lpeterman

Folks,

My RTW experience goes back to Pan American flights # 1 & 2. In 2005 I made 14 RTW trips. 10 with Oneworld and 4 with Star Alliance. However, they were all for business and I never considered adding extra segments, or in any way going for extra miles.

Now, I have partially retired, and want to retain EXP at least for another year, so I want to take my wife on a AONE4 to help that effort along.

I have knowledge of the basic rules, have read the "stickies", looked at the validater sites, etc., but know some of you folks have this stuff tweaked to the maximum.

So, I would like help to arrive at a suitable itinerary, for which I will offer an EVIP expiring 2/2007 to whoever presents such a valid itinerary with maximum miles.

Because my wife is going (no quick turn arounds!), I may not be able to maximize miles, but here are some guidelines:

Trip will happen about 12 June.
Need to be in SIN 26-30 June
I wish to stop over in DXB, HKG, SYD, AUK, PVG and SIN
Cairns? Darwin?
SIN or PVG hopefully as last stop before returning to USA
I realize PVG may require separate ticket from HKG or wherever
Departure from either MCO or TPA – no difference
Europe first
Make best use of first class by using flights with 1st
Use extra NA segments at end of trip, maybe much later
No troublesome spots
CX my favorite international airline

Either submit to my PM or here in the forum.

UserMark

I'll take a stab at it.

MCO-LAX-LHR on AA
LHR-DXB on BA, stopover
DXB-LHR on BA

If you are inclined to earn extra miles here, you can take another RT from LHR to any country within Europe not on the prohibited list, but I can't think of any flights that have A class.

LHR-HKG-SYD on CX, stopover in SYD (not HKG)
SYD-AKL on LA, stopover
AKL-SYD on LA

Now you have to decide what's more important: visiting both DRW/CNS or CX 1st class.

Option 1: SYD-DRW on QF (biz only)
DRW-CNS on QF (biz only)
CNS-HKG on CX (biz only)
Option 2: SYD-[DRW or CNS]-SYD round trip (biz only)
SYD-HKG on CX (1st class)

Separate RT ticket to PVG.
If there's time and inclination, a RT on CX to some other place in Asia.
HKG-SIN on CX, stopover (some flights have a 1st class section)
SIN-HKG on CX stopover

HKG-JFK on CX
LGA-TPA/MCO on AA.

So far that's 15 segments. Use the last 5 for obscure routing to ANC, like MCO-BOS-DFW-ANC-DFW-MCO.
Or start the trip in MIA, buying your own way from MCO (MIA-LHR). Then you have 6 segments left, and you can use 4 of them on MCO-DFW-ANC-DFW-MCO and use the other 2 for one of the optional round trips in Europe or Asia.

Darren

Overlaps a lot of Usermark's suggestions, but a bit different.

TPA-MIA-LAX: The Miami to LAX is on the 763, which is basically (imo) AA's second best plane. I haven't taken it since they restarted using the 763, but I took it before and the service was good.

LAX-LHR: May the suite gods be with you.

LHR-DXB-LHR: Only way of getting to Dubai and back.

LHR-HKG-SYD: Enjoy Cathay First.

SYD-DRW-CNS-BNE-AKL: Your intra-SWP flights.

AKL-MEL: You would need to buy this on your own. I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that service and luxury is more impt than price. Emirates runs the A345 on this route for abotu $600 in First. That's with the suites with the doors and all. With this ticket, you also get car service in Auckland and Melbourne if you stop.

MEL-HKG-SIN: Again, enjoy CX first.

SIN-HKG: I would add another flight in here, not as a turnaround but with a few days stop. Bali, India, Malaysia, Tokyo, etc. Best experience will be on the nonstop Tokyo flights.

HKG-PVG-HKG: This one you're on your own with.

HKG-JFK: The nonstop can be hard to get from reports on this board.

JFK-MIA: I don't know if the flights fit, but AA does run a 762 on this route.

MIA-MCO: You will need to go into MCO instead of TPA because if you go into TPA then your trip ends.

MCO-XXX-TPA: Fill in the XXX with a flight that services both MCO and TPA. LGA, ORD, SJU, DFW, whatever. You just can't leave the country.

