OW Four Continent
 

Hi folks.
Plan is to maximise milage and status credits with above RTW trip, beginning of May. That's basic season @ AUD2859+taxes. I am a QF FF member and wish to travel to ORD ex SYD. I would start SYD-AKL,AKL-HKG,HKG-LAX,LAX-ORD...and then I am looking for some suggestions. I would leave out South America and Africa. I am prepared to make as many stops as permissable, even if I have to say max 2 nights each city. Thanks in advance.
Foreigner

A few points to be aware of
 

OneWorld Explorer in economy is booked in L fare bucket. AA do not give any points or SC's to QF FF members for fares booked in L. So you want to use any many QF or CX codeshares in the US as you can.

The HKG connection between AKL-HKG-LAX must be transit only - ie less than 24 hours. Note that on the CX leg HKG-LAX you won't earn any status bonus points, so depending on your status, you may actually earn more points by using QF trans-Pacific (but less SC's).

In Europe, ovoid BA if you can. They only offer QF FF's 25% base points on L fares. But again, depending on your FF status you may score some bonus points as well. Look for AY or IB flights to get better points. Look to use AY or IB for the Trans-Atlantic service if you can. unfortunately I can't find any AY (or Ay codeshares) that are over 5000 miles. AY do codeshare with AA for some trans-Atlantic services (eg ORD-CDG). You can get more SC's using BA on SFO-LHR, but less miles due to thr 25% for L fares on BA.

Coming back into Australia, try to take CX from HKG-NRT and the QF NRT-MEL for a good points/SC earner. And MEL-PER is not considered Australian Trans-Continent, so you can then return PER-SYD.

Of course, most of these comments and suggestions are only relevant to the L fare. Its a very different story in D or A. But those fares are a very different stort too ;) .

OW Four Continent
 

Thanks for response. Does this itinerary look too complex?

syd-suv,suv-akl,akl-lax,lax-ord,ord-hnl,hnl-sfo,sfo-mia,mia-pos,pos-jfk,jfk-hel,hel-mad,mad-cai,cai-lhr,lhr-bom,bom-hkg,hkg-bkk,bkk-sin,sin-per,per-syd

I have avoided HKG to begin with. I reckon many of the US flights may be CX or QF code-share.

Look forward to further comments.

can't do the hnl flights...
there are only a few ways to hnl on owe. ie syd-hnl-lax or reverse.
you must have hnl as first or last exit/entry to US,

No OneWorld carrier flies SYD-SUV or SUV-AKL. Codeshares are only allowed when the operating carrier is also a OneWorld partner. That means the Air Pacific QF codeshares are not available on a OneWorld Explorer routing.

And POS-JFK doesn't seem to exist as a direct service either...

This is quite a challenge. And I appreciate your feedback. I am again changing the itinerary and hope this falls within the rules:

syd-akl,akl-lax,lax-ord,ord-sju,sju-pos,pos-mia,mia-bos,bos-jfk,jfk-hel,hel-mad,mad-cai,cai-lhr,lhr-bom,bom-hkg,hkg-bkk,bkk-sin,sin-per,per-syd

Ord-sju is CX, sju-pos-mia-bos-jfk is AA.

Does this look okay?

It looks OK to me, but ORD-SJU is flown only by AA. I am not aware of a CX codeshare on that flight. You have two more segments if you want them (from 2 in SWP, 1 in Asia, 1 in Europe).

By the way, 39136 base miles isn't particularly good for a ONE4 if miles are your only concern.

Its a CX codeshare
 

ORD-SJU is available as a CX codeshare as CX 7554, operated by AA. By booking the CX codeshare flight number, he still gets QF FF points and Status Credits, while the AA flight number earns neither in the QF program on L fares.

try for some more CX codeshares
 

You may be able to maximise the QF SC's and points a little better if you try. Consider CX 7505 BOS-SFO. This flight is 2704 miles, which puts you 4 miles into the 2700-5000 mile range for SC's.

AY also codeshare with AA on some domestic services and some services to Europe.

Is BOM a place you want to visit or just included for the miles? If just for the mileage, then look for something over 5000 miles out of LHR (LHR-BOM is only 4487 miles). Its worth it for the SC's.

Whenever possible, try to enter a new continent at a port on the far side. ie From SWP to USA, try to get to the east coast (something like QF107 SYD-JFK or CX HGK-JFK). And try to leave from the wrong side also, such as heading to Europe from US west coast. SFO/LAX/SAN-LHR are all just over 5000 miles, but you won't find AY codeshare direct to Europe from there.

