While this is heavily dependent on your program and routing, you can often book a codeshare to earn more/full miles. For example L on CX earns 0 miles in AAdvantage and QF earns 50%. On TPAC routes you could likely book the AA codeshare and earn 100%. In business or first this isn't usually necessary in any OW program AFAIK as D/A earn the same regardless which carrier the code is booked under.

Works that way for AAdvantage. On my AONEx trips, I earn the same as if it were on AA metal.

So the wife says to me. Quit your job. Stay at home and look after the house, kids, cat etc. And in return, you can have one week a year where you can travel to any destination you want, by yourself in business class.

Hmmm. So I am now thinking about where to go on a oneworld RTW ticket.

I am a Qantas Platinum / OW Emerald and what I would like to do with this trip is, in order.

1) Retain Platinum Status2) Be away as short a time as possible.3) Maximise my Qantas points4) Fly on Segments I have never done before and see cities, airports or countries that are new.
5) If possible on Qantas flights, pick 747's that don't sell first but still have a first cabin, as I can get a seat t

So what I have come up with is as follows. With sample dates. Please suggest changes or improvements.

MEL-SYD-JNB-LHR-ARN-HEL-ZRH-LHR-ORD-LAS-LAX-ORD-BOS-MIA-DFW-BNE-MEL

I have picked SYD-JNB as I have never been anywhere in Africa or M/E. My stops are Zurich and Boston, with a night in Las Vegas, but I am willing to swap this around. I have never been to any of these cities. I have been to Dallas far too often, so if I could avoid it once or twice it would be good.

My suggested itinerary is as follows (Dates just samples, but it is likely to be around this time due to local school holidays.)

SAT Sep 22 - MEL - SYD - QF408 - 07:00 - 08:25
SAT Sep 22 - SYD - JNB - QF63 - 10:00 - 16:15
SAT Sep 22 - JNB - LHR - BA56 - 19:20 - 05:15+1
SUN Sep 23 - LHR - ARN - BA776 - 07:40 - 11:05
SUN Sep 23 - ARN - HEL - AY682 - 12:55 - 14:55
SUN Sep 23 - HEL - ZRN - AY863 - 16:30 - 18:15

(Stop 1)

TUE Sep 25 - ZRN - LHR - BA709 - 07:00 - 07:55
TUE Sep 25 - LHR - ORD - AA87 - 10:15 - 12:55
TUE Sep 25 - ORD - LAS - AA425 - 14:30 - 16:15

Transit Night in Las Vegas, not classed as stopover

WED Sep 26 - LAS - LAX - AA1075 - 07:15 - 8:25
WED Sep 26 - LAX - ORD - AA1587 - 10:45 - 16:50
WED Sep 26 - ORD - BOS - AA154 - 17:25 - 20:40 (to tight?)

(Stop 2)

FRI Sep 28 - BOS - MIA - AA573 - 09:15 - 12:40
FRI Sep 28 - MIA - DFW - AA401 - 15:15 - 17:25
FRI Sep 28 - DFW - BNE - QF8 - 21:55 - 05:00+2
SUN Sep 30 - BNE - MEL - QF611 - 07:55 - 10:20

A Transit through JFK would be nice, (I could go ZRH-JFK-LAS) but that would then require another sector to be found. The oneworld booking tool states that this itinerary is okay. But some suggestions on improvements like pushing out some of the connections would be helpful.

Thanks,

First, you are only away for 8 or 9 days. Your last intercontenental flight has to be 10 days after your 1st flight. Second, from a QF status credits view point, LAS-LAX, ORD-BOS, & MIA-DFW do not maximize the QF status credits. Also, I would fly the 4 QF segments separately from the RTW since you are in Australia and those can be had for little money. Use the save segments for other longer segments. Lastly, I would drop the trip to JNB and instead use QF to SYD-HKG -CGK-NRT-SIN-LHR... for more status credits but fewer bonus miles.

Thanks - will look into your suggested routing, but any transit in Jakarta is not high on my list of things to do. I only need 1200 SC to renew Platinum, so anything over this will be a bit of a waste. Getting maximum FF points is a higher objective. I am also going to go to Brisbane a couple of times this year, so I will get my 4 Qantas flights. But this year is the exception. Last year I only did 2 Qantas flights in total (return economy to Brisbane), but my Platinum was renewed as I got over 2100 SCs the previous year.

Here is the flying I have done to date, so you can see the gaps I am trying to fill. http://my.flightmemory.com/GottaRequalify

So you can see why I was thinking about going via JNB and Finland.

