Well, I just checked the Carlson Wagonlit site (replacement for AMEX ITN) and all it shows are economy class inventories. I really doubt that there is business class on that MD-11 MIA-HEL.

There may be J seats sold as Y. If it still matters I would pick up the phone and call AY, aka the horse's mouth. But ending in IST seems to preclude HEL anyway.

MIA-(MAD)-BCN-IST on IB is also an option; one flt. no. MIA-BCN.

You still have a good chance towards EXP. You get 1.5 Qpoints for D class and with your original calculations of 67,504 miles your points excedd 100K...

new itin - achieves AA EXP
 

ok, here we go. Incorporated all your feedback, MIA-HEL is out, i managed to snake in a CX flight transcon and hopefully make AA EXP in the process.
Here's the itin:

ist-lhr-dxb-lhr-sin-mel-drw-per-cbr-syd-bom-bkk-hkg-del-hkg-jfk-sjo-lax-sjo-jfk-yvr-lax-lhr-ist

66785 miles on GCM x 1.5 = over 100k q points. Stopovers in order are, dxb,mel,drw,syd,bom,del,hkg,jfk,lax,sjo,jfklhr

One V Imp question. on a continuing flight , do you get point to point miles or total miles actually flown:

Ex AA2915 LAX-DFW-GUA is listed in the timetable as 2560 miles which = LAX-DFW + DFW-GUA. But actual straight mileage LAX-GUA is 2190. IF I BOOK AA 2195 FROM LAX-GUA WILL I GET 2560 MILES ACTUALLY CREDITED OR ONLY 2190.

I have continuing flights on BA/QF , CX, and AA so if rules differ for different OW airlines please let me know.

Thanks

2190

Then why does the LAX-GUA show as 2560 miles on the timetable? It's a bit misleading no:

From AA timetable:

Guatemala City GT (GUA) 2564mi
11:17a 8:24p AA2195 DH4 0 2:20
Above EFF. Jan 31

There is no straight flight to GUA, you have to
go through DFW so I don't see why you would get the mileage as if you had flown straight.

You have a new issue on your updated itinerary. YVR-LAX is operated by Alaskan. There is no direct AA operated flights between YVR and LAX.

-jani

That's the deal - with one flt. no it's the direct mileage irrespective of the intermediate points. If you want the composite mileage, you'll need to stop over in DFW, but burn one of you 20 tix.

And you're discovering one of AA's/OW's huge gaps - lousy coverage on the N. America west coast. Any routes to/from WA, OR, BC, ID, AB, MT, or AK that originate anywhere except ORD, DFW, STL or JFK, or v.v., are operated by AS. You'll get full AA EQM/EQP riding on AS, but won't be able to use any xONEx segments.

The good news is that you can nest an AS ticket pretty easily within your OWE and flesh out your itinerary. Even coach is quite tolerable on most of the 1-3 hr. hops on the west coast such as LAX-YVR.

Well, i count 23 segments, so you are 3 over the limit. Did you mean bom-hkg (since I think this flight has an intermediate stop at BKK)? That would eliminate 1 segment. Also, I would buy a separate tix, cbr-syd and save another segment. And if you do another tix for yvr-lax, then you are down to the max of 20 segments.

I think in the normal convention what Gardyloo is proposing for the OWE is:
ist-lhr-dxb-lhr-mel-drw-per-cbr-syd-bom-hkg-del-hkg-jfk-sjo-lax-sjo-jfk-yvr//lax-lhr-ist
with a separate ticket on AS (as AA codeshare) for YVR-LAX. This would be OK I believe. Agree also that SYD-CBR is a waste - a separate ticket (or a train/car or something) would be better.

Gardyloo,

The normal terminology for what you are calling "continuation" fliights is "direct" flights. "Direct" means that there is a single flight number (and hence a single ticket coupon) covering the whole flight, even if there is one or more intermediate stops. When getting this ticketed you don't need to refer to the intermediate stops - that will just confuse people - just refer to LHR-MEL and BOM-HKG.

You're right; I don't know where I called them "continuations" but "direct" is the proper nomenclature. I think, though, that "direct" in many people's minds means "no stops," like "I'm going directly to your father." I typically refer to them as "through" flights.

AS flights don't need to be booked using the AA codeshare no. for EQM/P purposes. If fact, at the airport when you try to type in an AA locator to the e-machine, it burps and sends you to the human, who will then cut the BP with AS' own number on it. Just make sure your AAdvantage no. is in the right box.

new itin - 67974 miles
 

As always, helpful input. I forgot to mention that cbr-syd was by car, sorry. Did it to avoid the transcon rule in OZ. Here's the new itinerary. No AS, not ready to buy another ticket just to enjoy CX Transcon.

1) ist-lhr
2) lhr-dxb
3) dxb-lhr
4) lhr-mel
5) mel-drw (transcon)
6) drw-per
7) per-cbr cbr to syd by land
8) syd-bom
9) bom-hkg
10) hkg-del
11) del-hkg
12) hkg-jfk
13) jfk-sjo
14) sjo-lax
15) lax-sju (transcon)
16) sju-jfk
17) jfk-sjo
18) sjo-lax
19) lax-lhr
20) lhr-ist

Total Miles 67974 on GCM. Hows that! flying through SJO a second time might be a bit painful, but the lax-sjo flight arrives in the morning and sjo-jfk takes off at 1:45 so should be ok. Leave LAX one night and arrive in JFK next evening.

By the way, the terminology "continuing" comes from OW, I think. On the timetable it list the "nonstop,direct,1stop and more choices" however, when you pull up a through itin like BA 17 lhr-sin-syd, it lists the second flight as a "continuing flight".

That looks OK. Remember only two stopovers out of LHR, DXB, LHR, LHR.

Just wanted to confirm that the HEL-MIA-HEL is Y only. The J-class seats are sold for a premium but in-flight service is Y. J-seats are a little like Y+ on these flights. The flight is code-shared with AA.