sellouts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Passenger_Duty is what he's referencing to. If you want to spend more miles on a lesser award to avoid those fees, go for it.

cpmgrp

Searched for this, but the last threads were ten years old. Is it still required to cross both oceans an an AA OWE award? If so, is there a different multi-location AA award program that would just let me roam Europe no farther east than St.Petersburg and/or Greek Isles? I see a lot of changes since my last Oneworld excursion in 2006; and if one night in BKK will make a hard man humble... take pity (I've been there three times, which I think is enough).

I know there are other options, but I've pretty much "done" Asia and I'm working with 35,000 Business miles.

ckpeter

I don't think there has been any substantial change to the rules for the Oneworld Explorer award type in the last few years. I have also never heard of the requirement to have to cross both oceans, unless you are thinking of oneworld explorer paid type fares.

You can route anyway you want if you obey a few routing rules. You also need to have at least two non-AA carriers. I am not sure about your 35K AA miles though - most medium+ awards trip would cost more than that.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

In fact, there is no requirement that one cross any ocean on an Explorer award.

cpmgrp

I should have clarified that I have 35,000 miles (200,000 points) to work with. I must have seen the two oceans requirement in a paid post. That's a relief.

VickiSoCal

I'm sorry this makes no sense? What are you calling miles and points?

cpmgrp

Vicki, I got my answer, thanks for your courtesy.

MDWCommuter

Anyone have any thoughts about the brewing situation in Syria and flying RJ via AMM on an Explorer award?

In the past has AA allowed changes to these awards without penalty? If there is military action, I'm not so thrilled about flying via AMM and would like to switch to EY even if it costs the additional miles. Is there any precedent for AA allowing this?

Happy

During the BKK siege a few years ago, AA allowed re-routing so people could get out if they could make their way to neighboring countries. However it was handled on a case by case manner and not until the airport was under siege for a few days already.

You need to call AA when and if US declares war against Syria - there should also be Travel Alerts issued by the State Dept. That should be brought up when you call AA.

MDWCommuter

Thank you, will definitely do so.

Reymont

Hello, all!

First post, long-time lurker. I've been saving up my miles for years, and have a chance to get away for about 60 days next summer. So this is finally my shot at one of these complicated Explorer Award trips!

I want to circumnavigate, heading westward, hit places I haven't seen before, and hit them fast - three or four days in each city, and then move on. I know some travelers think that's crazy, but I've done a lot of traveling and know I'm happiest that way. It doesn't seem to burn me out, but staying in a strange city too long does.

I'm just waiting for all the flights to become available before booking. I'm looking for any advice on whether this routing breaks any known rules, on whether there are any tweaks I could make to save myself some money on fees, and maybe what I should do with my last unused segment.

I'm currently Gold, and will hit Platinum this month. I currently have about 296k miles, and expect to hit about 350k this month.

Here's the routing. The start and stop dates are set, but every date in between is flexible. I'll number each segment, and include separate flights that I plan on taking, not part of the Oneworld Explorer ticket. Hopefully I can pick up some of them with my airmiles, piecemeal.

1: PDX - DFW (6/20/14)
[offline trip to the Bahamas]
2: DFW - SYD (6/30)
3: SYD - AKL (7/3)
[offline trip to Tahiti, if affordable]
4: AKL - HKG (7/10)
5: HKG - NRT (7/12)
6: NRT - DEL (7/15)
[offline trip to Kathmandu]
7: DEL - HEL (7/24)
[offline trip to Talinn, Estonia, a short ferry ride]
8: HEL - VNO (7/30)
[offline trip to Moscow. I would add this as a segment, but am worried about getting a visa for Russia]
9: Land Segment (south through Kiev, Bucharest, and Varna)
10: CAI - LHR
11: LHR - BUE
12: BUE - SCL
13: SCL - LIM
[offline trip to Cusco and Macchu Picchu]
14: LIM - LAX
[offline trip to Ensenada and Vegas, time permitting]
15: LAX - PDX (by 8/24)

Great Circle Mapper says this route is 44,425 miles. I planned it using rtw.oneworld.com. Oh, and the Hong Kong, Tokyo, and London stops are all particularly short because I've visited each several times already.

Alright, hit me! Any advice? Thanks, experts!

Reymont

Oh! And if I sprung for a Business-class award....how many of these flights would I really get to sit in Business? Aren't a lot of them probably two-class flights?

Thanks!

Happy

You would want to research more on Russia Visa if you need one. There are some rather strict documentation requirements when applying one which generally is done thru a reputable travel agency. I know of someone who traveled Helsinki to St. Petersburg by train - the Visa application required their train tickets which were not available for sale at the time of applying the visa. They had to sign some paperwork to affirm that the particular train they would take. You also cannot get Russia visa too much ahead of your planned date of entering Russia from what I understand.

You dont need to backtrack to HEL in order to go to VNO. There are bus services among main cities of Baltic countries, also bus services between Capitals of Baltic countries and St. Petersburg. We have used Euroline between Riga and Tallinn, and Ecoline between Tallinn and St. Petersburg this past July. Both are quite good.

S7 serves LED-DME and has a decent biz class product similar to the domestic F seat of US carrier. We just flew this route in August on BA Avios, 4500 Avios $7.50 tax, coach award. S7 got confused seeing our OW Ruby status and upgraded us to business class (our BPs beeped at the gate, turned out we were reassigned from 5A B to 1F 2F.). They were able to serve a 3 courses meal course by course on this flight. Very polite FAs.

Happy

Should be most of them except may be HEL-VNO which might be served by Flybe and no business class. Not sure.

PDX-DFW you would sit in Domestic F.

International flights if they are 2 classes, they would be Business and Coach.

Reymont

Yeah, that's exactly why I don't want this big, complicated award ticket to pass through Russia at all. I'll do that Russia on a separate ticket, if I manage to get a visa. If not, plenty of Balkans to explore instead.

If I can get a Russian visa, I'll look at that LED-DME flight, thanks!