fare wars and AI BLR-SFO
Apr 19, 2008, 10:58 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: ORD
Posts: 746
Apr 19, 2008, 4:34 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2007
Location: ORD, DEL
Programs: AA (Plt Pro; 1.5 MM)
Posts: 6,185
Good for those starting in India. Too bad we are not seeing the same effect ex US cities!
As I asked in another thread I, starting in ORD, need to visit Tokyo, HK, and Delhi sometime next year. Fares from Chicago are not encouraging to say the least.
News like this makes me wonder if I should just buy Chicago-Delhi ticket and buy a separate Tokyo and HK ticket from India. Which Indian portal will allow me to check Delhi-Tokyo ticket with a stop in HK?
As I asked in another thread I, starting in ORD, need to visit Tokyo, HK, and Delhi sometime next year. Fares from Chicago are not encouraging to say the least.
News like this makes me wonder if I should just buy Chicago-Delhi ticket and buy a separate Tokyo and HK ticket from India. Which Indian portal will allow me to check Delhi-Tokyo ticket with a stop in HK?
Apr 19, 2008, 4:50 pm
#3
Join Date: May 2007
Location: ATL
Programs: Delta SkyMiles (DM), Hilton Honors Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 445
Are you doing DEL-NRT-HKG-DEL? If that's the case, you might want to fly CX because they fly to both of those cities, and that above article says they'll have deals from DEL at least to HKG.
Apr 19, 2008, 9:50 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2007
Location: ATL
Programs: Delta SkyMiles (DM), Hilton Honors Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 445
Oh, I didn't think about RTW fares. Your profile shows AA as a program. You could try the oneworld Explorer. That link shows for 3 continents, originating in the USA, cost in Y is USD$3900 and J is $7500. Not too cost-effective in Y, but if you're traveling in J, then it's very cost-effective, seeing as how a JFK-HKG roundtrip on CX costs about $9K in fare class C.
Apr 20, 2008, 9:53 am
#6
Join Date: May 2007
Location: ORD, DEL
Programs: AA (Plt Pro; 1.5 MM)
Posts: 6,185
Thanks rsh913 and G-man82. Sadly, I am very much economy class. 
I am aware of RTW fares but had the impression they are cost-effective only when you want to visit many more cities, eg, if I had wanted to do ORD-LON-ROM-IST-DEL-BKK-Bali-HKG-NRT-PEK-Russia-ORD. No, that's not in the cards in near future, but it is fun to dream.
While I can adjust the order of cities for exceptional fares, the ideal order is ORD-DEL-HKG-NRT-ORD or ORD-NRT-HKG-DEL-ORD.
As I don't see any great fares ex ORD, it does look interesting to consider ORD-DEL rt and a separate ticket from DEL to NRT w/stop in HKG (probably on Cathay).
I am aware of RTW fares but had the impression they are cost-effective only when you want to visit many more cities, eg, if I had wanted to do ORD-LON-ROM-IST-DEL-BKK-Bali-HKG-NRT-PEK-Russia-ORD. No, that's not in the cards in near future, but it is fun to dream.
While I can adjust the order of cities for exceptional fares, the ideal order is ORD-DEL-HKG-NRT-ORD or ORD-NRT-HKG-DEL-ORD.
As I don't see any great fares ex ORD, it does look interesting to consider ORD-DEL rt and a separate ticket from DEL to NRT w/stop in HKG (probably on Cathay).
Apr 20, 2008, 11:22 am
#7
Join Date: May 2007
Location: ATL
Programs: Delta SkyMiles (DM), Hilton Honors Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 445
Yeah i'm an economy class traveler too and have had to do similar runs. My choice has been separate tickets. Just beware of something though. If you're going to travel AA and CX and you want to earn miles, you might have to buy the more expensive CX tickets (class YBH only) to earn AA miles. I'd suggest booking this trip then on the AA website because I think they'll display CX fares then that do qualify for mileage.
Apr 20, 2008, 3:52 pm
#8
Join Date: May 2007
Location: ORD, DEL
Programs: AA (Plt Pro; 1.5 MM)
Posts: 6,185
G-man82: I thought I had replied to your post (#7) but my reply is not there so I may have hit the close button instead of post. Anyway, please forgive me if a duplicate does show up. I just wanted to add that going via aa.com is a good idea anyway, because that is the most reliable way to discover when other airlines' flights are available as AA codeshares.