Circle Pacific advice
 

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I live near SFO and will be taking a few weeks off from work to visit family in HKG, perhaps combined with a vacation to Australia, and possibly a stop in Tokyo. I was looking into business class fares, and soon realized a Circle Pacific fare could be a great deal.

*A has a terrific online mapping tool for RTW and circle fares, complete with mileage and rules-checking. However, I realize with CX and QFboth in oneworld, perhaps oneworld is the better choice. (I have no elite status and only a handful of miles on AA.) But I can't figure out how to verify proposed oneworld itineraries. Anyone know?

Specifically, which of these routings are good or even valid? Would like to minimize multi-stop flights.
SFO-HKG-SYD-SFO
SFO-HKG-NRT-SYD-SFO
SFO-HKG-SYD-NRT-SFO

My only scheduling restriction is that I have to visit HKG before any other city, due to family obligations. So I can't do SFO-NRT-HKG which might be more logical.

I'm happy to substitute SYD for MEL (or any city in Australia) as it's all new to me.

Any advice is appreciated. And how do I go about booking such a flight? Searches reveal a number for the AA RTW desk, do they do circle fares too? And should I also sign up for the AA plat challenge before booking? (Or just before first leg depature?) Thanks!

Circle Pacific rules are on the OW website -

http://www.oneworld.com/ow/air-trave...e-pacific-fare

It comes in 22,000 and 26,000 mile flavors (for 29,000 miles, you have to include South America).

Prices are on the same OW website page. ($5,500 and $6,600)

You must cross north/central-Pacific in one direction and south-Pacific in the other. To meet this rule, you'll have to return from Australia/New Zealand.

You can check mileage here - http://gc.kls2.com/

Of your suggested routes -

SFO-HKG-SYD-SFO (18,924 miles)
SFO-HKG-NRT-SYD-SFO (21,031)
SFO-HKG-SYD-NRT-SFO

The first two should work. The last one won't because you're crossing north/central-Pacific in both directions.

Try -

SFO-HKG-NRT-MEL-SYD-SFO - 21,684 miles. trick is to stay under the 22,000 mile cap.

You're allowed 4 stopovers on the 22,000 mile version. Maximum of 2 in any one region and 1 in the country of origin.

Book by calling the AA RTW desk - 1-800-247-3247.

Check flight times and availability on ExpertFlyer. You need D inventory for business class.

********* edited to add
Following eireman's good advice to consider NZ,

sfo-hkg-nrt-syd-akl-lax-sfo

is 21,800 miles.

yes sign up for plt challenge, ,

Yes AA RTW desk can do it for you.

Where you do is really up to you, bearing in mind diffreent fares apply for under 22,000 miles and under 26,000 miles. It is a great deal

You have to stay at least a week and have 3 stop overs I believe

Since you have to go to HKG first, NRT is a lot of back tracking and will cost you miles, remember that you can also visit NZ ( it is lovely) and return from there on QF to LAX and then take AA up to SFO

It is really up to you

happy planning

Two notes:
1) AA challenges start twice a month on fixed dates so timing is important.
2) Only AA coded flights are valid for the challenges.

Thanks to everyone for all their advice!

SFO-HKG on CX and SYD-SFO on QF both have AA codeshares, and those 2 legs alone are enough for the challenge. I assume when booking I just have to ask for the AA flight numbers instead of CX and QF?

Hmm, the SFO-HKG leg alone should be enough, assuming I am getting 1.5 points per mile in D class. Does this mean I get Plat bonus miles on the rest of my trip? Nice.

My travel begins mid March, so I will start the challenge March 1.

Yes. If booking through AA they will probably book AA flight numbers by default on SFO-HKG on CX, but if they don't then have them do so.

Yes, SFO-HKG leg will give you about 10383 EQPs on D or A class.

No, this means you will get bonus miles on all of your trip since you get Platinum bonus miles on the qualifying flight also. The posting of the Plat bonus miles on the qualifying flight is delayed a day so don't be surprised when you see miles for you first segment post without the Plat bonus miles; they will show up the next day.

Remember only AA flight numbers for the challenge; also no Platinum bonus on JL flight nos. (or BA in a couple of months.)

SFO-HKG-SYD-SFO would net you around 42,500 net miles in J, 47K in F; SFO-HKG-NRT-MEL-SYD-SFO around 47K and 53K respectively, and something like SFO-LAX-NRT-HKG-SIN-SYD-AKL-LAX-SFO would net 48K and 53K respectively. Note there are some flights (e.g. QF NRT-SYD) that don't necessarily offer F, so just the 25% class of service bonus on those rather than 50% on flights with F.

After some more research on FT, I decided to go for:
SFO-LAX-HKG-NRT-SYD-SFO

I understand LAX-HKG route has the new CX business class seats, which is not on SFO-HKG yet. (Flying business is "special" enough for me that it is worth the stopover. And hopefully LAX has a nice lounge.)

Unfortuately, the stop in LAX doesn't give me enough room under the mileage cap to add MEL to the trip, but that's ok. SYD-MEL flights appear to be very inexpensive, and it also gives me the option of renting a car and taking a scenic drive.

Also thanks for the ExpertFlyer recommendation, which helped me in finding D availability on HKG-NRT. (I'll save NZ for another time; I have a good friend who is a native and would rather travel there with him. In the meantime, I have friends in Tokyo to see.)

I've called the AA RTW desk (and spoke to a very helpful and friendly CSR) and made my reservation. Thanks again for everyone's help!

While it is likely a 74A, don't count on it. You can be disappointed if it is not. My wife was on a 74A, not 744, SFO-HKG in Jan.

I have not been in the new LAX lounge, but from the pictures and the discussions, it should be far superior to the BA Terrace in SFO.

We're going to Papua New Guinea for some diving in November - the best (most economical) way by far was SFO-HKG <stop> HKG-SYD-ADL <stop> ADL-BNE <stop - fly to POM and GUR return on PX> BNE-SYD-SFO. 21,199 miles and 31,798 points. DCIR22 = $11,844 all in. As opposed to $37,231 SFO-LAX-SYD-ADL-BNE-SYD-SFO alone. Amazingly, the travel agent handling some other people's bookings had no clue... :eek:

Not sure if you wanted to include Australia or were only doing it to go to POM but I believe there are flights between MNL and POM which is also a seperate tkt on PX as you have it now. So another way could be SFO MNL SFO on PX using a net fare of even at a published D, and then a seperate tkt MNL POM MNL which in MNL will likely be less than finding it here on-line


But of course not as many OW miles

Have fun