I'm planning a OWE RTW for this fall and have a few questions. The trip is a little business, a lot pleasure and designed to get almost enough Q-points for EXP on AA. Here is a first pass at the itinerary.

YYZ-(DFW)-(ANC)-(DFW)-YVR AA
YVR-(JFK)-HKG AA/CX
HKG-NRT CX
NRT-(HKG)-SIN CX
SIN-DPS QF
DPS-SYD - QF
SYD-PER QF
PER-BNE QF
BNE-WLG QF
WLG-(AKL)-(HKG)-LHR CX
LHR-DBX BA
DBX-LHR BA
LHR-IST BA
IST-LHR BA
LHR-LAX AA
LAX-YYZ AA

Questions:

1. On the domestic US portion of the trip I believe I am limited to 2 stopovers. The question concerns what constitutes a stopover. Is the 23 hours and 59 minutes rule firm or is it that or the next legal connection Oneworld flight out whichever is later? IOW, if the next legal connection Oneworld flight out is greater than 23 hours and 59 minutes am I charged for a stopover? My specific problem is the YVR-(JFK)-HKG leg. I'd like to get a non-charged stopover at JFK and can arrive from YVR on AA with less than 1 hour before the CX HKG departure which is not a legal connection. Of course, I could take the earlier CX flight and arrive with a legal two hour connecting time. (BTW, anywhere online that minimum connecting times are listed for various airports/airlines?)

2. Assuming I get six segments in North America, can I break them up as I have, i.e. 5 before the international departure and 1 after the international arrival?

3. Can I buy and use a Oneworld Visit Europe pass to supplement this itinerary, i.e. hit a few more cities in Europe? The rules for this pass say I must buy it in my country of residence (U.S.). Any issue with originating the international trip from Canada and buying the Visit Europe pass in the U.S.?

4. I will be booking this in first but not all of the flights offer first class service. Do I get Q-points based on the fare basis or the class I fly?

5. Any route problems you can identify or any suggestions for changes to increase the mileage (currently just over 64,000) are welcome.

I plan to do the Platinum challenge and book this in first so I should make Platinum status by the time I hit JFK.

Thanks in advance for your help.

- Bob

[This message has been edited by ExMo (edited 06-04-2001).]

[This message has been edited by ExMo (edited 06-04-2001).]

Yes, you can break the segments up that way.


Sorry, Q-points based on the class you actually fly. Keep in mind that forward-cabin seats on AA flights to and from Canada are counted as business class, not first.

Route problems: when I a OWE RTW earlier this year (before some rate hikes and rules changes took effect), there was a limit of 1 transcontinental flight in N.A., and you have 2 (YVR-JFK and LAX-YYZ). If the 1-transcon rule is still in effect, you'll likely have a problem.

But WHOA!!! You've got two questions marked #4.!

Under the OWE rules, you have to go back to Square 1 and start the game over.

Sorry.

Ooops. Restarting.

Fixed the numbering problem and will revise the return to avoid the second transcon as follows:

LHR-MIA AA
MIA-YYZ AA

I'll save that last segment for my next trip's origination!

Well, as I found out that originating in Sweden offers a substantial saving over Canada and I can get there on a free DL ticket, I have changed my RTW routing. Here is how it currently looks.

ARN-ord-mia-scl-gig-scl-eze-MIA-dfw-anc-DFW-yvr-JFK-HKG-KIX-hkg-SIN-DPS-syd-per-bne-WLG-akl-hkg-lhr-DXB-lhr-ist-lhr-arn

I have a new set of questions based on this new routing.

1. Can the ARN-ORD-MIA-SCL segment be considered my in transit pass through NA so long as I do not spend more than 24 hours in the US between arrival at ORD and departure from MIA? I want the second pass through MIA to begin my NA stopover.

2. Will the in transit ORD-MIA count as one of my NA segments? (I'm still OK with only six even if it does.)

3. This is for a mileage run to make EXP on AA as well as for some business and pleasure. The only cities I am wedded to are those shown in CAPS in the itinerary. Any suggestions for increasing the mileage with other routings would be welcomed. I would like to maximize the CX routes as I will be flying first as much as possible.

4. Can I skip the last lhr-arn segment without getting hassled? It is an extra segment in Europe and I will buy it but in coach. I'd just as soon skip flying it and head home from LHR rather than ARN.

5. Assuming I can't skip the lhr-arn segment, do I get an extra stopover in Europe because of buying the extra segment. IOW, can I spend time in London before heading back to ARN. (My 2 stopovers in Europe will be DXB and IST.)

6. I've never flown LA before but will be spending quite a bit of time on them in SA. Any comments, cautions, suggestions?

As always, thanks for any help you can give me.

1. Don't know.

2. Yes

3. You appear to have maxed out Europe and North America. In South America, you might want to consider substituting CCS for GIG.

4. Yes. You have 1 year to complete your journey and when you don't show up for your original reservation, you will drop out of the system. To come after you, they would have to wait until the full year passes.

5. My experience has been that purchasing extra segments entitles one to extra stopovers, but this was before the most recent round of rule changes.

6. Personally, I find LA to be great-- but you will find others on this board who strongly disagree. The SCL airport is a modern, efficient facility with decent shops, restaurants, lounges, etc. Be sure to keep your boarding passes and ticket receipts for all LA flights. A lot of people (including myself) consistently find that the credits don't post, even when the ff number and 1world status are clearly printed on the boarding pass.

You could get a few extra miles by substituting ARN-ORD-MIA-SCL with ARN-ORD-LAX-SCL, assuming that the ORD-LAX would count as a transfer. I've flown on LA a few times before and miles always posted within a week.

Hmmm, looks like the new rules (08 May 2001) are going to send me back to the drawing board. Can't do syd-per-bne or buy the extra segment in Europe to do lhr-arn.

