htan

Hi all,

Travel quite frequently between Europe and Asia. (Based in GVA Switzerland)
However due to mostly point to point flights have never booked a RTW ticket.

However this December am going to a friend's wedding in Buenos Aires, then to meet some people in Seoul/Nagoya before heading to Singapore for a family reunion. (with some other possible stopovers). All this within 3/4 weeks. Hoping to do this with a RTW business class and am excited!

The Itinerary looks like this

FRA-EZE-SFO-ICN-NGO-SIN-BKK-GVA-FRA

Hoping to get some advice for the following

1) Starting in FRA as I saw that prices in EUR per information on other threads, seem to be cheaper than CHF prices. Also there is a direct LH flight to EZE from FRA.

Is this still the case or should I start from GVA? Or another location? Happy to take a connecting flight if makes sense.

2) Any further comments about the route? Are there other better options in routing?
As mentioned the non negotiable locations are EZE, ICN, NGO,SIN

3) Before the start of the trip I will be about 30k miles short of Senator status with LH in 2010. All routes up to ICN are in 2010. Am I maximizing my mileage from GVA-EZE-ICN?


Looking forward to any advice on the above or in general about the trip!
First time in Latin America for me so really eager to see the places.

Cheers


P.S Started with the star RTW tool, but it froze on me! Silly me did not save....

RTW1

I just booked my first RTW with *A myself.

These were the prices I was able to find for a *A RTW from CH:
First Class - 16,243CHF / 18,691CHF / 21,766CHF
Business Class - 8,692CHF / 10,311CHF / 12,007CHF
Economy Class - 3,829CHF / 4,707CHF / 5,493CHF

The prices in EUR if you depart from GE will be a little less, but not really by much. The UK is more expensive.

I used the B&F tool extensively before making my booking (and then changing it again). I only had problems with the tool freezing after choosing flights when checking for availability. It pays to save before reaching that point... and you can save more than one (and print and mail it).

You see the miles for each leg when choosing the flights. It should then be easy to determine the FF miles based on your booking class. You could also use the M&M calculator for the LX and LH flights.

But if you do it in Business I think you will meet your miles. It should be roughly 2x the miles + the 25% bonus for LH/LX and some others.

But by casually glancing at your route you seem to be somewhere between 29.000-34.000 miles. By adjusting it a little you might be able to get it just below 29.000 (by skipping SIN for example). Otherwise you can maybe use the extra miles to plan an extension in Europe next year from GVA and then ending in FRA.

An RTW can be used for 12 months and changes in dates are free....

henry999

???

cheers,

Henry

RTW1

You are right... should have seen that one :-).
Not much room for saving miles then...

Unterwegs

You could add some other side trips at the end - do not return to FRA but to Switzerland. DAR (new Business Class) puts you in the 39.000 miles bracket - not too much of a price difference, good flight times from ZRH (did this as an add on to my last RTW). FRA-EZE-SFO-ICN-NGO-SIN-BKK-GVA-ZRH-DAR-ZRH-FRA should work. If you need more miles in 2010 start with FRA(or STR)-ZRH-DAR-ZRH, then continue from ZRH.

If you are planning to do this on a regular basis you could also start the RTW from one of the cheaper places. NRT and ICN are easy because you usually need them as connecting point for US-Asia anyhow. Get a one way there. buy the RTW from there, you have one year to end up there again and buy the next RTW.

And if yo buy from there, consider buying F. The price difference is not too big, you will save some on the surcharges SQ has for C on their new planes.

If that does not work: Leaving out GVA at the end will put you below 29.000: FRA-EZE-SFO-NRT-NGO-ICN-SIN-BKK-FRA.

htan

RTW1, Unterwegs

Thanks very much for the information.
Great idea of adding an additional flights on the beginning or end of the trip. (I was too focused on where I need to go)

Not sure if I will be able to do a RTW every year due to work commitments leave wise, but an interesting idea

Now squeeze some time today to checkout the RTW tool

Planning a trip is always part of the fun I think

htan

Thanks for the advice.

Thought I might give the information for final flight and cost to assist ppl in future.

Finally booked

FRA-EZE-SFO-ICN-NGO-SIN-BKK-GVA-BEY-FRA

Came in at 33430 Miles.
Cost 6959 Euro Tax 725.82 Fee 45 Total 7729.82 Euros.

Getting a similar quote starting in GVA was about 700 Euros more.

Looking forward to it. This might be addictive

Next time to try Unterwegs suggestion of starting in ICN or NRT

RTW1

Since you are visiting ICN on this trip you could also book another RTW starting there, and use it to travel the NGO-SIN-BKK-GVA-BEY-FRA part.
Then also use the new RTW for a different route from home to do the next part of the trip sometime in 2011 (before your current RTW expires, one year after your first flight) and eventually get to ICN where you can pickup your current RTW.

You will probably need to change your current RTW since you don't want to do the same route twice. But you will save big and won't need a separate flight from/to ICN.
But changes in the routing are only USD 125 and a 29.000/34.000mi RTW from ICN is "just" KRW 7.101.000/8.454.200 in business (about EUR 4.700/5.500).

I'm considering doing this myself... talk about addictive :-).