Does the 10 day rule also apply to tickets started in South West Pacific, as it doesn't for the Star Alliance RTW tickets.

Hi,

I am planning a RTW trip out of Hong Kong, and have a few questions if the expert RTW travellers on this board could kindly help to answer:

1) I have done a fair amount of research online independently, and have a good idea of which countries I'd like to visit. However, I do not know any good travel agent in Hong Kong to help look through the itinerary (in case of any possible improvement in route etc.), and also to look into the possibility of the 2 additional sections per continent allowed under oneworld explorer rules (not available for online booking). Would anyone here know any good travel agent in HK? I spoke to someone at Flight Centre, but that person does not seem to know RTW rules etc. in much depth

2) Can you see any room for improvement for my draft itinerary below? This looks clear on oneworld's online booking tool. I plan to travel in business class, and am aware LAN's flights mostly do not have D:
HKG-NRT-SYD-DFW-ANC-DFW-LAX-MIA-MEX--UIO-LIM-SCL-BUE-LON-SIN-NRT-PEK
MEX-UIO is a surface sector, and SIN-NRT-PEK involves only transit in NRT

3) I am a CX frequent flyer, and wonder if MPC is the right programme for RTW miles accumulation? Are there any particular airlines that would not let MPC members accumulate miles?

4) And some specific aircraft / airline selection questions (understand each airline's forum would be a better place to ask, but just in case the experts here also know...)
- NRT-SYD: JAL 777 vs. Qantas 747?
- AA's domestic product seem to only have first or economy class. How would you rank the following aircraft's first class? Is there any difference, apart from MD-80 may the older aircrafts? 737-800, 757, 777, MD-80

Thanks a lot!

Why not do SIN-HND-PEK instead? You can check out HND facilities and more importantly fly on 787 (HND-PEK is planned to switch to 787 some time in late March and both HND-SIN and NRT-SIN in Sept)

Welcome to FT stormy11Since your itinerary is already maxed out at the allowed 16 segments, are you aware that the rule allowing additional segments in a continent does NOT allow the overall 16 segment maximum to be exceeded?

In other words if you want extra segments in a continent then you must drop segments elsewhere in your itinerary in order to keep to the 16 segment maximum.

OK HND-PEK may not see the 787 by end of March with the latest delay but you can still travel to HND instead to check out their new facilities

Thanks a lot for the advice! However, neither me nor my travel agent could find a connection time that works with HND...the flight to PEK leaves before flight from SIN arrives...I'll try searching again closer to travel time to see if the flight schedule changes

Was playing with the planner tool last night as I'm seriously considering a DONE4 RTW for my birthday this year. The routing I'm looking at is

AKL-xHKG-JFK-DFW-ANC-DFW-BOS-LHR-MCT-LHR-BOM-HKG-DEL-NRT-SYD-AKL

The OneWorldRTW tool flags two errors (red exclamation mark and all, for the cities highlighted above). The error reads

(i can see why it flags the arrival into BOM and departure from NRT to SYD as an error, as I'm yet to select the flights and only transit in HKG on my way from AKL to JFK, which would make LHR-BOM the first entry into Asia and NRT-SYD the departure form that continent)

Now, am I right in understanding that if the first entry into Asia is a transit then the itinerary is a valid one?

FWIW, mileage monkey says Yes.

Yes - your understanding is right (thought to be pedantic - it's as long as one of your entries into Asia is a transit, it can be the second entry)

I just plugged your itinerary into the tool, and got the same errors as you
then as soon as I selected the first two flights, with a <24 stay in HKG, the errors disappeared

Prior to the tool being available there were reports of the Asian transit being disallowed when the transit was not SWP-Europe. The wording of the rule is a bit ambiguous:But the tool allows any transit such as - yours which is SWP-Nth Am - and also Africa-SWP

So, with the recent price hike ex-JNB, which is the best Value For $$$$$ location to kick off a AONE*/DONE* ?

What hike?

JNB (USD)
LONE4 2886
LONE5 3310
LONE6 3892
DONE4 6355
DONE5 7308
DONE6 8592
AONE4 9651
AONE5 11094
AONE6 13013

What's changed?

Indeed.

I phoned Qantas an hour ago and the agent confirmed that a DONE4 and DONE5 ex-South Africa are ZAR4800 and ZAAR55200, prices being effective (accurate) from 1 March.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18100758-post13.html and another post in that thread is what I was going by....

Switching from * to OW
 

After a decade or so of RTW with Star, I'm considering a switch to OW for my next trip.

Has anyone here done the switch previously ?

Is there a comparison chart to speak of ?

