Best way to go RTW
 

I will be travelling RTW on busines and need som advice as to the best way to maximise my QF points and tier status.
I will be departing Perth Aust. and will need to visit Vancouver, NYC, San Francisco, London, Hong Kong and Singapore.
I am currently a Qantas club member without tier status- well only 100 away from blue.
I would like to get as many points as possible. This is probably my last decent company paid for trip so i want to take advantage of it. What would be my best options? Also how do work how many points a trip like this may be worth?
As Qantas club member what are my chances of getting into the club lounges in North America?
I am also a H Honors member with silver status, but my company will not pay for Hiltons ouside Oz do they have a brand that is a step down from a regular hilton - not far down?

Thanks

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How does QF status accumulate? Like BA with points or miles/kms only?

How important is the YVR, NYC, SFO order? If flexible and you want most miles, I'd advise NYC first via YYZ, backtrack to YVR (JFK-YVR on CX 888/9) as only only one transcontinental segment is allowed. Go to SFO via DFW. SFO-LHR via LAX (or if you want, BA SFO-LHR direct).

Here's my recommended itinerary if with points per flight:

PER-MEL-SYD-HNL-YYZ on QF (think you'll need the red eye to MEL)
YYZ-LGA on AA (think AA still does this route)
JFK-YVR on CX (leaves JFK in the evening, gets to YVR late evening)
YVR-DFW-SFO on AA
SFO-LAX/DFW-LON on AA or SFO-LHR on BA
LHR-SIN on BA or QF
SIN-HKG on QF
HKG-SIN-ADL-PER on QF (if possible)

You still have a few excess sectors in Asia and might want to consider HKG-NRT-HKG on a CX day trip. If you have time in the U.K., consider doing LHR-Cairo-LHR (it's in "Europe/mid-east") as well as some mileage run sector (LHR-HEL-LHR on AY?)

Is there a mileage cap on the ticket - a MPM?

GER, I assume you are using the OneWorld Explorer RTW fare, four continents. In that case, geordie6, there is no MPM restrictions for this fare. If it is a Global Explorer RTW fare, then yes, it is MPM restricted.

Answering GER's orignal question, if it is an OWE, then I concur with terenz's routing suggestions. Of course, you can maximize your flight miles by flying to a more distant location within each continent, like flying to Panama within the North/Central America sector, but that depends on how much time you have for side trips.

If you are using a full fare C ticket to do the RTW, which I've done a couple times in 98/99, then that's a different subject. This will be very complicated as full fare C's are MPM restricted, but the MPM changes depending where you "break" your intermediary point of journey. Meanwhile, there are no limits to the number of stopovers permitted.

anytime i would have a choice between qf and another carrier i would take the other carrier, regardless of class of service.

has anyone done the syd-hnl-yyz on qf? do they have a special int'l configuration on this 767 in biz class? god i hope so, because the domestic versions i flew on were awful with 6 across in biz class and virtually no pitch or recline. i hope they treat passengers better than that on this looooong route.

also, does syd-hnl-yyz post as one flight or in segments? i'm sure it will post in the way that gets you the fewest miles. for terenz's scenario to work it must post as one flight, otherwise hnl-yyz might be viewed as a transcontinental trip, wouldn't it?

[This message has been edited by lonman (edited 09-15-2000).]

Another PER based Flyertalker?!?!? Woo hoo!!! That makes 2 I think http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Strikingly similar too as I am close to blue (144 away) and a QC member.

Firstly, http://www.webflyer.com/milemarker/milemarker.htm will help you work out the points you will earn. BTW if you refer to Tier Credits as points - see the QF website to help you out there.

Secondly, club access won't be a problem. As a QC member you will get access to BA and AA lounges when you fly with them.

Finally, to get more Tier Credits in multi stop legs, such as SYD->HNL->YYZ, consider getting your travel agent to book the segments in different PNRs (book locators -6 character codes). This was a suggestion to get around the 24 stopover rule in the OW continents promo (see earlier threads) and should work for that situation.

PER SYD LAX ON QF
BUY A RETURN SHUTTLE TO SFX
LAX - VANCOUVER ON AA
VANCOUVER - NYC ON CX
THEN TAKE YOUR PICK ONWARDS VIA LONDON