel bed), and take up an extra day to get there, even if it would save some $.
4. Awesome idea on the paid economy leg, and effectively adding another ground segment. I had some previous itineraries with more non-stopover flights within Africa/India, and had considered booking a paid flight in-between cities... but it was going to effectively turn 1 or more connections into stopovers using ANA's rules (both ends of a ground segment count as a stopover) which would put us at 9 stops, so I ruled those out. Now that the itinerary is simpler and with almost all flights already counting as a stop, a short Asia flight is a good candidate to fill in with a paid economy flight. The BKK-SGN leg is a good candidate.
5. Or... I could also do the ICN-KIX leg as paid. Unlike paying for the BKK-SGN segment, doing ICN-KIX as paid actually takes out a stop from the RTW trip (KIX will no longer be considered a stop). This would allow us to actually contemplate some more exotic itineraries we had previously tossed out (ewr-yul-CMN-cai-ADD-DEL-BKK-SGN-TPE-ICN,HND-jfk, which comes in at 21,800, ~$800 and 8 stops).
Thanks for the advice. Definitely some good options here. I think I'm going to research some possibilities with #5 . Assuming nothing jumps out at me, will probably attempt our original itinerary and if we're over on miles flown then will look to utilize backup options in this order: #4 , #1 , #3 , #2 .
Feb 21, 2020, 12:54 pm
#245
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Central Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 189
Yeah. Bullet train from KIX to NRT is what we are planning (definitely not flying that part, as there a few things we want to do in between those locations). I'm mostly just concerned about the # of miles, and whether my count is accurate. You present a bunch of good backup options:
1. I have a bunch of backup Asia-NA flights in mind if I do happen to be over 22k, and the bonus is those are easier to find availability for than the NRT-JFK flight. NRT-LAX is one (and I'm guessing/hoping that it might have the new ANA business class by March 2021), NRT/HND to ORD is another (and I have a Southwest companion pass to make getting back dirt-cheap). Ditto for NRT-HNL, (and we can arbitrarily tack on a few days in Hawaii). I can also change from "JFK-IST" to "BOS-IST".
2. You mentioned YYZ, but my research indicates that ANA RTW trips need to end in the same country they start (and our trip would then start in the US but end in Canada, making it an invalid itinerary). I have a couple of alternate Canadian itineraries that shave off slight amounts of miles. If I get myself to Montreal, I can replace the "JFK-ist-ADD" start of the trip with "yul-fco-ADD" or "yul-vie-ADD", and this allows returning to Canada and also saves us about ~$200 in fees which essentially pays for the extra flights to Canada.
3. I can also shave off ~100 miles with a "ewr-yul-fco-ADD" start to the trip such that I don't need to start or end in Canada, and still saves the ~$200. The main issue with that is that the flights are too short to get a full nights's sleep, and things could get hectic. The flight arriving in FCO would be in the morning and then we'd depart that same evening (on another ~6h flight). We are also doing a paid flight outside of the itinerary (~$200 to go roundtrip from ADD-NBO and do a safari). That would make the first few days very crazy (EWR-YUL-FCO-ADD-NBO without sleeping in proper hotel bed), and take up an extra day to get there, even if it would save some $.
4. Awesome idea on the paid economy leg, and effectively adding another ground segment. I had some previous itineraries with more non-stopover flights within Africa/India, and had considered booking a paid flight in-between cities... but it was going to effectively turn 1 or more connections into stopovers using ANA's rules (both ends of a ground segment count as a stopover) which would put us at 9 stops, so I ruled those out. Now that the itinerary is simpler and with almost all flights already counting as a stop, a short Asia flight is a good candidate to fill in with a paid economy flight. The BKK-SGN leg is a good candidate.
5. Or... I could also do the ICN-KIX leg as paid. Unlike paying for the BKK-SGN segment, doing ICN-KIX as paid actually takes out a stop from the RTW trip (KIX will no longer be considered a stop). This would allow us to actually contemplate some more exotic itineraries we had previously tossed out (ewr-yul-CMN-cai-ADD-DEL-BKK-SGN-TPE-ICN,HND-jfk, which comes in at 21,800, ~$800 and 8 stops).
Thanks for the advice. Definitely some good options here. I think I'm going to research some possibilities with #5 . Assuming nothing jumps out at me, will probably attempt our original itinerary and if we're over on miles flown then will look to utilize backup options in this order: #4 , #1 , #3 , #2 .
