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oneworld / AA Explorer award with AA Miles (discuss, questions) [ENDED 8 APR 2014]

Old Jan 28, 2014, 12:14 am
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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.
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oneworld / AA Explorer award with AA Miles (discuss, questions) [ENDED 8 APR 2014]

 
Old Feb 15, 2012, 9:17 am
  #166  
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Virginia
Programs: AA Lifetime Platinum - 2M miles
Posts: 216
Travel Insurance??

As for seating, I typically figure out which seats I want based on what's currently available and then call the operating airline to request them. That procedure has never failed me. You are oneworld Sapphire. You can see your benefits when flying on oneworld members here: http://www.oneworld.com/ffp/my-oneworld-tier-status/
Thank you - very cool that I get to use the FF lounges - that will be very nice for any long layovers. I just got AA platinum status recently - thus, the lounges was not a benefit as a Gold member.

I don't want to recommend a particular travel insurance company on a public website, but you can see almost all the options at http://www.insuremytrip.com. That website will list the risks the insurance covers. They should be self-explanatory. Buy the insurance ASAP. It's what the insurers typically require, and no insurance will cover any events that happen before the policy is purchased.
Thank you for the site - definitely need to do more reading, but just eyeballed it quickly and entered the info for a quote and it was $6700 - holy moly! I think this was for a comprehensive policy and one with cancellation for any reason. But need some advice on how to answer questions.

What is the value of my trip - I included the $500 taxes and fees I had to pay for the ticket and the estimated costs of accomodations, food, etc. Is this correct?

Also, my itinerary starts in May 2012 and ends in Jan 2013 (9 months) - but this includes the 2 months I am back at home in the middle of the itinerary by flying back to the US. So do I still use the May 2012 - Jan2013 as my start and end dates?

My health insurance covers me overseas - I will just have to directly pay and submit receipts for reimbursement. Don't know what happens if they need to fly me back to the US for medical reasons - I will check. So if you get stuck somewhere and incur extra hotel and food costs due to delays - I assume the travel insurance would pay - but takes a lot of delays to add up to the $6K for the insurance. Am I missing out on something here?
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Old Feb 15, 2012, 11:13 am
  #167  
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
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So since a city includes all its co-terminals (IAD/DCA/BWI in my case) am I correct in thinking that departing from IAD and ending my trip at DCA would not be an OJ?
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Old Feb 15, 2012, 2:11 pm
  #168  
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Originally Posted by HoKo
So since a city includes all its co-terminals (IAD/DCA/BWI in my case) am I correct in thinking that departing from IAD and ending my trip at DCA would not be an OJ?
That is correct.
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Old Feb 15, 2012, 3:06 pm
  #169  
 
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Originally Posted by guv1976

That is correct.
Thank you.

So do you guys think this routing is legal:

IAD-DFW-HNL-NRT-ICN-HKG-MNL-HKG-YVR-JFK-LHR-IST-ATH-LHR-MIA-GIG-MIA-DCA

It's basically 3 trips built into one:

Trip one: IAD-DFW-HNL-NRT-ICN-HKG-MNL-HKG-YVR-JFK - Trip ends here and I will pay cash for a flight to DC (or maybe use Avios since it is such a short segment)

Trip two: I would need to pay cash for a flight back up to NYC and then JFK-LHR-IST-ATH-LHR-MIA - I would then have to book a cash flight back to DC from Miami. Also, I am using my one allowable open jaw between IST-ATH b/c there are no direct flights b/w those two cities on OW carriers

Trip three: I would need to get back down to Miami on a cash fare and then MIA-GIG-MIA-DCA

The main question I have is would this be considered a 16 segment trip? I know it is 17 segments (since the OJ counts as a segment) but one of the rules I noticed from AustinRunner's post is:

Originally Posted by Austinrunner

SECTION 2: SEGMENT MAXIMUM

An itinerary may not exceed 16 segments.

Each flight number produces one segment, regardless of the number of intermediate stops. Therefore, the number of segments in an itinerary is not necessarily equal to the number of stops in the itinerary.

My HKG-YVR-JFK on CX is all operated by Flight #CX888. So does this mean that this would only be considered one segment even though I will be stopping in Vancouver for a week before continuing on to JFK?

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=IAD-DFW...-MIA-DCA&MS=bm
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Old Feb 15, 2012, 3:29 pm
  #170  
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If you stop over in YVR, you will have two segments, and 17 segments total (one too many).
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Old Feb 15, 2012, 4:04 pm
  #171  
 
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Asia Trip

I'm looking to book a reward trip to Asia. I'd like to Fly from DCA to NRT, HKG, and BKK. I have MR and Avios points, so it seems like AA/Oneworld is the way to go. Anybody have any suggestions how to go about this? It looks like I can go from DCA-ORD-NRT for 100k miles return. How much more to add in the other legs? If I should be looking at other airlines, please say so.
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Old Feb 15, 2012, 4:25 pm
  #172  
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Originally Posted by nestafaria
I'm looking to book a reward trip to Asia. I'd like to Fly from DCA to NRT, HKG, and BKK. I have MR and Avios points, so it seems like AA/Oneworld is the way to go. Anybody have any suggestions how to go about this? It looks like I can go from DCA-ORD-NRT for 100k miles return. How much more to add in the other legs? If I should be looking at other airlines, please say so.
You really need to price the trip a few different ways to determine the best value: a oneworld award bought with AA miles; a series of one-way awards, all bought with AA miles; and a series of one-way awards, with the TPAC portions (WAS-TYO and BKK-WAS) bought with AA miles, and the intra-Asia portions bought with BA Avios, taking into account the fuel surcharges assessed by BA.
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Old Feb 15, 2012, 4:51 pm
  #173  
 
