I've perused the forum quite a bit and have come up with the following itinerary, which the validator says is OK:

NRT-BKK-SIN-HKG-LHR-YVR-JFK-ORD-SFO-LAX-NRT

I'm assuming from reading around that NRT is one of the better places to issue an AONEx ticket at the moment (I've discounted MRU as I don't particularly want to go there, and Africa is not on my list of places to see).

It's not purely a mileage run, although the Tier Points would be very useful. I'd book 2 solo award tickets to get me to and from NRT at the start and end.

The Asian legs would be in March next year and the US legs probably August time (I'm resident in London so can break easily at LHR).

I'm assuming it's best to use the AA ticket desk to set the itinerary up and give me the record locator. My question is, how do I go about actually getting and paying for the ticket itself (forgive me if this seems obvious - to me it's just not clear). Do I then telephone the AA ticket desk in NRT and give CC details over the phone ?

I'd also appreciate any comment on the routings - suggestions for changes or optimisations.

Many thanks in advance - and please be kind to me

BAH

Be aware that one of those places will have to be a connection, because of the 2 stopover rule.

If it's in the summer, you could pick up a quick 360 TP by going YVR-JFK-DFW-ANC-DFW-SFO-LAX.

See, e.g., this thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ighlight=tokyo
and the links within it for others experience in purchasing ex-NRT.

As viajero noted only 2 stopovers in continent of origin plus you are leaving segments on the table in EUR. If you are based in LHR what about a weekend trip somewhere?

Well, perhaps, but 1) isn't it measurably less costly for you to get to and from MRU at the start and end of your trip than NRT? And, 2) with the cost savings of ex-MRU AONE4 versus ex-NRT AONE3, wouldn't the price difference pay for a good amount of your land costs for the trip? Also, if using ex-MRU, you can stop in London on the way back and not go continue on to MRU at all until you're ready to start your next AONEx trip (within one year, of course). Just my 2�.

Like a trip to BAH

My thoughts exactly!

While NRT is a very favorable place to start a DONEx it is not as relatively favorable for a AONEx. Instead you might want to consider Qatar. An ex-DOH AONE3 is currently GBP3480 while an ex-NRT AONE3 is GBP3820 (whereas the relative advantages are reversed for a DONE3- NRT being about GBP100 cheaper). It would seem that it might be cheaper for you to go from LHR to DOH than to NRT. And talking about tier points, being in DOH, you can do the classic DOH-BAH run (90 miles) and pick up 180 TP each way in First-- obviously you do it on a separate ticket instead of wasting AONE segments. On the possibily negative side, it would restrict your Europe stopovers to 2, rather than restricting the Asia stopovers to 2.

Building on this, even if you don't want to visit Africa, a DONE4 exMRU is US$4808+, a DONE3 exNRT is US$5406+. And the miles you need to use to fly to MRU should be less (not to mention the possibility of buying a ticket using Air Mauritius or another carrier from EUR). You wouldn't have to worry about the 2 stopovers in the continent of origin rule either. Downside is the BA fuel surcharges you will have pay in MRU and the new MRU ticketing fee (compared to buying with AA in Japan).

As for an AONE, an AONE4 exMRU is £2874+ or US$5614(lately it seems the actual cost is ~US$7000, with stops in LHR), AONE3 exNRT £4029+, AONE3 exDOH £3654+, AONE3 exTPE £4223+, AONE4 exJNB £3717.

I had a couple of much lighter weight thoughts -- also others have made the obvious points about MRU if you are in Europe (as compared to being at SFO, where I just couldn't make that make sense).

Assuming you are starting at NRT... for the North America segments you could consider at least SFO-SAN-LAX; typically that can be done for the cost of just a couple of hours.

LAX-NRT could be flown LAX-HKG-NRT for another few hours at the other end.

One other option depending upon your plans is TPE as a start point. Slightly more than NRT, but it gives you more flexibility on your return if you want to build miles. Originating at NRT has the slight disadvantage that you cannot use JL to return to Asia unless you want to indeed end the journey then (since you will have touched "home soil").

I am quite interested in the DOH option myself now...it sounds cheaper than TPE.

Steve

Gosh

Lots of good advice and more food for thought. I hadn't considered DOH as a starting point (doh !) but it sounds promising. MRU I had discounted as although the fares are compelling I was intending to use 2 award tickets to get there and back - award tickets being totally flexible, so allowing me to shift them around if I need to. MRU availability on BA is quite tricky AFAIK.

The DOH idea does sound good - particularly as I can chuck in a couple of BAH/DOH runs if I need the TPs.

Restricting the European stopovers is not an issue for me - I want to break the journey in London and the side trips are of little interest as I've done Europe to death over the years.

As I mentioned the miles are not a motivator here - my mileage balance is pretty large - but the TPs would be very useful as I think it would easily guarantee me Gold for a further year, while satisfying my holiday requirements for 2008.

Thanks again for all the input - back to the route validator and guide books !

BAH

ex-MRU would mean the OP has to ticket with BA - be prepared for lots of extra fees. I think Gardy Loo worked out (in another thread) that you have to tag on about 18% of fees.

I'd go with the DOH idea. Besides the nightly visits to Bahrain on your own, you'd also get good TPs out of your Europe continent allowance with DOH-LHR.

I've no idea what the AA GSA in DOH is like with ATWs, but there's also a CX presence you could fall back on if the AA GSA wouldn't come to the party.

If your plans change to a DONEx - ARN has very good fares, and is much more accessible I suspect. AA GSA in ARN has also received rave reviews on here.

EDITED TO ADD: Here's an interesting way of issuing xONE3 ex-DOH if difficulties are experienced with any of the GSAs there.

As Jerry a. laska mentioned being UK based, it may suit your travel plans to use LHR as the place to take time off from flying. If you start in DOH you pretty much have to return to UK and then once you leave the UK you won't be back until the ticket ends. (This presume you would not want to go to Asia immediately after DOH)

Whereas if you purchase in Asia - you can do a flight or two in Asia plus a flight back to LHR (hang around as long as you want) A separate holiday to Dubai (or MCT,DOH,BAH etc) and back after that
(plus MCT or DOH run bought additionally). Then a separate holiday or trip to Europe (hang around for as long as you want) and then onto the USA (finishing in Asia).

Of course after dealing with LHR that much will mean you need as long and as many holidays as you can get. I realize from what you say you aren't over interested in extra trips in Europe but sometimes being able to split the ticket into smaller trips can find value that goes beyond the difference in price at different starting locations .