Advice? AONEx or DONEx including CPT and SYD/TSV
 

I just discovered this site today—great.
Although I have looked back at past year postings, sorry if this is repetitive.
I have a series of questions and would appreciate inputs on any of them.
My wife and I in the fall will be taking a ONEx trip, the exact form of which will depend on answers to a series of questions.
First the background. (a) Our home is in YVR (but could consider starting and ending elsewhere). (b) We need to be in Queensland, AU (TSV) from approx. Nov. 21 until Jan. 9 and would like to spend time in AU after that. Also we need to be in CPT and Namibia for about 5 weeks- but could be any time within the next year. (c) There are a lot of places we want to see (SA, Asia, EU, etc), but are reluctant to be traveling for 4-6 months straight. (d) We are willing to pay for A class but if not available on our routes would go for D class. (In the past we have always travelled economy so this will be a treat).
Hence the following questions.
1) Is it logical to consider breaking up the trip and to fly back home once or twice (suffering through the cheapest economy flight) in order to pick up the higher end RTW flight after a break? (see point c above). Is there a commonly accepted way to do this?
2) In general (realizing that it depends on the route), is it worthwhile to consider a AONEx versus a DONEx? In general, are A routes being phased out?
3) Is there a site that gives a definitive answer to what is west-bound and what is east-bound? I’m thinking in particular if NA to SA is specified only as E or W (which would restrict if one decided to fly on to Asia versus Europe) and if flying from SWP to Asia (or vice versa) is specified as E or W (or can it be either)?
4) Can one keep coming back to the same hub (eg. SCL) if one avoids stopover there? It would seem very difficult to only pass through a hub once in regions where the connections are limited (as in SA).
5) Any suggestions about whether to visit CPT (and Nambia) in the fall before Australia in Nov-Jan or in the spring, would be appreciated.
6) Given that we need to spend time in Australia and Southern Africa (and would like to use all possible segments in these regions) it seemed preferable to consider Oneworld versus Star Alliance, but is there a site that compares pros and cons?
I have a few other questions, but any advice on these would be appreciated. Thanks.

0. You didn't ask, but the first question is where to originate your trip. Most RTW fares vary by country of origin, Canada is now one of the more expensive. Cheapest origin is Egypt, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Turkey, however none of those may be convenient for you and you have to add the cost of reaching the origin point.
1. Breaking in either TPE or BKK works well from Australia as there are much cheaper fares to YVR from there (even discounted business class)
2. A routes are limited but stable for now. Cant recall any new A routes being added but some have extra frequency in the past year and none were removed. Several routes are seasonal (eg. HKG-JNB) for A service. As for whether it is worth the cost, you have to decide that; it will be an extra USD 300-600 per A sector over D (depending on routing and fare origin). Lots of ways to upgrade D to A (using certificates, miles, upgrade credits) and if you are locked in to specific date/route it is sometimes difficult to get A inventory esp. on key dates like month-end or quarter-end.
3. OWE doesn't care about eastbound and westbound (Skyteam is the one that is awful about that). It simply isn't an issue, you can backtrack within continents an unlimited amount or between continents subject to the trans-ocean limits.
4. Unlimited transits/stopovers in any city (but obviously limited by the 20 segment total on the OWE fare).
5. October is the spring in CPT, not fall. Depends on your tastes and what activities you want to do, I like spring much better (but then I like to go on safari in the winter)
6. Under the current rules there are no advantages to the Star RTW products except if you want to fly to Star only cities and get FF credit on Star. Otherwise the OWE rules are much more advantageous. The fares do vary a lot by country though, so it boils down to question 0 (origination point). Also Star service is pretty poor in A for some routes, really SQ, LH and AN are the only good premium services and tend to be hard to book. Much easier in D.

Welcome to FT, neighbo(u)r.

We're in the middle of an RTW that will include Oz and southern Africa, leaving in three weeks. We started in Istanbul in April, returned home for the spring, then will be doing the southern hemisphere part of our DONE4s in Aug/Sept. mainly because we wanted to to Queensland in (relatively) cooler/no stingers time, then get to Africa for game viewing in the dry season.

Rather than complete the trip in September, we'll come home (from the UK) then return in March to go to Israel (better then than in September, from a melting-lead point of view) before ending up back at IST. The transatlantic portions outside the RTW will be in non-peak periods, so not prohibitively costly, or we may just use miles (of which we will have lots - see below.)

You could do something similar - fly to Europe on a cheap autumn ticket, pick up the RTW tix in some location that's more affordable than N. America (Turkey, Croatia, even Gibraltar), hustle home without stopping over, then down to Oz, over to JNB, back to Europe, home temporarily, then return to Europe to complete your touring there.

You could add Asia in this, but that would make it a A/DONE5, raise costs, and would reduce the number of sectors you could fly within given continents, since you'd be adding an additional intercontinental segment and wouldn't get any more than the 20 flights permitted.

One important thing to consider with premium xONExs is the mileage accumulation factor. If, for example, you complete the AA Platinum Challenge (see the AA board for info on this) before you start, and use AA as your mileage program, then your RTW will likely generate a ton of miles which you can redeem for additional travel to destinations you might miss the first time. For instance, if you accumulate 130,000 miles (not as daunting a total as it seems given the various bonuses you'd gain on the first RTW) you could get a OneWorld award for business-class travel for 20,000 miles. That's enough for YVR-LHR-BKK-SIN-HKG-YVR for example, i.e., a second RTW on the house.

