DONE4 advice?
 

I'm BA EC Gold and will be travelling with my girlfriend who will be BA Silver by the time we start the trip. We're based in London but Istanbul looks like a good departure point ;)

Being new to the OWE concept, we're a bit confused. Nevertheless, our initial planned itinerary is:

IST-LHR-BKK-HKG-NRT-HKG-PER-ASP-MEL-SYD-AKL-SCL-LIM-EZE-GRU-GIG-LHR-IST

I'm aware that this doesn't use all the available segments for each continent, but time is a bit of an issue. I'd appreciate any advice and have a few questions:

* What is the best-value way to fly LHR/IST initially? Y would be fine.
* Do we have to fly the final LHR-IST segment?
* Would someone mind PMing me the email address for BA Istanbul?
* If I decided to splash out, how well would this itinerary work as an AONE4? It probably has too many flights without F to make this worthwhile, but is there a clever way to re-work it to take advantage of an AONE4?
* Have I missed out anywhere important?!
* Assuming we do the trip in one go, how long would this trip take, allowing for a couple of days in the key locations. This isn't purely a MR - we'd like to enjoy the places we visit and get a taste for future trips!

Thanks very much!

I ran your itinerary thru the OneWorld RTW validator:

1: IST-LHR: 1st of 4 (Europe)
2: LHR-BKK: intercontinental
3: BKK-HKG: 1st of 4 (Asia)
4: HKG-NRT: 2nd of 4 (Asia)
5: NRT-HKG: 3rd of 4 (Asia)
6: HKG-PER: intercontinental
7: PER-ASP: 1st of 4 (Southwest Pacific)
8: ASP-MEL: 2nd of 4 (Southwest Pacific)
9: MEL-SYD: 3rd of 4 (Southwest Pacific)
10: SYD-AKL: 4th of 4 (Southwest Pacific)
11: AKL-SCL: intercontinental
12: SCL-LIM: 1st of 4 (South America)
13: LIM-EZE: 2nd of 4 (South America)
14: EZE-GRU: 3rd of 4 (South America)
15: GRU-GIG: 4th of 4 (South America)
16: GIG-LHR: intercontinental
17: LHR-IST: 2nd of 4 (Europe)

You've got 3 more segments you could use. It's an easy add at the end to chose LHR (or LGW) - xxx-LHR. You just have to be sure to keep only 2 stopovers in Europe.

Thanks for the great tip. I'll include a London-Middle East-London trip that I can use at a later date, noting the max 2 stopovers in Europe. ^

1. We found that a simple RT to IST on BA (or OK in our case via PRG) is the cheapest, but YMMV. Only a couple LCCs fly to IST and they all seem to use Sabitha airport, quite a distance from the city, and they all seem to arrive in the middle of the night.

2. Haven't been able to get a definitive answer on the "fly the last leg" question. I imagine it happens, but nobody wants to blether about it. Supposedly they could do dire things to you, like increasing the ticket price retroactively, but I doubt if any such thing occurs. Since it would be a BA seg and you're BAEC Gold you might want to weigh the upshot of not finishing the itinerary.

3. You have PM.

4. Moving up to A would increase the ticket price significantly and there aren't that many 3/4 class flights in your itin. I'd be inclined to spend the extra money on upgraded hotels or ground activities.

5. You could add a couple more European flights and increase your tier point yield. There are several >2000 mi segments available - DXB, TFS, TLV...

6. The timing is up to you. Bear in mind southern hemisphere seasons.

Sounds like a blast - happy planning!

LHR-IST .. many airlines. Check out any High St travel agencies , or the net, or Time Out..

Just a head's up, there is no OW airline with GIG-GRU v.v. traffic rights. I seem to recall you can buy a ticket for less than $100 on a variety of carriers.

Thanks for the info.

I'd prefer not to have to buy an additional ticket to link up the itinerary. Can anyone suggest a better routing for the South American part of this itinerary, maximising visits to the best cities (I've never been before) and minimising additional flights?

Very difficult to include both GRU and GIG to a same xONEx ticket if you want to do something other than Brazil in S.A. as it seems to require a transit via SCL each time...skip either GRU or GIG and you'll be just fine.... AKL-SCL-LIM-EZE-SCL-GIG-LHR....

The most expensive and difficult place to reach in South America is Easter Island. You should consider using two of your flights to go there as it is amazing. It is the most remote, inhabited island in the world, and it is fascinating to see the mois.

Caveat: you will have to consider your schedule, as flights only go to Easter Island two or three days/week.

What an excellent idea ^ ...I've been reading up on Easter Island and it does sound amazing.

A question regarding flying LAN using a DONE4... I've read some posts that suggest rules dictate you fly in Y, regardless of it being a business class RTW ticket. Can anyone shed some light on this?

On a related note, I've read that AKL-SCL is very difficult to get availability on. Is this true?

Thanks :)

AKL (or SYD)-SCL vv is difficult to get first class availability. This is due to only 5 F seats on each of the 3 flights per week. Most of these are sold F not A fare class, so RTW (which books into A) and awards are extremely hard to come by. There are much more business class seats so that is easier.

Dont forget Qantas has a codeshare on this flight - so if unavailable on LA flight number check if it is available under QF code.

This is totally bu****it...where did you hear this? The only two cases when you have to travel in Y with a DONEx ticket are:

1. When there's only one class of service
2. "D" fare class is fully booked and you want to take that particular flight in any case. Then you can travel in Y, availability permitting, of course.

I have found LA/LP D-availability to be actually rather good.

Hi imarks,

You probably already know this, but Business Class is not available Perth to Alice Springs. QantasLink operates this route with all economy 717s. If you where to slum it in economy you would still have an excellent flight [QantasLink is great].

Note that if you decide to re route, no QantasLink flights offer Business Class. While the BAe146 retains the J cabin, it is sold as all economy.

Hope that helps somewhat

And to be strictly accurate what you would need in that case in availability in L, not Y.

Well that's good news, although I found a couple of references to it on FT. One is here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...9422&p=3484575

I also read a post about someone having to fly from AKL to South America via North America because availability was so difficult to get on the LA AKL/SCL route. I'll try to find and post the link!

Yes, I'd noticed - at least it's allowed as part of a xONEx itinerary! And good news that QantasLink is great - thanks. Presumably they're the same thing as 'National Jet Systems' - the airline shown in the oneworld timetable application?