Hello everyone.

Well the time has come around again and I'm about to book a DONE4 ex-SYD for May/June and I would appreciate any comments. I am a QFF.

My aims are:
1) To visit NYC/SFO/ORD/Stuttgart&Rome (I'll get from one to the other by train so as to minimise both short segments and connections via LHR)
2) To maximise my my miles
3) To maximise my SC with QF (I will be almost a lifetime silver at the end of the trip)
4) To see what RJ and JL are like

Here is the proposed itinerary. The cities where I will actually be stopping over are marked with an *, and the first 18 sectors will be completed in 35 days (Yes I know that I'm going to be spending a lot of time in the air...)

SYD/JFK*/SFO*/DFW/ANC/DFW/SNA/ORD*/AMM*/FRA*/LHR/MCT*/LHR/NRT/DPS*/NRT/SIN*/NRT/MEL*/CNS/SYD

20 sectors, 66094 miles, 2430 SC

The JFK/SFO is AA 85, a 763, so it has no J, only F
The only really tight connection is FRA/LHR/MCT (T1-T4 in 85 mins).

The potential for things to go wrong is quite real, but I'll only have hand luggage except for the sectors where I transit through LHR (where I'll have to check the 2nd bag in at FRA and MCT) so that should help. If I go to DXB instead of MCT then the LHR connection wont be a problem, but I lose 20 SC and having been to DXB once I have no desire to ever go there again, especially just for a turnaround. MCT at least sounds interesting.

Any comments before I send it off to the TA?

Also, does anyone know if AA has a real booking office here in Oz, so that if I book it via the RTW desk they can issue it here and so avoid the QF 'surcharges'?

Many thanks for any thoughts.

Happy flying

Medicus

You wont be able to ticket the AMM sectors until RJ joins one world. Similarly DPS & SIN and JL.

85 minutes T1->T4 is AFAIK just above minimum connection time (MCT), but is way too risky IMHO (FRA is another very busy airport where it is quite easy to have a significant delay plus LHR arrivals may add to those delays, then flight connection centre and security queues).

If you can rework to start and end from NZ it will be a bit cheaper, at the cost of 2 SWP sectors (and separate ticket to/from NZ).

I believe the T1 to T4 min is 75 minutes.

Yes they do have a booking office in Sydney.

Make the reservation through the ATW desk in the US and get it priced based on being issued in Australia. When ready to ticket, then call the Australian reservations office to get it ticketed. AA will then email you a credit card authorisation form; just fill it in and fax it back with a copy of the back of the credit card and the staff in Sydney will issue the ticket and post it out a few days later

The main issue ( as pointed out earlier ) is that you cannot include RJ or JL in a DONE booking yet. Presumably it will be possible from April or maybe possibly earlier, but if your dates are set you may run into problems with availability if you wait till then

Dave

Thanks for the responses.

I rang the TA I have used in the past and she said that the DONE4 can be booked using RJ and JL, but not ticketed until after April1.

Medicus

I'll try one more time, since some people clearly still don't get it...

There is no such thing as a "DONE booking". A reservation is a subclass is simply that - it says nothing about how you will subsequently ticket it. As the poster above's TA correctly points out there is no reason at all why you can't make the appropriate reservations now on Jordanian or Malev or JAL, provided that you are able to hold those reservations without a ticket number (or perhaps, if your TA is able to do so, with a dummy ticket number) until 1 April when you will be able to issue a xONEn ticket including them

Have RJ and JL aligned their fare/class codes with OW yet? EG will a booking in A/D/L on these two today result in the appropriate cabin of service?

-deleted-

For MA and RJ, yes (no F on either, but the D & L are aligned). For JL/JO then no, and it's not clear whether they will (xGLOBnn books into F/D/B on JL/JO, or J/Y on domestic), so I accept that's a bit of a gamble.

See the file I posted yesterday for the xGLOBnn booking classes: http://www.christen.demon.co.uk/CXRu...BEX15Jan07.xls