If you're going to LED just for miles and SC's, then just remember that you'll have to get a visa for Russia (is it worth it?). Why not fly HEL-LHR-DXB-LHR-MAD?

actually, St Petersburg is one of the few places that i'm really keen to see (even though it will be january when i get there). and it has the benefit of reducing my use of BA flights which only earn 0.25 points for L class.

Then go for it, there's nothing like the view of the Neva on sunny winter day by -20 C. Summer or winter, it's a great place :)

You can take a boat from Helsinki to St Petersburg and avoid having to get a Russian visa (you sleep on the boat). Saves you a couple of coupons as well as being a slightly more diverting way to visit a city.

Oops, I thought that Australia owned NZ...
 

OK. Wow that makes an ex-LON ticket even worse value than it was before. You cannot go anywhere apart from out,in and domestic. That relies on you being able to find a hop out or long haul in that avoids LON. Wonder if they would notice the difference between the LON stations.

So, having decided to screw up on that rule, the route could go from AKL to HKG for the 5000 miles. However, as this is on CX, does this then affect the choice of FFP? You could circle Australia starting from MEL via PER and BNE/SYD/CNS and one sector between them before punting out to AKL.

You would then have the four Asia coupons available before escaping off elsewhere.

NM can you check this?

PS, get you a beer when I am in BNE at the start of September for catching that mistake.

Richard
If you start in ADL, instead of SYD, you will get more SC's as ADL-BNE is 1007 miles

Going to HEL in economy...
 

The lack of L class from SCL to SYD appears to be a common "thread". Just as a quick shot in the dark, the aircraft stops in AKL on the way. I would be worth checking if they carry L class on SCL to AKL. This happens on other flights that stop in other places. I do not have a booking engine with class display in front of me. Can anyone give this a shot as it would save a continent for one SWP coupon extra ...

What you could look at is the SYD start and then end in NRT which I assume is for the 5000 mile sector status points. If you were to go SYD-PER-MEL rather than SYD-BNE-PER-MEL you have used one coupon for 614 miles difference in distance and a sub 1000 mile sector. What about SYD-PER-MEL (do the washing...) and then MEL-AKL-NRT with the spare sector. This would give you the 1000+ miles status points as the 438 mile SYD BNE has been swapped for a 1642 MEL AKL. You would also swap a 5059 MEL NRT for the better AKL NRT for 5676 but this is on CX and not QF. I assume that you can do the calculations about bonuses here.

The Asia to Europe to Rio sector needs a bit of work. SIN to LHR is an option at 6765 rather than SIN to HEL at 5761 for an extra 1006 miles. I included HEL in the other routes as it made sense and I have to drop into HEL (for LED) every now and then from September. If you do not wish to visit HEL and just change for LED, then just do the LHR to LED out and back (which rather eats the two flights off LHR rule) but I would recommend the ferry option from HEL if I were you. That boat has a reputation as a party ship and would (a) coupon save and (b) LHR 2 coupon long distance save.

Assuming that you are here in Northern Hemisphere summer then you need to find the route as LHR to LED to HEL to LPA (or somewhere down there) to MAD if you want to go that way to South America. Your HEL-LHR-LED-HEL-MAD had 3x1000+ sectors and a 1-999 sector. My suggestion has a 1000+ swapped for the vital 2942 mile HEL to LPA but beware of the days of the week. There are 1085 more miles, or so in this route. If you went into HEL from NRT then you could to HEL-LCD-LHR-Cairo or TLV-MAD if you wanted as an alternative, where do you want to go? These would not get the 2700 miles status points but would get lots of miles.

If you had saved a sector, then you could route MAD or LHR to South America via North America on the less than 24 hour routine and get lots of points. Decide on your priorities in life, a day trip to a city or more points then we can help.

Right, its 0204 local time here and I am going to bed, come back and ask for more help whenever you want it.

Your beer in September in MEL if you haven't left.

Spotwelder

Yes, all LON airports are considered the same port for a xONEx fare. Arrive LGW, depart LHR in less than 24 hours and its a transit in LON, not a ground segment with stopover.

