Is FRTW worth it?
 

It's difficult to find a *A F class flight in the US (And even if you can it's a similar standard to Y on Asian carriers). There is no F in Europe and C is not that good either. The airlines involved have so degraded their premium services, despite the fact this is where they make money, that I wonder why anyone would pay the difference from Y. I only use these so-called premium services when on a FRTW ticket. However, given that half of the world doesn't have F anymore, I'm wondering if it is worth it any longer, especially with flat beds in C it seems to me that CRTW is a much better deal these days, especially after the recent fare increases.

double post - sorry

in the past (that's no longer necessary as I managed to get lifetime Senator status now), when I was depending on high status mileage earnings to maintain my LH Senator (Star Gold) status, i booked RTW-business and still earned the first-class status miles (at that time 3.75 times, now 'only' 3.25 times the basic miles for first) on UA two-class-flights in my miles&more program.

The best 'mileage-costs' versus 'mileage-earning' ratios on such rtw were my DEN-COS (Colorado Springs) segments, costing something like 37 miles, earning in paid business flying in 'so-called-first' on UA 3'750 status miles per segment.

Nowadays I still pay rtw business (not first) and might upgrade some longhaul segments (like USA-Australia, or Europe-USA Westcoast with vouchers or miles) to first.

The non available first-class in Europe doesn't bother me, as these are mostly flights in the 45' to 90' minutes range. Coast to coast in the USA UA still offers some selected real 3-class flights.

Of course, it depends on your itinerary, doesn't it? I mean, it is still possible to do an entire RTW with all flights in F.

cheers,

Henry

But a business class RTW also books into first on 2-class US-domestic flights.

Which is almost all...
 

The only *A exception is JFK-SFO and JFK-LAX "ps" flights on UA, which have a three class cabin with E+, C & F. I believe the F seats are the only domestic fully flat sleepers in the USA.

With all due respect - but there is more to the globe on a FRTW then corssing the US. On a 39 K you could manage to include a complte turn around the globe incorporating Down Under - this with a European view point and also have a side trip down to South Africa and back on complete horizontal flat beds with top notch service and not the C variance that is offrered and IMHO that is a lot of difference but as always YMMW...

Cheers

Thomas

why But? that's exactly what I also said in my post ... :rolleyes:

The seats for the ps flights in F are comparable to SQ's C class seats.

There are a few domestic flights for hub-hub routes that offer 3 classes of seats comparable to international seats. The schedule changes perodically, but often you can find them on SFO-ORD, ORD-IAD, IAD-LAX, etc

Could you supply an ITN, please. I wanted to do this but could not figure out how to do it for 39,000. danke

Easy: BKG - HKG - FRA - CPT - FRA - YVR - SFO - SYD - BKG

And all of these flights - with the exception of the short hop from YVR to SFO are in "real" First. The ITN leaves plenty of miles for short side trips in Europe (eg. CPH - Bergen - Starvanger - ARN - HAM in C) and or in the US. You even can take a trip from SYD to Melbourne on UA (in real First) and return from Melbourne to Asia. Or return from Sydney on SQ via SIN. Believe me: This itinery is worth any cent.

I can't find BKG in ExpertFlyers's airport code list, so may I assume that you mean BKK as in Bangkok, Thailand? :confused:

[QUOTE=Flying Lawyer]Easy: BKG - HKG - FRA - CPT - FRA - YVR - SFO - SYD - BKG
QUOTE]
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Excellent. thanks!

Your are right - as always: Bangkok.

I thought so. Those ex BKK FRWs seem to be quite popular, even though a FRW1 is only about 1,000 EUR cheaper than a FRW1 ex CPH (which is about 1,000 EUR cheaper than a FRW1 ex MUC).