How best to do LON - PVG - MEL - PER - LON
 

I was looking for guidance on booking a fare in Business class on the following routing: -

1. LON - PVG
2. PVG - MEL (via HKG?)
3. MEL - PER (Qantas)
4. PER - LON (any routing)

I am looking to travel in business on any combination of Oneworld airlines in March (2008). Any tips on hotels in Shanghai and Melbourne would be gratefully received.

Looking forward to your ideas!

March 2008 is still too far away to be able to book this. If you just want to visit these cities without any additional objectives (mileage earning and such), then you could do a DONE4 RTW:

LHR-PVG-HKG-MEL-PER-SYD-JFK-LHR

I suspect this will be cheaper than buying a non-RTW ticket, but it does force you to go back to London the long way round.

I've generally been disappointed with the service in Australian hotels, but the Park Hyatt in Melbourne was OK. Not great, but OK.

Thanks WearyBizTrvlr, I know I can't book it now, but I will be able to book it in the coming weeks (well 350 days out or something!).

How many continents will that be? And does the USA count as a continent, keeping in mind we won't be stopping (though we might consider it!)? Any other

It's four continents. The moment you touch a continent, however briefly, it counts towards the total.

You can't do two trans conts in Oz MEL-PER-SYD on current xONE rules.

Also by 2008 JAL will be OW and you could route via Japan to get to Oz if you wished but HKG is the more direct route.

Can't help with routings, but try the FS in PVG and the Westin in MEL.

Ack, I knew that! (Well, should have, anyway...) I guess you could fly back from PER to SYD via ADL or CBR, or detour a bit to ASP or AYQ.

Or I could do PVG - PER - MEL - USA, could I not?

If via HKG you could. At the moment the HKG-PER route is using Regional Biz Seats on CX but who knows by Mar next year. The HKG-MEL would get you the better business class seat.

Also I think it is only Dragon Air that fly the PVG-HKG route at the moment but I understand CX will be flying there soon. Also Dragon Air is joining OW later this year according to OneWorld.com

CX is already flying PVG-HKG, but the hours are so odd I will not take it myself. KA will be joining OW later, so may as well fly this segment on KA.

Are you sure because BA in MRU have just ticketed a AONE4 with....JNB-SYD-PER-MEL-AKL...

I think BA in MRU have misread the rules.

While JNB is a special case it is only such for passengers originating in Perth or NZ. The rule goes like this:

It seems to me that BA MRU is happy to allow a number of different "relaxations" of the rules. But bear in mind that if you ever need a ticket reissue there's a chance that the whole thing could go horribly wrong.

A reissue by BA in AMS put me in a similar position, as the new ticket included MEL-PER-SYD and I needed to reissue it again. That had to wait until I was back in SYD for fear of having double transcon rejected. If you have the ticket in hand and don't need to reissue, then you're all set to benefit from the rule-bending.

Well seeing the OP is not running up against the 20 segment rule nor the 4 segments in SWP, take a day and a night to stop and visit the wine district just north of Adelaide - the Barossa or the Clare Valley.

LHR-PVG-HKG-MEL-PER-ADL-SYD-JFK-LHR

I've done the PER-SYD-JFK using the redeye from PER and even though the lounge in SYD is nice, the wait was too long. If you've got the time visit the vinyards and then get an early flight from ADL to SYD to connect.

my 0.02 $AU

Happy wandering

Fred