1. I have a bunch of backup Asia-NA flights in mind if I do happen to be over 22k, and the bonus is those are easier to find availability for than the NRT-JFK flight. NRT-LAX is one (and I'm guessing/hoping that it might have the new ANA business class by March 2021), NRT/HND to ORD is another (and I have a Southwest companion pass to make getting back dirt-cheap). Ditto for NRT-HNL, (and we can arbitrarily tack on a few days in Hawaii). I can also change from "JFK-IST" to "BOS-IST".
2. You mentioned YYZ, but my research indicates that ANA RTW trips need to end in the same country they start (and our trip would then start in the US but end in Canada, making it an invalid itinerary). I have a couple of alternate Canadian itineraries that shave off slight amounts of miles. If I get myself to Montreal, I can replace the "JFK-ist-ADD" start of the trip with "yul-fco-ADD" or "yul-vie-ADD", and this allows returning to Canada and also saves us about ~$200 in fees which essentially pays for the extra flights to Canada.
3. I can also shave off ~100 miles with a "ewr-yul-fco-ADD" start to the trip such that I don't need to start or end in Canada, and still saves the ~$200. The main issue with that is that the flights are too short to get a full nights's sleep, and things could get hectic. The flight arriving in FCO would be in the morning and then we'd depart that same evening (on another ~6h flight). We are also doing a paid flight outside of the itinerary (~$200 to go roundtrip from ADD-NBO and do a safari). That would make the first few days very crazy (EWR-YUL-FCO-ADD-NBO without sleeping in proper hotel bed), and take up an extra day to get there, even if it would save some $.
4. Awesome idea on the paid economy leg, and effectively adding another ground segment. I had some previous itineraries with more non-stopover flights within Africa/India, and had considered booking a paid flight in-between cities... but it was going to effectively turn 1 or more connections into stopovers using ANA's rules (both ends of a ground segment count as a stopover) which would put us at 9 stops, so I ruled those out. Now that the itinerary is simpler and with almost all flights already counting as a stop, a short Asia flight is a good candidate to fill in with a paid economy flight. The BKK-SGN leg is a good candidate.
5. Or... I could also do the ICN-KIX leg as paid. Unlike paying for the BKK-SGN segment, doing ICN-KIX as paid actually takes out a stop from the RTW trip (KIX will no longer be considered a stop). This would allow us to actually contemplate some more exotic itineraries we had previously tossed out (ewr-yul-CMN-cai-ADD-DEL-BKK-SGN-TPE-ICN,HND-jfk, which comes in at 21,800, ~$800 and 8 stops).
Thanks for the advice. Definitely some good options here. I think I'm going to research some possibilities with #5 . Assuming nothing jumps out at me, will probably attempt our original itinerary and if we're over on miles flown then will look to utilize backup options in this order: #4 , #1 , #3 , #2 .
For Round the World itineraries, the required mileage is calculated according to the total basic sector mileage for the entire itinerary. (Calculations exclude ground transportation sectors.) Flights must be used to cross both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans once. The flight direction of the itinerary must be east-to-west or west-to-east. Backtracking is not permitted. Up to 8 stopovers are permitted between the departure point and the final return point. (Up to 3 stopovers are permitted within Europe and up to 4 stopovers are permitted within Japan.) The departure date of the final international flight to return to the country of departure must be at least 10 days after the departure of the first international flight on the itinerary.
You can book maximum of 12 flight segments and 4 ground transfer segments on one ticket. Transfers between airports in the same city also count as ground transfer segments.
Feb 21, 2020, 1:47 pm
#246
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 82
Sounds like you Got this! Great options. You are correct on the same country. Forgot about that. Terms listed below.
For Round the World itineraries, the required mileage is calculated according to the total basic sector mileage for the entire itinerary. (Calculations exclude ground transportation sectors.) Flights must be used to cross both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans once. The flight direction of the itinerary must be east-to-west or west-to-east. Backtracking is not permitted. Up to 8 stopovers are permitted between the departure point and the final return point. (Up to 3 stopovers are permitted within Europe and up to 4 stopovers are permitted within Japan.) The departure date of the final international flight to return to the country of departure must be at least 10 days after the departure of the first international flight on the itinerary.
