RTW in C with *A or Sky Team
 

Am going to book a RTW with either Sky Team or *A in the next few weeks.
Am Gold with KLM so will get a 75% Gold Bonus + 100 % C class bonus (around that mark i think) with them. So for a 5,000 odd mile jounry from UK to Miami I will get around 11,000 miles (roughly)

Am also a TG Gold in the * A Network?

What would it be better for me to fly? They are both around the same price!

How much bonus do I get for flying C on *A? Say if i fly 5,000 miles will i only get 5,000 or more? Never really tend to look at my statements that much to know what i get.

Is there any benefits with choosing Sky team over *A?

And i know that I have posted the same thread in the *A thread so anyone who cares to comment on that doesn't need to reply to this one. ;) The reason I have done that is that *A people don't tend to read this thread and vv!!

Thanks

it depends on what FFP you choose (in either alliance).

I am *G on Thai and Gold on Flying Blue

One thing that you need to be careful with on the SkyTeam C reward is that not all the carriers have Y, C and F. CO considers their BF product F, I think. Similarly DL doesn't have F either.

So does that mean I will have to fly in Y when i fly on CO or DL? But then again KL or NW doesn't have a 1st product, do they class WBC as a Biz seat or 1st?

CO's BF is a business class product, sold in the usual biz buckets. I don't know how SkyTeam RTW rules work, but on oneworld and *A you fly domestic F if you're on a business class RTW.

Unfortunately, on Skyteam if you book in C on a RTW ticket, you fly in Y on US domestic flights, unless you pay $100 per sector (so $200 for something like MSY-ATL-IAD unless it happens to be a through flight) to upgrade to F.

It's the least attractive aspect of the ticket. So if you're flying CO or DL you get their international business class on long-haul flights - as you're booked in C - but then they try to pretend that F is a higher class of service than C for domestic flights, so either you have to pay to upgrade to it (from a non-existent domestic C) or sit in Y. Flying Blue Silver and Gold members are supposed to get free upgrades from Y to F on NW US domestic flghts, however.

So Skyteam, which has the best US coverage of any alliance, is actually the worst option if you want to travel in C and make several US trips. I'm surprised they haven't addressed this inconsistency.

It's worth checking all these details - they're posted early on in the RTW on Skyteam sticky. The booking classes are particularly useful - agents often don't know about them.

I looked at the stickie, and it doesn't show CO/KL. Assuming that they use similar codes to DL, it looks like a paid C travels in D, which is actually BF.

According to the CO RTW reward chart, to get a F/BF seat, you have to book the F reward, not the C reward. Its an extra 60k miles, which pretty much stinks.

Anyone know if there is really this discrepancy in the RTW reward v. purchased tix? Also, anyone know what the CO/KL/NW fare classes actually are?

The OP is looking to buy a ticket, not do a RTW as an award (the conditions for those vary according to the FF scheme that actually awards them. I think US airlines allow unlimited stopovers whereas AF/KL only allows six)

I have bought Skyteam RTW tickets in C three times (and ended up paying $100 to upgrade for really long US segments such as LAX-HNL, and sticking it out in Y on other legs).

I am quite certain about the F/C rule. Whether you are redeeming an award or paying for the ticket, if it's business class you will travel in C (whatever the name they give to their international business class) on CO and DL internationally, but in Y on domestic US flights. Otherwise its the $100 upgrade per segment or pay the extra (a lot more) for a RTW ticket in F. Personally, I don't think that's really worth it, since only AF and KE have international F (and only on a few routes even then). It's the worst aspect of the Skyteam ticket. Either you pay for F and then have to travel for more than of your flights (within Asia, to and from Australia, within Europe and, increasingly, between the US and Europe too) in C because F is not available, or you pay for C and get shoved in Y in the USA, unless you pay for upgrades. You're right, it stinks. Especially as US domestic F is only really Economy with a lightly larger seat (and almost always no food).