I'll be embarking on a 3-month RTW trip (AONE5 - skipping S Amer) around the beginning of January from NY, heading westbound (would rather be in Europe in March/April than in January...)

Does anyone have any advice/recommendations as to whether I should do (1) ANZ - Asia - Africa - Europe, or (2) Asia - ANZ - Africa - Europe?

The way I see it, option 1 would have me flying QF F from JFK to SYD (744), and then I would get to experience CX F from HKG to JNB (744). With option 2 I could do JFK-HKG in CX F (A340) and SYD-JNB in QF F on the (744).

Is either of these options better?

Any other considerations, e.g., weather, special events, etc. I'm planning about 2 weeks in ANZ and 3 weeks in Asia (Japan, HKG, Thailand, SIN).

Thanks!

It's marginal IMO. I have a slight preference for the CX 744 F environment over the Airbus, but the service is identical. One thing to bear in mind is that Chinese New Year next year falls on 9 February which means that flights in the region may be a little harder to get for a week either side. Note also that in HK and Singapore some places are shut (for one day at least) and it is very much a family time; it can also be harder / more expensive to get hotels. However, you would get to see the fireworks if you are in HK on the evening of (I think) 10 February.

(I guess there is also a smaller CNY celebration in Sydney, but you might have to hunt it out)

Isn't one direction going to add 2-3 hours of in-flight time to a RTW?

Should I be worried about 2-3 hours in the air on a 3-month trip???

So how much time in Africa? Just SA or elsewhere? Reason for asking is that if you're planning on wildlife viewing the height of summer is not the best time in many areas - it's the rainy season, foliage too tall to see critters, and water is too plentiful to make rivers/waterholes the big draw.

I've been fooling with an RTW that would go NA-SWP-Africa and have concluded that the best time (for us) that's compatible with Kruger-area visits in SA is May/June, which is not the best time, obviously, to see our first priority in the SWP, South Island in NZ. So we're now looking at changing our plan to skip SWP this time altogether, and make it NA-Asia-Africa-Europe instead. (We're starting in Europe in January then using the North American sectors over the winter/spring.) Hopefully we will be able to finance a back-to-back RTW that will then allow us to do South America and the SWP at a better time of year, which for us would likely be Feb-April the following year.

Maybe this is OT and I should put it in a new thread, but I'll ask anyway. We will be doing DONE4s, and I'm trying to decide on transpacific itinerary. Current choices are (USA)-NRT (AA) or (USA)-HKG (CX). We want to go to Japan on this trip, and we'll have enough segments to "backtrack" from HKG to NRT (or NGO or KIX) if we want, but on the other hand we could probably use those segments elsewhere too. We'll be going HKG-JNB on CX as it is, so we'll see what the CX 744 J product is like; we'll previously have gone YVR-JFK on CX (744 or 343) too. I'm under the impression that CX is preferred by many, but I don't think I've seen it weighed against the AA experience in business. Thanks for any guidance and apologies for the diversion from ijgordon's question.

I'm sorry... I wasn't thinking of your specific case. I heard several different things that affect selecting which direction, continent to continent makes the most sense. In my case, yes, I would like to know more about which direction to fly to minimize time in the air, as I am not thinking of it in the aggregate of a three month trip, but rather, would I prefer a 10 hour flight or an 11.5 hour flight. For me, flight time and flight miles earned are very significant as I try to plan my first RTW.

I hope my interests can be accomodated in your thread.

In general, going from west to east is faster because you are traveling with the jetstream. Depends really on where the jetstream is (it shifts) and how strong it is. One of the directions also is better for jetlag. I dont get it so I dont know what direction it is but I am sure someone else here does.

Personally I find it much easier jetlag wise to fly west (but this could also be due to the fact that I'm not really a morning person, so staying up late and waking up late -the effect of having a negative time difference- is much easier )

-jani

Well, for me, day or night flights also comes into the equation if you are doing this for fun. For example, most HKG to SYDs are night whereas the northbounds are usually day flights. Can you sleep in F or not? I agree that the 747 vs 340 on CX would have me heading for the 747 flight, if the time of day was right. For example, I much prefer the day flight HKG to LHR than the night flights. Therefore, it is the CX airbus over the 747 options operated by CX and BA (and soon QF but I have not looked up their time of departure from HKG yet). this applies to all classes of travel as I stay awake for the whole flight to give me awake for 24 hours, very tired on landing but it is about 2200 local UK time. Therefore, zzzz for 8 hours and no jetlag.

