Advice re: Paper v. e-tickets
 

I'd like to ask the esteemed contributors to this forum for their expert help & advice.

I've recently retired, and with the help of the postings here and other tools (like KVS), I'm planning an ex-MRU AONE5 for 2009.

In addition to going to visit places I'd like to see, the main objective is to get to Oz for my mother's 90th in Dec 2009, or, if necessary :td:, fly out to Oz from Europe before that at short notice. Hence there is a Plan A (allowing hi-speed take-off) & a Plan B (to get to Oz in Dec 2009).

Plan A would be to pre-reserve the initial phase of 6 segments:

MRU-xJNB-oCPT-xLHR-oCAI-xLHR-GVA (to be flown in Feb 2009)

and specify a second phase, to be left open-dated:

GVA-xLHR-oSYD-???-oSIN-oHKG-oJFK-???-xLHR-DAR

(The ??? to be entered based on your opinions.)

There always seems to be A-inventory available from LHR-SYD, so that seems to be OK should I need to take off super-fast.

Plan B would start off with the same 6 segments

MRU-xJNB-oCPT-xLHR-oCAI-xLHR-GVA

but then reverse the continental sequence (because of the weather & the proximity of Christmas):

GVA-xLHR-oPHX-oEWR-oMIA-oSFO-oLAX-oSYD-oBNE-oADL-oPER-oSYD-oSIN-oHKG-JNB

I would plan to buy the ticket in April 2008, for first use in Feb 2009, although that could be brought forward if needed. The idea would be to go for a change to Plan B (involving a re-issue) in Autumn 2009 if the ticket hasn't been needed earlier. The re-issue would reverse the sequence of continents, from "Africa-Europe-Asia [single plane service]-SW Pacific- Asia-N.America-Africa" to "Africa-Europe-N America-SW Pacific-Asia-Africa".

All this is a pretty long-winded preamble to the question: Should I ask for a paper ticket for my desired 20 segments initially (based on Plan A), or go for a 16 segment shortened version as an e-ticket and get it re-issued later? Any advice you can give would be much appreciated.

The think positive approach would be to go for the full 20 segment ticket. If you are lucky and your plans hold that's a reissue fee + extras saved.

I agree with the above. Paper ticket is more complicated especially in terms of reissue (at certain locations), that's for sure, but if the plans are (fairly) fixed, it could save you some bucks.

For me, one of the big advantages of the xONEx tickets is the provision for reissue at, what seems to me, a very nominal fee. Because I am willing to pay to keep my plans flexible (and my plans do change), I usually have at least two reissues, and am very willing to pay a couple of hundred dollars each time for this option. In practice, I have always had at least two reissues and sometimes 4 or 5. In addition, I find it very convenient to start with an e-ticket so I don’t have to worry about coordinating the ticket pickup, etc. So I tend to have my initial ticket with just the intercontinental flights and the initial (ie., before the first long stopover) intra-continental flights. Hence I start with well under 16 flights and expand it later (usually to the full 20).