ozstamps

Quite the opposite. You MUST make one direction to USA via Asia and Europe, and one via USA.

goodo

Sorry, didn't realise there were 2 links provided to bestflights.

The one that Kawoh provided the link to: http://www.bestflights.com.au/cgi-bi...indetails=2030 is via North America both ways, which isn't a bad deal for all the 1Ks and 1Ps.

Description:
IMPORTANT

This was the NEW 'Round World' deal that never was.

We would like to apologise to everyone that is on the Best Flights newsletter as we had told you all about this fantastic new round world deal.

We have been given this information by a very realible source at one of our suppliers, but i think the person in question must have been down the pub at the time, as the new fare is still a superb bargain, but, you are only allowed to travel via NOrth America in BOTH directions.. !!!!!!

BIG SORRY from the Best Flights crew and needless to say, the person in question has now gone bush !!

We have left the prices and details here, but remember you are only able to fly via NOrth American in BOTH directions.

A brand new deal that has come bursting through our doors

Flying with United Airlines from Sydney or Melbourne to Los Angeles or San Fransicso and then picking up Lufthansa and flying via Frankfurt to get to around 60 cities in the UK and Europe.
Just about the best value for money air fare out for many years.

If you wanted to travel by land accross the USA, then you are allowed to find your own way from Los Angeles to Atlanta-Boston-Dallas-Houston-New York and then pick up the Lufthansa flight from there.

Here are a couple of ideas to get your brain cells on the go..

Sydney-Los Angeles-Frankfurt-London-Frankfurt-Los Angeles-Sydney.

Melbourne-Los Angeles-Transit-New York-Frankfurt-Dublin-Frankfurt-Los Angeles-Melbourne.

The ticket is only valid for a maximum stay of 3 months

goodo

[This message has been edited by goodo (edited 08-04-2003).]

ozstamps

Yes it is confusing. The Best Flights typing and spell checking is ATROCIOUS, and I would not book with them in a fit as I get the feeling they are a very sloppy operation.

Remember with Travel.com you get double miles if using a Qantas VISa card.

The fare class these are booked in is "Q" class on both airlines, so the new United "Sweet Spot" upgrade certs they just mailed to 1Ks can upgrade the entire trip with one cert if the USA stop is less than 24 hours and the LH availability shakes out on the day.

And the both LH sectors can indeed be upgraded with the standard SWU Certs.

goodo

RichardMEL, do you know if those middle eastern cities are available as add-ons on the economy fare?

Where could I find the rules?

cheers
goodo

ozstamps

A big WARNING before anyone even thinks about adding these places for figures like $A1,035 for any LH shorter haul flight - and getting an identical seat to the coach price add-on. DO check on the LH board with those who do know this stuff, as to whether these REALLY have a special biz class seat, as Beirut, Amman Tel Aviv etc are about the same flying istance as Istanbul is from FRA.

I flew 2 weeks ago LH "Business" class FRA-Istanbul and back ... about a 3 hour flight each way.

It was 20K coach and 40K Biz using my UA miles. So idiot here goes for Business Class for a long flight like this ... 'why not' he thought.

In fact award was AMS-FRA-IST-FRA-DUS ... all in "Biz".

LH "Biz" in all cases was 100% IDENTICAL seats to coach. No recline to speak of, no room, no pitch, no footrest, no headrest, no PTV. No nothing. 3 seats wide each side.

The FRA-DUS flight in an Airbus A319 had FOURTEEN rows of "biz" and SEVEN rows of "coach". All 6 seats wide. They simply move the curtains depending on load each day. OK, so KLM and BA do exactly the same, but be warned if you are planning to book these places as add-ons.

As booze is free on LH flights even intra Germany I understand in coach (?) there is nothing whatever different except a SLIGHTLY better meal, depending on time of day of flight. Biggest rip-off of 20,000 miles I ever got conned for. A LH 747 etc is a different deal but be wary of 737s and Airbus shorter haul planes.

And final warning .. taxes within Europe are TERRIFYING. The few hours flying outlined above cost me over $A200 in TAXES.

I booked a FRA-AMS one-way 20 minute flight on KL as I was too lazy to take a train, and have millions of free KL points I treat as disposable loose change. Taxes even on that .. a SYD-Canberra distance was 32 Euro ($A50 approx) .. one way.

