Hey. I really appreciate what you have cleared up for me ijgordon.

And cheers for that also nowindowseat - i think the sticky is a little bit confusing. I was reading a post that was talking about LHR alot - which clearly i cant travel to..due to starting at LHR.


Right - the only way to sort the 22 segments out is to go from PER-NRT in D class and avoid the PER-SYD-HKG-NRT route. It means i miss MEL out but i can easily get to it from SYD if i really want to visit it.

Now if im not breaking rules on the SYD-DRW-PER route - which i dont think i am doing from reading a previous post in the sticky then im going to go


LHR-YVR-DFW-LAS,LAX-JFK-MIA-ORD-YYZ-JFK-GIG-SCL-AKL-SYD-DRW-PER-NRT-HKG-BKK-HKG-JNB-LHR


If not, then im more than happy with the one below - missing out DRW and adding in SIN.

LHR-YVR-DFW-LAS,LAX-JFK-MIA-ORD-YYZ-JFK-GIG-SCL-AKL-SYD-PER-NRT-HKG-BKK-SIN-HKG-JNB-LHR

Which ever way i know take i still need that extra seg in N.America


Please please please...surely this is correct?!

Many thanks for all the help so far!

An AONE6 originating in the UK is just about as expensive as it gets. Again, it's your business or money, but consider the following tweaks -

If you went to Gibraltar to start the trip, you'd save something like £1,700 before taxes; if you started in Istanbul you'd save £2,400.

The above uses non-OWE flights for the open segments. LAS-YVR on AS (Alaska Airlines - BA miles but no tier points) is US$135 in Y; or for something unusual you can fly to Vancouver on Philippine Airlines (PR) in J for US$350 or so. Between LA and Vegas there are umpteen cheap flights, or you can skip airport hassle and rent a car - 5 hours and around $100.

I think it hits all your key stops. It cuts out a couple of plane changes (mainly ORD and DFW) but that's not a terrible thing IMO. You could also go NYC-YYZ and save the DFW flight; just go LGA-YYZ instead of JFK-YYZ; that way you can ride up front on an MD-80 rather than an Eaglet. Maybe you could use that coupon to add back SIN to your itinerary, e.g. AKL-MEL-PER-DRW-SYD-SIN-BKK-HKG etc.

You could also save an additional segment by going MIA-GIG in a 767 with quite good service. If it were me I'd cut out MIA-JFK and go MIA-GIG, then use that coupon for JNB-CPT-LHR at the end.

You can use your two European stopovers in London going and coming, to help with your timing if that's a concern.

Just some thoughts.

Wow!

Thanks alot - i want to save as much money as possible! I will do some tweaks and see how it goes!

Thanks.

Richard

Not exactly sure what you mean by "not OWE". American Eagle is, AFAIK, an approved oneworld affiliate of American Airlines, so LAX-LAS should be ok as a NA segment, perhaps not the best use of a segment, but valid, I think.

Is there a reason then to have a Aone6?

If I see this correctly, you do want to have JNB and something in Southamerica - I don't know for how long you are going, but it may be cheaper to think about an smaller AONEx?

I believe Gardyloo meant don't do it as part of the One World Explorer ticket, because, as you say, it's not the best use of a segment, certainly not on an AONEx or DONEx, as it's all coach, and not vis-a-vis the proposed itinerary, as it's probably the cheapest of the segments to purchase separately.

Can't speak for the OP, but generally I don't believe the AONE6's are very good value. The price differential over an AONE5 is pretty large (larger than the 4-5 dif., I think), and you are still subject to the 20-segment max, which limits you to less than 4 segments on several continents, so you're really only getting one additional long-haul flight. Yes, you can probably get more total mileage on a xONE6 than a xONE5, but I don't believe the extra cost justifies it. JMHO.

If you count the segments, you'll see it comes to 22. I meant that using a OWE coupon for an Eagle segment is unwise (IMO) just as adding in doglegs (LAS-DFW-YVR) is silly just because of AA's cr@ppy hub structure and lack of presence on the west coast. Fly on AS between the two, save two segments that can be better used elsewhere.

The same goes (IMO) for JFK-YYZ. $30 cab ride to La Guardia and you can ride on an MD-80 in F (so 60 tier points and happier knees) instead of an Eagle Y flight from JFK.

In the weird world of xONExs, all flights are valued equally, whether they're CX first class flights from LA to HK or Eagle RJs to Vegas. Not equal IMO.