RTw advice
 

Hi my name is Eric I am looking to do a RTW 6 continents in Nov 2005. I would like advise as to whether this itinerary fits into all the sectors, and if so could somebody please advise me , also how I could maximise miles , more the better
cai to lhr
lhr to cpt
cpt to sin
sin to hong kong
hong kong to perth via (syd on cx)
perth to adl
adl to darwin
darwin to cairns
surface to syd
syd to christchurch
surface to akl
akl to santago
santiago to lima
lima to buenes airies
surface to rio
rio to lax
lax to boston
boston to mia
mia to trinidad
trinidad to pueto rico
pueto rico to nyc
nyc to helsinki( finnair)
surface to moscow
moscow ro lhr
lhr to cairo
Thank you

Hi, Eric, welcome to FT!.

Several things wrong with your itinerary. Here are some of them:

* You cannot go to Moscow and Cairo from LHR, because Russia is in the list of countries restricted to only two flights to/from the UK.
* There are no direct OW flghts between CPT and SIN
* There are no direct OW flghts between RIO and LAX
* You have more than 20 segments.

See also this tool which is an excellent way of initially validating an itinerary.

Hi Viajero First of all Thank you for welcoming me , and secondly Thank you for your advice ,on my itinerary . I have redirected some of the itinerary ,hopefully this will be okay comments welcome
cai-lhr-lhr-cpt-surface-jnb- jnb-hkg-hkg-perth-perth-adl-adl-dar-dar-cairns surface to syd-syd -christchurch-surface akl -akl-santiago-lima-buenes aires-surface to rio -rio-lax I thought rio to lax was okay considering that it is a transcon? then lax to bos -mia-trinidad-trinidad -pueto rico-nyc-helsinki surface to moscow -lhr -lhr dxb
I would possibly have to pay for extra segments do you agree ?

Hi Ropmot 101 Thank you for the website , I have tried it , but unfortunately it has difficulty in interpretating airport codes ie. hkg , never the less I will endeavour to work it out Elo

Nope.

* You still have more than two 'restricted' long segments from LHR: cai-lhr, mow-lhr and lhr-dxb.

* RIO-LAX is not ok, because there is no direct OW flight between those cities. And it is not a transcon, it is an intercontinental segment, if it were possible, which it is not.

Thanks Viajero. I still have a lot of retuning to do , any suggestions? the main reason for cai start" is the fare , but it seems to complicate matters + too many lhr ELO

What is the text you're pasting into the OWE Validator? I've found it works fine (and I've used HKG in it too). Perhaps it's a problem with the way you're formatting it; you need to use the three-letter airport codes, and a single "-" with no spaces around it to separate them. "," can be used when a surface segment is required.

I have been told that surface segments are counted as a segment within the ticket, but I don't think the OWE validator counts them as such. Was the person telling me this wrong; i.e. do surface segments count as a regular segment towards the limit of 20?

They didn't last year - we used 20 flight segments and 5 surface segments in a LONE5. YM, as always, MV

Surface segments do not count as segments but do count as stopovers. CAI-MAD//LHR-xHKG-..., for example, is two segments, one stopover.

Yes.

* Study the FAQ sticky thread above.
* Learn and use the airport codes (LHR, HKG, etc.), at least those of the places you want to visit. You will need this knowledge to be able to use the tools below, and to better communicate with the forum.
* Learn to use the itinerary validator, as suggested.
* Learn to use the OW Electronic Timetable.

:rolleyes:
Thanks Viajero . Point taken I will get back to you ,when I have completed my learning curve, it certainly makes you appreciate what TA have to go through , when trying to book itinerary Elo

Hi Viajero I finally managed to get the hang of the airport jargon. The itinerary validator has been very helpful . cai-lhr-jnb-hkg-per-adl-drw-syd-akl-scl-lim-eze-gru-mia-lax-nyc-hel-lhr-dxb
am I right to assume that my itinerrary would still be okay drw-cns surface to syd -chc- surface to akl and then continue as planned . I would like to add more mileage any suggestions gratefully recieved .current mileage excluding my surface changes is 52633 Elo

Yes, that should be ok. If you want to see it you can put the new itinerary through the validator yourself, this way:

cai-lhr-jnb-hkg-per-adl-drw-cns,syd-chc,akl-scl-lim-eze-gru-mia-lax-nyc-hel-lhr-dxb

Edited to add: for us to give you hints to maximise the miles/points/etc., you should tell us what FF program you would be crediting these miles to, and also what class of xONEx you plan to buy.

