milonaire2

Can anyone suggest routings for the SkyTeam two-for-the-price-of-one round-the world offer. (conditions below)

"Travel around the world with a companion of your choice
For a limited time only, SkyTeam is offering the 2nd reward ticket free when
you book a round the world reward ticket.
Your trip must not include more than six stopovers (maximum of three per
continent). You may depart from virtually any city and fly on any Skyteam
airline but you must travel in only one direction (east-west or west-east) and
make a transatlantic and transpacific flight.
Connections* (1 to 4 zones) are free for residents of Europe (except Ile de
France) and North Africa.
Two baggage of 32 kilos per person are allowed."

We would be starting from London or Paris.

Many thanks for any advice.

JRF

A

Moderator2

As the subject is related to a SkyTeam offer, I'm moving this thread out of "MilesBuzz" to that forum.

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Craig6z
Buzz & United Moderator
[email protected]

number_6

Wow, what a generous offer ... it hasn't been made by Skyteam in the US (yet), this looks like it is only for European members.
Unfortunately the Skyteam routing is problematic as global coverage is weak in some areas (compared to Oneworld or Star).
You can't get to Australia at all, and you can get to South Africa but must return to Europe (probably prohibited in the RTW). So you are limited to the northern hemisphere. Also limited F service (DL/AZ don't have F at all). So I would suggest business class award with this routing:
LHR-CDG-HKG-ICN-NRT-ATL-LAX-CDG
you can add US and European cities as desired, but I strongly prefer HKG and NRT as places to visit (as opposed to SIN or BKK). The above routing is mostly on AF (my choice), if you prefer Alitalia you could go ex-FCO but I think Alitalia has dropped the US-west coast flights (maybe coming back in the summer?). If you wanted to fly in F you could route on AF/KE, LHR-CDG-HKG-ICN-ORD-SLC-LAX-CDG

jwhite4

Korean Air provides service to Auckland, Brisbane, and Sydney.

Jeff

obscure2k

how many days do you plan to be gone & what month(s) will you be travelling?

number_6

but not allowed on the RTW paid routing (presumably also not allowed on the award).
ICN-SYD-ICN is considered as backtracking, when I tried to buy this ticket (despite a very inconvenient routing). So there is no way to use Skyteam RTW into Australia or NZ (except to open-jaw to Papeete, which is not an attractive option).

jwhite4

Missed that point, thanks.

Jeff

milonaire2

The full details of this Air France offer are at:
http://www.airfrance.com/double6/US/...w?OpenDocument

It does say "SkyTeam offer" so maybe you chaps in the US could get it too.

We would like to go for three weeks in June, and only have enough miles for economy seats.

The routing suggested involves back-tracking, so I don't think it would be allowed. Also, where is ICN?

number_6

Backtracking within a country is allowed (usually also within a continent), but not between continents/countries. I've given up on Skyteam for RTW fares and routings (they cost more, have worse airlines and worse routings, and more restrictive rules).
ICN is Inchon International airport in Seoul, Korea. It is a big hub for Korean, so all your Asian travel will wind up going through there (about the only exception would be CDG-NRT-ATL, but that is a wasted trip).
I highly suggest you re-think doing RTW in economy and spring for business (maybe a couple of weekend trips to US on those cheap fares can earn the miles you need). It is a lot of hours on a plane, and the Skyteam seat pitch is 31 inches at best. It isn't the comfy seat that you get in economy on some other airlines. I have done RTW in economy (many years ago) and will never do it again -- and the seat pitch was much better then! The first 20 hours are OK, but it rapidly deteriorates ... I don't want to discourage you from making the trip, but be aware of what it entails.

Track

I recently returned from the following RTW Skyteam Business-Class trip, albeit with an award ticket, rather than a more restrictive paid ticket:

JFK - CDG (transfer) - Rabat/Marrakech - CDG (transfer) - Berlin - CDG (transfer) - Saigon - ICN - Auckland - ICN (transfer, less than 24 hrs., so not backtracking [slept in the Air Garden hotel]) - LAX - MEX (transfer) Puerto Vallarta - MEX (transfer) - JFK. The six stops that counted were Morocco, Berlin, Saigon, ICN, Auckland and Puerto Vallarta. It was all very comfortable, and Australia could just as well be included, in place of New Zealand, since both are east of ICN.

Track

I recently returned from the following RTW Skyteam Business-Class trip, albeit with an award ticket, rather than a more restrictive paid ticket:

JFK - CDG (transfer) - Rabat/Marrakech - CDG (transfer) - Berlin - CDG (transfer) - Saigon - ICN - Auckland - ICN (transfer, less than 24 hrs., so not backtracking [slept in the Air Garden hotel]) - LAX (transfer) - MEX (transfer) Puerto Vallarta - MEX (transfer) - JFK. The six stops that counted were Morocco, Berlin, Saigon, ICN, Auckland and Puerto Vallarta. It was all very comfortable, and Australia could just as well be included, in place of New Zealand, since both are east of ICN.

number_6

Great news! Maybe Skyteam has realized how ridiculous that rule was (ICN-AKL-ICN as backtracking, since one direction is bound to be east and the other west, no matter where AKL is located relative to ICN) and now allows it. Still a very long way to get from US to Australia/NZ. Maybe AF and AZ will resume service and then it will really be viable. The paid RTW has a mileage cost, so the round-about routings become expensive.

number_6

I forgot to mention your biggest choice in such a trip: going east or west.
This is a very personal choice, and there are advantages to both ... people are strongly divided in their opinions on it.
Eastbound: shorter travel time as you are flying with the wind (this is about 10% saving in travel time), and I usually go east. But the time zone differences are exaggerated (greater time difference at destination from origin) and particularly for 12 hour flights this can play considerable havoc with your body clock if you are not jet-lag experienced (or have taken active measures to deal with jet lag).

Westbound: longer flights, but better timezone effects. The time at your destination is like a long day (e.g. 6 hours longer), so it is easier to sync to local time.

Depending upon your activities and duration of your trip, this could be an important consideration. I prefer to fly west, but wind up going east 90% of the time (my trips are short and time-constrained).

I suggest you plan your trip out in both directions, and see what you like. Also that you clarify with Air France whether they allow backtracking within countries (if so, flying CDG-SFO-rest-of-US-which-is-east-of-SFO is much nicer than flying through JFK/ATL/CVG ... pick BOS if you must fly east coast).

If time permits and you are flying in the summer, I highly recommend a trip to Anchorage, Alaska (Delta flies SLC-ANC and SEA-ANC). The flight there is spectacular scenery (along the Alaskan coast) and the area around Anchorage is very special, one of the nice parts of this planet (along with NZ).