Happy New Year

Well as I type this all I can hear is the rain beating down on my windows, its dark wet and cold here in Dublin.

Well at 1pm (GMT) today I saw the fantastic firework display in Sydney and all you auzzies down there, walking around in shorts and T-shirts while I am here in the cold. And then I said to myself �Am I alright in the head here I should be down there so F this I am going for 2004 new years and that�s that�

So I am you this having no experience of RTW, ONE or other such tickets for help on this matter I would like to get to SYD for new years in business class, after that anywhere to use up the ticket sectors/mile I fear that DVT would set in if I sat for many hours in C and I am a large lad. I would also like to maximise miles and points on my FFP, which is Aerlingus� TAB. BA don�t give many points to this program so there a no no. AA are great give even more the Aerlingus themselves not much info regarding CX or Lan Chile Iberia are not bad and have heard that Finnair are good, but where would I be able to definite answer on this one?

I was thinking of a routing like DUB-CPT-HKG-SYD-LAX-DUB or DUB-MAD-CPT-PERTH-SYD-CHILE-LAX-DUB or something like that I sure the experts while come up with something

Thanks for the help

IFB

Hi irishflyboy and happy New Year,

You could definately do this as a Oneworld Explorer. A few things to keep in mind. First, the fares ex-Ireland are pretty high and you could get a better deal starting elsewhere. Second, on a Oneworld Explorer, you pay by continent and your second proposed itineraries are for five continents, making it more expesive. Third, there do not seem to be flights between all your chosen cities, so you will end up flying more flights that those you have listed.

Here is a proposed itinerary for your first suggestion.

DUB-LHR on EI
LHR-CPT on BA
CPT-JNB on BA (operated by Comair)
JNB-HKG on CX
HKG-SYD on CX or QF
SYD-LAX on QF
LAX-DUB on EI

This a seven segment itinerary, but keep in mind you get up to twenty total segments and you could do more in Asia, Africa, Australia and North America. The fare basis for this would be DONE5.

For your second proposed routing, this itinerary would work:

DUB-MAD on EI or IB
MAD-JNB on IB
JNB-CPT on BA (Comair)
CPT-JNB on BA (Comair)
JNB-PER on QF
PER-SYD on QF
SYD-AKL-SCL on QF or LA
SCL-LAX on LA or AA
LAX-DUB on EI

Once again, you could add segments in any continent if you chose.

Good luck. Planning these is almost as fun as traveling on them!

well as i now have recovered form the 31st i have been looking into this trip a little more from what i have gathered that i can go through the US twice providing that one time is for transiting ie less than 24hrs is like right?

also dublin is an expensive place to get a ONE ticket and if i say in europe gibraltar is about the cheapest to start the trip

therefore to cut cost would the follow itinerary be possible

GIG-DUB(via london)-LAX-MEL-SYD-HKG-LAX-DUB
or something like than or if you guys can come up with a better routing but this would see well into OW saphire and would leave me in a good position to make emerald

You can go through the US twice only if one is a transit between South America and another continent. You are not transiting to/from SA.

Thus, your route could be GIB (not GIG)-LHR-DUB-LAX-MEL-SYD-HKG-LHR-GIB as you must end your ticketed trip in GIB, not DUB. You could take a chance and throw away the LHR-GIB segment and buy a separate ticket home from LHR. Note that you cannot ticket ...HKG-LHR-DUB-LHR-GIB as you would have one too many segments in Europe.

A few more ideas to use the segments / miles:

In Africa you could go to SEZ and then SEZ-Nairobi-JNB-CPT-JNB on BA

Or you could try to go back thru Europe (not sure if it is still allowed) without stop, so CPT-xLHR-HKG (or somewhere else in Asia)

In Asia you could add a few flights from HK (India, Bali, Japan....). Also you could take QF from some other airport than HKG (BKK, NRT, SIN...)

In Australia you could add a few segments to PER (long) or other places.

Also you could try to add Dubai either at the beginning or the end (then you would need to do LAX-LHR-Dubai-LAX-DUB.

Have fun!

well i have done some reasearch over the last few days and have come up with plan, if i buy in ireland the fare will cost about 6000euro but if i start in continental europe i'm looking at about 4500euro so the itinery that i have in mind is

XXX somewhere in europe
DUB
LAX on EI metal TRANSIT
SYD on AA QF metal STOPOVER
MEL on QF STOPOVER
PER on QF STOPOVER
HKG on CX TRANSIT
LAX on CX STOPOVER or TRANSIT
LAS on AA STOPOVER
ORD on AA STOPOVER
LAX on AA STOPOVER
DUB on EI TRANSIT
XXX

Then return back to DUB
This trip should bring me to emerald

please try to maximise my trip so i can use all segments and maximise my miles Or correct my ITN if it is illegal

i have searched for the prices for ex GIB but to no avail. GIB would be great place for me to start as i have a place in Marbella.

If this is a Oneworld Explorer or a Global Explorer, then it's very illegal.

Can be corrected by changing your first LAX to London. That way, youre going in one continuous direction. It would be a 4-continent business class, which runs about 3800 out of eastern europe, 7300 out of Ireland, 5000 out of western europe, and 4400 out of Gibraltar. Plus tax, of course.