But remember the restriction is one international departure and one international arrival from/to the country of origin. So you can't go MAN-TXL-LHR-DBX-LHR-somewhere else since you depart the UK from MAN and you cannot re-enter the UK until you have visited the other continents in the trip.

You could go LHR-HEL-BCN-FRA-HEL-SIN as you are not re-entering the UK.
Yes, Australia-AKL-HKG is very good for DONEx and AONEx and good for CX points/status. CX flight still earn points and SC's for QF members at the same base rate as QF flights, just not the status bonus that you get with QF/BA/AA, so its not too bad. Still better than BA/AA earning and as good as AY, IB etc.

Did that answer the question? Sounds like we need to arrange a BNE QP visit sometime in September ^ .

Question answered with a question...
 

Operation Beercall is official, I will pass you the dates as soon as possible.

It might be useful if you posted the complete set of QF FFP rules in terms of distance/status points/award points for the different carriers on 1W.

I am gradually setting up a complete set of distance/award for all likely xONEx flights for both QF and BA. I do not have access to this at the moment but if you could remind me or provide the link on the QF.au site then I will start getting serious with the mileage excel sheets.

Looking forward to meeting you before/after the ASASI conference.

Spotwelder

I'd suggest EZE-JFK-LAX-SYD instead for 2 reasons: EZE-JFK is a non-stop on AA 763 which is probably the most comfortable plane in Y (also AA catering out of EZE is superb, much better than LanChile). Similarly better to break in LAX otherwise JFK-SYD is awfully long in Y. Finally LA is awful in Y, bearable in J and only nice in F (similarly MAD-GIG on IB is truly dreadful; you could fly AA MAD-MIA-EZE or MAD-MIA-GIG if you drop a sector somewhere else, I would do almost anything to avoid IB in Y long-haul -- the rules allow a transit without stopover in North America when going Europe-SA). As mentioned earlier you could do HEL-LED by boat and use that sector to improve the long-haul comfort significantly.

I expect the reason for considering LA and IB over AA is the fact that he will get 100% QF points with IB and LA, while only 50% for an L fare on AA.

So it is going to be a trade-off for points verses service. Tough choice :confused: .

Unfortunately since 1st January this year its been a big fat zero for QF points on an L fare on AA (and not even any SC's to help soften the blow either). So it's definitely a big incentive to avoid AA wherever possible, or to use any codeshares that are available instead if using AA metal.

Yes, of coourse that is correct. I went to the QFF web to check before posting and of course didn't go the T&C fine print where the specific class restrictsions are listed.

QF really are quite misleading when advertising 50% miles for AA discount economy fares, since they list twice as many 0% earning fares than 50% earning fare types! And they don't mention the 0% at all on the QFF "What will I earn" pages, only the 100% for full fare and 50% for discount economy fare. The 0% only come in if you follow the definition of "eligible" fares.

LONEly point collection
 

Looks like we need to set up a table for point collecting on LONEx tickets for the different FFPs and different partner airlines. I guess that this would be an 8x8 matrix. Obviously, we are beginning to pick up some of the table in this discussion. Would we need to add Status Bonus to that, I guess we could put in a symbol for that if it was available.

Is this a good idea? I would be willing to start it off but I do not have a web posting site but I could put it on the bottom of the updated cost per country of each fare that is elsewhere on the 1W site.

Comments?

you're on. thanks for all your advice. the trip isn't until january, so i have plenty of time to consider the revelation by GibSpmuh that L class is not worth the AA e-ticket it will be printed on for QF members. And neither is it when on an Aer Lingus flight either.

this will mean that i will almost certainly fly the JFK-SYD leg all the way home on QF will probably continue to try and fly from EZE into the US but perhaps on an AA operated service, but with an LA or LP flight number.

i like the idea of doing HEL-LED by boat. thanks eamus. and thanks Mwenenzi for the idea of starting in ADL to get to BNE.

as for avoiding MAD-GIG on IB, i will seriously try. but now that the no points in L class on AA has been revealed to me, perhaps i will just rough it on IB and make sure i carry strong sleeping pills with me.

i think this is a great idea. i don't have a web posting site either, but perhaps whomever organises http://www.hardlink.com/~markdu/OWFiles/ would allow such information to be included.

Cheers, David