I've been reading the explorer ticket FAQs today (all day) and using the extremely useful Mileage Monkey tool - it really is great, but I clearly am a newbie!!

I plan to start in London with the following itinerary for my wife and I on two AONE6 tickets and have a couple of questions - see extract below:

econ biz first Airlines Distance Description
60 120 180 ~eur-~nam 4713 LHR-YVR
60 120 180 ~nam-~nam 2444 YVR-JFK
60 120 180 ~nam-~sam 5308 JFK-EZE
20 40 60 ~sam-~sam 708 EZE-SCL
60 120 180 ~sam-~sam 2334 SCL-IPC
60 120 180 ~sam-~sam 2334 IPC-SCL
60 120 180 ~sam-~sam 2239 SCL-GYE
60 120 180 ~sam-~nam 2985 GYE-JFK
60 120 180 ~nam-~asa 8068 JFK-HKG
20 40 60 ~asa-~asa 1238 HKG-PEK
20 40 60 ~asa-~asa 1327 PEK-NRT
60 120 180 ~asa-~asa 2889 NRT-BKK
20 40 60 ~asa-~asa 898 BKK-SIN
60 120 180 ~asa-~swp 3753 SIN-MEL
20 40 60 ~swp-~swp 1640 MEL-AKL
20 40 60 ~swp-~swp 1343 AKL-SYD
60 120 180 ~swp-~asa 4599 SYD-HKG
60 120 180 ~asa-~afr 6639 HKG-JNB
20 40 60 ~afr-~afr 790 JNB-CPT
60 120 180 ~afr-~eur 6022 CPT-LHR
920 1840 2760 62271
20 entries

I am going to YVR so I can take a paid return to Anchorage without losing out elsewhere.

Have I maxed out the opportunity / number of first sectors or am I missing some elemental tips?

Secondly, I am emigrating to Australia later this year (soon after the RTW) and whilst I need to come back to the UK, I wonder if I should post the trip through my BA (62271 miles and 2760TPs) or Qantas card (3060 SCs)? Any views?

Thanks All,

Marcus.

You have a second entry in Asia which is not part of a transit between SWP and Europe so the itineray is not valid. The way around it would be to go SYD-JNB. Also, are you aware the UK is one of the most expensive places to start an AONEx?

Edited to add: not that it is very important but if you post your itinerary this way: LHR-YVR-JFK-EZE- etc., it would be a little easier to read.

JNB-xHKG-SYD is not allowed.

As for F v. J, something like 9 of your 19 eligible flights would offer F including all the longhauls, so while more optimizing might be possible it's not too certain you could do a lot better. Note just because flights carry A seats doesn't always mean you can get them.

One other note is that if you're going to fly on your own dime to ANC then SEA is a better gateway than YVR - many more flights and much cheaper in F as well as Y. You don't need to reroute or do an openjaw - just take the train from Van to Seattle and then go back to Van when you're done.

Meant to add, just as an illustration of what Viajero said, an AONE6 bought in the UK will cost around 1400 quid more than if bought in Sweden, and around 2200 more than if bought in Gibraltar. Granted both would require some reduction in segments elsewhere, but for a couple thousand pounds each you could backfill the gaps with conventional tickets (e.g. JNB-CPT) and have money left over.

"maxed out the opportunity"
- for miles, no (circa 75K is max, as a guage)
- for QFF SCs, good enough
- for travel comfort, no (better A routes exist)
- for ease of obtaining A inventory, no (several infrequent/seasonal/high demand route choices)
- for interesting travel, maybe
- for price, no (as mentioned by Gardyloo already)

But it is not a legal itin, you'll have to take QF SYD-JNB (luckily this now has an F cabin 6 days a week and is no longer seasonal).

Only you can tell how well you did, based on what you were trying to accomplish. ANC is available on OWE fare (seasonal DFW-ANC during summer months, roughly May to Sept). You might also want to double check SCL-GYE-JFK.

If I were grading this in terms of "best", I'd rate it at 80%.

The previous posters are much more experienced xONEx-ers than I am but don't you have two entries into North America?

That's fine: (xONEx Rules)

Firstly, thanks for your help.

