Falklands and Easter island
 

I tried to make a search but couldn't find similar topic in archive... Hope I can find some experts help answering this...

I am considering to get a 39,000-mile Global Explorer ticket from Hong Kong. Wanna choose Global Explorer fare instead of Oneworld Explorer fare because the former allows Easter Island-Papeete segment operated by Air Tahiti. I read from the Oneworld website that I can only have 4 stopovers allowed in south america, and total flight segments cannot exceed 20.

Falklands and Easter Island are two highlights I wanna see in South America, and it's very expensive to buy the flights separately. Hence I really wanna visit them by a GlobalExplorer ticket.

I wonder if the following itinerary including Falklands and Easter Island feasible?

stopover 1: LA > Punta Arenas (via Santiago) = 2 segments
stopover 2: Puntas Arenas > Falkland Islands = 1 segment
stopover 3: Falkland islands > Puerto Montt = 1 segment
overland surface: Puerto Montt > Santiago (on my own expense) = 1 segment
stopover 4: Santiago > Easter Island = 1 segment
and then i will exit Easter Island and head to Papeete for the 1st stopover in Australasia region.

Does the above itinerary allowed under GlobalExplorer fare?
And does my calculation of 4 stopovers and 6 segments correct?

Many thanks!

I have not studied the GLOBx rules, but you can do IPC and MPN in 4 segments ex SCL. Eg LA 990/991 will do SCL-MPN-SCL (2 stops but one segment each way). SCL-IPC-SCL is also 2 sements. This way you are not constrained to the GLOBx fare but can use the far more beneficial xONEx fare . You will miss out on PPT but get more in other areas.

Perhaps you could fly SCL-MPN-PUQ, take the NAVIMAG ferry to PMC then fly back to SCL. Much nicer way to see a beautiful country. Use Great Circle Mapper
http://gc.kls2.com/
to see where these places are!

The OWE fare does fly you to PPT, just not from PPT. You can use the LA flight SCL-IPC-PPT on the OWE ticket, however must do surface segment from PPT to somewhere else in Australia/NZ. You can even do it on an xONE4 (eg. HKG-LHR-EZE-SCL-IPC-PPT//AKL-HKG). This doesn't even need the rule change allowing a trans-oceanic surface segment was made a few years ago (IPC-PPT is the pacific ocean crossing, and PPT-xxx is just an intra-continent segment). The OWE gives a lot more travel than the GE product, and while limited to 4 segments in SA, you can buy 2 additional segments (USD 150 per segment in L), though that doesn't increase the 20 segment total limit.

Thanks to both og and number_6! It's my first time to post here and i didn't expect I can get replies so promptly!

Thanks for pointing out the advantage of xONEx. I ignored its good after I found it can't get IPC-PPT-SYD/AKL, and a single ticket PPT-AKL is so expensive (USD2000!) ... but I just reviewed my itinerarary again. And surprisingly IPC-PPT-SYD is the only 2 segments requiring a GLOBx, seems its not so worthwhile to sacrifice other goods for PPT.

According to the rule of 4+2 segments, can the following be okay? And is the intercontinental segment counted as one of the 4 segments per continent? And is it true that the surface travel on my own expenses is not counted as one segment?

LAX-SCL (intercontinental)
SCL-MPC (1st in South Am)
MPC-PUC (2nd in South Am)
PUC-SCL (buy separate air pass to travel circularly)
SCL-IPC (3rd in South Am)
IPC-SCL (4th in South Am)
SCL-SYD (intercontinental)

The intercontinental segment is not counted in the 4 segments that are free for SA. It looks fine, this works with the OWE rules. Surface travel does not count as a segment for the OWE (it does for some other fare products).

For a real experience you could fly to the U.K. first and take the RAF Tristar from Brize-Norton to Port Stanley. It's supposed to be a real blast.

But only available to Falkland residents as members of the public, otherwise you must be on Her Majesty's business in order to use that flight.

They offer stand-by travel to people who are not FI residents/on official business (at least they did 12 years ago). It's an interesting flight and stops off in Ascencion Island in the middle of the atlantic. They even let you stop off for a few days if there is space on the next flight to Stanley.

Not entirely, nonresidents may purchase on a space available basis through the Falkland Islands Government London Office.

They also were openly available to the public (stand-by?) about 7 yrs ago. Also, with the Ascension Id stop, isn't a yellow fever vacination required? Too bad RAF don't offer FF miles.

What a fascinating idea to go to the Falklands! That one never occurred to me, I must say.

Anyhow, a bit of googling came up with the website of the Falkland Islands Government Office:

So it looks like the RAF flights are still available to the public. Perhaps we can persuade the RAF to join oneworld? ;)

I should have used the word "space-available" rather than stand-by since IIRC priority is given to FI residents and those on official business.

A very interesting site abuut Ascension Island...
http://www.ascension-island.gov.ac/ascension.htm