That must be most of them ...?

OTOH the USD and the EUR are unlikely to merit "watching" and the pair covers a lot of countries...

Happy wandering.

Fred

Stability is greatly overrated, at least in this game.

New to FT, have been going through this thread but its pretty long and when I see info dated over a few years I don't know whether to trust its up to date. Been a dream to book a DONEx flight forever but only have the time and routing flexibility now for the travel.

- Are the ex-MPM DONEx fares still good or ex-JNB, and by how much better are these fares than the US. Or is there any other good location to start from in Asia, particularly north Asia (NRT?)?

- if ex-MPM DONEx fares still a no brainer, must routing always go first to DOH (i see its the only direct connection)? or can i go MPM-JNB then other points in africa before going to "europe". Reason being I am looking to go JNB (can also go MPM too as its all for scuba diving), in July, followed by Europe

- Additionally how would the routing look from North America back to Africa over the atlantic? I didnt see any direct flights from NYC to Africa on the OW RTW tool (is direct needed?).

- Is there a time limit to how long the full RTW journey will take? Can I have my last leg as far out in advance as possible like over a year, allowing some flexibility? For instance I travel HKG-JFK alot and reside in HKG but if i start elsewhere and book a last leg on HKG-JFK way out in the future is that possible?

- generally what is the best way to book after I finalize my routing? sounds like an AA or CX agent over the phone would be best?

- If i am looking optimize accrual of CX MP club points for status, generally should i always be going for the CX codes on any codeshare flights?

Thanks!

the ticket is valid for 1 year from the date of first segment, and date change is free if routing is the same.

there is no mpm jnb on oneworld.

i dont know how marco polo club point works and i personally think marco polo is not a very good program, especially for done fare.

the base fare for both jnb and mpm in d class is over 6000usd, i believe and one has to pay fuel surchages and tax on top. so easily 7k usd for the ticket which is still a good value if money is no a big problem. probabaly around the same ex japan.

aa is the best over the phone but aa insists that u must have at least one over the water segment on aa. ie hkg lax or hkg dfw, or aa coded hkg jfk. or usa to Europe.

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

They exist but they are not as good as they were. Not much saved over originating at JNB.

Ex-Japan is traditionally quite good for Asia.

Yes. There is no alternative oneworld flight out of MPM.

Comair (a BA franchisee) used to run a flight from MPM to JNB back in 2013, but it wasn't profitable. They axed it pretty quickly.

You'll have to go via Europe/Middle East. You're allowed to touch the continent for a second time but only for a transit.


One year from date of departure.

You can leave the last leg open if you like, if you can find a ticketing agent capable of doing that. But it is more practical to put in a dummy sector that you change later.

A leg can be booked up to one year in the future, and sometimes less, depending on the airline. However the ticket (like all air tickets) is valid for one year after departure, and date changes on the ticket are free after departure of the first leg. So you can change the ticket later. (But there is a no show penalty.)


Yes. You'll probably also want to look at the Marco Polo web pages to find out which alternative partners are better than others. But in general you'll want as many CX codes as you can get.

Thanks for all the responses!

Looked at ex-JNB vs ex-Tokyo, similar pricing DONEx around 7500

Regarding ex-JNB or ex-Africa routings - is there any way to go eastwards on the RTW? having difficulty finding routings on the webtool where the last leg is USA-JNB, ie JNB-europe-asia-USA-JNB.

Some example core routings (east bound)
JNB-HKG-JFK-LHR-JNB
JNB-HKG-JFK-GRU-JNB
JNB-xDOH-HKG-JFK-LHR-JNB
JNB-LHR-HKG-JFK-xDOH-JNB
JNB-LHR-HKG-JFK-GRU-JNB
etc.

Yes, JNB is only about $300 USD cheaper than NRT. Depending on where you want to go, ex-JNB/CPT usually means an extra continent, so there's that to consider.

You can start by flying JNB-HKG, JNB-DOH, or JNB-SYD. You can't finish by going U.S. to JNB in one segment, though. You'll have to connect in Europe or South America.

Interesting. AONE4 a few hundred USD cheaper ex-TYO than ex-JNB according to EF.

yeah it seems tough for my plans (if i want JNB before Europe), will only be able to consider west bound then. thanks!

I have started a RTW with my first segment being CAI - LHR and next being LHR - SCL. My last segment is DEL - CAI routed via LHR.

Questions - can I make LHR a stopover on the last segment ? (I think the answer is no but I just want to be sure !!)

and is it possible to end somewhere else in "Europe" rather than CAI (noting that CAI is considered as Europe for RTW's)

Thanks