Circle Pacific Question
 

Is the following routing OK for a 22K circle pacific ticket:

YVR-NRT-SYD-JFK

This clocks in at 19,499 miles using Mileage Monkey. Two questions

1. Can I begin in Canada and end in the US?
2. How will the mileage SYD-JFK be calculated? This is a Qantas one-stop in LAX (single flight number) Will they use SYD-JFK or SYD-LAX-JFK?

The circle pacific fare out of Canada is a real deal right now, especially compared to a DONE4. In D class:

ex-us ex-ca
(USD) (CAD)

22K CP 8,370 7,290 (or $5,905 USD)
DONE4 8,190 9,090 (or $7,363 USD)

Strange that a 22k circle pacific costs more than the DONE4 in the US.

A quick check of the circle pacific rules reveals:
http://www.oneworld.com/ow/air-trave...e-pacific-fare

Don't know if this helps, but I flew QF107 the whole way last year. QF gave me the following:
06 AUG 08 QF 107 ECONOMY 05AUG08 SYDNEY/NEW YORK (JFK) 9,947 - - 9,947 60

Thanks to both of you the quick responses.

Mileage Monkey lists SYD-JFK at 9961 miles and SYD-LAX-JFK as 9974 miles so the question is really moot. Hard to say which routing the last poster earned. I guess the non-stop flight path between SYD and JFK is directly over LAX.

FWIW, on Nov 26 2008 JFK-SYD was 9853 miles earned per AA 7366 (codeshare - QF 108).

I flew QF 108 yesterday. Qantas gave me 9947 base miles. I earned 22,381 miles with the cabin bonus (D class, actually flew up front [yayy!]) and status bonus.

Audrey

If booked on QF107 or QF108 between SYD and JFK the distance employed shall be the GC distance between SYD and JFK. GCM indicates 9950mi (Qantas dock you 3 miles for some reason).

There is one major problem in this case, the distance between your YVR and JFK must be included in the distance calculation as it's considered a "Surface Segment" (to complete the "circle").

The excerpt from the rules in post #2 refers to "origin-destination surface segments".

Clause I of the xCIRnn rules indicates the following: (My bolding)

serfty, isn't that open jaw covered by this rule: -

F. Travel may originate at any point for which fares are published and must terminate at the same point, except that origin-destination surface segments are permitted as follows:
(a) within country of origin
(b) between USA and Canada

- so you're saying that although starting at YVR and ending at JFK would be permitted, the mileage must still be included? Is that a change or did I get lucky before? I know I've done DCIR22s before where I started in one place in the U.S. and ended somewhere else in the U.S., simply because there wasn't enough mileage to get back to where I started. For example, you can't do TPA-DFW-NRT-MEL-LAX-DFW-TPA as it's 22,501 miles, so you drop the last leg (which is 929 miles and therefore gets you under the limit). We've done that a couple of times but maybe the rules have changed or we just got lucky.

I can understand if you did TPA-DFW-NRT // HKG-MEL-LAX etc. that you'd have to include the NRT-HKG mileage in the calculation but once you're back in the U.S., doesn't the above rule kick in?

You may have got lucky.

However that very rule you quote has the phrase, "origin-destination surface segments". This signifies this should be considered as part of the route and treated as mentioned in Clause I.

If the booking entity does not do this, then more power to the traveller!

You may well be right but I wouldn't agree that saying that travel must terminate at the same point and then saying that origin-destination surface segments are permitted means that that surface segment at the end must be counted in the mileage. It's not a surface segment "between intermediate points". By definition, a segment between the ending point and the starting point is not an "intermediate segment" if not returning to the starting point is permitted.

You may be right that we got lucky, but we've done these several times with AA without issue.

I would ... a "surface segment" is a "surface segment"! OK, you've been flying "Arc Pacifics". :cool: (Don't stop on my account :p)

I really don't have an issue; to me the rules are there, the rules could be considered confusing and if such confusion benefits the traveller all the better! :D

I guess YMMV on this one ...

Oneworld.com's planner permits 17th segment for origin-destination.
Luckily our side :)

According to the xONEx rule:
Travel may originate at any point for which fares are published and must terminate at the same point,
except that origin-destination surface segments are permitted as follows
(a) within the country of origin

A minimum of 3 and maximum of 16 segments, including surface segments between any 2 airports,
are permitted for the entire journey.

However, 17th segments as an origin-destinaion surface segment is not counted for 16 segments maximum.

At least, oneworld explorer planner treats an origin-destination surface segement differ from surface segments.

That's ok, we already stopped thanks to QF :) A DCIR22 at $5,300 or $5,500 was good .... at $9,300, forget it, our business now goes elsewhere.