bers

After reading all the above, I had a good look at IB's routes and noticed there is a CAI->BCN->MAD flight on IB metal at 1:15 on some mornings (which is a nice connection with the LHR->CAI BA flight about 1:20 earlier). I found this on IB's website.

I couldn't find it though when playing with some routings on Expedia and then when I flipped over to Yahoo! Travel (which uses Travelocity in the background) I noticed I couldn't use the flight there because it was "UNCONFIRMED" in big red letters.

What on earth does that mean and will I be able to fly it for this promotion or not?

Markie

Just a few things from other postings:

1. Seems like BA and QF both have to have inter-continetal travel to count.

2. AA is saying that Intra-Continental travel counts.

So you need to be really careful about what you put where.

bers

Where did you get that from (about the QF)?

From QF's website:

"You must fly to at least three continents to start earning bonus points. For each flight you take, it's the continent you arrive in that counts, not the continent you depart from. And each continent can only be counted once. "

and later...

"You can only qualify once for this promotion. You must make a stopover in order to include a continent. A stopover is defined as an arrival at an intermediate point with a scheduled departure not within 24 hours. Bonus points will be credited to your Frequent Flyer account automatically on 30 November 2000. Any Account Service Fee that is due must be paid prior to travel in order to earn bonus points in this promotion. The maximum total bonus earned by any member is 100,000 points. Points are earned on all flights with a oneworld flight number, i.e. 'AA', 'QF', 'EI', 'BA', 'LA', 'CX', 'AY" or 'IB' operated by a oneworld airline. For example, a flight with a 'QF' designator operated by an 'AA' aircraft will earn points. A flight with a 'QF' designator operated by a 'VN' aircraft will not be eligible to earn points in this promotion."

No mention of the inter continent route that I can see.

Markie

In the phrase 'it's the continent you arrive in that counts, not the continent you depart from', I take this to mean that they have to be different continents.

It also says ' Fly to 3 continents ' which suggest that flying inside 3 continents doesn't count.

I could be picking the bones too clean here - but QF are not the most generous airline with miles so I've assumed the worst.

Plus in the BA site someone called BA res. in the UK and were informed that only inter-continental flights count.

bers

Well there's a lot of conflicting evidence floating around. If you are taking this promotion very serious (ie you are going to be purchasing a ticket and all the other trimmings etc), I'd approach it simply - get written evidence from each of the programs about what you are trying to do.

If there are any grey areas, then avoid them in your itinerary. Come bonus awarding time, if they haven't given it to you and you stuck to what was sent you in writing - claim - otherwise bash yourself in the head with a baggage tag for not following rules you got some to put in writing for you or worse still, for not getting it in writing.

And for what it's worth (which is very little when you consider what I just said - ie trust what's in writing), I always read "fly to a continent" as meaning an intra continent flight was okay too. You are still flying to a city on the continent and it doesn't matter from where.

Consider that airlines computer systems in general don't consider what continent you are flying from/to (well I don't think they do). Instead they consider what city you are flying from/to. For this promotion they are taking it one step further by then considering the continent in which the arrival city is in and making a special thing out of it.

You could always test that theory by walking up to your friendly checkin staff person and asking them if they could tell you what continent your flight was landing in straight out of the computer. I doubt theuy could apart from looking up the destination city and cross-referencing that with in which continent it is, unless I misjudge the complexity of their systems.

Markie

I understand what you're saying. I'm likely to be just one continent short for QF, but as we won't know until it closes, I expect I'll have months of argrument.

I'm hoping that all airlines will follow the same rule as AA - which I have in writing - that intra-continetals count.

I'm flying a 6 continents to:

- Get 100,000 in AA
- Qualify as Exec Plat in AA
- Get 100,000 in QF
- Requalify as Silver in QF
- Get some award in BA

Depending on the rules most of this should be possible with a complex routing which I start on Wednesday.

fallinasleep

Markie,
would love to see your routing if/when you have a chance...
tks

lonman

terenz also, how are you doing the incidental trip in australia? is this part of you ba award trip?

YVR Cockroach

Ionman:

Still going to Australia but not as part of a bonus-earning campaign. The BA award is next April and is a seperate trip.

Markie

Over the next three months I'll be flying:

JUNE

YYC-DFW-SCL-GIG-SCL-LIMA-SCL-LAX

JULY

LAX-LHR-MAD-CAS-LGW-CAI-LHR-DXB-LHR

AUGUST

LHR-CPT-DUR-JNB-CPT-JNB-HKG-NRT-HKG-BKK-SIN-HKG-AKL-SYD-DRW-ADL-PER-SYD-JFK-SFO-DFW-SJU-DFW-YVR

Side trip - DRW-Dili-DRW
Extra trip on AA LHR-LAX-LHR

bers

All of those sound like a lot of fun. Should you want to have a drink in the Qantas Club or something (perhaps even go out of an airport ) when you get to Perth let me know.

sarecca

Will be doing a VERY quick RTW to get 5 continents . Leave Weds June 14 and will go LAX-SYD-BKK-LHR-JFK-CCS-LAX. Will be doing IB to get from ORY-CMN in August( I will be in Europe then ) to pick up my sixth continent. Incidentally, the above RTW is only 5 and one half days in duration!!

lonman

i can't believe how low prices are to travel from europe vs the us. i gave the woman a nutty itinerary that goes ams-nyc-pty-sjo-bze-sfo-nrt-sel-bkk-syd-mel-bne-cairo-cas-bcn-ams. she gave me back pricing of
8957 nlg in biz, and 5334 nlg in coach. at yesterdays exchange rate, that comes to about $3875 USD in biz, and $2304 in coach. unbelievable. now all i have to do is figure out how to take all those flights in 3 weeks!!!

R2

lonman, what travel agency did you talk to or which airline? Is it with the 1W RTW fare?

I can't really say I share the view airfares are particularly cheap ex-Europe, and certainly not intra-Europe. When I do a little tour up north in C, say AMS-ARN-HEL-RIX-CPH-AMS, it normally adds up to around NLG 4,000 - just under half of your around-the-world and more. The distance is probably 5% of the itinerary you quoted.

lonman

that is from the 1w rtw desk. you're right about intra-european fares. when i fly intra-europe it is always a connection on miles unless its a commutuer route or great competition from the train such as lon-par, lon-bru, par-bru, arn-hel. otherwise, its mileage.

but as for rtw fares, all classes are less than they are from the us.