j379pa

Hello,

I'm starting to strategize my RTW strategy for an August 2004 trip (yes, 2004--I'm planning ahead for a renewal leave ), using Delta miles.

I'm also planning my August 2003 one destination trip, looking very hard at New Zealand, using United miles.

My question: would there be any reason to choose Australia over New Zealand for the 2003/United trip, saving New Zealand for the RTW? Is one country easier to book for an RTW than the other?

My reason for choosing New Zealand now is I'll be able to put in two weeks there and cover most of the two islands, where on the RTW I'll have maybe a week at each destination, and see myself doing Australia several times over the years.

I'm planning to buy into award planner to help me put together the RTW--I'm building up Hilton points to use as well.

For information: I'll have enough Delta miles for RTW in 2004, but would not on United, so Sky Team is my only game in town.

thanks for your help!

JP

j379pa

bump--any advice out there?

JP

number_6

Probably you don't get much response because your questions are not sufficiently specific, and it is impossible to give advice about whole continents!
NZ and Australia are both good places to visit, but impossible to cover all of NZ in 2 weeks -- I did it in 20 days and it was 2000 miles of driving (and felt like another month is needed)! Australia is roughly comparable size to the US, so you have to pick and choose where you go and what you see. In general the countryside is outstanding and the cities merit a day or two for casual touring.
Impossible to predict airline award availability in 2004, so you should ignore that aspect. In general much more flights available to Australia than NZ (6 cities instead of 1 for gateways), offset by more demand there. NZ is somewhat cheaper than Australia, fwiw.

j379pa

Thanks for your response. I am really seeking advice more on using my frequent flier miles, and if there is any advantage to booking one country or the other for a RTW fare.

JP

yorock

As far as i understand, you can't use RTW award with Skyteam to fly to Oz or NZ. The rules state that all flights must be either eastbound or westbound and there is no Skyteam partner that either enters Oz or NZ from the east or leaves heading east. For example, I know that KE goes to both countries from ICN. But to leave NZ or Oz, one would have to fly back west. This is not permitted. The only thing that I can think of is booking RTW w/an open jaw between Oz or NZ and either New Caledonia or Tahiti. AF serves the South Pacific destinations from LA, so you would not be breaking the directional rule. But you would have to find your own transport in between the stops. Personally, I think that Skyteam should make an exception of this rule.

yorock

Track

Of course you can use a Skyteam RTW award to go to Australia and/or New Zealand. KE will take you to both, and you may return to Seoul for a westward/eastbound connection, providing you stay less than 24 hours. I did exactly that this year, flying Paris - Seoul (stopover) - Auckland - Seoul (no stopover) - Los Angeles.
AF flies Paris - Los Angeles - Tahiti but Paris - Tokyo - New Caledonia.

[This message has been edited by Track (edited 10-30-2002).]

j379pa

Thanks for the added responses. From other places I've read, Track is correct in his response.

Let me ask one more time: do you see any advantage to choosing one country over the other for the skyteam reward, or for the United reward?

thanks!

JP

yorock

Thanks for the heads up on the AF flight to New Caledonia. But do you really want to stay in Australia or New Zealand for less than 24 hours?

yorock

HajoFlyer

j379pa, looking at the question you have posted and the answers you have received, it appears to me that folks here on the SkyTeam board are not as familiar with the concept of RTWs as most of us are in the *A and OW forums, where RTWs have almost become a sport - both on the miles redeeming and collecting ends - and fill hundreds of pages in the respective forums.

No offence meant, but I see this as another symptom and proof for my impression that SkyTeam is an alliance that exists mostly on paper and is not really put into practice by airlines and their passengers (or if the latter do, they have to quarrel with alliance partners who want to deny them the perks they are entitled to as SkyTeam Elite Plus members - see some old posts on the AF and DL boards).

Track

That's stay in Seoul for less than 24 hours (waiting for a connecting flight to continue in one RTW direction). I spent two weeks in New Zealand this year and found it absolutely wonderful. I was in Australia several years ago and didn't see all I wanted to in two weeks.