You can book maximum of 12 flight segments and 4 ground transfer segments on one ticket. Transfers between airports in the same city also count as ground transfer segments.
For Round the World itineraries, the required mileage is calculated according to the total basic sector mileage for the entire itinerary. (Calculations exclude ground transportation sectors.) Flights must be used to cross both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans once. The flight direction of the itinerary must be east-to-west or west-to-east. Backtracking is not permitted. Up to 8 stopovers are permitted between the departure point and the final return point. (Up to 3 stopovers are permitted within Europe and up to 4 stopovers are permitted within Japan.) The departure date of the final international flight to return to the country of departure must be at least 10 days after the departure of the first international flight on the itinerary.
You can book maximum of 12 flight segments and 4 ground transfer segments on one ticket. Transfers between airports in the same city also count as ground transfer segments.
The NRT/HND-JFK leg is by far the highest in-demand and lowest availability. This is for 2 people, and ANA flights can be booked 355 days out. 354 and 355 days out there is generally availability for 2, but before that it is quite unlikely. So I would definitely want to book that one at exactly 355 days out. With an ideal returning flight of 4/4/2021, that means I need to book it on 4/4/2020.
Obviously, I'm booking the entire trip at the same time. Working backwards from 4/4/2021 and how long we want to spend in each destination, here's the dates of the flights we'd be looking at vs how far in advance those airlines release availability.
Other than the 1st and last flight, basically every other flight in between has nearly 100% of days 10+ months out with 2 J-class seats available (great!). The issue is that:
-When I want to book an ADD-DEL flight for 3/19/2021, the Ethiopian Airlines flights will only be available through 3/10/2021, and I'll need to wait 9 days.
-Same for the DEL-BKK flight, but I'll need to wait 1 day
-Same for the BKK-SGN flight, but I'll need to wait 3 days
What I believe I've read is that once the itinerary is booked, you can change the dates on individual flights (ie. fly the same route with the same carrier on a different date) by calling in and paying the $25 phone booking fee, but any other changes require a cancellation of the entire rtw booking and then you have to rebook everything, which risks flights not going back into award inventory. As a result, you're supposed to do your initial booking with some "dummy dates" and then change them later. I just can't figure out how I'm supposed to do that in this case.
Starting with the latest flights and then working backwards:
-I can book the SGN-TPE-ICN-KIX+NRT-JFK section using their actual desired dates.
-The 3 flights with issues are in a row (ADD-DEL will be 9-days "short" of being available, DEL-BKK will be 1-day "short", BKK-SGN will be 3 days "short"):
-I could book the DEL-BKK and BKK-SGN flights using dates that are 3 days earlier than desired and then correct them later when Thai Airways likely releases the awards in 1 and 3 days.
-However, for the ADD-DEL segment, if I want to book that one I need to book it at least 9-days earlier than desired. If I do that, it would actually be earlier than the jfk-ist-ADD segments.
-I guess I could then book the entire first 5 legs (jfk-ist-ADD-DEL-BKK-SGN) of the trip for dates almost 2 weeks earlier than desired and correct them later (thus preserving the final NRT-jfk leg for which availability will certainly dry up)
-The ist-ADD-DEL-BKK-SGN segments would almost certainly have availability once their award calendar rolls over my desired dates.
-The JFK-IST one is the tricky one where I might run into issues...
Availability on JFK-IST is a bit sporadic. If I was booking JFK-IST today, I could obviously just improvise and pick an alternative flight (ie. BOS-IST), but in this case it seems like I might have to commit to JFK or BOS before I know what the availability will be like after I wait for Turkish calendar to release (or else I have to cancel and book the RTW itinerary again). The weird thing is that it doesn't seem like people are slowly snapping up JFK-IST flights, but rather that Turkish just seems to randomly release or not release J seats on certain dates. If that's true (which I could verify by taking an itinerary of # of seats available on various days and watching their trends over the next few weeks), then I guess I could potentially see what was available on my desired dates (even if I can't "lock it up" at the time of the RTW booking).
Am I thinking about this right?
Last edited by beefninja; Feb 21, 2020 at 2:01 pm
Feb 21, 2020, 2:00 pm
#247
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Central Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 189
So lets assume all airlines release their flights 365 days out. If you want to start the trip on 3/12/21 you can not really book that first flight until 3/22/20 because you have to book it for 10 days and last flight will not open up until then. All that being said. If you packed it all into an initial 10 day itinerary you can theoretically risk it and change dates as you go. Of course you risk having to cancel the entire thing and start over if one of the "change to dates" does not open up like you expect. You can not take an existing itinerary and do anything but change dates. To add something in or change a city you have to cancel and start over and the seats you cancel do not necessarily show back up while re-booking as you say.
