aktchi

Welcome to FT!

As pointed out, your itinerary has 20 segments.

RIC-MIA-BOG-LIM-GRU-AEP-SCL-AKL-SYD-SIN-BKK-BOM-AMM-DME
SVO-HEL-BUD-IST-MAD-ORD-RIC

It is perhaps unfair that an open jaw or a co-terminal change like DME-SVO counts as a segment, but that is how the rules are.

Obviously we can't tell you what to keep, what to trim, and what to do on your own outside this OW award, but it is back to the drawing board.

Despite the cache of "round the world", the world is best covered in 2-3 trips instead of one. Of South America, Asia, Australia-NewZealand, and Europe I would suggest combining 2 but no more than 3 adjacent regions in one trip.

the_happiness_store

The easiest thing to get rid of without impacting your trip (you will need to book an extra flight) is to not start and terminate in RIC.

guv1976

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

I agree that GMP > ICN might be considered a second (prohibited) stopover at ICN.

How about this:

Dca-jfk-hnd-gmp-hnd-jfk-nrt-icn-hkg-bkk-sin-per-mel-akl-lax-iad

(One of the Tokyo transits would have to be a stopover; the other two, connections. Or, instead of flying JFK-NRT-ICN, one could fly JFK-HKG-ICN.)

law53

Thanks, guv1976, for your help - but I'm not sure how much longer my luck will hold out! I'm just thrilled it's extended until 4-Mar!!!!

Lou Ann

fizzypop

Thanks, austinrunner, guv1976, the_happiness_store, and aktchi for your comments. I had read the rules regarding oneworld awards multiple times but still managed to forget some. Having another pair of eyes is invaluable. Thank you!

I went back to the drawing board and came up with this one instead. Hubby and I both have a sabbatical in June/July 2012 so we are planning to spend about 2 months traveling.

MIA-CCS-LIM-GRU-AEP-SCL-AKL-SYD-SIN-BOM-AMM-IST-BUD-HEL-VIE-MAD-MIA

A few of the LAN flights do not have business class, so would I be able to book premium economy instead?

Jwerking

Wow, awesome, more places I can stopover as long as I have money - too bad I am not wealthy. I have been to HKG - I see that others here love the city, but I was not impressed - loved Bejiing so much better. But I did like Melbourne the last time we were there - so could definitely stop there again. Maybe I can see the march of the penguins this time.

If I call AA, will they let me know for sure if I can do this? I figured it would likely be an issue. Is there any other place I can fly and get to ICN cheaply? I think there are some ferries from China to Korea - will have to check that out.

Okay, it works, as my other daughter lives in Milwaukee, so I can go visit her from ORD. Awesome, I get to see both daughters on my RTW ticket.

Jwerking

Wow, this is great, would save me an airfare to ORD. Guess I will just have to call AA and ask about the stopovers at GMP/ICN. However, given the lack of expertise of the AA agents that all are encountering, don't expect I will get a correct answer.

Thanks to both Austinrunner and yourself - you both are the best!

guv1976

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

You're welcome. When you call AA, if they give you any trouble about having a stopover at both GMP and ICN, ask the agent to look up whether they are classified as "co-terminals"; once the agent discovers that they are not, I think AA would be hard-pressed to deny you a stopover at each airport. Good luck, and please let us know if you're successful on the award redemption.

aktchi

This is fine. In a way this is not "optimal" because you have several thousand flying miles left that you'll pay for, but no segments to use them. You have not used your one open-jaw allowance, so if you live in RIC and it would be more convenient to return to NYC, you can do that: MIA-CCS-LIM-GRU-AEP-SCL-AKL-SYD-SIN-BOM-AMM-IST-BUD-HEL-VIE-MAD-JFK

For a different take altogether, if this begins to appear too much travel in one go, the SA + ANZ part of your trip, beginning and ending in RIC, will fit nicely within a 25K mile level award:

RIC-MIA-CCS-LIM-GRU-AEP-SCL-AKL-SYD-DFW/LAX-RIC (24907/24964 miles)

Then you can do an Asia+Europe trip later, perhaps exploring Asia more throughly: Tokyo, Seoul, HKG, Bangkok, Bali, Singapore, etc. I am not a big fan of flying around within Europe: I'd suggest getting to one city, doing Europe by train, and then flying out of another (thus taking advantage of your OJ).

fizzypop

Thanks for the different take, aktchi. You're right, my trip was not optimal in terms of getting as close as possible to 35k miles. And I take your point about flying less in Europe. The reason why we're not doing East Asia at all is because I have already traveled extensively there (in fact, HKG is our second home). We were going to skip stopping by HKG, but I'm beginning to see the value of being "home" halfway through our long trip.

