Jan 28, 2014, 12:14 am
Last edit by: JDiver
oneworld / AA Explorer award with AA Miles (discuss, questions) [ENDED 8 APR 2014]
N.B. new oneworld/AA Explorer awards are no longer available as of the end of the day on April 7th, 2014.
Existing awards will be honored.
This thread is ONLY to inquire or add about existing oneworld Explorer awards; to comment on the loss of this booking option, please follow the discussion on:
Oneworld Explorer Awards Eliminated -- Effective Immediately [8 Apr 2014]
See the first post, below, for the rules that prevailed through 7 April 2014 and apply to those who booked Explorer awards prior to the end of these useful award tickets.
oneworld / AA Explorer award with AA Miles (discuss, questions) [ENDED 8 APR 2014]
Nov 22, 2013, 10:23 am
#1756
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,595
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
"I'm with AA trying for the CDG-LHR-IST."
You should be able to see BA award availability (or the lack thereof) for CDG/ORY-LHR-IST on aa.com, before you even call AA.
"I'm with AA trying for the CDG-LHR-IST."
You should be able to see BA award availability (or the lack thereof) for CDG/ORY-LHR-IST on aa.com, before you even call AA.
Nov 22, 2013, 10:50 am
#1757
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: ORD
Posts: 1,844
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
"I'm with AA trying for the CDG-LHR-IST."
You should be able to see BA award availability (or the lack thereof) for CDG/ORY-LHR-IST on aa.com, before you even call AA.
"I'm with AA trying for the CDG-LHR-IST."
You should be able to see BA award availability (or the lack thereof) for CDG/ORY-LHR-IST on aa.com, before you even call AA.
Yes, another good tip that I continue refusing to follow.
I'm so used to JAL.
Anyway... it's done, finished. We have to ticket tonight because of the IB legs.
November is a record early finish, that I believe will stick. In past years, we've re-instated AAmiles and changed the itinerary days before departure. Mostly swapping JAL's old crappy J seats for new availability on CX 77W.
Now we have to book our Hyatt points early because their program is changing.
Thanks again. All your help is very much appreciated. Big thanks.
Nov 22, 2013, 10:58 am
#1758
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 586
My mistake on the CGN-SAW, I saw the AB flight but didn't realize it was a codeshare.
Glad you were able to put it together, mind sharing what your final routing looks like? I'm not sure I can even follow what all happened
Glad you were able to put it together, mind sharing what your final routing looks like? I'm not sure I can even follow what all happened
Nov 22, 2013, 11:11 am
#1759
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: ORD
Posts: 1,844
Again, for all the years. Mucho thanks.
How do we calculate distance when ARR/DEP CDG-ORY?
Is it MAD-CDG,ORY-LHR or for AA, just MAD-CDG-LHR?
-------------
Also: We have some miles left over. If CDG-ORY was not a segment we could have put in a short RT somewhere. Darn.
Nov 22, 2013, 11:26 am
#1760
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Worldwide
Posts: 12,949
[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.2/Diamond - Reference: Ticketed Point Mileage [TPM]: MAD-PAR-LON]
Code:
MAD-PAR: 664 mi / 1069 km PAR-LON: 217 mi / 349 km ---------------------------- Total: 881 mi / 1418 km
Nov 22, 2013, 11:37 am
#1761
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: ORD
Posts: 1,844
Distances are calculated between Cities (in this case PAR), not Airports:
[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.2/Diamond - Reference: Ticketed Point Mileage [TPM]: MAD-PAR-LON]
[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.2/Diamond - Reference: Ticketed Point Mileage [TPM]: MAD-PAR-LON]
Code:
MAD-PAR: 664 mi / 1069 km PAR-LON: 217 mi / 349 km ---------------------------- Total: 881 mi / 1418 km
GCM has MAD-PAR @ 647.
Combinations:
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=ord-mad...ad-ory,cdg-lhr
Nov 22, 2013, 11:40 am
#1762
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,595
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
Distances are calculated between Cities (in this case PAR), not Airports:
[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.2/Diamond - Reference: Ticketed Point Mileage [TPM]: MAD-PAR-LON]
Are you sure that that's how AA calculates mileage for purposes of an Explorer award? The Great Circle Mapper certainly provides different mileage for MAD-ORY compared to MAD-CDG.
Originally Posted by KVS
[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.2/Diamond - Reference: Ticketed Point Mileage [TPM]: MAD-PAR-LON]
Code:
MAD-PAR: 664 mi / 1069 km PAR-LON: 217 mi / 349 km ---------------------------- Total: 881 mi / 1418 km
Nov 22, 2013, 11:44 am
#1763
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: too far from the airport
Posts: 3,298
Looking to book a OW Explorer to South Africa for next year (2 in J). I am outside the 330-day window for the last flight, so not ready to book yet, but wanted to run the plan by the experts here to see if anyone saw any issues (or potential optimizations).