Looking at your chart release date of ANA and Turkish works in your favor but Ethiaopian and Thai are an issue on April 14th and no way to move that up 9 days.
Not that it exactly applies but I booked an ANA flight HND-ORD on June 7th, 2018 for a flight March 13th, 2019. 277 days apart. This was THREE seats in business class.
John
Last edited by john c wisconsin; Feb 21, 2020 at 2:11 pm
Feb 21, 2020, 6:06 pm
#248
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 82
Quick answer. You are correct on this. You can never book a trip 355 days out from first leg because even if you plan to change all the dates, when you first book the last leg has to be at least 10 days after first departure.
So lets assume all airlines release their flights 365 days out. If you want to start the trip on 3/12/21 you can not really book that first flight until 3/22/20 because you have to book it for 10 days and last flight will not open up until then. All that being said. If you packed it all into an initial 10 day itinerary you can theoretically risk it and change dates as you go. Of course you risk having to cancel the entire thing and start over if one of the "change to dates" does not open up like you expect. You can not take an existing itinerary and do anything but change dates. To add something in or change a city you have to cancel and start over and the seats you cancel do not necessarily show back up while re-booking as you say.
Looking at your chart release date of ANA and Turkish works in your favor but Ethiaopian and Thai are an issue on April 14th and no way to move that up 9 days.
Not that it exactly applies but I booked an ANA flight HND-ORD on June 7th, 2018 for a flight March 13th, 2019. 277 days apart. This was THREE seats in business class.
John
So lets assume all airlines release their flights 365 days out. If you want to start the trip on 3/12/21 you can not really book that first flight until 3/22/20 because you have to book it for 10 days and last flight will not open up until then. All that being said. If you packed it all into an initial 10 day itinerary you can theoretically risk it and change dates as you go. Of course you risk having to cancel the entire thing and start over if one of the "change to dates" does not open up like you expect. You can not take an existing itinerary and do anything but change dates. To add something in or change a city you have to cancel and start over and the seats you cancel do not necessarily show back up while re-booking as you say.
Looking at your chart release date of ANA and Turkish works in your favor but Ethiaopian and Thai are an issue on April 14th and no way to move that up 9 days.
Not that it exactly applies but I booked an ANA flight HND-ORD on June 7th, 2018 for a flight March 13th, 2019. 277 days apart. This was THREE seats in business class.
John
Do you know if I can take a different flight # with the same carrier? For instance, Turkish airlines runs 2 daily flights from JFK to IST: TK4 and TK12. If I make the initial booking on TK4 on a Sunday, can I switch to TK 12 on a Friday?
Assuming that works, it seems like my options are basically:
1) Wait to book until all flights are available. I run the ~95%+ risk that NRT/HND to JFK will not have availability, in which case I have to make alternate arrangements (ie. NRT to LAX/ORD/HNL, or fly out of ICN or TPE)
2) Book now, with the first legs being dummy bookings, then change them later. I run the ~75% risk (my made-up estimate) that JKF-IST will not be available on a day I choose, in which case I need to a) be flexible on dates and total trip length, or b) pay a 3000 mile cancellation penalty and rebook an alternate arrangement. Seems like JFK-IST is only sometimes released by Turkish (~3 days a week, typically weekdays), but then noone books it and there are 4 seats open.
3) Do the same as #2 , except book the first leg from BOS-IST. Right now, seems like basically 100% of days between 300-330 days out have 4 seats available, and so do the next 4 legs. If I felt gutsy I could even include JFK-BOS in the RTW itinerary (adds ~0 miles, but is dependent upon united continuing to release saver space from JFK to BOS).
4) Make a separate RT booking from NRT to JFK (and back) to lock up those dates, and hope that when I cancel on the phone with ANA that it goes back into inventory right away.
5) Find some other Star-Alliance routing to get from NBO or ADD to DEL that doesn't use Ethiopian Airlines. Since Air India isn't available on ANA, seems like I'd have to route back through IST, would put me at almost 25k miles.
