globaltrotter

I am trying to find out a way to get to maldives on a rtw away skyteam ticket. I will be using Continental to ticket the RTW ticket. I did a RTW on delta and they are so much easier to deal with unique routings. For instance delta allows connections through cities, if it is backtracking, but continental ONLY allows you to move in a forward direction (even if its a stop OR just a connection city). So it is difficult to get to the maldives, because if I fly emirates (CO award partner) out of dubai to maldives then I cant come back to dubai because they see it as backtracking. But they are the only airlines to fly there through Continental, I dont see why Continental will allow it when there are no other options. Can someone suggest a way to get there, maybe I am missing something or havent figured out some unique routing? (I know I can fly into dubai or singapore and purchase a ticket to maldives, but looking to fly totally on rtw award ticket. But if I have to, then what is the cheapest route or way to get there). thanks!

sbm12

CO does allow for backtracking during the routing as long as it isn't an actual stopover and is only a connection (up to 24 hours). You often have to remind them of this during the booking process but it will ticket correctly when they send it to the fare desk to get taxes figured out. I had a valid routing ....HKG-CDGx-ATHo-CDGx-LHRo-NYC. I was able to go east via CDG on the HKG-CDG-ATH flight and then back west through CDG on the way to London. At least one of those was a < 24 hour overnight.

Another interesting nugget of information is that while EK is a CO partner for both earning and burning, I do not believe that you can use them for the Series 17 (RTW) award.

There are significant holes in the SkyTeam route network. Polynesia, Oceania and MLE are the main sore points. At least we now have a legitmate option to SEZ with service on KQ once a week.

globaltrotter

thank you for the response. When I talked to the RTW CO agents they all (talked to 4) were VERY firm on backtracking on award RTW. They did say that the rule are less strict when you do a revenue RTW. I told them if it was just a connection and not a stop, then it isnt really backtracking. But they said it isnt valid EXCEPT going to SYD, since Korean Air is the only way to get down there. I was like yeah and only one airlines gets you to Male, Madagascar, etc...so I dont get it.....Delta would allow me to fly from Hong Kong to India connecting through Paris if I wanted......They told me that Emirates does participate in RTW redemption but pretty hard to get. Thoughts?

rolov

You can always use SIN as a Stopover point and buy a RT SIN-MLE-SIN

ericw

KUL is generally cheaper than SIN for MLE

graraps

or you could also try BKK.

leejeffrey

You can also find specials on Jazeera airways out of Dubai. I have seen round trips to Male for 298 AED plus taxes (less than $83 US) The service is seasonal between November and March.