MIA-DOH-JNB-CPT(stop)-JNB(stop)-DOH-MAD(stop)-JFK(stop)/LGA-MIA
I think it's relatively straightforward, but a few specific questions:
1. GC Map has this as 24,982 - any reason to believe that AA would calculate it differently?
2. Will I run into any issues booking the JNB-CPT segments on Comair (BA)?
3. If I want to extend my stopover in New York, I should be able to move the LGA-MIA segment back without incurring a fee, correct?
4. Anything else others would do to optimize? Priority is South Africa; MAD not required, nor is the LGA-MIA segment on the back end (but figured I would use up the extra 1,100 miles).
MIA-DOH-JNB-CPT(stop)-JNB(stop)-DOH-MAD(stop)-JFK(stop)/LGA-MIA
I think it's relatively straightforward, but a few specific questions:
1. GC Map has this as 24,982 - any reason to believe that AA would calculate it differently?
2. Will I run into any issues booking the JNB-CPT segments on Comair (BA)?
3. If I want to extend my stopover in New York, I should be able to move the LGA-MIA segment back without incurring a fee, correct?
4. Anything else others would do to optimize? Priority is South Africa; MAD not required, nor is the LGA-MIA segment on the back end (but figured I would use up the extra 1,100 miles).
Nov 22, 2013, 12:58 pm
#1764
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Worldwide
Posts: 12,949
http://www.IATA.org/publications/Pages/tpm.aspx
Nov 22, 2013, 2:12 pm
#1765
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 52
I apologize if these are really simple questions, but I am not 100% sure of the answers and can't seem to locate them.
1. When booking an explorer award, can I select flights that are only available via AAnytime awards (but not MileSAAver)?
2. Is the occasional economy segment allowable on a business award?
1. When booking an explorer award, can I select flights that are only available via AAnytime awards (but not MileSAAver)?
2. Is the occasional economy segment allowable on a business award?
Nov 22, 2013, 2:21 pm
#1766
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
I apologize if these are really simple questions, but I am not 100% sure of the answers and can't seem to locate them.
1. When booking an explorer award, can I select flights that are only available via AAnytime awards (but not MileSAAver)?
2. Is the occasional economy segment allowable on a business award?
1. When booking an explorer award, can I select flights that are only available via AAnytime awards (but not MileSAAver)?
2. Is the occasional economy segment allowable on a business award?
2. Yes, it is allowed. If you want 15 segments in economy and 1 segment in biz, I'm sure AA would be happy to charge you the biz price
. Happens frequently for those booking awards in first, when not all flights offer first. Then, flights must be booked in biz or economy.
Nov 22, 2013, 2:37 pm
#1767
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 52
1. No, only MileSAAver is valid
2. Yes, it is allowed. If you want 15 segments in economy and 1 segment in biz, I'm sure AA would be happy to charge you the biz price. Happens frequently for those booking awards in first, when not all flights offer first. Then, flights must be booked in biz or economy.
2. Yes, it is allowed. If you want 15 segments in economy and 1 segment in biz, I'm sure AA would be happy to charge you the biz price
. Happens frequently for those booking awards in first, when not all flights offer first. Then, flights must be booked in biz or economy.
Nov 22, 2013, 3:42 pm
#1768
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: UA 1K, AA PLT (fmr CK), SPG Platinum, Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 209
Apologies that no one else seem to have answered your post.
1 - AA would be the ultimate answer but none of the airports listed by you seem to have problems that HongKong used to due to location change
2 - Codeshares are not allowed. is it liested on oneworld official schedule (available on OW website)?
3 - yes, you can do that subject to availibility (but you have to book it as stopover and not connection - go back 50 or so posts back to see rules)
4 - Optimization will be constrained by availibility and you being close to 25k marker. If JMB-CPT flights are not bookable on this award, you can buy those separately using discount carriers and free up sopme miles which will allow for return through DUS or TXL for Air Berlin or DOH for QR or AMM for RJ or possibly HEL for AY and thus avoid YQ on IB.
1 - AA would be the ultimate answer but none of the airports listed by you seem to have problems that HongKong used to due to location change
2 - Codeshares are not allowed. is it liested on oneworld official schedule (available on OW website)?
3 - yes, you can do that subject to availibility (but you have to book it as stopover and not connection - go back 50 or so posts back to see rules)
4 - Optimization will be constrained by availibility and you being close to 25k marker. If JMB-CPT flights are not bookable on this award, you can buy those separately using discount carriers and free up sopme miles which will allow for return through DUS or TXL for Air Berlin or DOH for QR or AMM for RJ or possibly HEL for AY and thus avoid YQ on IB.
