AONE4 - Comments please
 

I'm finalising my first ONE ticket, having really wanted to do this for quite a while. It finally it looks like it'll happen as I'm getting married in November and working the honeymoon (SAM and SWP) into the arrangements :D

Unfortunately I'm not able to do the maximum number of segments. My wife-to-be doesn't appreciate the mileage run concept, especially for our honeymoon, and time is at a premium. Fair enough, I guess ;)

That said, we're splitting the trip into three, so there's more flexibility on the Asia section.

I've chosen ex-ARN as the AONE4 fares seem pretty good from there at the moment. Please let me know if you have alternative recommendations - we're based close to LHR. What's the current best way to book ex-ARN ONE tickets?

Any comments on the itinerary would be much appreciated. We'd like to maximise first class travel and BAEC miles/points within reason.

Here's the plan:

Nov/Dec 06
ARN-LHR
LHR-GRU
(see note 1)
PUQ-SCL
SCL-AKL
AKL-SYD
SYD-CNS
CNS-MEL
MEL-SYD
SYD-HKG
(see note 2)

Jul/Aug 07
HKG-PEK
PEK-HKG
HKG-NRT
NRT-LHR

Oct 07
LHR-MCT
MCT-LHR
LHR-ARN

Notes
1. Three week South America trip. Separate tickets
2. Breaking RTW trip by flying HKG-LHR...LHR-BKK-HKG, probably with GF, who have cheap first class fares on this route.

Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom :)

The routing looks valid to me but getting two First Class (A) seats SCL-AKL-SYD is going to be quite a challenge.

Congrats on your upcoming nuptials imarks :)

You only have 16 flights, and 1 south america flight. So scope to include some of your south america travels on this ticket.

2 of 5 possible F seats (let alone wanting discounted F booking class A) on a single flight SCL-AKL-SYD will be near impossible.

Isn't August a busy travel period for Japan? Depending on the dates it may be difficult to get availability.

No first class on many of the flights, but all the really long ones seem to have first.

Thanks :)

Hmm... Thanks for the heads up.

I'll need to check, but will flights be booked up for August 2007 already?

This, coupled with the likely lack of F seats on SCL-AKL-SYD, is making me think a DONE4 might be better for this trip than a AONE4!

Can anyone advise me on the best way to book this itinerary ex-ARN. Do I contact BA Sweden?

Actually in the past few months it has been easier to get 2 A seats out of LA for SYD-SCL than 2 D seats -- they've been selling out in J, but not in F. I don't know whether there is a difference in availability westbound vs. eastbound. Historically a phone call to LAN by your TA is often able to get A inventory released even when it is showing A0. This is easier this year as LA has historical data on past demand for this route so they are getting better about releasing it than when the route was new and more of an unknown.

As for ticketing, I've never done it ex-ARN but given that your trans-ocean sectors are 2 on BA and 1 on LA (or QF) you will have a very hard time getting anyone other than BA to issue this ticket. BA makes more than half of the revenue from your AONE4 ticket, not that they will act like they appreciate that.

As for flight availability to Japan in August, it is a non-issue, there are lots of available flights for you, and even the much preferred CX nonstop 744 service HKG-NRT is usually available in A every day.