dstan

The AA Moderator Team has now created a new Award Desk sticky post with links to all of the important AAdvantage Award-related threads, including this one. Accordingly, we are now unsticking this thread.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...el-awards.html

/Moderator

archer908

First off, thanks so much for providing all this incredible information. I'm planning a RTW trip starting this summer and I had a few questions. I'm pretty new to this whole thing, so apologies in advance if I'm asking about something that's already been covered.

Here's the routing I came up with so far (all business class):

JFK -> MAD (IB)*
MAD -> ORD (IB)*
ORD -> NRT (AA)*
NRT -> HKG (CX )
HKG -> BKK (CX)
BKK -> SIN (CX)
SIN -> MEL (QF)*
MEL -> SYD (QF)*
SYD -> AKL (QF)*
AKL -> SCL (LA)*
SCL -> EZE (LA)
EZE -> MIA (LA)

1. Routing: Is this a valid routing and does anyone have suggestions to improve it? Here's the link: http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=jfk-mad...kl-scl-eze-mia

2. Booking Codes: I found all of these flights on QF and Award Nexus, but in ITA I don't see any U booking codes. Is it safe to assume that these are valid flights if they show up in QF or Award Nexus?

3. Fuel Surcharges: My understanding is that you pay YQ fees only on BA and IB flights. When I plug each of these flights into ITA, I get YQ charges for each of the starred flights above. Should I ignore all the YQ charges for non-IB flights or do those include non-fuel charges? Also, the 2 IB flights show $403 and $218, respectively; is the actual number lower than what's shown in ITA?

4. Other Fees: Excluding YQ fees, I get $704. Does that sound right?

Austinrunner

ITA does not display award availability. Refer to the sticky or the link in my signature for the tools you can use to find that availability. Also refer to those items for the correct booking codes. Yours are all wrong.

The QF website is not the most accurate indicator for CX availability. The JL website is more reliable for that purpose.

You will pay fuel surcharges on only BA and IB flights. ITA does not reflect the correct IB fuel surcharge on an award ticket. It is a maximum of 30 euros.

QF does not fly its own airplanes on the AKL -> SCL route. You would have to book LA for that.

Did you not find JL availability for ORD -> NRT?

Austinrunner

If you're using the QF website to find award availability (instead of revenue tickets), then it will automatically use the correct booking code. You don't have to second guess the website for that purpose.

Also, the QF website does not show JL award availability.

archer908

Got it, thanks Austinrunner, I'll take a look at JL.

honu

Also, keep in mind that AAwards on AKL-SCL LA segment are as rare as hen's teeth, especially in biz. QF sometimes offers its own codeshare on the SYD-SCL LA flight as an award, but that's not bookable by AA (because of the codeshare).

beofotch

Would the following be a valid Explorer award?

MIA - LIM - IPC - SCL (on AA & LA) open-jaw
HEL - LED (on Fin-Air)

Do they allow a one-way/open jaw like that?

Or what about this?

MIA - LIM - IPC - SCL (on AA & LA) open-jaw
PLS - NAS - MIA (on BA and AA)

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

The first proposed routing would not work because it has two open jaws: beginning the award at one airport and ending the award at another counts as an open jaw.

The second proposed routing should be fine.

Austinrunner

QF now flies its own metal between SYD and SCL.

dlau3732

Hi everyone, I have a quick question about the requirement to use at least 2 partner airlines for a oneworld award. I recently spent 30000 AA miles to book a ticket from Warsaw to LHR to New York, flying the first leg on Air Berlin and the second leg on AA. How would this be possible if I need to use 2 partner airlines for the oneworld award?

Also, I didn't need to book the leg from JFK to LHR as I already had prepaid for that and used my UA miles to go from LHR to Warsaw. Would it have been a good idea to use the additional 30000 miles to book a return leg or would I have had to pick a specific date and then pay $150 if I wanted to change it?

dlau3732

I realize I'm about to post consecutive posts but this is a separate topic so I didn't want to lump them together.

I am thinking about a trip to the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and will probably stop in Helsinki beforehand which will allow me to fly FinnAir.

My possible itinerary would be as follows:

JFK - HEL - Tallinn - Riga - Vilnius - HEL - JFK. Unfortunately Finnair and I'm quite sure none of the other oneworld airlines go from Tallinn to Riga to Vilnius direct (Finnair requires me to go back through HEL each time which wouldn't make sense for me).

So my question(s) is - could I book JFK - HEL as one leg and then VNO - HEL - JFK (pending availability of VNO - HEL) as the return leg? Would that cost me extra in terms of miles with that open jaw? Would I be required to fly Finnair and another partner airline to make it work? Would AA be ok? Ideally I'd like to do Finnair all the way since the times and flights work but I'm not sure if this is possible.

Any input would be really helpful!

Thanks!

Austinrunner

It appears that you are confusing Explorer awards with "oneworld and other airline" awards.You should be in the thread about the latter type of award.

rtw42012

I just wanted thank you guys for the help I received in this thread. I booked a OW award last November for my RTW trip, and am almost halfway through the itinerary (time-wise).

ORD-HKG-SIN-BKK-HKGx-JNB-MAD-GRU-AEP-SCL-GYE-GPS-GYEx-UIO-LIM

Thanks to avoiding BA, the taxes and fees were only $346 per person.

What's interesting is that since booking, the itinerary has been changed, and now (unfortunately) instead of flying JNB-MAD on IB, I'm flying JNB-LHRx-MAD on BA, since IB canceled their only JNB-MAD route. I tried to get it changed, but apparently there aren't any other flights available from JNB to Europe that don't go through LHR. I don't have to pay any more fees, which is good, but the extra flying time is a pain.

New itinerary:
ORD-HKG-SIN-BKK-HKGx-JNB-LHRx-MAD-BCLx-GRU-AEP/EZE-SCL-GYE-GPS-GYEx-UIO-LIM

Other changes include a new connection in BCL, and the AEP/EZE co-terminal. It's great that the airlines can change my routing, but I can't! Anyways, thanks again for the help and advice.

dlau3732

I'm not sure, as the length of the trip under the Explorer award chart would cost more than 30000 miles for sure (WAW - LHR - JFK), yet I was only charged 30000 miles. How could this be the case?

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Because you booked a zone-based Partner award, not a distance-based Explorer award. Have you examined both redemption charts?