Regarding the Comair segments, keep in mind that they will add a substantial amount of YQ to your total cost. The last time we travelled to South Africa - a few months ago - we decided to avoid BA/Comair and use SA, which allowed much more flexibility (many more flights availble for purchase). The difference in cost between BA YQ and a revenue ticket on SA between CPT and JNB was less than $30, and it could be even lower if you fly one of the local LCCs. Business class for a two-hour segment is not crucial for us, and economy on SA was quite acceptable.
Nov 27, 2013, 1:09 pm
#1769
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 80
(EDIT I know this is long: tl;dr
I live in northern Cincinnati, so about equidistant between CVG and DAY. I came up with the following
JFK-MAD-MXP-LHR-ORD-LAX-SYD-DFW-DAY-DFW-HNL-ORD-CVG-MIA-CUN-ORD 39336 miles - any issues with that?)
-----------------
So I had heard about these OneWorld explorer awards but came across them again recently with a post about the idea of using one award to plan multiple smaller vacations on the "same" award. I spent a bit of time putting together a possible routing and wanted to run it by you guys to see if there are any thoughts.
I live in northern Cincinnati, so about equidistant between CVG and DAY. I came up with the following
JFK-MAD-MXP-LHR-ORD-LAX-SYD-DFW-DAY-DFW-HNL-ORD-CVG-MIA-CUN-ORD 39336 miles
(details)
CVG-JFK Thursday 4/3 12:30pm - Thursday 4/3 14:35 - positioning, book with Avios
JFK-MAD-MXP-LHR-ORD
1. JFK-MAD Iberia 6252, Thursday 4/3 20:45 - Friday 4/4 10:00
2. MAD-MXP Iberia 3254, Friday 4/4 15:50 - Friday 4/4 18:10
3. MXP-LHR BA 567, Saturday 4/5 19:00 - Saturday 4/5 19:55
4. LHR-ORD BA 1542, Sunday 4/6 10:15 - Sunday 4/6 13:00
ORD-CVG American 2954 Sunday 4/6 15:00 - Sunday 4/6 17:05 - positioning, book with Avios
DAY-ORD American 3342 Tuesday 9/9 16:40 - Tuesday 9/9 16:55 - positioning, book with Avios
ORD-LAX-SYD-DFW-DAY
5. ORD-LAX American 1398 Tuesday 9/9 19:10 - Tuesday 21:45
6. LAX-SYD Qantas 108 Tuesday 9/9 23:50 - Thursday 7:40
7. SYD-DFW Qantas 7, Saturday 9/13 13:25 - Sunday 9/14 13:45
8. DFW-DAY American 1264, Sunday 9/14 18:54 - Sunday 9/14 22:04
DAY-DFW-HNL-ORD-CVG
9. DAY-DFW American 1217 Wednesday 12/18 6:55 - Wednesday 12/18 8:55
10. DFW-HNL American 5 Wednesday 12/18 13:05 - Thursday 12/19 17:45
11. HNL-ORD American 72 Saturday 12/21 17:00 - Sunday 12/22 5:25
12. ORD-CVG American 5364 Sunday 12/22 11:25 - Sunday 12/22 13:35
CVG-MIA-CUN-ORD-XXX
13. CVG-MIA American 3355 Thursday 2/6 7:30 - Thursday 2/6 10:15
14. MIA-CUN American 2422 Thursday 2/6 14:15 - Thursday 2/6 15:10
15. CUN-ORD American 184 Sunday 2/9 8:10 - Sunday 2/9 11:50
16. ORD-XXX By my understanding since I have a stopover in ORD I can't end there, so my thought was to schedule my 16th segment from ORD to wherever and then "forget" to board, and instead board my positioning flight back to CVG
ORD-CVG American 3062 Sunday 2/9 14:30 - Sunday 2/9 16:35 - positioning, book with Avios
So, if I did things right, that's 4 vacations to Europe, Sydney, Hawaii and Cancun for 180,000 AAdvantage miles + 18,000 Avios (economy)
In looking at the rules in the first post:
16 segments
1 open jaw (from beginning the award in JFK to ending in ORD)
39,336 miles which is actually leaving some on the table
Connections: JFK (start), LAX, DFW (twice), ORD (twice), MIA
Stopovers: MAD, MXP, LHR, ORD, SYD, DAY, HNL, CVG, CUN
At least 2 partner airlines: Iberia, BA, Qantas
Travel within 1 year: check
This is still in the hypothetical stages, and if I had the miles in hand yet, there are a few optimizations I might make, such as trying to avoid British Airways for the fuel surcharges, or arranging things so my 15th segment is in CVG allowing me to again "forget" to board my last segment and save on the last positioning flight back home.
Also, I have not yet accounted for award availability, or maximizing the "best" business class products, and the dates are a bit off because I used a mixture of 2013 and 2014 dates
But does this look like a basic framework of something that might work?
