Using Quantas Miles--Rules
 

I am planning a trip to Europe using Quantas miles--125,000 for first class.

Can we go anyplace within the 10,000 miles limit? How often can we stop? Could we for instance fly SEA/LHR/DUS/ZHR/LHR/JFK stopping in DUS, ZHR and LHR?

Max. 5 stopovers, in general- one free at the point of turnaround, plus 4 more at 10,000 points a pop. If you have a surface sector, the mileage counts toward the limit, but it only counts as one stopover (eg. I flew JFK-LHR-VIE, PRG-LHR-JFK- only one stopover, but the mileage VIE-PRG counted even though I took the train)

As I posted on your other thread (in response to another poster), you have to calculate distance back to origin.
So even if you only fly SEA-LHR,LHR-JFK, the mileage is calculated as follows:
JFK-LHR 3451
LHR-SEA 4800
SEA-JFK 2421
This goes over by 672 miles.

SEA-LHR, LHR-SEA is fine though. If you want to fly Concorde, my math says you can only get back as far as Denver.

[This message has been edited by landspeed (edited 11-09-2002).]

Well, phooey. I was hoping to fly SEA/LHR in BA first and then take the Concorde LHR/JFK. Pretty funny. I can fly SEA/LHR/SEA and it counts as 10,000 miles but SEA/LHR/JFK which is only 8,220 counts as over 10,000. Go figure.

So the sensible thing to do would be take the direct SEA/LHR/SEA but then I wouldn't have a Concorde experience. We'll probaly just do JFK/LHR/DUS/LHR/JFK and then switch to UA.

The 5 stopovers only work on QF flights. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif Bummer.

It also depends on your tier status with QF - OW tier through AA/BA won't help in this regard. The FF service centre is "flexible" with stopover fees for its elites. Good for QF Gold, and very good for QF Platinum FFs.

BTW, there's also a great airline called Qantas. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Yeah- it's a real trade-off- Concorde was great to fly once, but JFK-LHR is too short to fully enjoy on the overnight flights, IMHO.

But, big picture, it's a nice dilemma to have http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I probably know the T+Cs of the Qantas program better than any other (program, that is, not person!), and I've never even flown them. Once you learn its quirks (rules, mileage basis for awards, etc.), it compliments a traditional US program nicely- except the fact that there are no changes allowed after departure- that one scares the h*ll out of me no matter how you look at it. That's one of the biggest things scaring me away from the 300,000 point RTW, which I otherwise consider to be a great deal.

[This message has been edited by landspeed (edited 11-09-2002).]

So could I do ORD/LHR BA first, stopover in LHR, then LHR JFK on the Concorde, stopover in NYC and then JFK/ORD British first?

Problem I see with that is JFK-ORD is I don't think BA flies that one (actually, I don't think AA flies JFK-ORD! That one confuses those of us on the AA board!).

And adding LGA-ORD on AA makes it a Oneworld award, which costs more miles and is the original reference of the "Not valid on British Airways Concorde services. A double whammy http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

That is a limitation of the OneWorld Award and not a conditoin limited to, or imposed by, QF. It is in place for any OneWorld Award "purchased" using any OneWorld partner's scheme.

This only works for QF awards (not sure about partner awards??), but not for the OneWorld award, where the rules are set by OneWorld and not able to be bent by any of the airlines for any of their premium FF members. 5 stopovers is the hard and fast limit with the OneWorld award http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif.

Quote:

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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">BTW, there's also a great airline called Qantas. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

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http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

What are my options from SFO? I had originally planned to do JFK-LHR-MRS (Marseille)using BA first, then return using concorde. Buying my own fare to SFO.

Then I was reading this and wondered if I could do SFO-LHR-MRS in First, then return to JFK on Concorde and buy my own oneway to SFO.. But since I am reading that it has to be calculated from my original departure (SFO), I would not be able to do this.. Is that correct? Total miles under 10,000

Also, since someone mentioning being able to do both directions SEA-LHR in first, coudl I do that from SFO? I am looking at the 'great circle mapper' so I am unsure which mileage calculations are correct. It shows SFO-LHR being 4665 miles..

confused.

Actually, it sounds like you're getting the hang of it!

But, which great circle mapper are you using? gc.kls2.com lists SFO-LHR at 5367 miles. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

You're right, I do not know WHERE I got that 4665 miles from..

Guess theres no way to do a trip from SFO in First..I could do Seattle I guess if I wanted to do both ways in First.. but I really want to experience the Concorde, so that means I will have to start in JFK..

