Help with my first LONE4
 

With FlyerTalk having provided many helpful tips for my first RTW (a GLOBEX26) back in 2004, I'm now hoping this board can help me out with planning a LONE4 for May 2006.

I'm a QFF flying out of Perth. Essentially:

I want to travel to New York and Athens, for the finale of The Amazing Race and the Eurovision Song Contest respectively. The latter will occur on May 18 & 20, but the TAR finale date will remain nebulous for quite some time, therefore requiring me to come up with eastbound and westbound itineraries.

I've just attained Silver status on QFF and would like to try and get the 300 points to maintain this from this particular RTW.

I also want to go to Dubai for the first time, which is causing a few problems with the LHR/Middle East rule.

With limited accommodation budget, I don't want to use all 20 segments.

Anyway, here's my eastbound itinerary (more time in North America):

PER-MEL-LAX-JFK-MIA-DCA-ORD-BCN-ATH-LHR-DXB-HKG-SIN-PER

and my westbound itinerary (longer stops in Asia and DXB):

PER-SIN-HKG-DXB-HEL-ATH-MAD-LHR-JFK-LAX-BNE-PER

Apart from trying to fit some sort of AY flight in and out of HEL on the eastbound (difficult to do on the dates I have in mind), are there any extra stops on the westbound that could help me out?

While they don't make it particularly inexpensive, the ability to upgrade the LONEx fares to World Traveler Plus on BA does wonders to the the SC accumulation. In any case BA on the kangaroo route segments (Oz-SIN/BKK-LHR) get the same miles and SC as QF.

And I would much rather fly in BA WT+ than IB or CX economy..... Or AY than either BA/IB within Europe.

And AY HKG-HEL-BCN-ATH might be an alternative. Use as many of the 20 segments as you dare with only connections, ie no stopover (to save the $$) but still get credit for the SC. So consider LHR-DXB-LHR-(WT+)-HKG-SIN-PER instead of LHR-DXB-HKG-SIN-PER


Happy wandering

WF

PS I'm in PER 3 days/week - PM me if you want to talk about it in person.

There is an issue with WT+ with Australian/NZ originations is the AUD450/900 surcharge for WT+ rather than the normal USD300/450 elsewhere. Doing WT+ to LHR plus LHR-DXB-LHR will add AUD1800 to the cost, bringing the base fare from AUD2959 to AUD4759 ;

For status, you might like to consider an AA Platinum lack of challenge; easily completed on an ATW trip and would give you OW Sapphire status ( c.f. QF Gold ) rather than aiming for QF Silver. Travelling Westbound, if you were to travel WT+ to London, you would attain AA Platinum at London; travelling eastbound, taking the AA flight number to LAX and then AA to JFK you would complete it at JFK. ( if not stopping over in LAX, book on the AA flight number from SYD-JFK as a single segment and get the platinum bonus on the whole 9950 miles )

Dave

Given your proposed routings, you might also want to consider the following option as well: http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bi...indetails=2071 - this is a standard B class European return flight ticket, which allows routing via both hemispheres (so in essence a RTW).

It's valid across QF and BA codeshares too, which could ease some of the round-about travel you'll otherwise be suffering (as for instance QF codeshares on Gulf Air from Singapore to Bahrain, and on from Bahrain to both Dubai and Athens). Within the US there's also plentiful QF and BA codeshares on AA, enough to take care of pretty much every routing you've listed.

On the downside the inclusion of Athens and the date of departure may conspire to make it a more expensive option for your purposes, but it's still quite a handy and flexible fare (and it would be rare to have availability issues in B class, which sometimes pops up in L class).

OK, now that my plans have become a little clearer in the New Year, I've nutted out the basic route:

PER-BNE(QF)-LAX(QF)-JFK(QF)-BCN(IB)-ATH(IB)-LHR(BA)-DXB(BA)-HKG(CX)-SIN(CX)-PER(QF)

Which leaves me with just a couple of things I'm curious to hear opinions on from more seasoned hands...

I'm routing via BNE in part because my last trans-Pacific flight from LAX to SYD saw me sandwiched in a middle seat for 14 hours with almost no sleep, and also to avoid the more exorbitant SYD taxes.

After all the recent discussion regarding QF107, would it be possible to me to pick this up from LAX as a transit passenger to JFK? Considering that I am arriving on a QF flight, I think this would include it as an eligible option for me.

Are IB truly as dreadful as most people make them out to be? With the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens and the two-flight restriction from LHR to Eastern Europe/Middle East in place they're really my only hope of making it to Greece from the States! I would much rather fly AY via Helsinki, but they don't appear to go to Athens :(

Any comments would be appreciated.

Note that in May there will be only 5 direct BNE-LAX services per week as the QF25 is being routed MEL-AKL-LAX.

Also, now you are a Proud PS, you can now preselect your allocation up near the front of whY in the special zone.

You should be able to connect at LAX to QF107.

IB is poor but acceptable and most of the problems are with ground services (if you miss a flight, need re-routing or need re-ticketing). Their planes are fine and inflight service is OK (not great). So you should be fine flying IB (also the new terminal in MAD will be in operation by the time you fly, and that should make things much better).

AY does fly HEL-ATH but it might be seasonal or charter. Also Malev flies BUD-ATH but probably won't join Oneworld in time for this trip.

Yes, it most definitely is a charter flight and therefore not valid for a xONEx ticket, and even if it were valid, another issue is who'd take it in the first place, as it's a 757 with 229 pax.

Not really. Bashing IB is fashionable, but IMO it is mostly hot air, of the kind you will encounter about any airline, if you fly long enough.

More opportunities
 

PER-BNE-LAX-JFK-BCN-ATH-LHR-DXB-HKG-SIN-PER is only 10 segments & 29523 miles. (Miles from http://gc.kls2.com/) Not using the maximum 20 segments is almost treason on this forum. You have a maximum of 20 segments, so if you want to get more ff points/miles or QF SC’s (and spend more time in aircraft and airports) plenty of opportunity. Selecting flights distance to maximise SC’s is what many do.

You have 4 flights allowable in Aust with 2 stopovers. So after arriving back in Perth you could PER-ADL-PER or PER-ASP(Alice Springs)-PER for example any time in the 12 months after your first flight. PER & ADL would be the stopover. Your first stopover in PER could be 1 or 4 or 10 months or what ever and then a 1 week in ADL/ASP. Being from PER the transcontinental rules restrict your possibilities (unless you want to pay to get back to PER after using the 4 Oz segments)

Also note that on LONE4 flights with CX you get nil miles. QF Earning table
Could do PER-BNE-LAX-JFK-BCN-LHR-DXB-LHR-HKG-SIN-PER , with LHR-DXB-LHR all on BA and buying a separate flight to ATH (some flights in EU are very cheap). OneWorld validator will tell you what is allowable. (but the SC's & miles earned are not always correct as the software does not know what airline you are flying)

Buying your LONE4 direct from American Airlines in Sydney will be cheaper than buying from QF (either QF direct or from a travel agent). AA do not charge the fuel surcharges

Also do not ignore the option of joining the AA ffp and doing the Platinum challenge to get instant AA Plat (= QF Gold) depending on route and airlines flown. AA miles are worth 1.5 ~ 2.0 more than QF points. (Rewards need a lot less miles/points)

Now if you want to go one better, get a cheap flight to SIN, then Finnair (AY) SIN-BKK to buy a DONE3 or DONE4 (business class).DONE4 ex Oz approx $2500 more than ex BKK; ex CMB is approx $3,000 less than Oz (serfty post on another thread)