I live in northern Cincinnati, so about equidistant between CVG and DAY. I came up with the following
JFK-MAD-MXP-LHR-ORD-LAX-SYD-DFW-DAY-DFW-HNL-ORD-CVG-MIA-CUN-ORD 39336 miles - any issues with that?)
-----------------
So I had heard about these OneWorld explorer awards but came across them again recently with a post about the idea of using one award to plan multiple smaller vacations on the "same" award. I spent a bit of time putting together a possible routing and wanted to run it by you guys to see if there are any thoughts.
I live in northern Cincinnati, so about equidistant between CVG and DAY. I came up with the following
JFK-MAD-MXP-LHR-ORD-LAX-SYD-DFW-DAY-DFW-HNL-ORD-CVG-MIA-CUN-ORD 39336 miles
(details)
CVG-JFK Thursday 4/3 12:30pm - Thursday 4/3 14:35 - positioning, book with Avios
JFK-MAD-MXP-LHR-ORD
1. JFK-MAD Iberia 6252, Thursday 4/3 20:45 - Friday 4/4 10:00
2. MAD-MXP Iberia 3254, Friday 4/4 15:50 - Friday 4/4 18:10
3. MXP-LHR BA 567, Saturday 4/5 19:00 - Saturday 4/5 19:55
4. LHR-ORD BA 1542, Sunday 4/6 10:15 - Sunday 4/6 13:00
ORD-CVG American 2954 Sunday 4/6 15:00 - Sunday 4/6 17:05 - positioning, book with Avios
DAY-ORD American 3342 Tuesday 9/9 16:40 - Tuesday 9/9 16:55 - positioning, book with Avios
ORD-LAX-SYD-DFW-DAY
5. ORD-LAX American 1398 Tuesday 9/9 19:10 - Tuesday 21:45
6. LAX-SYD Qantas 108 Tuesday 9/9 23:50 - Thursday 7:40
7. SYD-DFW Qantas 7, Saturday 9/13 13:25 - Sunday 9/14 13:45
8. DFW-DAY American 1264, Sunday 9/14 18:54 - Sunday 9/14 22:04
DAY-DFW-HNL-ORD-CVG
9. DAY-DFW American 1217 Wednesday 12/18 6:55 - Wednesday 12/18 8:55
10. DFW-HNL American 5 Wednesday 12/18 13:05 - Thursday 12/19 17:45
11. HNL-ORD American 72 Saturday 12/21 17:00 - Sunday 12/22 5:25
12. ORD-CVG American 5364 Sunday 12/22 11:25 - Sunday 12/22 13:35
CVG-MIA-CUN-ORD-XXX
13. CVG-MIA American 3355 Thursday 2/6 7:30 - Thursday 2/6 10:15
14. MIA-CUN American 2422 Thursday 2/6 14:15 - Thursday 2/6 15:10
15. CUN-ORD American 184 Sunday 2/9 8:10 - Sunday 2/9 11:50
16. ORD-XXX By my understanding since I have a stopover in ORD I can't end there, so my thought was to schedule my 16th segment from ORD to wherever and then "forget" to board, and instead board my positioning flight back to CVG
ORD-CVG American 3062 Sunday 2/9 14:30 - Sunday 2/9 16:35 - positioning, book with Avios
So, if I did things right, that's 4 vacations to Europe, Sydney, Hawaii and Cancun for 180,000 AAdvantage miles + 18,000 Avios (economy)
In looking at the rules in the first post:
16 segments
1 open jaw (from beginning the award in JFK to ending in ORD)
39,336 miles which is actually leaving some on the table
Connections: JFK (start), LAX, DFW (twice), ORD (twice), MIA
Stopovers: MAD, MXP, LHR, ORD, SYD, DAY, HNL, CVG, CUN
At least 2 partner airlines: Iberia, BA, Qantas
Travel within 1 year: check
This is still in the hypothetical stages, and if I had the miles in hand yet, there are a few optimizations I might make, such as trying to avoid British Airways for the fuel surcharges, or arranging things so my 15th segment is in CVG allowing me to again "forget" to board my last segment and save on the last positioning flight back home.
Also, I have not yet accounted for award availability, or maximizing the "best" business class products, and the dates are a bit off because I used a mixture of 2013 and 2014 dates
But does this look like a basic framework of something that might work?
Last edited by regoarrarr; Nov 27, 2013 at 1:41 pm
Nov 27, 2013, 2:10 pm
#1770
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 586
And you couldn't book ANYTHING until 365 days before the last flight. Even then, you'd have to book a bunch of dummy flights at no more than 330 days out for the Cancun trip then move them once the flights open up.
Explorer awards are generally good for one main thing - stopovers at every destination. If you are hopping around Europe or Asia and staying for 2-3 days at each place, it's awesome.
There are a few rare cases where you are better off using an Explorer award for single destination travel but this doesn't appear to be one of them.