So the Oneworld part of the trip would be:
TPA-MIA-LAX-LHR-DXB-LHR-HKG-SYD-DRW-CNS-BNE-AKL//
MEL-HKG-SIN-HKG-XXX-HKG-JFK-MIA-MCO-XXX-TPA

BUT....

You have put a constraint on your trip that I would rethink. That is, you are squeezing a lot into a short amount of time. Flying does take time, so you're really looking at very short stays in each of these cities.

Here's what I mean. You leave Tampa (a lovely city, I might add) on the 12th. You leave through LAX, arrive in London on the 13th, and arrive in Dubai the morning of the 14th. You say a night and leave on the morning of the 16th (1am). You arrive in London later that day. You leave for Hong Kong that evening, arriving on the 17th, and then leave for Sydney, arriving on the 18th. You stay a couple of nights and go to Darwin. Stay a night and leave for Cairns. Stay a night and connect through Brisbane to Auckland. It's now the 21st. Here, you can stay two nights. Head to Melbourne on the 24th, connecting via Hong Kong to Singapore. Arrive either the 25th or the morning of the 26th.

So, you have stayed one night in Dubai, two in Sydney, one in each of Darwin and Cairns, and two in Auckland. I am tired even thinking of it. That is a hell of a lot of traveling for those short of times. Doesn't matter if you're in first or not. And add an Asian side trip, that just takes a couple days more.

What I would personally do is to go the other direction, time permitting. I would go to Australia first:

TPA-MIA-JFK-HKG-SYD-DRW-CNS-BNE-AKL//
MEL-HKG-SIN-HKG-LHR-DXB-LHR-LAX-MIA-MCO-XXX-TPA

You'll have more time in Australia and NZ and things will be less rushed. This, of course, assumes time isn't completely constrained.

With this routing, you leave on the 12th, connect via Hong Kong and arrive in Sydney on the 14th. Stay three nights in Sydney, two in each of Darwin and Cairns, and three in Auckland. This makes it the 24th. Go to Singapore via Melbourne and Hong Kong, and arrive the 25th or 26th.

So instead of six nights in the SWP, you have 10. Stop in Dubai on the return for a couple of nights, and head on home.

lpeterman

Although I still prefer to start in Europe, I feel Darren is correct about the time, especially with my wife along.

Therefore, I'm going to have to leave Australia (SWP) for the last.

Thanks for two really good posts.

number_6

as the inventor of the Dubai loop on FT (going back many years now). He first made the suggestion to include a LHR-DXB-LHR loop in F on BA as it was "free" on the OWE tickets. And has provided dozens of great suggestions since then.

The suggested routings are close to optimal. The primary choice is whether to go MIA-LAX-LHR on AA (taking advantage of the longer in-air service times, the LAX F lounge) or do MIA-LHR on BA (not quite enough time to both eat and sleep on the plane, but a much earlier arrival into London). The LAX flight arrives after noon which is either good or bad (depending on what you want to be doing in London). Personally I prefer the AA service LAX-LHR which is often quite good (and competitive with BA, the only route that this is the case).

As a practical matter it is almost impossible to get 2 A seats on LAN for SYD-AKL, so buying on EK is a great suggestion (as long as EK continues to use A345s on this route). Rumour has it that they've stopped offering these USD 600 discounted F fares trans-tasman, but if you can still snag one it is quite a find (just the limo part is worth a third of the fare).

Darren

Heh. Thanks. Quite an honor.

Expedia has the EK flights still, but it's more expensive coming from Australia. About $100 more, again one-way.

The LAX-London flight has been a mixed bag for me. The flights on the suites were great, and maybe only the food on BA was better. But my last flight on the coffins was terrible. It was about a year ago now. The config was changed the day of travel, which annoyed me to no end, the flight attendants were only okay, the food was okay, and I was next to someone who sneezed on me all flight. While I know the last isn't the fault of AA, I thought it was a very average flight.