On the A v. D factor, note that most intra-continental routes (Africa, Oz, Europe) don't offer A, except AA in N. America, which offers A instead of D, so you ride in FC anyway. (Lots of rules, exceptions, blah blah but that's the big, vague picture.) So is the upcharge worth it for longhaul F instead of J on the few flights where both are offered? Your call.

The idea of flying transatlantic just to buy tickets to fly back is counter-intuitive, and it's not worth it to many people. However, one of the quirks of the OWE program is that you're limited to 2 stopovers in the continent of origin. Yet you're allowed 6 segments in N. America, so if you buy your ticket in NA it seems you're condemning yourself to a lot of flights with not many destinations, if you get my meaning.

Welcome to the wacky wranks of won world wonks.

I don't think you really meant a One World Business Class award for 20,000??? ;)

But OP, if you do the trip, try Cathay. My wife and I did your trip in A earlier this year and flew Cathay from Hong Kong to Johannesburg. Might have been one of the best flights in my life, and I've flown 1st on most airlines.

Whatever, enjoy! :)

There are lots of ways to structure RTWs. I use one ticket for travel over much of the year. Here's my example:

Oct 2004 - buy AONE4 in Cairo (ended last RTW there, so had no expense to get there)
- fly CAI-LHR-LAX
- spent several months at home

March 2005 - flew LAX-SAL RT
- home for several weeks

April 2005 - flew LAX-SJO RT
- home for 3 months

July 2005 - will fly LAX-HKG and then fly my Asian segments
- will insert a paid ticket CMB-HKG-LAX RT
- home for a few weeks

September 2005 - return to CMB on paid ticket from above, fly on to Oz and travel in NZ and Oz
- fly SYD-LHR
- insert cheap ticket (or mileage ticket) home

October 2005
- return on cheap ticket (or mileage ticket) to London
- fly London - Malta - London
- end RTW in Cairo
- pick up new RTW

Set up a spreadsheet and start working on various routings. You don't even have to decide initially if you are going to buy A or D class. Once you work out your itinerary, then you can see how many long haul flights you have that could be flown in A.

As for expense planning, determine how much it will cost you to get to the origination and then home again 10 or 11 months out. If you have miles, you might use an award ticket for this. Cost out the trips home that you want to insert. Add all of this to the RTW ticket cost.

It's a lot of work, and a lot of decisions - but oh, such a pleasure to fly.

I meant a OW130C award, 130K miles good for up to 20K travel miles.

Er, how did you get that ticketed? Malta is on the "long Europe" list so you shouldn't be able to do that on a ticket also including CAI-LHR and LHR-CAI.

Iberia discontinued its FC recently. (On the plus side [pun intended] its Business Class has been upgraded and it is now one of the best).

I currently have 3 RTWs open, also the return of a CMB-LAX is still open. As soon as you start travelling with RTWs (especially A) you get addicted and likely can never stop....

- If you like to travel in First, then the Star RTWs with the LH program get you tons of miles (3 to 3.25 times actual).
- If you travel Business or Eco then the AA program after/with a Platinum challange gets you mos miles (2.5 times in Bus)
- If you maximize sectors etc a 6 cont OW RTW gets significantly more miles than the Star.
- If you run out of sectors and/or miles then buy tickes inside the continents locally. Good places for inexpensive fares are Australia and Bangkok.
- If you want to break up the trip: Good places for inexpensive Business or First tickets back to NorthAm are CMB (esp. to SFO and LAX) and BKK. Also TIP is a good place for Europe, better than CAI or IST.
- If you nest RTWs: good starting points are BKK, CMB, IST (see other discussions here)
- As soon as you have enough miles use miles to return home (typically around 100 K for a Business ticket, the LH program allows companion awards for Senators (100 miles per year, which you get from one long Star RTW in First) - second person is half the miles. From two Star RTWs in F you get enough miles for more than two trips back home.

Also do some search for the rules on this board. This answers most of the questions about stopovers, passing thru the same place more than once etc....
Have fun!

Thanks all, for this very helpful information. The plans suggested are very creative and I'm trying to absorb the suggestions. While doing so, I have a couple of follow-on questions.
If you start from some distant origin, say IST, then do you deal with a travel agent in that location or can it be done directly with the airline you are booking the RTW with? Presumably you pay in the local currency and it gets converted on your credit card statement.
Which other forums on this site are the most relevant supplementary ones-- to get information to follow up on your suggestions about cheap flights from CMB, BKK etc?
I hadn't directly been thinking about the use of the RTW ticket to build up FF credit, but I see your points and will check that out in the other forums.
Thanks again.

Depends on the city. In IST you deal directly with the local BA office and you can send them your credit card info and they will cut the tickets and have them waiting for you at their office or the airport. In other cities (CAI and BKK for instance) there are travel agents that specialize in RTWs.
Read everything, but focus on the boards for airlines that fly where you'd like to go.
Major bennie. Should be part of the calculus.

Happy research and planning. Have aspirin handy. ;)

When you're ready to read about fares out of CMB, read this. Warning: there are 513 posts in that thread, so settle in for a lengthy read!

I'd suggest you focus first on your RTW routing, keeping in the back of your mind that fares ex-CMB are relatively affordable, but not trying to understand those nuances yet. You have a very steep learning curve ahead of you, and will get serious indigestion if you undertake everything at once.

Thanks again. Your experiences are daunting but I'm prepared to start up the learning curve and have my spreadsheets warming up.