Hi Viajero. I am a FF blue BA so I would like to build up to Saphire status , which I used to hold ,I would buy J class or even F class

I credit my miles to AA so will have to defer to the many BA experts here.

rtw advice
 

No worries, Thanks for all your help I managed to extend my miles by 2000+ by doing
nyc-sju-nyc. would like to do pos ,as I have friends there ,any tips also Validator keeps saying "No oneworld service to lhr from svo?

You have two transcons in NA - no can do.

Good morning Jerry. I am fairly new to FF At the moment this is my valid itinerary according to the Validator .cai-lhr-jnb-hkg-per-adl-drw-cns,syd-chc,akl-scl-lima-eze-gru-mia-lax 1st NA transcon. lax-nyc-sju-nyc-hel-lhr-dxb ,but the problem seems to be svo to lhr Elo

Try DME.

jerry a. laska is right, and the Validator wrong, probably because of the use of "NYC". Substitute such generic city code for JFK and you will see it.

Once again Viajero . Thanks I will check the Validator and do a a little diversion lax-bos
surface to nyc

MIA-LAX-BOS is still two transcons in NA which is prohibited by the rule I quoted above.

Thanks Jerry its back to the drawing board for me , it is still fun

How does one get round using the 6 segments for the NA avoiding the transcon, its blown my rtw apart Elo

You go GRU-DFW-LAX-JFK... not GRU-MIA-LAX-JFK....

If you want to get long segments in for BA tier points, remember that both ORD-SJU and DFW-SJU are over 2000 mi., and the SJU-LAX transcon is still in the schedule.

Hi Gardyloo. Thanks for the tips I will work them into my schedule, and hopefully I will be able to complete my Itinerary, and I thought work was hard? . Have a good day Elo

Ha! wait till you try to plan for a full RTW with your better half (BH)!

Self: "We have a few hours, great!, let's spend them in the Wing/Pier"
BH: "Let's go shopping"

Self: "Let's do a CAI turnaround"
BH: "Let's see the Cairo Museum".

Self: "Let's do DFW-ANC-ORD in two days!"
BH: "Are you nuts?"

Self: "Right, everything in the TravelPro!"
BH: "Piece system means ONLY two suitcases?"

Self: "But honey, MEL-LST-MEL is only 400 lousy miles!"
BH: "What's wrong with that?"

... :D

re Viajero & dialogue excerpts:

OMG I thought I had that conversation under copyright.

"Honey, we're going to Istanbul for three days to buy expensive plane tickets."

"Say what?"

Ahh. The joys of being single! Just picked up BOM-LHR return in biz on AZ for US $233 (see MR forum) as a mileage run in the middle of my AONE5. No way the GF would let me get away with that if she was along for the ride! :D

Hi Viajero I am yet to find my better half, and when I do Then rtw will be replaced with I want kids

Hi Gardyloo can you please veryfy ,if this rtw is okayValidator says it is okay ,but I am not so sure and if not can you refine it for me . The other problem is I cannot seem to get a dme to lhr then dxb ,however I can get hel-lhr-dxb .Confused I think I am My It. is as follows cai-lhr-cpt,jnb-hkg-per-adl-drw-cns,syd-chc,akl-scl-lim-eze-gru-dfw-lax-sju-jfk-hel-dme-lhr-dxb if all is okay is there still another way to maximise miles
Thanks ELO

We are back to square one: you cannot have three 'restricted' longhaul segments from the UK: cai-lhr, dme-lhr, lhr-dxb.

