Route/Ticket Advice Please
 

Hi,

I need to do the following trip in January:

Shannon to Philadelphia to seattle to beijing to snn.

I normally fly BA wt+, but will try to get a good deal in J to relax the powers that be. Can any of you advise what type of ticket I should get? I normally go from point a to b so am not up to RTW tix etc.

Thanks in advance.

The good news is that your proposed trip is easily converted into a OneWorld RTW, and that the cost of the RTW ticket in business is almost surely less than a point-to-point ticket in Economy/WT+.

The bad news is that once you find out about the various options you’ll have, the more you’re likely to go bonkers planning the trip.

The simplest thing is a DONE3 – that’s a OneWorld Explorer, or RTW, in business, hitting 3 continents. The price is €5999 plus taxes. The simplest itinerary would look something like this:

• SNN-LHR-PHL (you could theoretically also go SNN-BOS on EI then BOS-PHL on AE, but that would be a stultifyingly stupid thing to do).
• PHL-SEA via ORD or DFW
• SEA-JFK-HKG-PEK (you have to get to HKG as that’s the only gateway to PEK on this fare, but you’ve got several other, less desirable options, all beginning with SEA-DFW. You could then do DFW-NRT on AA and then to HKG on CX, or DFW-SFO or DFW-LAX and then CX to HKG)
• PEK-LHR-SNN

Now, if you had the time and inclination, there are several side trips that you could schedule along the way (Bali, Puerto Rico, Dubai, etc), but that’s where the bonkers bit comes into play.

Alternatively take a comfortable and quite scenic 4 hr train ride, USD 25 in ecnonmy, USD 40 in business (wider seat, better service - does that sound familiar?) from Seattle to Vancouver BC and use the YVR-HKG daily on CX.

Sounds very interesting. Are the border formalities for a non-US citizen easier/harder/the same in comparison to a connection by air? Say one wanted to catch CX 839, what SEA train departure should one aim for, to be on the safe side?

There's only one train a day - leaves Seattle 0745 - arrives Vancouver around 1130 (from memory); so getting to YVR for CX 839 (1450) ought to be doable - 20 min. cab ride from the station. To be safe, though (it is Amtrak after all) I'd go for CX 829 or CX 889 (both late night) and enjoy a day of dim sum and totem pole viewing in Vancouver, then chill at a lounge at YVR.

Customs is probably easier on the train than in cars; I haven't flown the SEA-YVR hop in some time so don't know how customs are currently handled. I don't believe there's an international transit lounge at YVR but could be wrong.

Not overly important, but AA dropped the PHL-BOS route a while back, unfortunately.

Thanks a lot guys, I figured a DONE3 was the right ticket, having looked at your ideas and I am inclined to drop the seattle leg (as this was to meet a friend and not part of work). Does AA not fly direct to PEK?

There are only codeshares operated by China Eastern Airlines and you can't use these in a XONEX fare.

My travel agent says that my routes do not qualify for around the world?? She says that I have to take in Australia?

Your route is totally valid for a 3-continent RTW; adding Australia makes it a 4-continent RTW and increases your price (and her commission?) big time. Suggest you call the BA RTW desk in London, (someone have the phone number?) explain your itinerary, and they will help you all the way to ticketing.

You should probably note that the cost of DONE3s originating in Ireland are higher than almost anywhere else - over 600€ more than originating in the UK, 1500€ more than originating in any of the continental Euro countries (and even greater savings in some Eastern European countries.) It might be well worth your time to hop over to some other country for purchasing and ticketing - see a number of threads on this board for related topics, and look at the sticky at the top of the board for links to pricing.

That is nonsense. You may wish to get another TA. It is a perfectly valid xONE3. I should know - xONE3 are not available in Oz - minimum is xONE4 from here.

BEWARE- if you do change things to AMTRAK YVR-SEA there is the train (which I have yet to experience), but the three or so other trips in the daily schedule are by bus (AKA coach). My one experience with that was terrible. Air Con was not working and only hot air came out of the vents. The bus was like an over for 4 hrs - hellish. Never again. No sorry or anything. The border formalities are about 30 min with all out / all bags off for checking. The only people who got the full search treatment were those obviously from India. The customs officials showed a disgusting display of racism - welcome to the USA.