And are there any mileage perks?

(Fortunately, member airlines seem pretty generous with seats - unlike SQ, which usually allocates one seat per flight in their discount rtw (=F) class.)

A

No mileage perks with BA!

Are you sure that you don't get miles with BA? The BA agent entered by Executive Club number on my BA flight, and I assumed the flight would credit.

I haven't checked each flight yet, but all the ones on my AA account have appeared to be credited.

Sorry, what I meant is that you don't get any CoS bonuses for BA flights on AA! At least according to the web site.

Really? I thought that all airlines give the 50% class of service bonus?

JohnAx, what mileage perks are you referring to?

In the 6-continents-in-two-months promotion thread, there's been discussion of 10K bonus for this, 20K for that.

I'm not much of a mileage junkie - all my flying is on my own dime, so I add only around 30k a year, and wouldn't know what to do with the miles anyway - a family's worth of upgrades is essentially impossible, afaik.

But the promotion and talk about it piqued my interest and I wondered if I was leaving a bunch of unclaimed miles on the table, so to speak. Counter to my thought that the miles don't seem to be good for anything, there's a little spirit inside that says "Free? I'll take ten!"

This year's trek is mostly CX-BA, with a QF leg out of DPS, and a little IB and AA. Ironically we'll be getting back in early September, so we won't even qualify for the paltry 5K level unless I mess around and add a day in North Africa, which hardly seems worth the trouble.

JohnAx, post your itinerary and we'll help. If you are doing it in business or first, you get 10k miles for 6 CX sectors and 10k for OW N. America-HKG, 20K for out of YYZ. There are some AA bonuses.

If you are doing Europe, you can add LHR-CAI-LHR (747-400 service) for your European/M-E legs to claim Africa. If this means you are going over the 4 European sector limited, I'd buy Economy at US$100/segment as there is paltry difference between business and economy within Europe.

You may want to fly to central America (it's allowed in the RTW within N. America) to claim S. America before you go. That way you get a N. America and South America leg. FWIW, AA currently has a special from N. America to Belize with a Friday night stayover requirement.

The Plan: YVR-HKG (CX), HKG-DPS (CX), DPS-SIN (QF, twice weekly, wow!) SIN-BKK (CX), BKK-LHR-CPH (BA), CPH-LHR-LIS (BA), LIS-MAD-ATH (IB), ATH-LHR (BA), LHR-JFK (BA/SSC for kicks) JFK-LAX (AA), LAX-YVR (tbd).

The end of August finds us in Athens.

As I mentioned, I think FF miles are of more use to road warriers than families - our flying is limited to one rtw a year (the only way to afford 1st) plus a few domestic trips, so we don't reach any lofty levels. So the effort to get 5k or 10k extra, let alone 50/100k isn't a top priority. But it's fun to think about. Travel is always fun to think about.

Comments on the European routing (or anything else) from the well-traveled folk are very welcome, though. In particular, CX thinks that we're using 5 sectors in Europe, and wants around USD700 for our transgression. [Oh, I just realized that's what the TA said, but it's really 6 sectors, $350 each for the 2 extras.] Anyway, I'm surprised that they count each leg of a flight through a necessary connection separately.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

John

1. You're only using 3 Asia segments, you're allowed 5. If the twice-weekly DPS-SIN flight does not match your itenerary, consider transferring to BKK first via Hong Kong, then CX to SIN, followed by BA or QF to London.

2. You have 4 stops in Europe, so regardless, you'll have to pay. However, for every segment that you're purchasing, you get an additional stop, and the segment DOES NOT have to be bought in the same class of service as the rest of your RTW ticket. In economy, additional segments is only CAD$ 150 each, thus costing you a total of CAD$ 300. I would recommend CPH-LHR and LIS-MAD in Economy, this way you can still use the First/Business lounge as you'll have a First class boarding pass for the connecting flight, and these flights are relatively short to endure in economy (not that there is much of a difference between Business and Economy within Europe in the first place).

3. Credit all your flights to BA Executive Club (Canada) and you should receive the bonus 5K points for visiting 3 continents, assuming you'll make it to JFK by August 31, 2000.

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