Well, I'm planning for a group of 3 an FRWSTAR itinerary, but without travelling to or transiting the U.S. And it just appears to be impossible to get the major intercontinental segments that offer F class!

Part A:
As far as transatlantic segments go,
1. I cannot find a single * flight that offers First class into Canada from Europe. (The LH flights to YYZ and YVR are both 2 class now.)
2. One option I could find was FRA-MEX-YYZ, with the FRA-MEX offering F.
3. Or a RG/LH flight from LHR/FRA to GRU/GIG

Part B:
Transpacific without U.S. seems even tougher.
1. AFAIK, the only SQ flight into Canada, ICN-YVR is 2-class.
2. Could not find any 3 class * flights from Asia to Mexico
3. Could not find any 3 class * flights from Asia to Central/South America
4. Could not find any 3 class * flights from New Zealand / Australia to Canada
5. Could not find any 3 class * flights from New Zealand / Australia to Mexico
6. Could not find any 3 class * flights from New Zealand / Australia to South America

Since I'm looking at any flights that would operate First class on these routes. So airlines possible would be: NZ, NH, OZ, LH, TG, SQ or RG.

So for all you knowledgeable FTer's: Is there ANY solution to the transpacific problem, i.e. getting an F flight without travelling to or transiting the U.S.

And going by their recent popularity, a Chupa Chup can be offered as reward to the Fter with the best solution!

Thanks a heap.

cheers
AJ

Don't know if this is a seasonal solution or just an artifact of outdated flights (ie new schedule will show F no longer available). In spring.summer (from March 27), ITN is still showing F when they put back on the 747:

Lufthansa German 492
Boeing 747 1:15 pm
Frankfurt Am Main (FRA) 2:00 pm
Vancouver (YVR) F9 A9 C9 D9 Z9 Y9 B9 M9 H9 Q9 V4 W0 S0 Non-stop 5025

Do I get the cc prize? :-:

You have earned half a cc, BlondeBomber! ^ The LH website does price out an F fare after Mar 27th.

But how do I cross the other big pond in F... Therein lies the other half of the chupa chup....

Well --just wait for a schedule change (does that count?)

Maybe in the future NZ or SQ will offer this again but you are skunked for now I think. If you don't count Honolulu as USA (since there is sterile transit now I think), you only have the "short" hop from YVR-HNL missing from F. Otherwise, it is Japan I guess.

Bummer . . .

AFAIK, that exception exists only for one specific AC flight number on the (IIRC) northbound SYD-YVR.

Do you mean Japan NRT-YVR would be the shortest transpacific hop (albeit in J)? If I have to do this then I guess it'll boil down to a comparison of AC in J from NRT-YVR or SQ in J from ICN-YVR...

It certainly is.


Okay okay, you've twisted my arm. You can have one whole Chupa Chup! :-:

AJLondon:

Can you clarify something for me:

Are you doing this just to do an RTW, or did you actually want to see something in the Americas? I'm guessing your "No-US" transit thing is because of a visas issue, but I'm not sure if you really care about where you go or don't (Mexico? Canada? Brazil?). If you just want to go from Europe to Asia, why don't you go the other way (Eastbound) and save yourself the US transit hassle. With the right pricing structure, I'm sure it won't be much more expensive (intra-asia flights = cheap).

Otherwise, if you tell us where you'd actually like to go, we might be able to help. And, is the issue visas, or simply that the pax in question don't feel like going through the ignominious US-Visit schtick?

<G>

Well, I've got family in Canada (YYZ) so that was on the list. Brazil (GRU/GIG) was somewhere where we have never been to before, so that was the other option. We definitely wanted to include one of these two, if not both, in this RTW ticket. MEX only entered the picture because of the only F class flight FRA-MEX, as there was nothing in F into Canada.

1 member of the group would have to go through a long process to get the visa. The other two of us just don't feel like going thru the whole schtick anyways, even if it means doing the transpacific in J class.