Help with RTW please - New Route!
 

Hello,

I am looking to book a RTW for June.

My route would look like:

LHR-JFK-ORD-LAX-HNL-SYD-AKL-MEL-SYD-HKG-PEK-HKG-LHR

I am BA silver but will revert to Blue in April, how many miles and tier points would I earn.

Where would the best place to book this routing be and is there a better routing about?

Looking for Business class.

Thanks.

First off, start anywhere except the UK for a DONEx RTW. Highest price (ok Ireland may be higher), lots of UK taxes, and plenty of BA fuel fines. You can check the sticky's for the best place to start in Europe, currently Switzerland and Sweden(I think).

The routing is fine, but you have used only 12 of 20 segments with some very short segments as well. Many are less than 2000 miles so you would get the lower tier points.

You need to tell us if those are places that you want/must visit or if you want to fly more segments for more tier points.

Best if you read the sticky threads regarding the Oneworld Explorer and pricing. In business class the UK is among the more expensive origin points in the world; there are other European origin countries where a 4-continent business RTW would be much cheaper than the UK.

As to your question, is there a better routing, well the number of possibilities is very great indeed, but it really comes down to where you want to go. Your route is valid, for what it's worth.

As to tier point earning, http://www.britishairways.com/travel...s/public/en_gb should help you calculate the results of any itinerary.

A little tweaking to increase Miles and Tier Points:

HNL make it tough to max benefits, Doing-AKL-ADL-MEL gives you 160 TC's rather than 40 for AKL-MEL! :eek:

Miles & TP's
- on your draft itinerary: 30049 miles & 880
- after tweaking it: 41782 & 1360

Is there business class on AKL-ADL?

Keep in mind that to requalify for Silver, you'll need 4 flights operated by BA, however, if you go LHR-ZRH, ZRH-LHR, LHR-JFK, and ZRH-LHR coming back, that will be sufficient enough so that you can fly QF/CX on teh other available legs, minimize AA flights, and get silver with teh best service possible (this is subjective but I find CX>QF>BA in C unless it is a night flight).

Thanks for all the great advice.

Yes, but not longhaul product.

QF flyes a 73H between AKL and ADL, it has 12 J seats. It's not much different from what Qantas uses for AKL-MEL at the moment unless you are into the early am QF26 744/743.

For BA exec club tier point earning, AKL-ADL is over the magical 2K miles so it earns 120 Tier points rather than 40.

Is it better to book direct with BA or a travel agent like travelmood.

Of the European destinations is it agreed that ZRH is the best value at the moment. I know MRU is cheaper but to get there in the first place negates the difference.

STO is slightly cheaper. Part of the better value of ZRH, when compared to STO, is that it is easier to avoid LHR/BA, if you so choose.

Well sort of - yes ZRH has intercontinentals going west (JFK, DFW) but nothing going east (until JAL joins), and from STO/ARN you can exit via MAD or HEL (and soon BUD) as well as LHR. So if you want to go directly to the US then ZRH is goo. Otherwise it really depends entirely on your routing.

UPDATE:

I have decided to book a AONE* from MRU as it is very good value.

The route I have picked is:
1: MRU-LHR: intercontinental
2: LHR-AUH: 1st of 4 (Europe)
3: AUH-MCT: 2nd of 4 (Europe)
4: MCT-AUH: 3rd of 4 (Europe)
5: AUH-LHR: 4th of 4 (Europe)
6: LHR-JFK: intercontinental
7: JFK-ORD: 1st of 6 (North America)
8: ORD-MIA: 2nd of 6 (North America)
9: MIA-LAS: 1st of 1 (North America Transcon)
*9: MIA-LAS: 3rd of 6 (North America)
10: LAS-LAX: 4th of 6 (North America)
11: LAX-SFO: 5th of 6 (North America)
12: SFO-HNL: 6th of 6 (North America)
13: HNL-SYD: intercontinental
14: SYD-PER: 1st of 4 (Southwest Pacific)
15: PER-MEL: 2nd of 4 (Southwest Pacific)
16: MEL-AKL: 3rd of 4 (Southwest Pacific)
17: AKL-SYD: 4th of 4 (Southwest Pacific)
18: SYD-JNB: intercontinental
19: JNB-MRU: 1st of 4 (Africa)

My questions are:
1) What AONE product do I get?
2) Do I ring MRU to book the ticket or is it easier to email them?
3) Do I need definate dates for the ENTIRE itenery or just the first couple of flights and then can change the dates for the other flights as I travel for no extra charge?
4) Is the route the best, or are their cities that I can add for better value, or travel a different way?
5) In America, I want to visit JFK, MIA, LAX, LAS and HNL, what route can i take that would maximise mileage and tier point earning?

Thanks in advance.

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You'll need an AONE4 - four continents - Africa, Europe, N. America, SW Pacific.

Note that true first class isn't offered on a number of your flights (e.g. HNL-SYD) so you need to decide if the differential is worth it to you.

You can't do two transcons in Oz - SYD-PER-MEL is no go. PER-CBR is okay, though.

As for route optimising in conjunction with good F experience, I'd probably look at LHR-MIA-JFK-YVR-DFW-LAS//LAX-ORD-HNL. Using a OWE F coupon for LAS-LAX seems a big waste; hire a car instead. There are no reliable 2000+ mi. non-transcons for multiple 180 TP scores. There are a number of Caribbean or Latin America routes that are 2000 mi or more, but no F on those flights, only J.

You can leave all flights after the first international one open-dated. Not necessarily a good idea in all cases, but doable.

I have decided on MRU as it is a lot cheaper than I thought, only 1500 in Club and 1100 in Premium Economy from LHR.

So you're saying I should go like this:

MRU-LHR-AUH-MCT-AUH-LHR-MIA-JFK-YVR-DFW-LAS//LAX-ORD-HNL-SYD (read below for Australia) SYD-JNB-MRU

1) Australia - According to the oneworld validator tool I can do SYD-PER-MEL-AKL-SYD, what is wrong with that. If it needs changing then do I change to SYD-PER-CNB-MEL-AKL-SYD

2) On the AUH-MCT-AUH leg, do I earn the full 360 as it is a freedom flight or are there seperate rules for AONE* fares.

3) Stupid question, but on the US legs can I stop for a few days in each city?

4) Just to confuse matters, if I miss out Europe and have Asia as my other continent (in addition to S.Pacific, Africa and N.America) is that doable, what would be a good route maximising the experience and earning potential (I hear CX product is amazing)

5) I will be moving to Europe so the earning threshold will be lower. When I earn Gold on BA, what is the next best FF to join.

Thanks in advance.