AONEX Question
 

I wonder if you good people on the Oneworld board could help me. I have a non-FTer friend who is only BAEC blue and wants to move up the ranks. I said I would help by asking a question here so he can watch and learn before he joins FT!

Since I told him about RTWs etc he has been hassling me for information ;)

He has a budget of 4-5K UKP for a RTW which would purely be for leisure and so he doesn't have any obligatory destinations. He would do it over a month or so.

He needs the 4-5K UKP to include taxes and charges to the ticket and he's happy to use his large pot of VS Flying Club miles to get him anywhere he needs to be to start the itinerary.

I haven't done a RTW for a while now (not since the end of the 20 segment days) and also am not on top of the current best place to start etc... although it looks like South Africa?

He would like to maximise BA miles and TPs out of it and if possible, travel in F.

So my questions are:

Can he do an F(A)-class itinerary, or would a J(D)-class one yield more points / miles on that budget?

I have read about using AA to ticket to keep taxes and charges down, but is this possible ex-the cheaper start locations?

MANY THANKS!
HL

His budget really doesn't cover an AONEx from anywhere, especially after taxes and fuel fines are added. Israel and Jordan come the closest, but he'd still probably be the better part of £1000 over budget.

Does your friend live in the UK or by any chance does he live on the continent of Europe? As you may know, BA's elite tiers are much easier to attain with European addresses compared to UK or N. America residents.

If the access cost is ignored, the cheapest DONE3 start points (measured in USD or GBP) at the moment are Israel, Jordan and Sri Lanka. South Africa and especially Namibia are the leaders for DONE4s. All of these locations are in the £4000-£4300 range before taxes.

AA will generally provide the best prices owing to their exclusion of some fuel surcharges levied by certain carriers, notably BA and QF. However AA prefers that at least one over-water flight be on AA metal, so if he chooses to go that route it would have to be the Pacific oceanic crossing, otherwise he'd get no BA points on any AA transatlantic flight. AA also issues the tickets on RJ-ticketed RTWs, so starting a DONE3 in AMM might be beneficial.

Many of us have also had good experiences dealing with AA's GSA in South Africa, if a JNB/CPT/WDH start is contemplated.

That's all very useful Gardyloo. Thank you ^

Yes, I've already offered him my Italian and French addresses if he wants them... as I live in Europe but have my account registered in the UK.. so am a sort of UK-cheat ;)

You mention AA's GSA in South Africa. Can one access them through AA's international website and find the Joburg office that way?

A DONE4 out of Joburg sounds like the best idea for him.

TA
HL

AA's GSA is in CPT, contact info here: http://www.aa.com/i18n/aboutUs/where...outhAfrica.jsp

I'm not sure my email address for them is still any good; maybe a Skype call would be beneficial at the start.

It would be best to have him enter the itinerary in the Oneworld Explorer online booking tool to get it validated; then keep track of the routing/flights so that if Mindpearl issues the ticket they won't have to do all the work of validating the trip.

Thanks Gardyloo

We have tried an itinerary for my friend (below) Unfortunately the online tool tells me:

'you have completed your RTW itinerary and reached your city of origin. However, you have missed out some flight data. Ensure you have chosen all flights or selected 'surface segment' ...'

I have selected all flights, and times and dates are all legal connections, also availability is fine in D class. (I think it's a DONE4 isn't it??)

It just won't quote a price because of the above warning message. Very irritating!

(also, could he do much better for BA TPs and miles? My friend doesn't actually need to be in any of these places and would happily substitute, it's pure tourism)



Origin: JNB (za); ex-JNB xONEx Fare Estimate
1: JNB-LHR: intercontinental
2: LHR-MCT: 1st of 4 (Europe)
3: MCT-LHR: 2nd of 4 (Europe)
4: LHR-MAD: 3rd of 4 (Europe)
5: MAD-MEX: 1st of 1 (intercontinental entry to North America without immediate transit & departure)
6: MEX-YVR: 1st of 6 (North America)
7: YVR-JFK: 1st of 1 (North America Transcon)
*7: YVR-JFK: 2nd of 6 (North America)
8: JFK-ORD: 3rd of 6 (North America)
9: ORD-DFW: 4th of 6 (North America)
10: DFW-SFO: 5th of 6 (North America)
11: SFO-NRT: 1st of 1 (intercontinental entry to Asia without immediate transit & departure)
12: NRT-HKG: 1st of 4 (Asia)
13: HKG-BKK: 2nd of 4 (Asia)
14: BKK-SYD: intercontinental
15: SYD-JNB: intercontinental

Congratulations!! Valid itinerary!!! - (46772 miles)

PS - actually, saving the itinerary, logging out of OW.com and logging back in again appears to have solved the problem.

The online tool has quoted 65,592 ZAR. I will see by how much this decreases by asking Mindpearl to quote via AA..

Thanks!
HL

Pull up the details on "taxes" and see how much is being charged for fuel surcharges (YQ) which are definitely NOT taxes. I'd print it out.

Are you specifying the AA codeshare on SFO-NRT? I'd do so or else AA might balk at issuing it