RTW Novice Needs Advice
 

Hello all, I've been lurking at these forums for a little while but with a RTW holiday in the works for September I thought I'd break the ice and request your thoughts on my prospective itinerary.

I'm coming off a very low base on QFF and therefore maximising the miles and SCs on offer would be nice. But at the same time, this is a holiday rather than a mileage run and I would like to both sample each of OW's "Big Four" and also spend some time in all of my stopover cities! Therefore it's mainly the carriers I'd like some guidance with as opposed to the actual route.

Considering I'm operating off the wages of a humble clerk and am paying for this myself, I've opted for a 26000 Global Explorer in Economy with a route as follows:

PER-HKG (CX)
HKG-LHR (BA)
LHR-JFK (AA)
JFK-LAX (AA)
LAX-SYD-PER (QF)

I'm well aware that flying AA in L class gives you absolutely nothing on the QFF, but there aren't any codeshares I can find that could remedy this.

Is CX preferable for HKG-LHR? I would like to upgrade to WTP on that sector because I have a feeling I'll need the extra room to help me sleep, but if CX Economy is tolerable I'd certainly consider using the WTP on the transatlantic sector instead.

Any guidance which the wise heads here would be able to give me would be handy to have in the weeks leading up to my booking. I'm certainly not looking to stack up on points at the expense of a sane holiday, but if there are better solutions you can think of I'd like to consider them.

JFK-LAX is available on QF metal a few times a week (only as part of an international itinerary).

Why AA for LHR-JFK not BA?

(except that that way you wouldn't sample AA)

CX economy is quite tight on legroom, although everything else about the service is ahead of BA. AA economy is the best for legroom, but no miles on QFF as you say.

If I were you I would take CX PER-HKG, BA in WTP HKG-LHR, BA in normal economy LHR-JFK, and QF for the rest.

Are these the cities you really want to visit (ie New York and Los Angeles)? you could bet better use of 26000 miles in SC's and QFF points using some other ports. But its not going to make a huge difference.

If you don't have a lot of QF points now, nor any QF status, you might like to consider doing the AA Platinum Challenge. You could have OneWorld Saphire status during this trip, and AA's program earning and spending can be attractive, especially for someone in Perth. For example, its 20,000 AA miles for an economy award anywhere in Australia/NZ, or 35,000 miles in business class.

Well when I say that I have a "very low base" on QFF, I'm talking about just under 14,000 points, 280 lifetime SCs with none in the past year and 1 UC. I don't know whether that would qualify as substantial or not around these parts, but obviously it's something to build upon for the future!

My reasons for taking AA over the Atlantic? Well MRTC isn't really something I care about on daytime flights - the main reason is that I'm likely to be doing this the week after September 11, and if there's an atmosphere of high terror alert BA's record of yanking US flights at the last minute during such periods isn't encouraging. In any event the flight schedules on AA are more convenient for me, but if you strongly recommend BA Economy instead I'm prepared to consider it.

And can I ask what the AA Platinum Challenge actually is, or is the answer something obvious that I've missed?

Thanks for the advice, BTW.