You have only used 18 segments all up, so still have two more. You have only used two in SW Pacific, so could add two more domestic Australian flights. SIN-PER is only 2400 miles, so only 20 SC's in L. SIN to any other Australian port (except Darwin) is over 2700 miles, so earning 25 SC's. Better still of you can get over 5000 miles, but the only options I know of between Asia and SW Pacific are HKG-AKL (and you kit NZ outbound, so can't inbound) or NRT-MEL. Over 5000 miles gets 40 SC's on L fare.

Thanks for advices. Considering these, i have yet again made changes as follows:

syd-hkg,hkg-yyz,yyz-ord,ord-sju,sju-pos,pos-mia,mia-bos,bos-sfo,sfo-jfk,jfk-dub,dub-mad,mad-cai,cai-lhr,lhr-hel,hel-sin,sin-bkk,bkk-bom,bom-hkg,hkg-akl,akl-cns,cns-syd

Outward flt via HKG should be stopover only of <24hrs.
In all there are 21 sectors but i would surface YYZ-ORD to cut out one sector in USA (from 7 to 6) and thereby reducing overall to 20.

BOM is important but with HEL-SIN, I gain with over 5000 threshhold. I can take AY to BKK and CX to BOM.

Overall, ORD and BOM are important. I do want to go to POS just for cultural reasons.

Thanks again. Guidance is much appreciated.

Still some problems. You have no option, it MUST be 20 segments or less. Dropping the YYZ-ORD is good for 2 reasons: lowers the total to 20 and you don't exceed the 6 free segments in N.America. But, the bigger problem is that you have 2 trans-cons, BOS-SFO and SFO-JFK. You are only allowed 1. If you like most of this itinerary, keep the YYZ-ORD, and drop the SFO-JFK-DUB. Instead, go LAX-DUB on EI, with a separate ticket SFO-LAX. Not sure how EI fits in with the coach class earning status/miles though.

This seems to be improvement on the itinerary:

syd-hkg,hkg-yyz,yyz-ord,ord-sju,sju-pos,pos-mia,mia-bos,bos-sfo,lax-mad,mad-cai,cai-lhr,lhr-hel,hel-sin,sin-bkk,bkk-bom,bom-hkg,hkg-akl,akl-cns,cns-per,per-syd

LAX-MAD is IB but there are 2 flt numbers. Otherwise, you may tell me if you still see problems. I have taken your suggestion to stick with YYZ-ORD. That way, I can be sure to reach ORD with fixed dates. You will see I have changed the last few sectors. What do you think?

Foreigner

Looking good, but ....
 

I can't see any AKL-CNS flights in the QF schedule. Only AKL-BNE/SYD/MEL/ADL. Also, you are limited to only one Australian trans-continental flight. The flights that are restricted are listed specifically in the fare rules as:So you can't do CNS-PER and PER-SYD. But you still have some SWP segments free so could make it PER-ADL-SYD.

However, you have also hit the 20 segment limit. Since LAX-MAD is two flight numbers, it is counted as two segments, even if there is no stop-over in between.

So still a little refinig work to be done.

NM, you seem to be a step ahead of me. LOL. I just put the phone down with QF and the person was working out the itinerary. She too mentioned about the LAX-MAD being 2 sectors - either LAX_ORD-MAD or LAX-JFK-MAD. So to overcome the problem with over 6 sectors in the USA, I told her I would do surface for YYZ-ORD.

She also said I must use AA for all the USA flights as I fly on AA metal. So, it means ORD-SJU should be AA not CX. Do you agree with her interpretation?

Finally, she too confirmed AKL-CNS is not possible. She said I could do AKL-BNE-SYD. I told her I could do 4 sectors for this continent but she said I could not keep on moving west! I would have thought AKL-BNE-PER-ADL-SYD and that would be 4 sectors. Mind you, I am not clear if that gets me over 20 sectors for the whole itinerary. See below.

syd-hkg,hkg-yyz,ord-sju,sju-pos,pos-mia,mia-bos,bos-sfo,lax-jfk,jfk-mad,mad-cai,cai-lhr,lhr-hel,hel-sin,sin-bkk,bkk-bom,bom-hkg,hkg-akl,akl-bne,bne-per,per-adl,adl-syd

Looks like 21 to me. I think the LAX-JFK-MAD has thrown up problems. What do you say? Thanks again for your prompt responses.

Foreigner