number_6

I suspect the "confused" refers to open-dated sectors. Without getting into that whole discussion and presenting the pros/cons of open-dated tickets, for this thread the significance is as follows:

if a ticketed flight is discontinued (e.g. seasonal flight ends early, etc.), then if the discontinued sector is open-dated you must reissue the ticket and make your own rerouting -- no help from the airline. If the discontinued flight is dated, the airline will reroute you without requiring a reissue of the ticket and even if the reroute breaks the rules of your ticket. This actually is normal irregular operation policy, but only applies for a dated ticket. Thus you can wind up with more than 20 sectors on the RTW ticket.

foreigner

My apologies for just saying "confused". That confused some of the readers. I was unsure which would be best routing. I know I cannot travel before Oct, so that throws out ANC. I would like to max. QFF points and SCs. Being QF Gold, I have a chance to move up another notch.

I am fine with travel up to JFK. From there it gets confusing for me, in picking the best sectors. In Europe, I am not bothered with any destination, like DXB or IST. I dont mind visiting PRG.

On the return, I realised after reading some posts that AKL was out. And I understand SYD-MEL does not make a useful choice. I dont mind PER or CNS.

I come up with the following and I hope some suggestions may come up for consideration:

syd-akl-hkg-BOM-HKG-KHI-HKG-JFK-sju-lax-dfw-ord-sfo-LHR-ist-lhr-dxb-LHR-mel-cns-syd

f

Viajero

This is a waste of a segment unless of course you really want to visit Dallas.

number_6

AA is starting a new flight JFK-SJD-JFK, using that would add over 2K miles, JFK-sjd-jfk-ord-sju-lax

Kiwi Flyer

Nicely over 2400 miles each way so zone 4 SC earning on QFF ^

Gardyloo

SJD is not (*yet*) on the transcon city pair list, so you could seriously bump your NA OWE total with some (admittedly hellish 757-bound) mileage runs. Winter only, like LAX-SJO (but not LAX-SAL) so can't be combined with ANC. Again, though, no first class, only business (unlike ANC.)

foreigner

syd-akl-hkg-BOM-HKG-KHI-HKG-JFK-sjd-jfk-ord-sju-lax-LHR-ist-lhr-dxb-LHR-mel-cns-syd

Thanks Kiwi Flyer. So this could be my next trip. Now I need go see the TA. Just wondering how many QF ff points and SCs will accrue, in economy and with my QF gold status.

f

headinclouds

Be forewarned that economy class RTW's book into L class on all OW airlines. That is the discount economy SC earning table. BA earns 25% miles, AA & CX earns 50% miles so it would be best to book as many QF flights as possible. Lastly, QF gold status bonus of 50% is only for flights on QF/BA/AA and is for the miles earned, ie BA would be 37.5% and AA would be 75% of actual flown miles.

lovetravellingoz

This string is all a great read in terms of maxising SCs and or/mileage.

However one extra factor/question that occurs to me is adding in the $ effect of airport taxes/ fuel fines.

SCs have a value beyond the raw dollars....but I guess are more significant if it is a L ticket for a low status FF mainly after points.


Are airport taxes much the same for airport to airport?

Adding lots of extra segments adds extra points, but does it outway the extra fuel fines and aiport taxes? Particularly on shorter segments.

For these 65K routes what would the fuel fines/taxes add up to be?

Viajero

It isn't possible to answer such a general question. Fuel surcharges vary from airline to airline and segment to segment; airport taxes are the same for all airlines but vary from airport to airport, with some added to the price of the ticket and others collected at the airport on departure.

Gardyloo

It is indeed hard to determine in advance as routing, stopover points, carriers and issuing carrier all play a role.

For example, I priced an ex-MRU AONE4 recently with BA - entailing a few passes through LHR - and taxes/fuel/fees came to something like 13-14% of the base price.

Then I had AA price a DONE4 ex-ZRH (that we're actually taking) on an itin that is BA- and LHR-free (proud of that) and taxes came to right around 9% of base price. That differential, BTW, negates the higher price paid for a ZRH origination compared to lower origin points (at the moment) such as ARN or CPH.

You can see an incomplete but still useful listing of airline/airport fees/surcharges here: http://www.consolidatedtravel.com.au/qf/taxes.asp

number_6

To give an idea of the range of airport taxes, these vary from USD 3 to USD 200 per airport (the latter mostly due to the huge UK Air Passenger Duty, affecting all UK departures as of next Feb). Typical taxes/fees/surcharges for a reasonable routing is about USD 1000. But there is so much variability that these are just "order of magnitude", and routing, airlines, origin and means of ticket issue all affect the cost (often by hundreds of dollars for seemingly similar tickets). All of these aspects have been discussed many times in the Oneworld forum, there is a wealth of info if you dig back (mostly accurate, some is dated as the airlines continually change the rules).

As for cost of taxes for extra segments not making them worthwhile, what about the non-airline costs of such travel (to/from airport, parking, meals, hotel, time)? I've found the taxes to be a minor component of the total cost.

Kiwi Flyer

For me it is less of an issue on a xONEx than on a xRWSTARx. The reason is that on the xONEx I can generally add considerable mileage by taking an extra flight for mileage/status purposes (assuming haven't used them all up to get to the places I want/need to visit). So the extra taxes are in most cases small relative to the benefit.

However on a mileage based RTW such as xRWSTARx (or xGLOBxx), adding an extra flight for mileage/status purposes usually means adding a short flight. In general the minimum mileage earned may not be enough to offset the additional taxes. YMMV on this. So my last few *A RTWs have not maximised the earning or number of flights because the extra taxes for a few thousand more miles earned was not worth it to me.

This is a generalisation - some routes cost very little (or even save money if it means a change to other flights) in taxes, while others are very expensive. There are some airlines, and some airports (many hubs in europe, Narita, australia etc for example) that have high taxes.

lovetravellingoz

Thanks to all the posters for replying.

and thanks Kiwi Flyer as I thought that this may the case...



i have not counted the extra cost for hotels, meals etc.....as I would choose destinations that I would wish to visit


however optimising routings to gain points only may give more points....but not at an effective cost due to extra taxes etc.


so i guess it is what is an avoidable cost.

If I want to vist a particular destaination I will pay the hotels etc...but in optimisinga route to get there and away I woul seek to gain maximum points for minimum $$$ and soa shorter route may achieve this...depending on taxes and fuel fimes......as just one imput (so hence my query.

Thank you all for your comments.

serfty

Currently , if you book book through American Airlines there is a significant reduction in the extra taxes.

(These taxes are often referred to -in the asian way- as +++).