Edited to add: what you have to keep in mind is that if you start in CAI, and want to transit through LHR on the outbound and the inbound, then you simply have to forget the idea of going to Russia or any other country in the 'restricted' list, because the two trips you make to/from CAI, are the only two you are allowed to make; that's it; maximum two.

It seems to me that the easiest fix is to substitute MAD for LHR on either the initial flight (i.e. CAI-MAD) or on returning from Russia (i.e. DME-MAD.) In order to keep Cape Town on the itinerary and stay at 20 segments, you'd still need to do a surface segment somewhere, either JNB-CPT-JNB since IB doesn't go to CPT, or DME-MAD/LHR-DXB since IB don't go to Dubai.

Just a couple of thoughts. It looks like HKG is your only Asia stop, adding a lot of cost, whereas you could go JNB-SYD, save some money, and use the ticket somewhere else, maybe in North America.

If one of your aims is maximum miles or BA tier points, consider reversing the order of N. America and S. America so as to benefit from the long through-flights offered. For example, the following itinerary is somewhat similar to yours (no HKG, GRU or CHC) but adds in some serious mileage like SYD-JFK:
CAI-LHR-CPT/JNB-SYD-DRW-PER-CNS-SYD-JFK-DFW-SJU-LAX-SCL-IPC-SCL-LIM-EZE-MAD-DME-MAD/LHR-DXB

I think it's legal and it adds something like 11,000 miles and around 400 BA points to your itinerary. Skipping Asia makes the ticket cheaper, too.

The segments in bold would be a problem.

(I cleaned up the line breaks)
9N . 2. FREE FLIGHT SEGMENTS WITHIN EACH CONTINENT ARE
10N . LIMITED AS FOLLOWS:
11N .
12N . ---------------------------------------
13N . I CONTINENT I NUMBER OF FREE I
14N . I I FLIGHT SEGMENTS I
15N . ---------------------------------------
16N . I AFRICA I 4 I
17N . ---------------------------------------
18N . I ASIA I 4 I
19N . ---------------------------------------
20N . I NORTH AMERICA I 6 I
21N . ---------------------------------------
22N . I SOUTH AMERICA I 4 I
23N . ---------------------------------------
24N . I SOUTH WEST I 4 I
25N . I PACIFIC I I
26N . ---------------------------------------
27N . I EUROPE/MIDDLE I 4 /SEE NOTE 1./ I
28N . I EAST I I
29N . ---------------------------------------
30N NOTE 1: NO MORE THAN 2 FREE SEGMENTS BETWEEN THE U.K.
31N AND:
32N .
33N .
34N . ALGERIA ARMENIA AZERBAIJAN BAHRAIN BULGARIA CYPRUS
35N .
36N .
37N . EGYPT GEORGIA GREECE IRAN ISRAEL JORDAN
38N .
39N . KUWAIT LEBANON MACEDONIA MALTA MOROCCO OMAN
40N .
41N .
42N . FUNCHAL, PORTUGAL QATAR ROMANIA RUSSIA SAUDIA ARABIA SYRIA
43N .
44N .
45N .
46N . TUNISIA UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UKRAINE YUGOSLAVIA

So the 2 segments involving London are CAI-LHR and LHR-DXB. Spain (MAD-DME-MAD) isn't mentioned.

Or I could be wrong - that would be a first. :rolleyes:

No, not wrong, just a misunderstanding on my part. When I saw MAD/LHR (one slash) I took it to mean MAD or LHR, now I see you meant it as MAD//LHR (two slashes, for a surface segment). Sorry.

Ahhh. I was confused. What I meant to say is that I have been told that a surface segment will force the issue of a paper ticket instead of an e-ticket.

One World RTW Business/First class
 

I could not find the prices either for Star Alliamce or One world RTW tickets. I need to make a trip soon and would greatly appreciate how to go about and buy these tickets. Are there any discounts off the published fares ? ANy travel agent that you recommend ? Thanks.