They revenue guys at oneworld are making the mileage run stuff a lot harder!

Any ideas for revisions sure would be welcomed.

ARN-ord-mia-scl-gig-scl-eze-MIA-dfw-anc-DFW-yvr-JFK-HKG-KIX-hkg-SIN-DPS-syd-per-bne-WLG-akl-hkg-lhr-DXB-lhr-ist-lhr-arn

------

to maximize miles:
1. in SA, try to go to IPC (easter island) -- perfect if u have more time in SA
2. consider going HKG-SYD, instead of DPS-HKG, more mile, and new CX F beds
3. if at all possible. ARN-LHR-LAX-scl/eze to max miles (you might have to do this anyway)

-----
i think in the new rule u can;t go to IST if u go to DXB already
------
u can throw the the last coupon away, but u have to pretend u r flying it, so can;t get extra segment.
however, u can buy extra Y segment at Y price, J segment at J price (even if you overall ticket is F), i.e. the cheapest extra segment counts.

one suggestion will be:
ARN-lhr-lax-scl-ipc-scl-eze-MIA-dfw-anc-DFW-yvr-(on CX)-JFK-HKG-KIX-hkg-SIN-DPS-hkg-syd-per-bne-WLG-akl-hkg-lhr-DXB-lhr-arn
(pay $150 for additional segment and do them in Y)

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 06-28-2001).]

A small suggestion. On your YVR-JFK section you should fly CX instead of AA. You get intl. service of CX on a 744 instead of Domestic AA on a 757!

and not to mention that you will get F miles for flying CX and only J miles for flying AA !!

Well, based on your help and my reading of the new rules, I have revised my itinerary to the following:

ARN-xORD-xMIA-SCL - AA
SCL-CCS - LA
CCS-SCL - LA
SCL-IPC - LA
IPC-xSCL-MIA - LA/AA
MIA-DFW - AA
DFW-ANC - AA
ANC-DFW - AA
DFW-YVR - AA
YVR-JFK - CX
JFK-HKG - CX
HKG-DPS - CX
DPS-xHKG-SIN - CX
SIN-HKG - CX
HKG-SYD - CX
SYD-PER - QF
PER-MEL - QF
MEL-WLG - QF
WLG-SYD - QF
SYD-xHKG-LHR - CX
LHR-DXB - BA
DXB-xLHR-xBCN-ARN - BA/BA/IB


I think I am OK with all of this as far as segments (4 everywhere except 6 in NA) and stopovers (only 2 in Europe). However, I sure would like you experts to look at it for anything I may have missed. This trip works out to be 29 segments and about 82,000 miles. My plan is to take about 2 months doing it.

And, of course, I have a few more questions -

1. Although I plan to book a first class OWE, some of the flights that offer first only show F not A class, e.g. AA81 ARN-ORD. Do I get to fly up front or back in business which does offer both J and D? Same question only more severe consequences on AA1506 DFW-YVR which only offers J, no first and no D. Please tell me I don't have to sit in the cattle car.

2. If this looks good what is my next step? Do I call and submit this to the AA RTW desk directly or must I go through a travel agent?

Thanks again for all the help and advice.

1. you sit the the highest class whenever available. i.e., P/F or J in NA.
A/D subclass are not shown in any AA domestic flights in ITN. but they (AA/agent) can see it. so dont worry about it

2. your next step:
a. download the OAG from cx's site, get the exact timing and date
b. print it out
c. call aa's rtw desk 1-800-247-3247, tell them you will fax them your proposed itin (ask for the agent's name and fax number) -- otherwise you will waste two hours on phone
d. fax to them
e. call back to check if it is valid
f. they will book it for you, and it takes another day for the fare department to rate it (then either they will let you know if it is confirmed valid or you can call back to check)
g. you can either ticket it at AA's desk or by your agent (if by your agent, there may be some technical difficulty as you have more than 16 coupons, look at the thread here on how to resolve it -- aa can solve this problem)

bon voyage!

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 06-28-2001).]

you have 82179 miles, adding class of service bonus you will have some 30-40% more, more than good enough for EXPLT

since arn-sfo has the same flight number as your arn-ord, you can also do arn-sfo-lax(e.g.)-scl-......
this gives you 83877 miles, 1500 more.
(and sfo-lax is rounded up to 500, so even a bit more than 1500)
you can use this link in the following post, together with the oneworld trip planner (OAG) form CX's site to see if you can further improve.
however, since you already get what you want (EXPLT), it might not worth your time of pushing for another 1-2k miles -- except someitmes it is fun to do planning

replacing SIN by KHI will boost the mile into 86588, but SIN is a much nicer city/airport than KHI -- so i wouldnt advise that

(see link in next post -- you need to change the unit from nautical mile (nm, not nanometer) into mile )


[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 06-28-2001).]

http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=A...=&PATH-COLOR=& PATH-UNITS=mi&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=navy&MAP-STYLE=

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 06-28-2001).]

Many thanks, pegasus8228. I have been using the OAG Planner from the CX site and the Great Circle WWW site to develop the plan. They sure make it easier to pick flights than playing around with ITN, Travelocity, Expedia and the like.

Happy to learn that I get to sit up front, regardless of what class that is, so long as I am flying with an AOWE5 fare basis. Even though I'll be comfortable, I think I'll pass on the ARN-SFO-LAX-SCL suggestion. My body is going to be tired enough after travelling for 24+ hours without adding another few hours to it.

Now I have to play with the dates a bit as I want to do this in the Sep/Oct time frame to avoid the summer tourist crowds. I'll coordinate this with the AA RTW desk as you suggest. I prefer to do all of my flight arrangements directly with the airline anyway. I'll let the TA handle the hotel stuff. They make more money on that so they shouldn't complain.