Help... Route check on DONE4
Aug 26, 2007 | 3:39 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA EXP & 1MM, SkyTeam Gold, *A Gold, Hilton Gold, Starwood Gold, mother's favorite son
Posts: 333
Help... Route check on DONE4
After spending far, far too many weeks on this 
I'm hoping some of you wise wizards could look over my ex-NRT DONE4. I wanna book it asap, before currencies move and prices rise again and again and again...
How's this:
NRT-SIN-SYD-AKL-BNE-CNS-SYD-xHKG-LHR-MCT-AMM-DME-LHR-YVR-MEX-ORD-LAX-JFK-HKG-DEL-NRT
Any thoughts or suggestions?
I'm hoping some of you wise wizards could look over my ex-NRT DONE4. I wanna book it asap, before currencies move and prices rise again and again and again... How's this:
NRT-SIN-SYD-AKL-BNE-CNS-SYD-xHKG-LHR-MCT-AMM-DME-LHR-YVR-MEX-ORD-LAX-JFK-HKG-DEL-NRT
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Aug 26, 2007 | 4:47 pm
#3
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: YVR occasionally
Programs: OW Emerald (AA-EXP, BA-Gold)
Posts: 261
The routing seems OK to me and should yield good mileage. Who do you plan to book this with? I suppose CX is the logical airline. If you had AA in mind, I wonder if they would consider it given no long haul AA flights (assuming that you would want CX on JFK-HKG).
Aug 26, 2007 | 4:54 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA EXP & 1MM, SkyTeam Gold, *A Gold, Hilton Gold, Starwood Gold, mother's favorite son
Posts: 333
Oh, yeah, I should explain that. It's partly just coz I prefer to avoid flights of more than about 15 hours, and partly coz I usually get upgraded on QF metal (thanks to certain friends 
). I'd much rather do two successive daytime flights than to waste the deliciousness of First by being asleep for a large chunk of the trip. SYD-xHKG-LHR was the only QF route I could find between Australia and LHR which has two daytime flights separated by a <24-hr night in asia. That scheduling benefit was worth wasting a sector.
). I'd much rather do two successive daytime flights than to waste the deliciousness of First by being asleep for a large chunk of the trip. SYD-xHKG-LHR was the only QF route I could find between Australia and LHR which has two daytime flights separated by a <24-hr night in asia. That scheduling benefit was worth wasting a sector.
Aug 26, 2007 | 4:54 pm
#5
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Madrid, Spain & Santiago, Chile
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 3,181
Aug 26, 2007 | 5:05 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA EXP & 1MM, SkyTeam Gold, *A Gold, Hilton Gold, Starwood Gold, mother's favorite son
Posts: 333
I had intended to ticket with AA and use as many AA flight numbers as possible, crediting points to my AAdvantage account. Hadn't even considered that I might need a long-haul with them. Is that a formal rule, or just a guess? What a hassle.
Maybe I could include an AA transpac at the end and change it to CX when I reroute...
Thanks Viajero, just saw your post
Aug 26, 2007 | 5:11 pm
#7
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Madrid, Spain & Santiago, Chile
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 3,181
Aug 26, 2007 | 5:26 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA EXP & 1MM, SkyTeam Gold, *A Gold, Hilton Gold, Starwood Gold, mother's favorite son
Posts: 333
eugh, I have so much to learn... I thought AA was the best for fuel fines. Will AA codeshares be cheaper on all my other long-hauls, at least?
Aug 26, 2007 | 5:33 pm
#9
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Madrid, Spain & Santiago, Chile
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 3,181
Aug 26, 2007 | 10:55 pm
#10
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: SYD
Posts: 3,045
AA would book it for you even with no long haul AA segments, but you have to expect some grumbling. The 'at least 1 over water on AA' rule only kicks in if a TA organised the itinerary, according to the ATW desk. There are also rumours that you'd be required to book overwater segments on the issuing carrier, but that's only a rumour at this stage.
Aug 27, 2007 | 4:31 am
#11
Join Date: Jun 2004
Programs: Starwood Plat, CX Gold
Posts: 104
After spending far, far too many weeks on this I'm hoping some of you wise wizards could look over my ex-NRT DONE4. I wanna book it asap, before currencies move and prices rise again and again and again...
How's this:
NRT-SIN-SYD-AKL-BNE-CNS-SYD-xHKG-LHR-MCT-AMM-DME-LHR-YVR-MEX-ORD-LAX-JFK-HKG-DEL-NRT
Any thoughts or suggestions?
I'm hoping some of you wise wizards could look over my ex-NRT DONE4. I wanna book it asap, before currencies move and prices rise again and again and again... How's this:
NRT-SIN-SYD-AKL-BNE-CNS-SYD-xHKG-LHR-MCT-AMM-DME-LHR-YVR-MEX-ORD-LAX-JFK-HKG-DEL-NRT
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Also DXB to Amm I think is a better choice of times and planes (inc a 340) - (MCT to Amm various early hours in the am, I think).
Having said that, unless the policy changes if you are not a BA Silver, or able to do OLCI it may be difficult to nab upper deck with BA.
Aug 27, 2007 | 11:49 am
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA EXP & 1MM, SkyTeam Gold, *A Gold, Hilton Gold, Starwood Gold, mother's favorite son
Posts: 333
But I took your advice anyway, on the basis of the awful MCT-AMM schedule and the fact that Swissair flies there for nix (who knew?!). Instead of getting up at 3am to make a brutal 5:45am departure out of MCT on a nasty little embraer, I'm now booked on a leisurely 4:55pm flight out of DXB on a tolerable A321.
So... thanks
UPDATE: Just called the AA desk and booked a 16 sector DONE4 without a single AA flight in it. Not even an AA codeshare. CX, JL, QF, BA and RJ flights only. The agent was helpful, knowledgeable and didn't even mention it. So FWIW, AA doesn't care if your OWE is light on their metal.
Last edited by Zeffer; Aug 27, 2007 at 12:47 pm