I've done the Star RTW 12 times, in Economy and Business, and it is the most devalued 'product' in the system's history.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ex-UK xONEx
 

Hi - thinking of doing a RTW taking in Oz and HKG/China. Does anyone know where I can get hold of the prices for a DONE3?

Any itinerary involving Australia has to be a minimum 4-continent ticket.

Current price for a DONE4 ex UK is GBP 5719.

Even if you just transit in LAX on the way to SYD/BNE?

Yes. Any scheduled landing within any of the 6 continents defined in the fare rules counts as having visited that continent.
eg, HKG-xLHR-JFK-SYD-HKG is 4 continents, even though just connecting through Europe.
SYD-DFW-FRA-xSIN-MEL is 4 continents, even though no stopover is made in Asia.

Can you redeem miles/points for a Oneworld Explorer ticket, only if there is award inventory available for each individual segment that you want to fly?

Sorry if this a newbie question.

You can't redeem miles/points for a oneworld explorer ticket. The oneworld explorer ticket that is discussed in this thread is a paid round the world ticket.
If you want to redeem miles/points and go around the world or something similar and you have AA miles then look at this thread in the aa forum:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ers-award.html
And this chart on aa.com:
http://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/oneworld_awards.jsp

If you have BA miles then you can redeem segment by segment or on multiple carriers by mileage:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...s/public/en_us
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...s/public/en_us

If you have points/miles for other carriers you will have to look at the rules for those carriers. Generally, a flight must be available to book it.

No the OWE is a revenue ticket only.

Of course you can redeem miles for a similar route, or parts of one, depending on the particulars of your FF program, and on availability of the sectors. Each FF program will have its own requirements, restrictions, etc. Check in the airline-specific forums for details.

Interesting - thanks for the info. ^

I have has another idea. Can you count LHR - SYD on BA as one flight and therefore do LHR-SYD-LAX-LHR (to be brief) as a 3 continent trip?

It can count as one flight (if on a single flight number) but it still counts as EUR-ASIA-SWP. From the rules:
As stated earlier any itinerary including SWP must be four continents.

Thank you. I have 200K+ AA miles and 75K+ BA avios pts, so I will look into it further.

Aha! Many thanks ^

Other silly questions:
I can't find an up to date price list and the ones from oneworld.com have disappeared. Where can I find the prices?
Is there still a cost difference in starting elsewhere in the EU?

The same rule applies to Africa. It is not possible to have a 3 continent ticket when Africa or South West Pacific is used. The reason for this is that there are no OW operated flights between the Americas and Africa, thus no way to complete a 3 continent round the world trip. It is also the reason why you can enter some continents twice, provided one entry is a transfer without stopover.

It had been hoped that when MH joined, 3 continent trips using Africa/SWP could be possible, but MH recently pulled the route that would have allowed that.

Thanks to a motivated FTer there is a site with up to date fares available:

http://www.wandr.me/RTW_Fares.aspx/

More here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...s-options.html

Fantastic - thank you very much ^

Are one stop single number flights counted to the single transcon allowance? eg AA1843 BOS-SEA via ORD

Yes

the wording of the rule (Rule 4(l)) is:
AA1843 is a single plane service from BOS to SEA

Bugger. I hoped that wasn't the case (as a one stop "transcon" both has a stop and doesn't have to be the same aircraft on both sectors) :( Will need to look at other flight options.

Flight schedule and possible work issues are making me need to have an alternative to my planned DONE3. Without being able to use ANC for the alternative plan (being in Oct/Nov instead of Sep and the seasonal ANC flights have stopped) and network/sector limits are making the alternative planning difficult for my hoped stop overs.

I didn't find it mentioned in this thread: can the LCY-JFK flights be included in the oneworld Explorer? The airline seems to be included, but when I try to plan the trip on the web page the flight is never offered (as aren't other flights to/From LCY).

Thanks for a quick info

I believe the flight can be.

Perhaps the reason you're not seeing it is due to an absence of availability in the required booking class. Additionally, if you're looking at an economy fare, LCY-JFK-LCY operates only with J class which means it probably wouldn't show in the available results.

Yes, BA1/2/3/4 can be used as part of a DONEx or AONEx. I saw it appear on the booking tool a couple of days ago. It will only show up if the D bucket is available on that day.

Also bear in mind the fact that unless you are flying into LCY on the sector before (and not LHR) then you will use a sector getting from LHR-LCY on your D/AONE ticket.

So if I wanted to fly from the US to Austrailia and from there visit a couple
of south pacific islands and then to south africa and back the same way, I assume that would be considered a 3 continent journey?