Turkey is in Europe, including the part that's technically in Asia.

I've never seen a definitive list but what's in and what's out has been worked out by FTers over the years.

What's in:

• all the countries in the Saudi peninsula, including Israel
• Egypt and Sudan
• Libya (IIRC included only since the Europe and ME zones were defined for the rule on two visit to Europe)

What's out:

• Turkey (as Gardyloo said, it's counted as part of Europe even though most of the country is geographically part of Asia)

What's not known:

• Iran (before QR joined OW. no OW airlines flew there)

RTW over Xmas/New Year
 

Hi all

Am planning an itinerary over the Xmas-NYE season, a tough ask.

Would be v. grateful for any tips and tricks!

BOS-JFK-LAX-MEL-CBR-MEL-AKL-MEL-DXB-GVA-DXB-BOS.

OW tool quoted >$5k; I think I can DIY for $4,400 (JFK-DXB-MEL-DXB-GVA-DXB-BOS; BOS-JFK; MEL-CBR-MEL; MEL-AKL-MEL), but wondering whether picking a different routing/origin would be likely to save.

Any help much appreciated - thanks!

Since you say the tool quoted >$5, I'm assume you're considering purchasing a LONE4 (economy class, 4 continent) ticket

The base price of this ticket if starting in the USA is $5299, to which must be added the various country arrival/departure taxes and the various airline surcharges. (So I would have expected your itinerary to price out at over $6K)

Looks like you can save by going DIY

(Note: you itinerary is four continent, even though you only visit three. This is because of a rule that says if you fly direct Europe/Middle East to South West Pacific or v.v. then Asia must be counted :eek:)

In December you can buy a round trip ticket from BOS to Dublin for around $700, where an LONE4 will cost around US$3250 plus taxes/fees.

You could either head west, then finish back in Dublin before your flight back to Boston, or you could reverse your route and "stop over" in Boston for a long time, and maybe use your North America legs during the balance of the 12-month validity period of the ticket. In that case, you'd probably want to buy a one-way ticket to DUB (around $500) and use miles or points to get back after finishing the RTW.

Westbound - DUB-PHL-LAX-MEL-CBR-MEL-AKL-MEL-DXB-LHR-GVA-LHR-DUB
Eastbound - DUB-xLHR-GVA-DOH-DXB-MEL-CBR-MEL-AKL-MEL-LAX-BOS-(MIA-BOS?)-PHL-DUB

(I.e., you could squeeze in another trip from BOS before ending back in Ireland.)

Thanks very much Gardyloo and pandaperth - this is exactly the advice I had hoped for! Will update with what I find/book.

And it would be real shame if you just happened to miss the last segment back to the starting point ;) (but this has risks). I did a 363 day *ONE* with a stopover in Melbourne for 7 months. MEL-CBR-MEL is cheap to buy with cash so a waste of 2 SWP segments. Unless you want to visit DOH & DXB QR flys DOH-MEL

Look at Milege monkey but its now not 100% up to date. Many changes or airlines & routes & rules over the last year or so.

If you're thinking of taking up Gardyloo's suggestion of positioning to DUB (or elsewhere) to commence the RTW
Then I'd suggest you drop MEL-CBR-MEL, and perhaps even MEL-AKL-MEL
and thus gain four segments which you can use at your leisure for say two return trips from BOS to elsewhere in Nth America

MEL-CBR-MEL can be purchased cheaply
and usually MEL-AKL-MEL is also pretty cheap
Check it on itasoftware.com

This itinerary, DUB-xLHR-GVA-DOH-DXB-MEL-LAX-BOS-DUB uses only 8 of the allowed 16 segments
So you could then have 5 flight segments in Nth America (you are allowed up to six, but you are already using one for LAX-BOS)
and still have 3 segments left over (so perhaps add MEL-AKL-MEL back in:))

Getting a bit more complicated - fly into SYD instead of MEL, because it has better international connections. If you need to get to MEL then your add-on tickets could be SYD-AKL-MEL-CBR-SYD
Then fly back to BOS via Tokyo (SYD-NRT-BOS)
This will now allow you six Nth American segments to use at your leisure
And you'd still have 2 segments left - so perhaps use them at the end for a European holiday finishing up in DUB
And get back to BOS using some the frequent flyer miles you will have accrued on this trip
(you have thought about them, right?;))

Lots of possibilities to explore:D

Hello again Flyertalkers!

