Longhaul US flights not considered transcons by OneWorld rules
 

The current RTW guidelines consider these city pairs to be transcon:

BWI/BOS/FLL/BDL/MIA/EWR/NYC/ORL/PHL/SJU/YYZ/WAS and one of
LAS/LGB/LAX/OAK/SNA/PDX/SAN/SFO/SEA/SJC/YVR.

Are there any flights that are long distance but not picked up here? 2 years ago, there was a flight from LAX-SXM with 1 flight number - very nice for getting us into the Caribbean.

I am struggling with the US portion of an RTW I want to book. I've got 4 sectors available for the US. I'd like to go somewhere that I can't get to inexpensively in the normal course of events. I'd love to go to a new Caribbean island such as Aruba. I can do one direction with just two segments - SAN-JFK-AUA - but due to the transcon rules, can't do the return in 2 segments.

Are there any Caribbean islands with flights to DFW or ORD (other than San Juan - been there, done that, little interest in going again). Are there any quirks such as LAX-SXM?

I'd like to fly in and out of SAN, but can use LAX as a jumping off point to save sectors.

Once upon a time there was a thread that addressed this. hauteboy might have been a key contributor - but I haven't found it.

And is there a resource where I can look at all the nonstop and direct flights from a particular city on a particular airline? Obviously, I want to do this for ORD and DFW for AA.

I don't know if things have changed, but we've been using the really cheap JFK-LGB flights to fill in one direction. Of course if you're also up against a two-stopover limitation, that may not help.

Good thought - and I don't believe I've got a stopover restriction, as I'll be originating in CAI again.

You are allowed to take 6 flights in North America; but perhaps you have two already identified and you are referring to 4 remaining; or perhaps you are up to your 20 segment total limit. Regarding getting across the country it can be done easily based on where you are coming from. Then again I don't know if you are possibly trying to maximize mileage, as opposed to just getting to your AUA destination. Based on my assumption that you are flying east since you are trying to get across the country I will outline a few options based on assumptions listed at the beginning of each.

1. Flying east from Asia. Out of NRT fly AA to JFK. Out of HKG fly CX to JFK. In both cases connect to AUA flight out of JFK, but make sure you arrive in a manner that allows you to take the Saturday only flight from JFK to AUA. If you are doing Asia followed by Oceana/Australia you are allowed to do these continents in any order - in other words you can do Australia first and then Asia. You can also maximize mileage accrual this way by doing Europe - Australia/Oceana - Asia - North America - Europe.

2. Another way to maximize mileage is to fly HKG to YVR, then do an Alaskan Cruise followed by an ANC to DFW and on itinerary. Bad news is that the ANC-DFW flight is Domestic FC w/NO sleeper seats. But then again I don't know what class you intend to travel. Unfortunately there are no ANC -> JFK flights even though CX route maps indicate there is - if you find out otherwise please let me know. Obviusly this later option does not solve your AUA problem of getting there in the least number of flights, but it does provide another option for visiting someplace you would not normally consider and at the same time give you a bunch of mileage accrual (ANC -> DFW 3043 miles) and this is not considered a Trancon.

Another way to maximize mileage accrual is to fly to Europe from the west coast and fly from Asia to the East Coast (previously mentioned). Well, hopefully I have given you some things to consider; but my guess is that these weren't quite the answers you were looking for. Oh, BTW if you are flying west from Europe I believe there are some flights directly from LHR and MAD to Caribbean/CA destinations (MIA, SJO, SJU, and SDQ to name a few).

Good luck.

aaupgrade, you've put a great deal of time and thought into your response, and I appreciate it. Let me go a little more into my RTW plans. I'll be buying a four continent first class ticket in CAI, then flying to the States and spending time at home. During that period, I'll use my domestic flights - which as you guessed, are limited to 4 because I need my other sectors elsewhere. My domestic trip will be standalone, with time at home before and after.

It's not important to me to maximize miles on my domestic travel. I'm more interested in going somewhere interesting and expensive to reach in the normal course of airfare sales. I haven't done much travel in the Caribbean or Central America, so those are interesting possibilities - also, I'm likely to travel in March or April so don't care to head north. (I went to St Martine two trips ago; I went to Bermuda this year. At the time, St Martine took 4 segments, but Bermuda took 5 - the classic problem with almost any Caribbean destination it appears.)

I do have some concern for comfort, so the summer ANC flights don't suit - they leave ANC in the middle of the night.

I have found some possibilities:

- Belize via DFW
- San Salvador via DFW - or SAN-DFW-SAL-LAX (there is nonstop LAX-SAL service I've discovered) - but a very quick read on El Salvador doesn't make it sound inviting.

Well, if San Salvador doesn't sound inviting then you aren't going to like what I have to say about Belize. I was there back in 1998 and it too was not very inviting. Very poor, and high petty crime. We were on the Belize Aggressor live aboard dive boat for the week and for anyone that dives I highly recommend it; however I would not recommend a land based trip unless you are into that rustic atmosphere of Ambergris Caye and don’t mind hour or so boat rides to the outer atolls. Other than diving there are some Aztec ruins, but that's about it unless you are into roughing it on eco tours.

Now there are flights from DFW to SJO (San Jose, Costa Rica) which is a beautiful country with lots to do. Volcanos, Black, white and yellow sand beaches, scuba diving, eco tours, rain forrest tours, butterfly farms, jungle river rides, Coffee plantation, etc. Sunrise breakfast on Caribbean beach, lunch picnic on a volcano, and sunset dinner on the pacific. Well you get the idea. San Jose is kind of nice for a day or two. We have customers down there and have visited numerous times - and will be back there later this month. FWIW, Costa Rica has the highest literacy rate in North America.

Yes, YGPM.

One World Distances Not the current timetable but may help

If SJO does take your fancy, consider AA927/938 LAX-SJO-LAX. This flight commences 5 Nov 04, and goes daily from 17 Dec, and at 2,722 miles its longer than a transcon :)

Now there's one that may well prove popular with the QF Frequent Flyers around, anything over 2,700 miles is certainly sought after! Good to have a winter alternative to the ANC runs I'm sure! :D

It's so very much a matter of personal taste, but we've not been able to find any Caribbean to love. So much of it is geared toward the mass-market cruise ship crowd. SXM seemed to have a nice flavor but we haven't done much there. Did ANC last summer and also found little to love. The Seward glacier boat tour was worthy, and I suspect there are some great adventures lurking not far from civilization, but we didn't get there. YQB at Christmas was just glorious, but it's hard to get to.

Yeah, the LAX-SJO-LAX is definitely going to be good for the QF earners... :) but of course you'll only earn Biz-class credit even if on a AONEX (caribbean/mexico are considered Biz).. so not as good as DFW-ANC or SFO-BOS which earn first class SC's.

I'll have to run my script on the latest schedule to see the longest flights.. LAS-POS or POS-LAS was a good one until recently.

I have booked on my current DONE4 LAX-SJD-LAX. Not exactly a long flight, but one of the few single flight numbers from LAX area which allows for a separate other domestic trip via DFW.

May not suit you as would leave you with 2 sectors...

Here's the current list >2000 mile 'domestic' flights:

Amazing, simply amazing. Thank you, hauteboy. That post will be printed out and digested at leisure.