You mentioned the BA MIA-LHR flight. Quick note that the OP wants EXP status, so instead it could be subbed for the AA flight on the same route (or ORD). Just, whatever you do, don't go through JFK. My flight was *horrible* and since then I have seen on this board that my experience was not uncommon. Miami does have two great Admiral Clubs in Miami, especially the one outside Terminal E.

kanebear

I haven't caught up on the rules lately; unless something prohibits it, why use AA to LHR at all unless it's for scheduling/routing? One can leave from YYZ/YVR/MEX on BA and earn miles and Q-points in AAdvantage as normal.

JonNYC

I've done it a few times-- including once with Darren-- I never knew he was the originator!

number_6

I know it is an unpopular position on FT, but I find AA to be quite good as an airline much of the time and about half the time I pick AA instead of BA for trans-Atlantic travel -- because I want to, and not because I am coerced. AA planes are generally in superior mechanical condition, their pilots are better than average, in fact much of the "invisible" part of the airline is far better than average. And sometimes I care about that more than the wine served (though these days AA is a match for BA in food and wine quality trans-Atlantic). Service out of LAX tends to be markedly better than out of JFK, for example.

mrboh

Not that it makes much difference, but as far as I'm aware you are allowed to transit, or even stopover at, your point of origin:

Darren

I don't know, mrboah. It appears usermark's rules are updated and this is the only reference in stopovers. New rule change? The set indicates it is valid as of 18APR06.

Other changes I see:
1) New countries from two max from UK rule: Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro
2) AA Fuel surcharges now set per the rules. $55 transatl, $110 to Delhi, $66 transpac, and $55 to southam.
3) Removed unlimited online interline transfers (but that had constructively been removed due to the 20 segment max so no biggie)
4) No free reroute for death in Area 1
5) You're now allowed to change flights before the 1st international flight and preceeding flights after departure from ticket issued in Areas 2 or 3
6) At any time, you can change a OWE to a GlobEX for no charge, assuming the trip fits within the parameters of the GlobEX.

There might be more, but it's 1am and I don't see any more in my sleepy state.

Nothing really earthshattering other than 5), which I imagine will cut down on having to reroute in certain circumstances.

lpeterman

Both of you responded with such details, commentary, and suggested itineraries, that I would like to offer both of you a eVIP. We can work out the details later.

I would appreciate one last effort from both of you is you find the time in the next few days.

As outlined in my second post, I will do SWP last. So would like your further thoughts as for the itinerary after arriving HKG from LHR.

Returning home from SWP I’m thinking via HKG. I would like to take the CX HKG-JFK flight but know there is little chance. What I have done in the past is arrive HKG the night before, ticketed for the HKG-LAX flight, and check with the counter at “B” about availability for the JFK flight the next morning. It has always worked – after paying the $75 change fee. I’ll try the same thing this trip but realize with two traveling, it will be less likely.

FYI – My outbound will be MCO-LAX-LHR-ATH-LHR-DXB-LHR-HKG

Again, thanks to everyone for the comments

Gardyloo

Unfortunately, you can't do both ATH and DXB from LHR - both are on the "two flights only" list - see Line 61 on the rules (update posted today at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=553283 ) If you're looking for intra-Europe miles, IST or the Canary Islands are still okay.

andrzej

MIA has a new AC in the D terminal, inside security, which IMHO is better than the one outside security in E. Also, any day now (maybe ) AA is promising to open the doors to a very new A terminal AC, and when and if that happens, the E club will be no more.

Also, there is a BA Terraces club in terminal A but access may/may not happen according to the wishes of the BA dragons at the door, unless of course you fly the world's favourite airline (do a search on the AA forum, it's a mix of success at best, but definitely leaning towards refusal when flying other OW airlines)

Darren

Lpeterman, that is very kind of you. Thanks. I just try to do what I can do to help because I enjoy it. I love to travel internationally and I enjoy thinking about all the different places I would like to go.

Andrezej, I was in the D terminal about a couple of weeks after it opened. I think it was last september. About three weeks before, it was just the temp club. Mom and I had a longish layover so we went to the E club. I don't recally how long it had been open for, but it had been a few months, iirc. I actually preferred the E club a lot more. It was lighter and airier and I loved the open area adjacent to the bar. My big butt sank into one of those oversized seats and I was in heaven. I actually am one of the three people on FT who likes going through Miami so I will look forward to the A terminal (though I let my AC membership lapse). Shame it will be at the expense of the E club.