jbalmuth

Depending on the season, the HKG - JFK route on CX has had good availability in J this year. I just checked May, 2011 and redemption seats are available in business on the CX nonstops to JFK literally every day during the first 7 days of May, 2011, the only dates I checked (I used ba.com).

The LAX - SYD route, in constrast, is still very difficult to find seats on.

PedroNY

Thank you for the post. I tried checking with BA.com as well, maybe I am doing something wrong. I can see these flights come up, but when I try to go to the next page, I am unable to see anything else, I get an error message. Also, I am unable to see any flights HKG-DPS or DPS-HKG using BA.com, is there any way I can see these award buckets?

Thank you for your help.

Best,

PedroNY

Supersonic Swinger

You should also look into the option of JFK-SFO on AA and then SFO-SYD on QF. SFO is much more pleasant to transit in than LAX.

Theoretically you could also go NYC-HNL on AA and then HNL-SYD on QF, but it would be AA domestic J and I don't think the QF J would be flatbed.

If the OW Award doesn't allow open jaws, there are a number of low cost carriers you can take, from both CGK and SIN you can take Air Asia, and from SIN you can also take Jetstar Asia and Tiger Airways. SIN also gives you a couple of other random options:

- KLM's AMS-SIN flight continues on to DPS and return once daily
- Qatar (QR's) DOH-SIN slight continues on to DPS and return once daily, and they currently offer return flights in their Business Class (http://www.qatarairways.com/global/e...ess-class.html) for SGD $525 return.

cynstalker

Can someone point me to the thread/site that outlines the mileage requirements for oneworld award tickets?

Gardyloo

Assuming you mean using AA miles, then http://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/oneworld_awards.jsp

More info (and this thread should be there) on the AA forum.

cynstalker

Gardyloo to my rescue! Yep, that's what I was looking for. Thank you!

Jasper2009

I seem to remember reading a trip report a while ago where a FTer flew something like LAX-SYD-HKG-LHR-EZE//SCL-MAD-FRA-NRT-SYD-LAX and was only charged the miles for a North America - South America award.

Is this kind of award still available?
If so, is there a thread with the rules with regards to stopovers, transfers, max. segments, carriers etc. on this sort of award?

Thank´s in advance!

aaupgrade

No.

It used to be that you were only charged based on the mileage between the stopover points of your journey. A couple years ago that changed to now being charged based on mileage of all segments traveled regardless of stopovers.

There probably are threads discussing this in more detail from a couple years ago. Feel free to do a search for further info (also search the oneworld forum). BTW, it is a oneworld award and they still exist, just with the new rules.

Jasper2009

Thank´s for your reply!

It´s a shame AA changed the rules.

As I usually fly *A carriers, this would have been a nice way to sample all F products the oneworld carriers offer.

I guess there´s no way to take an indirect routing like North America - Australia via Europe for a reasonable amount of miles anymore, is there?
(The mileage-based award chart looks pretty ridiculous for this purpose)

El_Chiflero

180,000 miles for up to 20,000 flown miles in F seems like the best option. You can squeeze in JFK-LHR-SIN-HKG-JFK on AA/BA, QF/BA, and CX.

AAJetMan

This thread may be helpful. {Note: Link removed due to merge into this thread.}
It provided me lots of info as I planned my upcoming OW330F. Then I found the KVS tool incredibly useful and time-saving for finding available flights before I called and booked w/ AA.
Itinerary: ACT-DFW-EZE-(GRU)LHR-CAI-LHR-NRT-ORD-DFW-SFO-HKG-KTM BKK-HKG-SFO-DFW-ACT
(AA, BA, CX...couldn't find a380 availability so foregoing QA)

Happy

It is a shame people abused the program such as flying 40+K actual miles but make it all connections thus only a 20K miles OneWorld award was needed. After too many such blatant abuses, little wonder AA changed the rules to make every flying mile counted.

Make no mistake, AA's OneWorld award is still the most generous distance-based award out there. You can compare it to what UA charges for the similar type, or even BA, another OW member charges for same type of award to see how much more "ridiculous" miles to cost you.

As an eyeopener, United wants 200K miles for economy RTW, 300K miles for business class, 400K for first class, for example.

See the fine print at the bottom of the award chart.

http://www.united.com/ual/asset/RT_s...art_021110.pdf

Scooby3597

Looks like you are going through DFW three times. Some have reported you can make two connections plus one stop, but apparently not all CSRs understand that rule. If you are planning three connections only that would not be allowed by the rules.

Jasper2009

I didn´t mean to cause any offence.

From my limited knowledge AA is one of the best FFPs out there.

I only said that AA mileage based redemption rates are ridiculous for routing North America to Australia via Europe (which is likely to exceed 30k-35k miles). I´m not blaming AA for forcing us to take the most direct routing, anyhow I know two FFPs which allow routings via Europe (with some restrictions):

Air Canada (120k miles in F, so called "Mini-RTW")
US Airways (125k miles in F, 150k miles when originating in Europe)

Also CO and LH offer pretty decent redemption rates for RTW tickets.

Anyhow, as a regular *A flier, I was just looking for a way to sample various oneworld premium products (and it´s not unlikely I´d have chosen one or two airlines I´d like and pay cash for some flights in the future)

martin33

what F would one likely get? United's? Lufthansa's? meh.

ORD-LHR-SYD round trip would be about 29,000 miles. 190K in business as a oneworld award. with 6,000 miles slack for other segments. 280K in First.

ORD-LHR-SYD-LAX-ORD would be 23,758 miles, effecting a "round the world" at 150K in Biz or 230K in First. It's hard to see that redemption rate as "ridiculous".