You could start somewhere like mid way across the US and use a AA/BA award for 1st class at 150,000 miles rather than just do the short JFK-LHR and back

Dave

How are you spelling that willyroo? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/tongue.gif


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~ Glen ~ Calling all United 1K Members - please join .. www.1Kflyers.com

OK, will this work?

JFK/LHR/ATH stopover, ATH/LHR stopover and then LHR/JFK?

The distance seems to be within limits at about 9880 miles so should be ok and cost, I think, 130,000 miles ( 125k plus 5k for the additional stopover)

The LHR to ATH and back will, of course, have to be in business class since there is no 1st class , so get the agent to check for U availability for those rather than Z

Dave

[This message has been edited by Dave Noble (edited 11-10-2002).]

Looks fine, mileage-wise. I assume you'll get hit with the 10,000 point stopover fee if you stay in LHR over 24 hours.

Two more things:
1.) From what I understand, if you stay in the UK for greater than 24 hours you can get hit with the UK taxes for premium travel. Although that may apply to all connections now is that's the PSC referred to in:
Pax Service Charge to be paid on all transfers through the UK as of 1/12
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum15/HTML/002680.html

IIRC, the Concorde may be taxed the same as coach, because it's one-class!

2.) If you have a BA EC account, you can check availability for a trip without having enough miles to book it. Not sure how accurately it mirrors availability to QF, but in my small sample (one trip booked) it seemed to be pretty close.
www.britishairways.com/spendmiles

Re the Concorde, these were the actual tax costs quoted for Joh and I on our roundtrip in JUNE.

Britain then (as now presumably) regarded a legal "stopover" as one that exceeds 24 hours. Concorde departed (then) LHR at 10.30am. Taxes per person on these tickets were $A94.40 as we cunningly gave ourselves 23.15 hours sleep/party time at LHR airport Hotel. Had our 'stay' in Britain exceeded 24 hours the taxes were $A361.60 a person. So, by arranging a short transit each direction we saved $A534.40 or about $US280 in taxes alone on the exact same flights! The point 'cost' to fly JFK-LHR is the same as JFK-LHR-to anywhere else close in Europe that BA flies, and thus cuts a huge sum off taxes. (And takes you somewhere more interesting than London to boot!)



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~ Glen ~ Calling all United 1K Members - please join .. www.1Kflyers.com

I have another question please. I've noticed many booking for Concorde flights way in advance (see many summer '03 people booking). Has anybody ever had any luck in booking a month or two in advance? I'm 'potentially' looking at Feb or March, to get to Marseille or Lyon, but am not sure yet..

'As long as there is availablity' is one good to book no matter how soon? And is the old 'flyaow.com/classavailability etc. ' website the best way to check this?

Award availability for Concorde comes from Z class inventory, and I am unaware of any publicly available on-line system that will show Z availability. Z is used for First Class awards on BA and many other carriers (including QF). U is for Business class and X or T is for economy class. R is used by BA for WT+ awards.

Makes sense, since R is their class for Concorde paid bookings, but there won't be any R class on 747's for paid people - and one would expect someone booking reward travel to know the differenc ebetween the two.

Now if only we could get QF to introdue an award level for WT+ on BA.

Dave

An unwritten benefit of being QF PLatinum is that QF book you into WT+ for WT awards on BA.

I booked JFK-LHR-VIE, PRG-LHR-JFK (F transatlantic outbound, SSC on the return) 7 days out. Returned from PRG because there was no VIE availability for 8 days after I wanted to return- PRG flights were wide open becuase of the floods (although the flight was packed)

Someone has posted that there isn't much SSC availability through Dec., but I assume availability will be fine after that.

JFK-LHR is easy to book because of the huge F/SSC capacity on that (almost a few hundred seats a day?), LAX-LHR looks almost impossible in F.

Again, I would recommend www.britishairways.com/spendmiles to check availability.

How do you think I know the booking class for awards in WT+ http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif?

Would you two shaddup about WT+? ssshhhh!!
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

zzzzzip http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Errr ... double zzzzziiiip :-)

Just rang QF for my R (redemption WT+) seats for next year, and was told "we can no longer guarantee that you'll be in the WT+ cabin".

Bugger.

Phoned BA, saying one of us (me!) would be a revenue ticket. "Much stronger chance, but we still can't guarantee the seats".

Bugger bugger!

[This message has been edited by willyroo (edited 01-05-2003).]

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

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Qa not Qu