Randy Petersen

Distance? It's WebFlyer's very own Mile Marker. Try this out but remember to enter in any and all segments hubs to know real distances:

http://www.webflyer.com/milemarker/milemarker.htm

Middle_Seat

Thanks, Randy, the site works very well!

Unfortunately, it gives me answers I don't want to hear: The most likely routing,
AUS -> DFW -> JFK -> LHR
comes up 10,028 miles RT.

Stopping at STL is a little worse, at 10,092 miles.

Stopping at DCA works, at 9926 miles, but there is only one flight per day.

I wonder if taking the non-stop AUS -> LGA flight, then surface transportation to JFK, would be permissible? It's less than 9920 miles.

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Middle_Seat

Mr. Buster

Hmmm, even if you could sneak under 10k, I think you have a problem here. You would need a oneworld award, since you'll presumably be flying AA to JFK/LGA and then BA to LHR. That costs an extra 10k QF points. From your post above it looks like you'll need to make another small purchase to get the required QF points.

I played around with the 10k for a while too. Found that if I travelled to SEA or DEN on my own dime, I could continue on BA to LHR in F. But then I would miss out on the concorde. So in the end I'm going to buy a ticket on AA from LAX-JFK (or maybe even LGB) and use the QF points to fly concorde to LHR and continue on somewhere in Europe, maybe CDG.

basit

I know that the BA concorde flies to/from Barbados. Would a JFK-LHR-Barbados open jaw work? It seems to fit under the 10k mile limit.

satish_ny

It should work. Even if you count the JFK-LHR-BGI-JFK mileage, it works out to 9,734 miles. BGI-LHR-BGI is 8,390 miles. Either way it should work. According the the Qantas website:

All Award flight itineraries (including one way itineraries) are calculated as if you were returning to your point of origin.
http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn/...m/FlightAwards

gatorboy

If you could originate in DFW you'd be at 9660 miles. Maybe its worth driving there. Or if allowed you could originate in DFW and return to AUS through DFW and you'd go 9844 miles (going through JFK).

(edited to fix quote)

[This message has been edited by gatorboy (edited 06-20-2002).]

[This message has been edited by gatorboy (edited 06-20-2002).]

Shareholder

QF will not accept AA miles in payment of any change fees. And as noted, you cannot use AA to get you to/from JFK unless you do the oneworld award, which in this case will cost you 150K. Otherwise, you'd need a separate Texas-NYC award or purchased ticket. For 25K AA miles, you'd just get coach. For the additional 25K in QF points, you'd fly first class. The additional magazines would cost you about $480, certainly a lot less than a first class ticket, but you may likely be able to buy a return coach fare for much less and upgrade using your AA upgrade credits, if you have elite status and enough 500-mile credits.

And while there might be an afternoon Concorde departure later in the year, the current schedule after June shows a 8:30am departure, which means either a red eye into one of the NYC airports, or an overnight hotel stay.

ozstamps

Joh and I did this trip both ways on Concorde a few days before Shareholder's flights. (Who tipped us off the sked changes of 4 hours - BA certainly did not!) BA I think will spring for some free F tickets due to that as all their pax were messed up big time for June. Shareholder covers well the current goodies readily obtainable but you really must ASK politely for most.

I think he got stiffed on the special Concorde boarding pass at JFK though! More discussion here on some of the goodies obtainable etc.

We also got special Concorde business cards off both Captains and flight deck, and they are VERY happy for you to hang out in flight deck when they land - ask the purser. We had Bruce Springsteen and Tommy Mottola ('Mr Mariah Carey') behind us on one flight, and Shareholder had Michael Jackson and Barbara Walters on his - see linked thread for details on booze and food and best seats to book etc.

We got to 58,500 feet, nearly double most other cruising alts, and you are at Mach 2 nearly the entire trip. You hear no sonic boom or get a sensation of unusual speed at all, but it is all on a LCD dispay about a foot high on the cabin wall in front of you, also MPH speed, which was 1350 mph IIRC. If you touch your small window at 58,000 feet it is red hot on the INSIDE - amazing sensation. (And window is 3 layers thick I might add!)

The Concorde actually expands a yard or two in actual length at that height due to the heat generated.



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~ Glen ~

johnep1

I was wondering if someone who is going to do this in the near future would mind snagging me a deck or two of concorde playing cards. I don't have enough $$$ to take advantage of this deal, but I would greatly appreciate cards. Thank you in advance.

