DONE5 Ex-CAI
 

Is the following a permitted routing in a DONE5:

Eur - Africa - Asia - SWP - S.Am - Eur

I am a rookie at this so please bear with me. I am having trouble finding flights from JNB to Asia. (I would be willing to go NBO to Asia). I have found a CX codeshare from JNB to HKG, but the codeshare is not permitted (it appears to be South African Airways metal). Preferred destinations in asia are DEL, BKK, HKG, & SIN (no preference as to order). Preference is to go from SWP to South America, as being from North America orginally, I don't particarly want to travel there on my trip around the world. Travel is to be during spring/summer of '05.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Yes.


ITN.NET shows flight CX748, JNB-HKG, daily except Tue, in spring 2005



It can be done, but make your decision months before your planned date, because it is very difficult to get D or A inventory on that route (SYD-SCL).

The QF flight # can be a useful backup to availability under the LA designator for this route.

Not sure if you have status on any OW program, but Sapphire or Emerald works wonders for freeing up seats when D availibility is nil. A quick calls to LA reservations usually works wonders :)

Does it make any difference if you board at AKL insted of SYD on the SCL flight? Set-asides for AKL boarders, or first come first served? Does Lan have traffic rights SYD-AKL? (Shows up on the OW timetable but I don't know how trustworthy that is.) Thx.

For an OWE I don't know. With 'normal' fares it has been my experience that trying to book AKL-SCL only (or v.v.) gives you less of a chance of securing a seat. I suppose that from LA's point of view it makes a lot more sense to sell the full SYD-SCL sector, after all there's people lined up for a mile to buy it; why would they want to lose SYD-AKL to QF?

Edited to add: yes, LA has trafic rights SYD-AKL.

Thanks for the information on JNB-HKG.

How far in advance should I ticket the trip to guarantee D seats on the SYD-SCL route? I am looking at travelling out of Australia sometime in mid to late July? The trip will originate from CAI late May early June? Is ticketing in February too late for two adult passengers?

Thanks again for the help.

July is peak season from/to SCL, because of the mid-term 2-3 week winter school holiday (moving dates), so I would monitor the availability as far in advance as possible. I am not game enough to suggest how far in advance, let alone talk about guarantees. My advice is simply to be aware this is a tricky part of your trip, and unless you are willing to go up to a DONE6, and route via LAX, you have nothing to fall back on if that sector fails.

SWP to SCL
 

I would try to nail the SCL sector now. If you can at least get a confirmed Y, waitlist J then you will travel. Otherwise you are standby for as long as it takes. If you know now that SCL via south pacific is not going to work, or you are not prepared to travel economy, or risk the D class waitlist, then you have more time to plan/save for xONE6.

Spotwelder