================================================== ==========


[This message has been edited by ozstamps (edited 08-04-2003).]

goodo

I definitely wouldn't be doing the C or F fares. Y all the way for me, which is why I was wondering if there'd be a similar addon for coach too, that wouldn't be as much as the 400 odd euro fares I was finding online.

goodo

kawoh

gooodo, interested in doing the US one? SYD-LAX-FRA-IST(or LHR, or PRG?)-FRA-SFO-SYD... 28,000+ miles.. and UA E+ from SYD-LAX and SFO-SYD...

$1,519 through flightcentre.com plus if paying on westpac $3 = 4 points or on cba affinity $1 = 2 points on the credit card.

Sydfly

kawoh, I'm actually trying to book this fare at the moment. It's quite hard to get seats on LH from LAX to Europe in Q class though. All the other sectors are easy to get. Just a reminder that you are not allowed to fly SFO-FRA on this fare only LAX-FRA/MUC as I saw you mentioned that above.

goodo, you are NOT allowed to purchase further coupons on this economy fare apparently. You'll get the usual 2 free coupons within Europe from FRA/MUC, but that's it. I'm trying to get some more information on that fare later today...


Edited for spelling....

[This message has been edited by Sydfly (edited 08-04-2003).]

kawoh

sydfly,

thanks for the tip re SFO-FRA (or MUC), also I didn't realise MUC was possible, so you could do LAX-MUC (do they have this sector?)

if you want a travel agent at flightcentre who can get you the fare down to $1519 (no credit card surcharge and $20 off the cheapest fare u can get online) send me an email and i'll give u his details. has actually been totally kool even when flightcentre loose money on the booking. mustn't be part of his P&L! he's also happy to book, give you a PNR , hold it for you, etc, before you pay anything.

also, this fare is like a no brainer if you wanted to use UA SWU's all the way to FRA or MUC??

[This message has been edited by kawoh (edited 08-04-2003).]

Sydfly

Thanks, kawoh, I'll be looking at paying $1889 as my travel dates are early September. I am just trying to negotiate with LH whether they offer this fare as well. I'll let you know, what they say.

LH indeed has a flight Lax-Muc once a day on an A 340-300 which I would like to try. You can also do Sfo-Muc and Lax-Fra as I said before.

LH just send me an e-mail as we speak and they do offer this fare although for a slightly higher price of $1930 plus taxes. Hmm, I'm always tempted to get all my flights confirmed with LH (they do very well in clearing waitlists for SENs I found in the past) and then let another travel agent ticket the booking...mind you it's only $60 difference but it comes out of my own pocket...

As I said Q class is not easy to get for early September but you might have more luck in low season...do you have some spare time early September? I'll be flying Syd-Lax-Muc-Drs-Fra-Lax-Syd. I know it's not very creative and unfortunately I don't have any SWUs, but I certainly prefer UA E+ over SQ or TG seats. I'll see whether my waitlist clears soon.

goodo

I noticed it's for 3 months only. Was looking for a 12 month ticket. Also, one of my main destinations will be TLV, which kind of cuts it out. May just do a starlite.

Thanks Sydfly for the research.

goodo

kawoh

Would it be cheaper if you bought the ticket at $1519 and a star lite is aruond $2,200 + depending on where you go, can't you get a ticket for sub A$700 from say IST to TLV or somewhere else on the LH Euro routes?

goodo

I'm still in the middle of negotiations so I won't be buying a ticket anytime soon. So will probably miss out on this deal time-wise too.

goodo

RichardMEL

Sorry folks I'm back on deck. I was down in HBA all week (you all know who I flew, right? ).

Goodo - yes, there is a Y version of that fare with the addons.

Ok, I have reviewed the rules and it is interesting what has happened. the F/C fare is as I quoted, TG/LH (EH) or UA/LH (AP) routing. However they scrapped the TG part for the Y fare.

If you don't have sweetspots etc you can pay the $100 or so more for the HAX version of this fare, but this is the version where you can only fly an AP (ie: UA transpac) routing in one direction. You must fly the other via asia on SQ/TG/JL/QF/OZ (take your pick of connection cities).

I certainly agree it is quite confusing.

------------------
RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.

goodo

Thanks RichardMEL. How much is the Y fare and how much are the add-ons?

cheers
goodo