OK. I am contemplating the possibility of taking my next RTW on *A . After 3 RTW with OW in the last year (1 in F, 2 in C) and many years as a BA Gold, I know what to expect on my normal routes and I have all the status I need or can use or can expect within the OW family.

So should I try something new and make this trip on LH, UA, etc... It will be in F and must include SFO, SEA, AKL, and SYD in that order. Desired stop-offs include HNL (between SEA and AKL) and BNE and SIN (after SYD). My home base is ZRH. All else is fair game to maximise miles and status.

If I do this, which *A FFP is best in terms of achieving status and benefits. Also, how do the F products on *A partners compare in general with the F products with OW (BA, CX, and QF). Historically, my travel patterns are intra-Europe and longhaul to Asia (mainly Japan). I don't seem to get to NA all that often. There is also the possibility I will be moving to AsiaPac in the next year.

I'm looking forward to your thoughts.

Jenn

ps. I spent a lot of time travelling from ZRH to FRA on a project I worked on at LH several years ago. Oddly enough, LH didn't seem to care which airline I used to get to their offices.

Jenn - welcome aboard the Star Alliance - Please enjoy your stay!

I'm sure fellow ZRH native Rudi can make many comments, but as he is currently on tour I shall try to impersonate him (minus sidecars!).

I'd suggest you go for the LH FFP as you will be nicely rewarded for paid C/F RTW's with all kinds of bonuses.

A simple * RTW routing could be:

ZRH-FRA (LH)
FRA-SFO (LH or UA)
SFO-SEA (UA)
SEA-LAX-HNL (UA)
HNL-AKL (NZ)
AKL-SYD (NZ)
SYD-BNE at the moment is a toughie, but Ansett should return to the fold in 30 days or so and I _assume_ will again be part of RTW fares
BNE-SIN (SQ)
SIN-FRA (SQ)
FRA-ZRH (LH)

You could do that in a 29,000 mile fare no sweat. You could make it more interesting if you wanted to sample a few more carriers (eg: route asia to europe on OS via BKK or KUL), and do intra-europe tricks, but I get the impression you want to get there rather than play with status games.

When doyou wish to take this trip?

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RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.

The other advantage for LH is that C tickets earn double miles (250% with status) and F earn triple (375% once you have status). Combined with promotions, I have taken trips on upgraded tickets and ended up with more miles in my account than I had before the trip...

You will probably find LH F to be on a par with BA, but in a slightly different way, from what I hear.

I'll be starting the trip at the beginning of March. 2 wks in SFO and SEA combined followed by 2 wks holiday hopefully in HNL & AKL and 2 wks in AU, one working and another sailing in the Whitsundays.

I agree that LH sounds like the most reasonable FFP. But if I do this, I'd like to make sure that I get as much status as possible on this trip. Meaning Senator if that is possible. Secondly, given that I am planning on doing this in paid F, I'd like to make sure I am on 3 class planes whenever possible. I am especially interested in the HNL legs. Everything I've read on any airline is that equipment going to Hawaii is tourist class and not-even tourist class. I think I would have a better flying experience if I did something like this given the opportunity for 3-class equipment LAX-AKL:

SEA-SFO-HNL
HNL-LAX-AKL


Is this allowed inside of a *A RTW? Thanks for the advice and ideas.

Jenn

AFAIK there is one daily flt. either SFO or LAX to Hawaii (don't know exactly which island) which has 3 classes.
Try to include as many US domestic shorthauls as possible b/c each will give you 1.000 M&M miles min (x 3 = 3.000) after reaching FTL add another 25 % to it. This means, if you need to go from SEA to LAX have a cxn in SFO. That would make it 6.000 miles instead of some 3.300 if going nonstop.
Or add a one day trip LAX - SAN - LAX which would get you another 6.000 miles. (Pay attention you get two class flts. - no UAX) and obey the stopover rules.
You'll make it right over the 100k miles and will achieve SEN status.

You will find the *RTW much easier than OW one. I just booke 1 RTW Oneworld and 1 RTW Star today.
Especially in Asia the network of Star is so much denser. Planning for a similiar route only took about 1/4 time of the planning of the OW RTW.
I would also suggest LH M&M as the FF program, but I think this is a clear call so far (-:

You could go HNL-LAX-AKL and thus get a 3 class a/c on the longhaul to AKL, however that would add another 2,500+ miles to your trip and possibly take you over one of the STAR1/2/3 fares (I haven't calculated the total mileage).

Also if you're planning to start in March, SYD-BNE could be most difficult for you. What I would do in this case is book SYD-BNE one way seperately (via Ansett of course) as a Y class cheapie (it's a 1.5 hour flight so you wouldn't be missing much in C class on that). By March, you should be able to appendyour FF number to that booking and get credit for it (the distance will still be calculated as part of your * RTW fare as a ground segment). Unfortunately there's no way to fly SYD-BNE on * unless you went via AKL or SIN or something roundabout like that.

The Ansett situation is very fluid and could be resovled in the next week, or on March 1 - you might want to keep tabs in the Ansett forum.

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RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.

RichardMEL, All,

First, thanks for your help so far. My travels inside Australia wouldn't be taking place until the 1st or 2nd week of April so I guess there would be additional time for the Ansett thing to settle out a bit. Also, it is looking more likely that if I go to Hawaii it will be to Maui thus making the preferred airport OGG instead of HNL. How would this affect my getting to and from the US mainland and on to Auckland?