Unless I'm on that list you can make it four. I LIKE MIA. Heck, I even like the cheesy airport hotel (for day-room use, I'd like it a lot less for an overnight).

And Number_6 I agree with you in that I am very happy with AA. The F suite is a great product, and it'll become a much more difficult choice once AA gets the fleet all reconfigured so I don't ever step on a plane again to find 2x2x2 coffins and a sinus-infected seatmate who sneezes at me all night. For me though, one other factor tips the scales to BA. IMO no experience matches the F cabin in the 744. Sorry for going OT. :D

Thanks,
 

Although I wanted my wife to feel the history, I was motivated by the miles and the equipment BA flew there. Thanks for clearing my vision.

IIRC the 767 used on the ATH runs has the standard Club Europe setup as the IST 767s. Not uncomfortable, but not all that grand. But of course IST is very interesting; one can see a lot in a day, and LHR-DXB-LHR-IST-LHR is a valid route.

I was also thinking you could go LHR-PVG (first class sold on that BA flight) then (your own dime) PVG-PEK on CA - $196 in J or $225 in F one way on a 744 :eek: - then PEK-HKG-NRT-HKG-SIN-SYD to maximize FC possibilities on CX and QF/BA.

I don't believe you can transit Asia between Oz and N. America (only Europe-Oz) so you'd need to ride QF metal across the Pacific. If you wanted one last shot at CX F, though, you could go SYD-(SFO)-YVR on QF, then CX888 YVR-JFK, maybe after decompressing for a day or two in Vancouver. The YVR-JFK flight would be your one allowed N. America transcon, but that would only be available if you didn't start the RTW with MCO-LAX. If you started MIA-LHR you could do it, or even MCO-ORD-LHR. (Or, maybe less convenient but you get BA FC, go MIA-YYZ-LHR to start.)

From NYC you could go home with a few coupons left (but only one stopover if you spend a night in YVR or NYC, etc.)

Inside Europe i would take MAD-FRA on LAN Chile on their new C and F Class A340!

It would depend on how it was exactly done and his luck in ticketing.

LAX-HKG(stop)-SYD-HKG(transit)-LHR is valid under the rules and I think most or all airlines recognize this. The problems come more from travel agents and ticket shops that misinterpret the rules.

LAX-HKG(transit)-SYD-HKG(transit)-LHR is a matter of luck. I don't personally believe the rules allow it and most airlines agree. But some miss it and do ticket it now and then as has been reported on the board.

The OP in a subsequent post said they were going "to have to leave Australia (SWP) for the last." It sounds like they mean go to Asia first and then to Australia. That routing would be the first I mentioned and would be valid to use CX the whole way.

Would end up something like TPA-MIA-JFK-HKG-SIN-HKG-SYD-DRW-CNS-BNE-AKL//MEL-
HKG-LHR-DXB-LHR-LAX-MIA-TPA with two more segments available in each of North America and Asia.

To lpeterman, even with your wife, if you don't have time to stay anywhere else in Asia, see if you can get her to do a turnaround to NRT to use those two Asia segments. Not only is it 10k more miles, assuming you're then plat or exec plat, but it's one of the nicest flights I have taken on the CX network. Although I haven't had the kaiseki meal on CX, people are very complimentary of it. But even without, it's about a day trip and an easy set of flights. Maybe she would be less resistant if you were able to stay a night or two in Tokyo.

I completely agree with kanebear in the above post. I am a fairly loyal AA flyer based in LA. However if I know that coffins will be the first class seating I immediately call BA and have ticket endorsed to fly BA F in the 744. It is a tougher decision if AA has the suites. If only AA gave out pajamas and had a true sleeper seat type of experience I would fly AA exclusively with the suite configuration...

lpeterman,
Thanks for your nice offer. Here are some more ideas for you.

You can do both ATH and DXB, and you can accomplish this in one of 2 ways.
1. The London prohibition only applies to free segments. So if you wanted to fly LHR-ATH, you would have to buy 2 additional biz segments (there's no 1st on that route) at $400 each. These 2 extra sements would still contribute to your 20 segments maximum.
2. You can buy a separate RT ticket (probably cheap) LHR-MAD and go on the IB flight to ATH, without having to buy extra segments. IB also has only a biz class section.

As for the return from SWP on CX, here is the rule we're all talking about:

ONLY 1 INTERCONTINENTAL DEPARTURE AND 1
124N . INTERCONTINENTAL ARRIVAL PERMITTED IN EACH
125N . CONTINENT EXCEPT AS FOLLOWS:
128N . * 2 PERMITTED IN ASIA WHEN 1 IS A TRANSIT
129N . WITHOUT
130N . STOPOVER OR ON DIRECT SINGLE PLANE SERVICE
131N . BETWEEN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AND EUROPE.

