Looking for a bit of advice - please;

I'm new in this RTW stuff, but am looking to book a trip for next December (DONE6 (i think).)

I have the following routing: EDI-LHR-DXB-NRT-HKG-SIN-SYD-AKL-SYD-LAX-YVR-JFK-(MIA-[GIG)-CPT]-LHR-EDI.

I say again, I'm not very good at this stuff (yet ^) and have marked problem areas in () and []... I cannot seem to get between these points without going back to London! There may be a better routing for the majority of my trip - if there is, please suggest it - as I say, its my first time organising a RTW such as this.

I've also heard that you can get it cheaper if I start my RTW in a different location - is this true? If so, where would you recommend I take off from (I live in Edinburgh) - but can get flights to where ever if its going to save me quite a bit - there will be 5 of us flying.

Thanks in advance - hope you can make sense of what I'm on about!

Marc ^

What is your goal? Just going to these places? Or maximizing miles/points?

As far as my knowledge goes the only way to include South Africa on a Oneworld RTW is something like LHR-DXB-LHR-CPT/JNB-HKG..... at the beginning of the trip.

You should also look at the Star RTW. Since SA is member of star it is fairly easy to connect to South Africa from South America or Asia or Europe. With Oneworld you are limited to CX, QF and BA (and you cannot go back to Europe when you are in South Africa).

Do a search on this board - there are several threads about the best location - but it is a moving targets because exchange rates and prices are changing.

Thanks for the reply ^.

The trip is mainly for a holiday, but I do enjoy flying , so I would say a bit of both.

I'll look into the *RTW, and the example routes you've given.

Thanks again.

mmfraser trying to go Eu-Asia-SWP-NA-SA-Africa-Eu. Changing the continent sequence will help. Anyway with 16 segments (including ground) *ONE6 are not viable or good value now.
Or SYD-JNB on QF. As noted above Africa has limted connections. Same with South America.
Getting 5 D seats on the same flight will be very very difficult. Be prepared to fly on different flights/aircraft/days/routes

Time to more research on the oneworld planner in Oneworld site and on Mileage Monkey. me thinks

On first glance, LAX-YVR can't be done on the AA code-share flight (operated by AS). You can, however, fly LAX-DFW-YVR. If you really want to fly on AS, then get the xGLOBx ticket (more restrictive but includes AS).

duplicate post.

Thanks for the reply guys.

On the above subject, if I book the flights so far in advance (say book June when traveling December), and space is available will the above still be a problem? Splitting up is not an option. If what I said above isn't true, is the only way to ensure that we are all on the same flight in business class or upwards to buy an A class ticket?

Cheers
Marc

As posted above you need to rearrange the order you visit to make an xONEx work. Here is a sample ex-LHR routing with 4 spare segments and dropping EDI-LHR-EDI (a bit of a waste of valuable segments on a first class ticket) and SYD-AKL-SYD (ditto). LHR-DXB-LHR isn't allowed unless you start the travel outside UK.

LHR-JNB-HKG-NRT-SIN-SYD-LAX-DFW-YVR-JFK-MIA-GIG-LHR

or

LHR-JNB-SYD-SIN-NRT-HKG-LAX-DFW-YVR-JFK-MIA-GIG-LHR

or

LHR-JNB-HKG-NRT-SIN-SYD-EZE-SCL-GIG-MIA-JFK-YVR-DFW-LAX-LHR (14 segments used)

You could fly LHR-CPT-JNB to use up one of the spare segments. If MIA is not important then you could drop it and fly directly from JFK to GIG to free another segment up.

Note xONEx rules allow to return to USA after visiting South America (with either before or after visits limited to transit under 24 hours) so you can double back (at cost of another segment) through JFK or MIA if you wanted (eg YVR-JFK-GIG-MIA-LHR).

You won't necessarily be able to get 5 first seats on every flight even with 6 months advance booking, especially on discounted (A) fares. Business class is easier, but even so some routes are difficult to get any seats in discounted booking classes (eg LHR-JNB/CPT vv, JNB-SYD vv)

Another alternative might be to drop Africa out of the ticket altogether and turn it into a DONE5 with routing:

edi-lhr-dxb-hkg-nrt-sin-syd-akl-scl-gig-mia-jfk-lax-dfw-yvr-lhr-edi

and then buy a separate return DXB-CPT-DXB ticket on EK from the savings. This will get you to all the destinations you mentioned in the OP.

^ Thanks, I'll look into it.

On the subject of either A or D class: if there is availability in these classes when the ticket is booked, whats the chances of being bumped down? If I do get bumped down, do I get any compensation?

Once you have a confirmed booking your chance of being bumped is close to zero (same as any other revenue customer) and compensation would be payable. It does happen on CX on some routes where 2-class equipment replaces 3-class at short notice.

But I echo others - the chance of you managing to get the full itinerary confirmed for 5 people simultaneously in A or D is pretty slim to say the least. It can be hard enough for 2 on some routes!

Thanks - i thought it would be very slim.

Just playing about with the Oneworld RTW thingy... After I've set up my trip, validated it, chosen flights does that mean that there is availability on those flights - or indeed does it just show all available flights, even if there isn't 5 available seats in D class?

The RTW booking tool only shows flights that have availability based on your initial passenger/class selection. So if you tell it at the start that you're a group of 5 people wanting to fly in D then it will only show you what you can actually get on.

Thanks. Thought that - just had to clarify ^.

As an aside, and in case earning on BA is important -- on a DONE4 in 2006 I got my SYD-AKL-SYD flights endorsed onto the BA codeshares at the airport immediately before check-in. This gave me 120 TPs each way and a few more miles. ^ I don't think it's possible to get the BA flight numbers on a separate ticket.