2Ruse

I'm also looking at the Oneworld award to get me back from JFK to the West Coast (or at least a lot closer, depending on how many miles I burn getting to Europe) - I figure since we already bought 21 subscriptions, we got 52500 Starwood points, right? Then if we buy another 3 subscriptions (for about $180), we're up to 60,000 Starwood points, which equals 150K QF miles, which is enough for a Oneworld F-class award, correct? Paying another $180 to get a first-class ticket even partway across the States rather than having to buy my own from JFK seems like a good deal. (Right now I'm looking at flying out of Seattle since SFO/LHR is unfortunately just a little too far to do a round-trip for under 10K. I ran SEA/LHR/AMS/LHR/SEA through the Milemarket and it came up as 10,020! I'm gonna ask QF and see how many miles they calculate.)

One note - Mr. Upgrade's weekly newsletter discusses this ability to fly Concorde via the Insideflyer magazines - am I being paranoid in thinking that QF may shut the door (or BA?)? Anyone have a good take on how much notice they would give if they decide to discontinue the award that includes Concorde?



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ozstamps

QF need not discontinue it per se, but simply zero out "Z" class inventory if they want to restrict access to it. That could happen in minutes with a few keystrokes, as has been discussed 50 times on other threads. Which is why we took our flights ASAP, as some others have. It is a First Class BA award you are "buying" in effect using QF points - Concorde just happens to be your choice in one or both directions acorss the pond. flying BA First 747 sleeper seats would not be too bad either.

Right now however about half of each Concorde cabin is empty, and as BA owns 25% or so of QF, neither seem concerned about the award right now. No-one has reported hassles getting seats on or about their first preference days.


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~ Glen ~

Shareholder

And remember that BA makes about $1200 from each award on the Concorde, for a seat that otherwise would go empty. As long as loads are averaging 50%, which appears to be our observational measurement based on those here who have flown since the resumption of service, I cannot see any reason for BA [or QF] to eliminate access to this award.

While we know business travel drops in the summer, BA has a half-dozen different promotions to get people onto the Concorde from just about every NAmerican and European country. These generally involve a J-class one way, Concorde the other for less than the normal full fare J fare. About every bucket shop in London is advertising return Concorde this summer for around L2500. This discounting is necessary to fill Concorde seats since there is a limited hard core clientel of the "rich and famous".

[AF faces the same dilemma and has its own discounting going on to fill its daily flight between CDG and JFK.]

Though BA has loaded a second daily flight into the res system for the fall/winter schedule, it may not actually fly if loads on the current daily service does not hit 70%+. A major problem BA faces is that while Concorde makes sense going westward to the US -- one has a full day on the American side of the ocean to either work or continue onward travel -- the eastward trip is not very convenient [which is why I suspect they are playing around with different departure times through June].

Eastward, one loses a whole day, leaving NYC in the early morning or noontime, and getting into LON early or mid-evening. Not only does the regular 8:30am departure make connections from most US cities impractical if not impossible -- since JFK is not served well by domestic flights [which tend to go into LGA and EWR] -- the late arrival into LHR similarly limits onward connections to Europe and elsewhere [though BA does have a couple of late evening flights to TEL, JNB, CPT, SYD and SIN, these are not workable with the current 12:20p JFK departure].

I suspect most top execs who fly Concorde might take the westbound flight in the morning, reach NYC in time for a full day of meetings, then opt for BA First eastbound, benefiting from a night's sleep in a sleeper/bed seat, a freshing up at the Arrivals Lounge, and then off to meetings in the city.

With curfews in effect at LHR, the latest a Concorde can get in would be just before 11pm, which is a little later than the current noon hour departure permits. The late JFK departure used to be 1:45p, which permits at least a full morning of meetings, or connections from some midwest and east coast flights.

But as oz noted, anything is possible which is why those of us who have done the trip on a QF award, did it as soon as we could, just in case.

[This message has been edited by Shareholder (edited 06-22-2002).]

iflyual

Hi,
I think I may have read that you could also buy an InsideFlyer sub and get 3500 miles direct to your BA Executive Club account. If this is correct could someone help me find the info. Your help is appreciated. Thank you.

The Lone Arranger

My QF Benefits Guidebook, received just last month, shows that mileage redemption under the oneworld Travel Planner is "Not Valid on British Airways Concorde Services." So combination of BA with AA domestic within the USA seems out. Concorde is being redeemed as a British AIrways First Class award.

ozstamps

Shareholder - neat and very logical answer 2 posts above. (Dont we all just love profanity checkers!)

The LoneArranger you get 10,000 First Class flying miles of your choice to *spend* on strictly BA services on the loweest QF award. AA and other OW are not allowed on it.



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~ Glen ~