Hello,

I've been lurking here for a few weeks gathering some info on doing my first RTW trip... great info on all the possibilities, prices and airplane types on the routes.

After working hard for a few years I'm fortunate to have accumulated some vacation time and will be able to get off work for about 5 months starting at the beginning of September.
And am thinking about doing my first RTW journey.

Since I’ve always wanted to see New Zealand and have enjoyed travelling in the US, I’ve come up with the following route (staying just below 29.000 miles and starting close to home):

DUS – (FRA) – SFO – LIH – (surface to HNL) – AKL – RAR – SYD – SIN – AMS – (DUS)

This way I can visit the US Rockies / Hawaii, New Zealand / the Cook Islands and ending with a short visit to Australia.

I’ve been comparing prices based on starting location but since starting in Europe seems reasonably cheap compared to, for example the US, I haven’t found any real alternatives to starting in NL, BE or DE. And since prices seem identical in all these countries starting in Dusseldorf seems convenient. I will probably skip the last leg since getting off in AMS also works for me.

The difference in price between flying Economy and Business seems rather small compared with a normal flight, so I’m considering treating myself to some luxury….

I was wondering if anyone has any comments on the route I’m planning and if you would consider it worthwhile flying business class? I guess this would also give me access to the airport lounges and offer me an extra baggage allowance?

The first leg of my route also offers me the choice in flying LH (747-400) or UA (777) from FRA to SFO, which would you prefer?

Thanks.

Welcome to FT, RTW1!

I am pretty sure you don't mean HON, you mean HNL, correct? Otherwise this would be an interesting surface segment.

This is a very nice routing and of course I would recommend using business class.

On that topic: be aware that SQ charges high surcharges to use their 77W and A380 business class so factor this in when planing your trip. Also, unless you find a NZ 777 flight to RAR you will be missing out on their great C product. It might make sense to almost skip Australia for this and fly AKL-HKG-LHR-DUS instead which would also solve the SQ surcharge problem.

And in terms of UA vs LH, UA now has the better hard product with a fully flat seat while the LH one is angled. The LH service will be better however. As it is a day flight the sleeping position is not that critical but you must decide how important that is.

Otherwise, SFO-LIH, HNL-AKL and RAR-SYD are operated by very ordinary business products.

This is true in C. Not at all in Y. The LH 744 in coach is a brutal experience and one I do not recommend anyone undertake willingly without a full understanding of the experience they'll be enduring.

Thanks, you're right... I meant HNL (edited).

I saw that SQ charges about € 400 for flying A380 or 77W. A little too much, although I would have liked to have flown A380. I thought I had found a loophole when booking a connecting flight with SQ on a 77W. The *A tool doesn’t show a surcharge, but when checking availability it freezes on this flight. So I guess no luck.

I also thought of flying LH from PEK or NRT on the return, but the A380 flights vanished from the selection after July 1st. This would also propel me into the 34.000 mile bracket, but a visit to Japan would probably be worth that. However it might not be after travelling for 3 months.

I think the schedule I have prepared now includes the 777-200ER flight (NZ046) to RAR, I saw the seatmap for that and it looks really nice. Shame it’s just a short flight, and the others are just ordinary business .

Your suggestion for RAR-HKG looks good, I'm still deciding on visiting SYD. But I don't really like HKG much, allthough the food makes up for it.
Another choice could be SIN-MUC-DUS versus SIN-AMS-DUS, somehow the 77W SIN-MUC doesn’t seem to carry a surcharge.

The Y seat looks really cramped in the picture... surely won't be taking that :-).

Of course I was referring to C as I doubt UA will have lie flat seats in Y. Then again, they might follow the NZ example with their "couches".

I know. I was just saying that if the OP does choose Y then the product and service in the back is likely going to be better on UA over LH.

First of all i would recommend doing the trip in C. Considering the lounges, priority check in, extra luggage etc is well worth it. Assuming you credit to M+M this trip will also give you around 50.000 miles then, apply for a credit card and you almost have another business class RT to the US.

Hawaii could be a problem, because yo likely have no 777 HNL-NRT. You could do a LAX-AKL and buy a separate RT to Hawaii which depending n the season can be really inexpensive. This would also leave you with a few miles to play with and potentially add a few more stops (like SIN or BKK or India or China etc).

Instead of LH you could also look at LX for ZRH-SFO (the should have their new fairlt narrow but fullt flat seats).

I'm almost decided on going for C... those seats look a lot better than the ones in Y, and the lounges might be nice too :-).

The segment SFO-LIH-(surface)HNL-AKL took some figuring out, but I'm quite happy doing it this way. No returning to LAX which saves me some time.

But I'm seriously considering changing the last part of the trip. Skipping SYD, or even RAR, and going for AKL-PVG-NRT-FRA-DUS instead. The LH A380 seems to be back in the *A tool for NRT-FRA-DUS.
And I figure I would prefer Shanghai over Hong Kong, and some time in Japan is also going to be nice... It could also mean skipping the Cook Islands so I'm still thinking on that.

I think I will go for the LH FRA-SFO since it is a day flight, but the LX ZRH-SFO would work as well.

I would not skip SYD and RAR, as those place are much more far away from Europe comparing to PVG/NRT which are easy and cheaper to fly to. Ofcourse YMMV.

The LH A380 has the old seats in C, nothing new, nothing flat. You don't need to get out of your way to get it. Only F is nice.

I'm still deciding on going to RAR... as I've seen that flights between the islands are relative expensive, and I'm not quite sure I will like the limited number of things to do. But it is hard to decide when you haven't been there before.

I might do the section AKL-SYS-AKL on a separate ticket. I think I will like to visit Sydney, instead of only seeing the Harbour Bridge on TV each new year.
Flights for AKL-SYD are really cheap, and it might make more sense to save the C miles for the long haul flights. With the miles saved I could even do some flying within Europe for my holiday next year.

I was expecting a better flight in A380, it might not be the seats but the overall experience like the reduced noise level.

Do you prefer the A380 over an 777-200ER? Or is it more of the same?

If you're considering flying in Business it might be worth looking into a Oneworld DONE4. I believe the base pricing of a DONE4 ex-Sweden for instance is roughly the same as a CRWSTAR1 when I booking this not too long ago.

The downside is obviously you would have to make some amendments (and perhaps skip one or two cities in the original plan where OW doesn't fly) but you could also get to add several more possibilities/cities than listed in your original trip for the same baseprice, instead of worrying about the 29k limit. Like Qantas domestic routes in Australia aswell as NRT and PVG for example.

Just a thought.

Cheers,
Andy

Thanks Andy,

I've looked into the Oneworld RTW. But found that my selections for the US segments were very limited... there is no way to travel directly between cities on the west coast and once I got to LIH there is no way to get to SYD/AKL except via LAX, and that is not allowed.

Also the selection I get for aircraft types seems to indicate AA uses rather old ones....

A shame since Oneworld seems perfect for including that Cuba visit, but it then excludes any US destination.
This has led me to the conclusion that *A is better for visiting my primary destinations (US/NZ) than Oneworld. Allthough I like that there is no restriction on miles.