MIA-LIM-GRU-SCL-AKL-SYD-CNS-HKG-CGK-SIN-BKK-BOM-AMM-VIE-HEL-MAD-MIA (34,884 miles according to the oneworld planner)

I originally really wanted to visit IST but discovered that AY is discontinuing IST-HEL at the end of this month. I'm planning for June/July 2012 so obviously a lot of things can change between now and then, but do any of you know how much advance notice they give regarding discontinuing routes?

aktchi

Many airlines fly to IST, so the real problem is not a lack of flights but that you have no segments left. Are you interested in all of these cities, AMM, BOM, etc, as stopovers? You can try to skip less interesting connections. Unless you have special interest in BOM, for example, I would say IST is more interesting.

I have faced similar problems when planning my trips as well as friends'. Simply put, is is very difficult to do the entire world in 16 flights. That's why I suggest focusing on some regions and skipping others for another day. Combining places that are nearby saves on exhaustion as well as cost (miles or $). Then there is the special case of Europe where trains are so much more enjoyable than flying.

Jwerking

Would like to know what you experts think availability will be like for the following itinerary broken into two separate trip to Seoul - I will be retired - so can be pretty flexible. Party of 2. :

Part 1

Dca-jfk-hnd (stopover) -gmp(stopover) -hnd-jfk- (book ticket in February for May 1 departure, probably coming back end of June)

Part 2

nrt( leave mid sept) -icn (long stopover -leave early dec )-hkg-bkk (stopover for 2 wks in mid to late Dec.) -sin-per-mel-akl ( 3 wks in January) -lax-iad (home by February when my 1yr is up.)

So what do you think?

Is there a central website for checking Oneworld FF availability - thought I saw one mentioned - but I am old and forgetful, so don't really remember. Sorry.

Joyce

guv1976

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

Joyce, I don't know what availability will be like, so others will have to weigh in on that. But I have a couple of observations:

1. Because the proposed itinerary is only 15 segments -- and well under 50,000 flown miles -- you have some flexibility. If you cannot find award seats JFK-HND on the first part of your trip, you could try DCA-JFK-SFO-HND, or DCA-ORD-SFO-HND, or IAD-LAX-SFO-HND. Or, if you have trouble getting award seats for AKL-LAX-IAD at the end of the trip, you could try AKL-SYD-LAX-IAD, or AKL-SYD-DFW-DCA. And, as previously mentioned, if you have trouble getting JFK-NRT-ICN for the second part of the trip, you could try for JFK-HKG-ICN.

2. Although you have up to one year to complete travel on an award, AA will only book award seats approximately 11 months in advance. That may affect when you want to make the award booking, or when you want to complete travel on the award. (You can change flight dates after the award has been ticketed, but you would have to find award-seat availability on the new date on the same routing and same carrier as originally ticketed.)

There is a paid service called Expert Flyer that tracks award-seat availability on many carriers, but you might not need it depending on whether AA has trouble booking what you want when you call. You can of course readily check availability of the AA segments at aa.com before you call AA reservations. (For a oneworld award, you will be looking for MileSAAver availability.)

Guv

Jwerking

Thanks Guv for your sage advice once again - the alternative routings suggested are very helpful - since I have no clue what routes Oneworld partners fly. I think that I will try calling AA and try to make a mock booking for this year with this proposed itinerary to see what availability is like and what I can get. They always hold the ITN for 5 days anyway and it just cancels if you do not book. Milesaaver availability is so limited these days.

I remember the good old days when I would call on the morning of the 330th day EST and always get 4 FF seats from WAS to HNL, ARuba, or Mexico beach cities for Xmas or Easter weeks. No more - the last few times I even tried, they have not loaded these seats on the 330th day.

Joyce

RobtErskine

Before you make a "mock" booking, consider this: Assuming you find availability for a trip you're not going to take, your "mock" booking will take real seats out of the inventory for others who actually do want to travel this year. The really sad part is that while your reservation will expire in 5 days, there is no guarantee that the award seats removed from inventory for your "mock" booking will be returned to award inventory after your booking expires. Given that there are so may legitimate ways to check availability without making a "mock" booking, IMO doing a run-through with no intention of traveling is disrespectful to your fellow travelers who do want to travel this year and who need access to award seats.