Folks,

New to this RTW planning lark, and have a question.

I am travelling from LHR, and need to go to SYD and MEX for work. It looks like an RTW offers the best value for travel. So I started having a look, and during the weekend in the middle of my work visits, wondered if I could get to Tokyo - always fancied going, and I have spent time in Sydney before and don;t really fancy Mexico, so looked like an ideal opportunity.

Then I realised I could try and do most of the major OW airlines, and do a comparison TR. So I had in mind:
BA : LHR - HKG
CX : HKG - SYD
QF : SYD - NRT
JL : NRT - SAN
AA : SAN - DFW - MEX
AA : MEX - DFW - LHR

So I went off to the booking tool, and it was going okay - but I am struggling to find availability on QF21 on either 17/08 or 18/08. I can book it through the Qantas website. Am I missing something?

I know this trip does not maximise TP or miles etc, but I need to minimise time away from the family, and the company are paying so I cannot rack up too many taxes etc.

Many thanks

ManxFlyer

The online tool only looks at D availability. The QF website looks at any of the J fare classes.

I've never had issues getting D on SYD-NRT. If you can't find a D seat on QF21, try JL772.

Are you wanting to stop in SAN, or is that to try a 787?

You could try
CX: LHR-HKG
QF: HKG-SYD
JL: SYD-NRT
AA: NRT-DFW or JL: NRT-ORD or BOS (if wanting 787)
AA: DFW-MEX (or from JL ORD-MEX or BOS-DFW-MEX)
BA: MEX-LHR

Mileage Monkey is a good test of routes (but not availibilty)
http://www.slfft.org/mm/award.htm?ow...W-LHR&cabins=y

There seems to be some wider issue with QF availability - as I had looked at something like your option, but no QF availability on HKG-SYD either.

I checked using ITA Matrix and there is only J availability in the whole month of August.

Not worried either way about the 787 - particularly after the latest fire at LHR!

Thanks

ManxFlyer

Perhaps fly outbound QF LHR-SYD (A380 via DXB)
and inbound on BA (DFW-LHR)
then in the middle fly CX SYD-HKG-NRT

Is HKG planned as a stop or just so you can use CX?

Some ideas:
LHR-SYD(QF)-HKG(CX)-TYO(JL/CX)-DFW/ORD/JFK(JL/AA)-MEX(AA)-LHR(BA)
LHR-DXB(BA)-SYD-SIN(QF)-TYO(JL)-HKG(CX/JL)-ORD(CX)-MEX(AA)-MAD(IB)-LHR(IB/BA)

I'm not sure what you mean by "I can book it through the Qantas website." Presumably, that's J inventory and not the D inventory you need. In any event, see the comments concerning D availability SYD-NRT in the thread you started in the QF forum.

Keep in mind that booking long-haul BA flights adds significant fuel surcharges (more so than other airlines). You might try switching the carriers around to not only find better availability, but also see what difference it makes on the final price. If you're using the online tool, changing the first carrier might make a big difference.