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Originally Posted by guv1976
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If you stop over in YVR, you will have two segments, and 17 segments total (one too many).
Thanks again. Does anyone have experience with JL's 767's? According to Seat Guru the 767's flying HNL-NRT are equipped with recliners in J? This seems kind of crazy for a 9h30 flight so I'm wondering if anyone has experience and can confirm this either way?
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Old Feb 15, 2012, 9:50 pm
  #174  
 
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Originally Posted by HoKo
Thanks again. Does anyone have experience with JL's 767's? According to Seat Guru the 767's flying HNL-NRT are equipped with recliners in J? This seems kind of crazy for a 9h30 flight so I'm wondering if anyone has experience and can confirm this either way?
It may seem crazy, but yes, JL uses the Skyluxe seats on HNL flights. They're pretty crappy. http://www.jal.co.jp/en/inflight/int...at/index2.html
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Old Feb 16, 2012, 7:44 pm
  #175  
 
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Originally Posted by BrewerSEA
It may seem crazy, but yes, JL uses the Skyluxe seats on HNL flights. They're pretty crappy. http://www.jal.co.jp/en/inflight/int...at/index2.html
Wow, that's brutal. Definitely gonna try and get the HNL-HND flight then since that seems to be equipped with pseudo lie-flats
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Old Feb 17, 2012, 2:46 am
  #176  
 
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If I put a 16 segment award on hold and then have some date changes I need to make to 1 or 2 of the legs (before the hold has expired) will this require releasing all 16 segments and rebooking or can I just tweak a segment at a time and retain all the other seats I have on hold?
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Old Feb 17, 2012, 5:36 am
  #177  
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Tweak and retain all you want during the hold. Just know that when you give up a held seat, it might or might not go back into award inventory for someone else to book.
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Old Feb 17, 2012, 6:21 am
  #178  
 
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Originally Posted by HoKo
If I put a 16 segment award on hold and then have some date changes I need to make to 1 or 2 of the legs (before the hold has expired) will this require releasing all 16 segments and rebooking or can I just tweak a segment at a time and retain all the other seats I have on hold?
You can make date changes to individual legs not only during the hold but also after ticketing.

The most convenient use of hold, besides deciding if you want to take the trip at all, is to tweak your itinerary, ie, change airports and airlines. During the hold, you can do it leg by leg. After ticketing, you cannot do it at all.

On the last day of the hold, you should call and ask if they can extend the hold. This requires entire itinerary to be available outside your own reservation. If it is, and often that is the case, you can start a new hold. If not, you have to decide whether to ticket that day or let go.
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Old Feb 17, 2012, 4:47 pm
  #179  
 
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Originally Posted by Austinrunner
Tweak and retain all you want during the hold. Just know that when you give up a held seat, it might or might not go back into award inventory for someone else to book.
Originally Posted by aktchi
You can make date changes to individual legs not only during the hold but also after ticketing.

The most convenient use of hold, besides deciding if you want to take the trip at all, is to tweak your itinerary, ie, change airports and airlines. During the hold, you can do it leg by leg. After ticketing, you cannot do it at all.

On the last day of the hold, you should call and ask if they can extend the hold. This requires entire itinerary to be available outside your own reservation. If it is, and often that is the case, you can start a new hold. If not, you have to decide whether to ticket that day or let go.
Ok great, thanks. Also if I only know the first 8 segments of my itinerary can I put that portion on hold and then call back the next day and add 2-3 segments at a time or do I need to do all 16 at once and then go back and tweak each leg?
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Old Feb 17, 2012, 4:52 pm
  #180  
 
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I just got off the phone with AA and they are currently unable to book any seats on CX flights due to a system migration error at CX. They are working to resolve the issue but do not have a timetable as of yet. Due to this they were unable to book my OW award.

I asked for a hold on my IAD-LAX-HNL-HND-GMP segments until CX gets their act together but plat agent tried to tell me 24hr hold is max. She didn't give a sh*t and had no interest in working with me so I got a supervisor on the phone who was very helpful. She ticketed me for the existing segments (booked as separate one way awards or something like that) and put a waiver in the notes for miles redeposit fee. Once CX is back up I can apparently shift my existing segments/seats to a OW award and add on the CX segments that I need.

She was confident this would work and seemed pretty competent but I'm pretty worried...especially since my trip commences on the 25th. Let's hope CX gets their act together over the weekend.

I will be calling back twice daily to see if the issue is fixed in the coming days. I will post an update here once it has been resolved and would appreciate anyone else doing the same if you find out before I do.
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