If you want status points then there may be a difference but I don't know which programme you are crediting here. If you want mileage, that may be different. If you hate flying then cut down the time. If you get status bonus miles on some carriers but not others then that may affect things also.

Tell us more...

Which of the options are you thinking about from your post, the include SWP or not. In the quote you are NA-Asia-Africa and then it must be Europe-NA which would put you into the DONE5 category. For DONE4 out of Africa you only have 3 ways in/out, Asia, SWP and Europe and you must use Europe as one of them. Your options are NA-SWP-Africa-Europe-NA or NA-Asia-Africa-Europe-NA or the vice versas.

If you start another thread with all your requirements then there is the possibility that a circle fare or a GLOBEX might suit what you want to do better for either/neither of the two tickets.

My suggestion is to try and find a VIP, take AA, and upgrade to first. Otherwise, CX unless you want to go somewhere else in Asia and need an extra segment. Some dont like the tilted beds, but I like the flat over the cradle any day of the week. But I would do AA first over either just for the beds. The one flight I took to Japan was mixed. The beds were nice, the food was good, the wine was okay (except the plum wine which was a treat), but the FA was very very strange. It wasn't long after 9/11 and I suppose it's justifiable that the FAs would be a bit skittish but some of what she did was just very odd. In any event, AA F is nicer than CX J so that's my suggestion.

I should have been clearer, sorry.

I started out planning Europe-NA-SWP-Africa-Europe, but because of the seasonality issues (Africa needs May/June, which is not compatible with NZ unless skiing is on the agenda - not) I think we are changing to Europe-NA-Asia-Africa-Europe. Thus I was curious about the advantages of AA vs. CX in J between NA and Asia, especially if I wanted to use NRT as the entry point. But the idea of using the RTW D coupon JFK-NRT or ORD-NRT then upgrading with AA miles (no VIPs) into First is intriguing.

I'll start a new thread with more questions and itinerary options later. Thanks to all.

No prob -- I was just confused by the post. I actually don't mind the extra time -- more time to sleep, eat, drink, watch movies. Of course this in in F. I just want the best experience since I'm forking over all the $$$. If someone says that the QF 744 is preferrable to the CX 346, that's what I want to know.

Also note that on CX from HKG-JNB sometimes it is operated by the dreaded 34D!!! Hence no F Class.

Also note that QF also operates a 2 Class (J and Y) on the 744 it serves JNB some of the itme!!!

so BEWARE BEWARE!!!!

The ensure you definitely get the F seats you should go via BA, but I guess you want to do Europe last??

That is why I never want to fork out the extra 3000-4000AUD for an AONEX ticket as it is getting harder and harder to get maximise the F Class flights.

Also your concern over QF/CX and 744 vs 346.

I will say this. CX's F Class will BEAT QF's F Class by a mile anyday!
I prefer the 744 then the 346 or 34C or 333 in F class. But if I have to choose between QF and CX then even is cx does not operate the 744 on that route I will still take CX over QF!

I think you can do this:

JFK-HKG (CX)
Asia sectors
HKG-SYD/MEL (CX)
SYD/MEL-xHKG (Transit within 24 hours)- LHR (on CX) you MIGHt be able to get away with JNB depending on how strict they interp. the rules.
That way you can maximise the CX F class experience!!!!

In order of preference I think you should plan on maximise F Class scetors on the following Carriers:

1) CX
2) BA
3) QF
4) IB(if they still have F Class)
5) AA (ONLY use this if it is really neccesary...)

have not tried LA so can't comment and AY does not have F Class

LA F class is from very good to excellent. Seats are good to very good (763 v 340) and I've never had a bad segment. My worst F segment was 'acceptable' and my best have been among the best anywhere. IFE is ok. One of the best qualities is one of the worst - the cabin only has 1 row of 5 seats. Often there is only 1 A seat for sale. However, if you score one of them, it is a very private and fairly spacious cabin, given that there are only max 5 pax, 2 FAs, and 1 row. I'd be tempted to fly them MAD/SCL or AKL/SCL if I had the opportunity. (There is generally no 3 cabin service within South America unless the plane is making a stop to/from elsewhere - however, a shorter flight in J on their 2 cabin service is perfectly good.)