workin' fine for me! Thanks WBT! ^

sorry wrong place to post about klm RTW, therefore i have removed the post and moved to: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...7&page=5&pp=15

SkyTeam Around-The-World Trip Report
 

Just posted it here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=396075

QUESTIONS on SkyTeam RTW
 

Experts,

I am not sure which thread to put these questions on. I got a number of questions I would like some clarification. PLEASE HELP.

1. RTW Mileage Calculator (e.g. for the 39,000 Miles Package), is MILES in this 39K based on ACTUALY DISTANCE FLIGHT MILE or CREDITED FLIGHT MILE for each segment (which means any segments shorter than 500 will be considered a min of 500 miles and counted toward the 39K?
2. Tickets will be originating from Thailand, is a transit in CDG considered 1 stop?
3. How many times can I transit via CDG while travelling within Europe?

Here are my tentative itinerary.

AF BKK-CDG-FLR (via CDG) (6405 miles)
AF FLR-CDG (547 miles)
AF CDG-PRG (530 miles)
OK PRG-FRA (253 miles)
AZ FRA-FCO-CAI (via FCO) (1932 miles)
AZ&AF CAI-MXP-CDG-JNB (via MXP and CDG) (7434 miles)
AF JNB-CDG-SVO (via CDG) (6961 miles)
DL SVO-JFK-BWI (via JFK) (4836 miles)
DL BWI-CVG-LAX (via CVG) (2326 miles)
KE LAX-ICN-BKK (via ICN) (8262 miles)

Miles written above is based on what SkyTeam Mileage Calculator gives on each route (which is based on actual flight miles). My problem is TOTAL MILES here based on above is 39,486, which is 486 miles above the 39K limit. If I assume this itinerary were under 39K, would this itinerary actually be valid for RTW package?

If you guys have any advises or comments and to help make this itinerary under 39K (without cutting any destinations, just rerouting the flights), PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME. First 3 lines MUST NOT be changed due to personal reasons.

Thanks,
Kiam

So you're going Europe-Africa-Russia-US? That looks like a lot of backtracking. If you can visit your destinations in no particular order, you could fly to SVO earlier on your trip (OK from PRG, for instance) to save a bit on MPM. Or wait till SU joins ST and fly direct from CAI :)

Or you could do JNB-CDG-LED (take the night train from StPete to Moscow and back) and LED-CDG-BWI

BTW, in some RTW programmes you can buy extra MPM in increments of 100, I believe, which makes sense in your case

1. MPM is based on actual flown miles. Each programme has its own minima e.g. DL=500, AF/OK=1000, AZ=1200, so credited mile calculation would create a mighty mess.
2. No.
3. My understanding is you can do it as many times as you like as long as you don't stopover in France more than once.


There are quite a few ways to reduce your miles flown by a bit, and that should get you down to 39k. For example, OK don't fly to FLR but you can take the train to Bologna and do BLQ-PRG-FRA.

My understanding is that open-jaw segments are counted in total mileage.

Correct. But FLR-BLQ distance is just 50 miles, bringing the total to 459 miles (BLQ-PRG: 409) as opposed to 1087 for a FLR-CDG-PRG itin.

Guys, thank you so much for your help. I managed to reroute some flights but have to get rid of my desire to go to Moscow on this trip and add 1 more shorter destination in North America instead, e.g. maybe Bahamas.

Since DL78XX (JNB-CPT) does not apply on RTW package, I have to buy a separate round trip ticket from Johannesburg (JNB) to Capetown and it will costs additional 500 USD. Cannot believe it costs this much for a 2 hours flight. Anyone has any better ideas on how I can this Capetown deal included on my trip? I really want to visit both JNB and CPT on this trip but paying additional 500 USD for a 2 hours flight is rediculous. Please help again !

A quick search on opodo/travelocity yields results more like $400 round trip incl. taxes, which isn't too bad considering the facts that
1)the dollar has been tumbling in value for quite some time
2) from what I've read here, South African flights (in particular on BA franchise Comair) remain full service.

According to travelocity, Nationwide Airlines publish a much cheaper fare ($101+taxes) but I 've been unable to find actual flights on which it's available.

Try domestic SAfr flights on www.Kulula.com - a no-frills airline in SAfr.

And the SAA web fares - www.flysaa.com

RTW award vs RTW $$$
 

Has anyone done a comparison of the Terms, Conditions, Restrictions, Stopovers, Mileage allowances, Continents visited, Backtracking, etc.
between the RTW award offered by Skyteam and the revenue ticket RTW?
It would appear that the Delta RTW award is more restrictive than the Skyteam revenue award? Any comment?

I don't think that's so in all cases, i.e. mileage restrictions on revenue.
The award ticket let us fly wherever we wanted... NO mileage restriction.
For example one portion was: LAX-PPT(stop)-LAX-ICN-SYD(stop)-ICN-BKK(stop)
...try doing that with a revenue ticket and you can only make it --half-- way around the world!

This is really great, I think I use my miles to fly to Egypt and then start a rtw from there. Does anyone know where I would be able to book the rtw that starts from Egypt?

I'm not familiar with SkyTeam RTWs very much, but you can always try to call the airlines directly. If for instance you have a lot of flights on AF, try calling the AF office in CAI. In the oneworld world, Emeco in CAI gets some good reviews as a provider of RTWs. They might do SkyTeam too.