Have been researching some more (thanks to your advice), and have come up with this first draft for our RTW.

I guess it's a DONE5 (?)

The plan is to make the most of the ticket (obviously:)), and preferably fly with the best possible fleet. We'd like to alternate between visiting cities and beaches/relaxing.

Here is the itinerary as it looks now.

CAI-DOH-MEL-AKL-KUL-CMB-HKG-LAX-GRU-SCL-IPC-SCL-MIA-SKB-JFK-LHR-CAI

We will probably buy some separate tickets (+CPH-CAI-CPH of course) in Australia, Asia and maybe South America, so we get to see as much as possible.

All comments/questions are welcome!

Once again, thank you for your help!^

It looks like a fun trip you've got planned.

I can see a couple of issues, however.

First, you're backtracking. From Europe/Middle East you head to South-West Pacific, then backtrack to Asia. You must travel in a continuous direction, either eastward or westward. (Note, however, you can backtrack within regions (for example, you could fly PER-SYD-MEL-BNE).) So in your itinerary, you would need to go something like DOH-CMB-HKG-KUL-AKL-MEL-LAX (or DOH-KUL-CMB-HKG-AKL which, at a guess, would probably give you more miles).

The Americas are also a problem for you as again you are backtracking. You travel to LAX, then to South America then back to North America. You'll need to visit one of the Americas and then the other. One option would be to change AKL-MEL to AKL-SYD then fly onto South America from there on either LAN or Qantas. With this option I would aim to have your last North American stop as JFK because JFK-LHR is obviously a longer flight.

Do you want to finish in CAI? You only need to finish in the same region (Europe/Middle East) and the LHR-CAI flight is operated by a 767 so I'd be aiming for something a bit further afield and with a better aircraft (eg. DXB).

That's a few preliminary thoughts but others with more knowledge than I will jump in.

I think the first one is allowed (Europe/ME-SWP-Asia) but the second is a no-no unless LAX is a connection of less than 24-hours. If LAX is not a stopover it should be allowed.

Hey,

Can I just use book to book this route by using AA miles?
PDX-HNL-akl-syd-dps-sin-pen-hkg-tpe-tyo-ctu-ist-mil-pdx

Thanks,
Orchidvoyage

Welcome to FT!

Questions regarding the use of a specific FF program should be directed to the relevant airline board, in this case AA.

Gardyloo
Oneworld moderator

Europe/Middle East to Australia to Asia to North America is allowed on xONEx fare.

No need to do that. One of the visits through North America must be transit only, in this case a stop of under 24 hours at LAX makes sense. Note can revisit LAX after South America no problem.

And mileage maximising would mean flying for USA west coast to Europe, not from JFK.

Yes, it's a xONE5 (and a DONE5 if it's Business Class)

As has been pointed out, it's OK to visit South West Pacific before Asia
and that your visit to LAX must be no longer than 24hrs so as to allow the second visit to Nth America (after Sth America)

Generally the rules require you to finish in the same country as you started. But there is an exception for the Middle East. So starting in CAI, you can finish anywhere in the Middle East (MCT is the farthest from LHR if maximising frequent flyer miles is of interest;)).

If you are interested in maximising miles then let us know and we can suggest tweaks for you (starting with Kiwi Flyer's suggestion)
Your nice big backtrack from DOH to CMB via MEL-AKL-KUL was a very good start:)
Though CAI-LHR-MEL-AKL-KUL-CMB is even better:p