After further discussions with my wife around where is really important in terms of location and noting Gardyloo's point re price, we have modified to come up with the following itinerary, which I think can be done on a AONE4:

gib-lon-dfw-anc-dfw-yvr-jfk-eze-scl-ipc-scl-gye-jfk-hkg-pek-nrt-sin-hkg-lon-gib

Our main objective is to get to ANC, to visit South America / Easter Island and to visit a few SE Asia cities. (Happy to visit Africa later, and Australia won't be a problem as we are emigtrating there later this year). The second objective is to enjoy as much high quality F as possible whilst doing it (I think 10 of the above are), optimising miles and TPs etc within these constraints.

I would be grateful for a further view on the itinerary (especially on how I can get better A routes / ease of inventory within my objectives -thanks for the comments number_6) and also, how and where I can buy a ticket for use from GIB?

I am not being lazy honest!! I am just not very experienced at planning air travel and don't know the key workarounds.

Best regards,

Marcus.

Buying in Gib: you have to use a TA and there is just one (I think it is called Bland, see http://www.gibyellow.gi/company_resu...Service_ID=461 or the FT trip reports and it should be described in one of them). Or Google. I'm not sure but I have it in my mind that GIB is served from LGH not LHR, which might be a problem.

As for F quality, you have 3 high-quality segments (yvr-jfk, jfk-hkg and hkg-lon). Some routes have seasonal A (JFK-EZE) which is moderate quality. I thought LAN has removed F seats from their 763s, so there wont be on SCL-GYE-JFK. Personally I would change the Asia segments to be HKG-NRT-HKG-DPS-HKG and leave SIN and BKK for future trips from Oz (very cheap fares from there and you'll see more of each than you want if you do much travel to Europe).

IPC is a great use of OWE as it is otherwise quite expensive to get to as well as difficult. Maybe the most isolated spot on earth. When I went there were only 2 or 3 flights per week (I think it is daily now, and 2 flights on some days)....scheduling was tough when there were so few flights, and you probably wont be able to get A (but still worth going!).

Two points re counting:

1. I think that only 7, not 10, of your segments are �real� first class (i.e., on a 3 cabin plane) namely: LHR-DFW on BA, YVR-JFK on CX, JFK-HKG on CX, HKG-PEK on KA, NRT-SIN on JL, SIN-HKG on CX (#713 only), and HKG-LHR on BA. The following segments will earn first class TP on BA but are not �real� first class: DFW-ANC and ANC-DFW. DFW-YVR will involve the same on-plane experience (not great) but is only considered business class.

2. Incidentally, by my count you have 21 segments because the two passes through LON involve the surface segments of LHR-LGW

The co-terminal switch is annoying but likely will require some further route adjustments.

BA still offers some nonstops out of LGW that have first class - for example you could go GIB-LGW-ATL-DFW... or LGW-BGI-JFK-YVR-DFW.. in order for the LGW-LHR "segment" to be more productive.

Also of course you're now using an xONE5 and not a 6-continent ticket.

You'd still have to lose a segment somewhere else in order to keep getting hit by the cross-London connection again at the back end. You might look at something like ...NRT-SIN-LHR-MAD-GIB instead of passing through HKG again.

Maybe you could leave Europe for South America instead, then go to North America and Asia?

LHR-EZE (BA: 1st Class, 3-class plane)
- or -
GIB-MAD-SCL (LA: 1st Class, 3-class plane)

then later:

EZE-MIA (AA: 1st Class, 3-class plane)

then later:

JFK/LAX/DFW-Asia (many options for 1st Class, 3-class plane)

I'd skip some segments in Asia and save few more for S.A. in order to get real long haul F S.A. --> N.A. If you really want to get to US ex-GYE you'll have to fly in J for intercontinental leg, something which is not too good value out of the ticket.

Thanks very much everyone - much appreciated. More thought required. Has anyone here bought from Gibraltar, how was it done, did they use Bland's - were they any good?

Thanks again,

Marcus.

Search yields the following:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ibraltar+bland
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ibraltar+bland
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ibraltar+bland
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ight=bland+gib
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...27&postcount=6