Think I'm going to go with #3 or #1 . #3 is a gamble, but seems like a low-risk one and the potential downside is only 3k miles (about ~$50 worth). Thanks for all the help on this. Can't wait to book it.
Last edited by beefninja; Feb 21, 2020 at 6:38 pm
Feb 21, 2020, 7:13 pm
#249
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Japan
Programs: NH Diamond, JL JGC Diamond, BA Gold Guest List(Gold for life), CX Diamond
Posts: 1,580
For mileage calculation, ANA uses TPM.
So,
all of KIX-HND,KIX-NRT,ITM-HND,ITM-NRT are same 280 miles defined as OSA-TYO.
As you know, GC uses GC(Great Circle Distance) not TPM.
Anyway, I checked total TPM of your itinerary.
NYC-IST 5002
IST-ADD 2297
ADD-DEL 2830
DEL-BKK 1824
BKK-SGN 453
SGN-TPE 1380
TPE-SEL 914
SEL-OSA 525
TYO-NYC 6723
total 21948
So,
all of KIX-HND,KIX-NRT,ITM-HND,ITM-NRT are same 280 miles defined as OSA-TYO.
As you know, GC uses GC(Great Circle Distance) not TPM.
Anyway, I checked total TPM of your itinerary.
NYC-IST 5002
IST-ADD 2297
ADD-DEL 2830
DEL-BKK 1824
BKK-SGN 453
SGN-TPE 1380
TPE-SEL 914
SEL-OSA 525
TYO-NYC 6723
total 21948
Feb 21, 2020, 9:04 pm
#250
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 82
For mileage calculation, ANA uses TPM.
So,
all of KIX-HND,KIX-NRT,ITM-HND,ITM-NRT are same 280 miles defined as OSA-TYO.
As you know, GC uses GC(Great Circle Distance) not TPM.
Anyway, I checked total TPM of your itinerary.
NYC-IST 5002
IST-ADD 2297
ADD-DEL 2830
DEL-BKK 1824
BKK-SGN 453
SGN-TPE 1380
TPE-SEL 914
SEL-OSA 525
TYO-NYC 6723
total 21948
So,
all of KIX-HND,KIX-NRT,ITM-HND,ITM-NRT are same 280 miles defined as OSA-TYO.
As you know, GC uses GC(Great Circle Distance) not TPM.
Anyway, I checked total TPM of your itinerary.
NYC-IST 5002
IST-ADD 2297
ADD-DEL 2830
DEL-BKK 1824
BKK-SGN 453
SGN-TPE 1380
TPE-SEL 914
SEL-OSA 525
TYO-NYC 6723
total 21948
Feb 22, 2020, 6:33 pm
#252
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Japan
Programs: NH Diamond, JL JGC Diamond, BA Gold Guest List(Gold for life), CX Diamond
Posts: 1,580
IATA has some references and SELL data.
https://www.iata.org/en/publications/store/mileage/
Expert Flyer provides some mileage related information.
Mar 5, 2020, 7:07 am
#253
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 8
Looks like I’ll have to abandon our trip
Currently in Australia, we were due to head to Seoul and finalize our RTW trip by flying ICN - NRT then NRT-SEA. Looks like we will be unable to complete these flights due to the virus outbreak. Has anyone called in to cancel part of their RTW trip? I’m pretty much resigned to losing the miles, but just wondering if anyone has had a similar situation ?
Mar 5, 2020, 7:39 am
#254
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Central Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 189
Currently in Australia, we were due to head to Seoul and finalize our RTW trip by flying ICN - NRT then NRT-SEA. Looks like we will be unable to complete these flights due to the virus outbreak. Has anyone called in to cancel part of their RTW trip? I’m pretty much resigned to losing the miles, but just wondering if anyone has had a similar situation ?
This is the only slightly related info I could find if they do indeed cancel one of flights. https://www.ana.co.jp/en/us/amc/refe...nt/refund.html
Good luck and I hope you can find some resolution. Let us know if they work with you at all on a solution.
Mar 5, 2020, 2:11 pm
#255
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,924
Currently in Australia, we were due to head to Seoul and finalize our RTW trip by flying ICN - NRT then NRT-SEA. Looks like we will be unable to complete these flights due to the virus outbreak. Has anyone called in to cancel part of their RTW trip? I’m pretty much resigned to losing the miles, but just wondering if anyone has had a similar situation ?