AONE4 / Route and ticketing questions
 

Hi There,

I am planning a new AONE4 for next year for two of us and have just seen there is a 10% discount that I understand is running for 10 weeks from 26/8.

Two route ideas are either:

AKL-SYD-LHR-MCT-LHR-LAX-ORD-DFW-YVR-JFK-HKG-NRT-SIN-BKK-SIN-SYD-AKL

or;

AKL-SYD-LHR-MCT-LHR-LAX-DEN-DFW-YVR-JFK-HKG-NRT-DEL-NRT-SIN-SYD-AKL

My plan is to maximise the F sectors, get some more time in on the QF A380 and visit one or two new places. I only really need to visit LHR and North America, but am otherwise flexible. Any suggestions here would be welcome.

The reason to start from AKL is the apparent better value of the New Zealand originating tickets bought with with either the £ or $AU. One other question I had is how can I book through AA in New Zealand as I have 2 x AA $USD500 vouchers that must be used this year? The vouchers say they can only be redeemed on AA metal or codeshare so I am hoping they can be used on AONE4's? Any views?

Thanks in advance,

Marcus.

You may want to check out this thread on the exact same subject for some insights: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...sectors-2.html

You don't have many sectors where F is currently available.

CX have removed F from a lot of their regional routes, HKG-NRT, HKG-BKK & SIN-BKK for example.

They still seem to fly F on some CGK, SIN, ICN & KIX flights. However the way CX keep shuffling their schedules and remove and restore F to regional routes it is a game of russian roulette.

Also SIN-NRT does not currently run with F on JL although this may be seasonal. Ditto NRT-DEL.

Are you looking to maximise points / miles as well? You may be able to get some more value out of your NA portion of the trip if you wanted to.

Make sure that QF is selling A class on their A380. I have been refused 3 times (R&F only) but some others have been successful. Availability of A seats seems very limited. JFK-NRT has the new F on JL Looks pretty good so it may be worth looking into it. Enjoy your trip.

I obviously did as it's how I built up the routeing. I forgot it went into so much detail though. Apologies if it seemed I asked the same question twice.

Even though it is a bit more expensive, consider starting from Australia if you do not need to visit NZ. That way you can replace AKL-SYD-AKL with 2 more sectors with F (in North America).

North American F is not worth the trouble. It is not even close to intercontinental J let alone F...

With some exceptions, such as JFK-LAX on QF, YVR-JFK on CX, and, er, that's it I guess.

It's worth the trouble if the traveler is looking for QF SCs or BA TPs or AA bonus miles. Also, IMO AA's domestic F product can be surprisingly good on some midcons. With international F routes being reduced in so many areas, AA F sectors (which are generally superior to shorthaul J in many other areas) may be the best option for making the most out of an AONEx.

JFK-LAX is generally not bookable unless one is using QF transpac subsequently.

Or, do the math and see if an AONE3 originating in Asia might not be preferable in cost terms, even if one needs to fly from Oz to some reasonably-priced start point in Asia. From PER, DPS might be easily reached, and although I don't think CX or JL offers F any longer from DPS, the savings (roughly AUD3400 as of today) would probably offset the cost of the access flights and then some.

But this makes it much harder to maximise usage of the QF A380. Using it will be possible but not really maximising the number of miles.

And I can second that starting in Australia might be the better option for the OP.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. Latest thinking looks like this..

AKL-SYD-LHR-MCT-LHR-YVR-JFK-BGI-BWI-JFK-HKG-NRT-HAN-NRT-SIN-SYD-AKL

It is all a compromise I think. I think we will take the poor availability in Asia on the chin, and leave in the NRT-SIN sector and hope for the best. I've also added in new legs JFK-BGI-BWI (assume this is AA lie-flat J config?) and NRT-HAN, but we do keep some significant F in the mix.

Regarding the QF A380, we did manage SYD-LHR A in June through waitlisting, so I hope we will be OK.

I'm not really interested in starting in Australia to get more US travel, to be honest I don't really like US domestic F, it nearly always disappoints us (as indeed did AA flagship JFK-EZE last year).

I would welcome suggestions on how to get more out of Asia in terms of F, noting we only really must go to Hanoi. I also wondered if anyone has booked via AA in New Zealand before and how this is best done (note I have $US1000 AA vouchers to use)?

Thanks,

Marcus.

The new 757 config is still in rollout AFAIK so you might still have the old J seats there.