If this is supposed to be a OneWorld Explorer then you have a fundamental misunderstanding... your routing does not go around the world!

OK, you have a 4 continent itinerary that needs to be made into a legal around the world and then maximized for miles.

This routing would make your trip a valid OWE itinerary, just hitting the cities you identified:

gib-lhr-syd-mel-per-hkg-lax-las-ord-lax-dub-lhr-gib

Note that I skipped DUB on the origination section. You only get 4 segments in Europe and there are no direct flights between DUB-GIB so you need to pass through LHR each time you go between them. This trip is 34812 miles.

Here is an enhanced itinerary that adds segments and miles:

gib-lhr-syd-mel-per-bne-hkg-dps-hkg-nrt-hkg-lax-las-ord-sju-jfk-lax-dub-lhr-gib

This trip comes in at 49987 miles. There are other tweaks that could be done to add a little more mileage if you wanted to give up some of the cities or do some surface segments (e.g. LAX-LAS is a very inefficient use of a OWE segment as is LHR-DUB).

MEL-SYD is an inefficient use of a OWE segments,. Much better to zig zag than go in continuos forwards direction

To maximise miles go from the extreme east of one region to the west of the next region. eg HKG-JFK (Asia to US eest coast), instead of HKG-LAX (Asia to west of USA)

For example
gib-lhr-syd-per-mel-bne-hkg-dps-hkg-nrt-hkg-lax-las-ord-sju-jfk-lax-dub-lhr-gib is 50,200 miles.

gib-lhr-syd-bne-per-mel-nrt-hkg-dps-hkg-jfk-las-ord-sju-jfk-lax-dub-lhr-gib is 51751.

This is only the start. For miles use http://gc.kls2.com/

When constructing a RTW you need to establish
(a) the places you must go
(b) the places you would go to if the opportunity arose
(c) the places you do not want to go (been there:- done that, visa problems, can't eat the food, they don't like me-I don't like them, no speaka the lingo etc etc)
(d) do you want to stay overnight in hotels or are you prepared to spend over 24 - 48 - 72 hours in aircraft and airports just to max points & status credit's
(e) the anniversary date of you joining your FF
(f) the reason for chosing a OW carrier be it loyalty, service, flight timetable, freq flyer points, status bonus, cabin bonus
(g) what frequent flyer program or programs you want the status credits and miles credited to
(h) other reasons

The other FF program to consider is QF


[This message has been edited by Mwenenzi (edited Jan 11, 2004).]

Thanks guys for the replies but as stated by Mwenenzi, that it comes down to personal preference (F) in his list. I don�t want to fly BA or QF because they are not great at dishing out the FF points hence that I would like to route to LAX flying on EI because they give out 2800 points each way and in order to qualify for sapphire its 6500 and emerald is 14500 in any 12 month period and also they give out two and four system wide upgrades cert. respectively with each card, which is not a bad deal it means that I can fly to LAX for about 350euro in business compared to about 4500euro.

The reason that I don�t join another OW FFP like QF or AA is that four flights are required to obtain/maintain elite status. And 99% of my travel is UK-DUB and Europe on EI.
And I don�t use BA and I don�t like the ability of not earning on cheap discount fares.

This is the reason that I want to do LAX going out and back. In my investigations I was told that my routing is ok. I know that it is not around the world but I have reason maybe next time I will do Asia and back around. Also I thought that I could do a DONE3 not four continent as I am cannot stay in Asia (time comment) and want to only transit through HKG to get back to LAX and then on.

You cannot go to Oz from Europe without going through either Asia or Africa. Transits count as a stop in the continent for the purpose of determining how many continents are included in your trip. Thus, it is not possible to do a RTW from anywhere that includes Oz for less than four continents.

QFF does not have a four flight rule to my knowledge

As Christep said above
If this is supposed to be a OneWorld Explorer then you have a fundamental misunderstanding... your routing does not go around the world!




[This message has been edited by Mwenenzi (edited Jan 11, 2004).]

Qantas does have the four segment rule, though I don't know how rigorously it's enforced. I know it's not for silver since I qualified from a couple of misposted BA flights that I was too lazy to ask for back.

If he wants to go with TAB, then let him go with TAB. No doubt that if he is doing a slew of EI flights a year that he gets a benefit from having status that many of you realize in the other programs.

However, you still have been misinformed about the GlobEx and OWE. You do indeed have to go in one generally continuous direction. Your routing is an elaborate round trip, not a round the world. You can do your routing without ever having to touch a longhaul BA or QF jet. Just route on Cathay between North America and Australia and then again between Australia and Europe. So your routing would be GIB-LON-HKG-SYD-MEL-PER-HKG-LAX-LAS-ORD-LAX-DUB-LON-GIB

You need to transfer from Gatwick to Heathrow for the flight to Hong Kong. That'll cost you probably 25 euro based off the last time I went.

QFF do have a four segment rule. Clearly stated in their rules.

SYD fireworks. Book your boat now to see them from on the harbour.