JS0720

It was pretty close in... first flight is June 18. And it was for one ticket, luckily that made it a lot easier.

Austinrunner

Have you been ticketed yet (received a ticket number)?

JS0720

Yes... and thanks to your advice, I didnt call or freak out when it took a few days! I'd say it was about 72 hours to get the ticket number done.

The one downside to doing this with less than 21 days until departure was that I didnt receive a 5-day hold... it was only 24 hours. I got it extended without problem once, and then, there was a co-terminal segment snag that technically got resolved after the ticket would have disappeared, but American was really good about it and kept the ticket intact while I reworked the minor issue. I started to feel bad that the rates desk had to start from scratch every time I made a change... even something minor as changing HKG-NRT to HKG-HND.

In retrospect, I think if I had 5 days I would have kept making changes, sort of like having the menu at a restaurant in front of you for too long.

ethemartian

I am a newbie here but considering doing a RTW airafare with the OW Explorer pass. I have ~140,000 miles with AA and my question is does it cover the taxes and fees or do I have to pay for those? Whats the best way to minimize them(certain airports/countries/airlines)?

I would be departing MIA and would like to see the world. Places I def. want to go are Madrid, Moscow, Delhi, Cairo, Bangkock, HK, Beijing, Tokyo. Would like to visit Cape Town but having trouble finding any routes through there that dont create backtrack or multiple connections.

Austinrunner

You have to pay the taxes, fees, charges, surcharges, duties, etc. when you book an Explorer award using AA miles. (It is not a "OW Explorer pass.") Refer to the first post in this thread or the link in my signature for much more information.

pandaperth

Avoid flying BA (it has high fuel surcharges on its longhaul flights)
If flying in a premium cabin then also avoid the United Kingdom (high government taxes to depart from there - but not if merely transiting the UK)

This routing will work for youIt is a little under 25,000 miles and so will cost you 120k/150k/230k miles for economy/business/first class - see http://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/oneworld_awards.jsp
The only longhaul ways into and out of Sth Africa, on Oneworld airlines, are BA from LHR (to CPT and JNB), CX from JNB-HKG, and QF JNB-SYD. (There are also some short-haul flights, as pointed out by Austinrunner below.)

ps Welcome to FT

Austinrunner

The BA fuel surcharges for intra-Europe flights are not outrageous, although its surcharges (along with IB's) will trigger certain US government-imposed taxes, fees, etc. that would not otherwise be due. The UK air passenger duty does not apply if merely connecting in LHR for less than 24 hours.

Not technically true. Namibia, Mauritius, and Zimbabwe connect to South Africa via BA.

pandaperth

plus Zambia

Ambraciot

It looks like Evergreen International is the current name for EZ and is presumably still eligible to be used in Explorer awards. If this is the case it might make sense to update the BA section in the OP and elsewhere.

Austinrunner

Source?

PatoLoco

Hi all,

So I have been booking an Explore ticket biz class with miles and it has been quite the adventure. My girlfriend and I have about 5 weeks to travel and wanted to really focus on Asia.

So far, this is locked in:

LA-Honolulu-Tokyo-Hong Kong-Bali-Bangkok via Hong Kong.

From there, we wanted to do an open jaw, take the train route from Bangkok to Singapore, and head back home. I was looking for options to head home anytime between July 24th-August 1st and there is nothing they say in business, first, or economy! They can get me to Tokyo but we get stuck from there.

Option 2: Singapore to Frankfurt or Helsinki to LA. They can get me to Helsinki, but nothing back to LAX from there in the time frame we need.

Option 3: I locked this in and have it held until Thursday for now. It's less than ideal, but it allows us to complete the parts of the trip that matter most to us. Bangkok to Sydney July 22nd and then Sydney to LAX (but in economy class) July 29th. I have checked Melbourne and Brisbane for their flights, looked at going through Dallas or another city and no luck. I'd be curious to try and cut down to Santiago via the direct flight from Sydney, but right now Lan Chile's reservation system is down.

So I would love any advice from more seasoned travelers. Any other ideas to get back to LAX if we were to do the open jaw from Singapore? Am I missing something? And does anyone know what the chances are that business class seats open up in the next couple days?

Any other suggestions? Miles aren't a problem; it's more a matter of getting home in time for a new job that blocks us from sitting it out longer in Southeast Asia. I even thought if nothing else, investigating if I could fly to Bangkok as my last stop on the Explore ticket and then get a seperate one way award ticket from Singapore to LAX. Not sure if that is feasible, but it sure doesn't sound like the best option.

So I would love some thoughts. Thanks everyone!

Austinrunner

Waiting until now to book an Explorer award has severely limited your options.

Happy

What you are missing is, we are now almost Mid June.

PatoLoco

Not missing anything, I'm aware it's booking a reward trip VERY late. What can I say, I got inspired by a great blog post I read and decided it was the perfect storm of events in my life in order to make this happen.

Under ideal circumstances, I would have been able to book months out but que sera, sera and here I am trying to figure out how to make a potentially great trip happen.

I got it resolved. We are now doing LAX-HNL-NRT-HKG-DPS and then we purchased Air Asia tickets for $50 each to get us to Bangkok. From there, we'll do the train gradually making our way to Singapore. And coming home it got creative, but connect back from the open jaw we left in Bali and go Singapore-Hong Kong-Tokyo-LAX. Avoiding SYD saved us over $125 in taxes and 20k miles (and cold weather) which made buying the Air Asia flight a no brainer.

I am in huge debt to some great people in reservations at AA that worked with me to make this happen and I am excited to see a part of the world I haven't been to yet!

Austinrunner

Some things to consider, although I don't know if any are available at this late date:

(1) SIN -> CMB (CX) -> AMM (RJ) -> ORD or YUL or JFK (RJ) -> LAX (AA)

(2) SIN -> BKK (CX) -> AMM (RJ) -> ORD or YUL or JFK (RJ) -> LAX (AA). (Don't forget the
BKK -> DEL (CX) -> AMM (RJ) possibility.)

(3) SIN -> HKG (CX) -> PVG (CX or KA) -> LAX (AA)

(4) SIN -> SYD (QF) -> HNL (QF) -> LAX (AA)

(5) Westbound (through Europe or the Middle East) from Tokyo or Hong Kong.

(6) From HEL, connecting somewhere in Europe for the trans-Atlantic flight.