help with oneworld explorer planning
 

I'm currently CX Marco Polo Gold (1w Sapphire)...I haven't been doing that much travel within the last few months (or mostly with KA that don't count towards Marco Polo anymore)...I'm now trying to see if I can use a 1w explorer ticket to get enough flights to renew my status for next year (membership year ending in June)...since I usually qualify by using "number of segments"...I want to get as many as flights as possible, as allowed by the 1w ticket...since I haven't flown with AA at all before and am not too sure about their domestic network, I hope that some of the experts here can help me out with the planning...

I'm thinking about a 3-continent 1w explorer in business...so on domestic US flights I can get first class if business is not available...since first class counts as 1.5 segments and business is 1.25, I want to get as many flights in first class as possible (although I know, for example, premium transcontinental business class is much better than first class in 2-class)...I think the max number of segments within North America is 6 and within Europe is 4...

I don't have specific dates set yet, but I'm thinking about leaving HKG after work on a Friday, and I need to take the LHR-ORY flight Sunday evening...

My current plan is:
CX 872 - HKG 23:20 (Fri) - SFO 21:05 (Fri)
AA 1992 - SFO 0:15 (Sat) - DFW 5:29 (Sat)
AA 516 - DFW 6:45 (Sat) - AUS 7:37 (Sat)
AA 61 - AUS 8:35 (Sat) - DFW 9:37 (Sat)
AA 90 - DFW 10:30 (Sat) - ORD 12:47 (Sat)
AA 650 - ORD 13:30 (Sat) - BOS 17:00 (Sat)
AA 1244 - BOS 19:30 (Sat) - JFK 20:48 (Sat)
BA 116 - JFK 22:00 (Sat) - LHR 10:00 (Sun)
BA XX - LHR - XXX
BA XX - XXX - LHR
BA 338 - LHR 18:30 (Sun) - ORY 20:45 (Sun)
then a few days later...
BA 339 - ORY - LHR
CX 250/254 - LHR - HKG

My questions are:

1. Time for connection: in most cases I have around an hour between the flights in US...is this enough ? how's the on-time performance for AA in general ? Since I am taking so many flights in a day, I think I will have very high risks missing connections...or is it in general better/worse on Saturdays ??

2. I have not included any American Eagle flight in the itinerary because I am not too sure whether they have first class or not...are they more like United Express (coach only) or United Shuttle (with first class) ?

3. Do you have better suggestions for the routing...basically I want to maximize the number of segments (and keep in mind first is 1.5 and business is 1.25), so that means I prefer connections/short flights...

4. For the few hours in LHR on Sunday (BA XX in the above itinerary), I'm thinking about a same-day roundtrip to a certain destination...is there a good option for this ? And, in fact is it ok for me to transit through LHR 3 times with a 1w explorer ticket (but no stopover at all) ??

5. For the last LHR-HKG segment, is it ok for me to do LHR-SIN (on BA) then connecting to SIN-HKG (on CX) (which adds another 1.25 segment) ?? What is the rule in general about flights in the continent of origin ??

Thank you in advance for your advice !! Please let me know as well if you have other thoughts...thanks !!

tedhl,

I'll start from the end.

5. You can do LHR-x/SIN-HKG if you wish. As a matter of fact, you can start
your journey like HKG-x/TPE-x/NRT-LAX, if you don't mind flying AA.

4. Yes you can transfer at LHR three times, I've done it. Same day round trip?
AMS?

3. Just a suggestion, I'd rather go for distance, rather than segments... My last 3
cont OWE was (actually is still in progress, writing this from LHR) 40K miles plus,
and my next 4 cont OWE is almost 50K miles.

2. Sorry, can't answer.

1. I bet the odds that you will miss at least one flight out of your seven Saturday
flights, and at that point AA will arrange you an involuntarily reroute to your final
destination, canceling out all your wonderful segments...

Sorry I'm not answering all your questions, but hope I was some help. Cheers.

tedhl:

I wouldn't do the AA routings you are proposing. On routes like DFW/AUS and ORD/BOS, the odds of a cancelled flight (due to lack of pax) are quite high. I agree with sliver that the result would be a direct re-route to JFK...since from SFO/DFW/ORD there are plenty of flights there. The first time you are delayed or miss a connection, some "helpful" AA agent will examine your ticket and...well, Americans in general aren't good at the "saving face" concept, so your mental condition is likely to be called into question http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I'd also suggest that you'll be physically exhausted by the time you get to Paris. I don't know how old you are, but I'm only 30 and the stress of all these takeoffs and landings...not sure I'd be cool with it.

Also, I assume you would not be checking any luggage...VERY HIGH odds of something going wrong at any one of the connections.

If you do end up doing this routing, and want to chat during your 2-hour layover at BOS, send me a note http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by ka9taw (edited 05-06-2000).]

I might use a different routing in the USA, for instance SFO-LAX (may not be possible)-DFW-STL or Kansas City-ORD-YYZ-BOS-JFK,

My questions are:

1. connex times are TECHNICALLY OK but in reality the chances of you missing a flight are pretty high since u will be in and out of some busy (and delay prone) airports.

2. american eagle has no 1st class. is handled on the ground by its own staff - who are not as friendly (relatively speaking) as mainline employees and most of the time are clueless. only good point is that it is owned and operated by AA so none of the hassles that you get with UA and its UAX partners.

3. for using 1st class try doing a
SFO - LAX - ORD - DFW - AUS - DFW - JFK so all your segments will be in 1st and each of the city pairs has multiple daily flights so if u do miss a connex u can still rebook on AA. and of course JFK - LHR has enough options between AA/ BA.

4. you can transit as many times as you want no problems. for a short trip in business class you will have to do an intl flight as all UK dometic flights are one class. As mentioned AMS is the best choice (also less likely for ATC delays than CDG) - another option is DUS or BRU. but AMS is more fun of course (even the airport alone) one note - you can soemtimes book the LHR - BFS route in D class and get business class credit b/c this flight is not technically a BA Shuttle route. but you would be taking a chance. i know that CP always gave credit in this manner.

5. connex flights (and backtrack) in the continent of origin is OK.

good luck http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

dfw-lga or dfw-ewr offer frequent service, while dfw-jfk is only once a day.

tedhl,

1) I agree with everyone that it is risky to try and connect so many times in one day. Highly likely that 1 flight might be delayed due to weather. ORD is known for weather delays.

btw, you might want to check the actual booking class for US domestic 1st class on a 1w business class ticket! I think that they may book in a different class and only credit you a business class trip even though it was in first class. I think BA did that to me!

2) Definitely don't want to do AA Eagle since they have no 1 class.

3) ?

4) AMS or Paris looks good. Try and make sure they are all out of Terminal 4 so it is easier for you.

5) As long as you don't stop. I.e. as silver said, there has to be a 'x' in the trip to indicate just a change of planes and no stopping.

sorry about the DFW - JFK mistake. i was thinking of new york area airports in general. so - that may be a problem if you can't fly into lga and then transfer over to jfk.

and OW explorer tix are issued in "A" class for domestic US First so you will get that credit. beware however that if the flight is sold as a codeshare (which BA tend to do when they are the issuing airline) they may have "D" class seats in their inventory (even though they are really first class seats) and then you won't get first class credit. so always insist on using the real carrier's code / flight numbers.