I agree with Darren that the routing is not allowed. Others have interpreted this rule in 2 ways, depending on where you put the non-existent comma

2 PERMITTED IN ASIA WHEN 1 IS A
TRANSIT WITHOUT STOPOVER
OR
ON DIRECT SINGLE PLANE SERVICE BETWEEN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AND EUROPE.

2 PERMITTED IN ASIA WHEN 1 IS A
TRANSIT WITHOUT STOPOVER OR ON DIRECT SINGLE PLANE SERVICE
BETWEEN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AND EUROPE.

I never even thought of option 1 until I read it here. It never hurts to ask, I guess. If you do manage to get it ticketed, I see what you mean about A class availability on the nonstop HKG-JFK. However, the 1-stop (the one that stops in Vancouver), which leaves a few hours later, seems to have decent availability. You can ticket that one, and use it as a backup. Or you can change it to the nonstop at any time. They seem to make it available close to departure, and there would be no fee for the change.

He also said that his outbound would be MCO-LAX-LHR-ATH-LHR-DXB-LHR, so I took the "SWP last" comment to mean they would go NA > Europe > Asia > SWP > NA. Given the rules, (and notwithstanding the history of the debate) then the HKG-JFK flight would seem to be out. I was thinking the CX YVR-JFK flight could be an acceptable subsititute, given QF's new service to YVR (albeit incompatible with beginning MCO-LAX.) Of course, if it can be ticketed, then it's possible.

Just be aware that CX YVR-JFK in F is not the same service as JFK-YVR. It is a trimmed-down service, not CX at its finest; so if looking for the F experience you have to fly JFK-YVR and not YVR-JFK (or pick a different route).

I hate to quibble about the purchased segments rules, but I've spent a bit of time with several airlines discussing this, so unless it has changed recently, the purchased segments have exactly the same restrictions as the "free" segments and cannot be used to circumvent the LHR routing restrictions. If you really want to go to ATH and DXB, then ATH has to be on IB or AY and not BA.

CX has a particular good F service HKG-NRT (because it has to be much better than JL on this route to attract any Japanese F business). Makes a very nice short flight (much better than YVR-JFK for example). The kaiseki meals have been cut back and are not so lavish as they used to be, but still well done (and probably have a catering cost of USD 100 which is quite a bit for a short flight).

This has been asserted before, but never with any evidence. I have compared photos, menus and personal recollections from 2001 and 2005 and I can find no significant difference (beyond the normal variation that one gets flight to flight depending on the competence and familiarity of the serving crew with the meal).

Complicating matters is a significant seasonal variation in traditional kaiseki with the winter menu being quite austere compared to the other 3 seasons. In winter you get things like 3 grains of rice precisely positioned in the middle of a dead leaf of just the right colour. I have no info about CX's catering operation, just my personal recollection and I recall one lavish kaiseki meal (and another lavish lobster thermador, also on NRT-HKG, which put SQ's "book the cook" lobster thermidor to shame). In any case HKG-NRT-HKG has nicer food than TPE-NRT on CX F, for example.

I didn't photograph it but flew my first NRT-HKG in the winter of 2002 and was astonished by the kaiseki meal. It was easily the equal of something I'd have at a fine restaurant. Fast forward to this past summer, 2005 (and finally being able to time things to use CX via HKG vs. straight out of NRT) and quality had noticably fallen off. The attention to detail and presentation were still there, mind you. However, what was on offer (I wish I still had the menu) and the preparation simply didn't match up. Mind you it's still excellent and is still the best in-flight meal I've seen but it's not as good as it was... not at all. Of course, that's a sample set of two but IMO reflects a worldwide trend. Everything's cyclical, and I believe we saw the peak of service and quality for this cycle between 2000 and 2002.

Follow Up
 

Just as a follow up to my original post, I have booked two AONE4 as follows:

MCO-LAX-LHR-ZRH-LHR-DXB-LHR-/HKG/-SYD-CNS-/SYD/-AKL-SYD-HKG-NRT-HKG-SIN-HKG-LAX-MCO.

Thanks to all those whom commented in this thread.

UserMark and Darren, I have an eVIP in escrow for each of you.

Thanks, appreciate the gesture. That is very kind of you.

You say "booked" but not "ticketed". The routing is actually invalid because you have two transcons. So it might be kicked out at the fare stage. You need to connect on either the outbound or return or go though JFK on the return.

In other words...

mco-dfw-lax....lax-mco
or
mco-lax...lax-dfw-mco
or
mco-lax....hkg-jfk-mco

Corrected
 

Darren, you are correct. I have changed the return LAX-DFW-MCO.

Thanks