Some ideas to improve this RTW
 

I will soon be booking a RTW and want some ideas on what I am suggesting.

This is for work and the places I need to stop are Tokyo, Washington DC and Houston.

Current trip.

MEL-SIN-NRT - all on SQ. First leg on 77W
NRT-LAX-IAD - First leg on SQ, then UA. Q1 below
IAD-IAH - UA
IAH-IAD-ZRH-SIN-MEL - UA - UA - SQ - SQ. Q2 below.

Comments. I want to maximise SQ services. This routing has been chosen to do that. Even though it means some extra long days. Also where possible, I have tried to look at 77W services.

Total miles is 31,502 according to the RTW calculator.

Q1 - Am I mad to chase SQ service. By going via LAX rather than direct, I arrive at IAD just after midnight and have to spend 4 hours in a 752. I have nothing planned for the Friday, so that is okay. Only advantage is better seat and extra PPS value. If I took the direct flight I would go on UAL, as NH don't serve Barcardi.

Q2 - Getting from IAH to ZRH.
Options considered were
IAH-ORD-ZRH with the Transatlantic on Swiss.
IAH-IAD-JFK-FRA with Transatlantic on SQ - but then FRA-SIN leg would be on 744 rather than the 77W, don't want to wait 12 hours for the next SQ plane and can't go FRA-ZRH in time to catch SQ 77W flight.

So settled on IAD-ZRH on UA as new 767 layout looks like it is scheduled for December 12.

Never been on Swiss so would be good to see what they are like, will be sending points to Lufthansa so get 25% extra on both LX and UA. Disadvantage of Swiss that I can see is it gets in to ZRH only 75 minutes before SQ flight is scheduled to leave. Whereas the UA flight gets in hours beforehand. So should I take the Swiss flight or the UA and chance the UA doing an equipment swap to an old 767. Both flights (IAH-IAD, IAH-ORD) leave Houston at roughly the same time, so it doesn't extend my day by that much.

I also feel that as UA is doing a decent cabin refit, it would be good to reward them with some actual flights, so they can see it was worth while.

Here are the flights planned

Nov 27 - MEL - SIN - SQ218 (77W)
Nov 27 - SIN - NRT - SQ12 (744)
Nov 29 - NRT - LAX - SQ12 (744)
Nov 29 - LAX - IAD - UA210 (752)
Dec 06 - IAD - IAH - UA7451 (CR7)
Dec 12 - IAH - IAD - UA7140 (CR7)
Dec 12 - IAD - ZRH - UA936 (763)
Dec 13 - ZRH - SIN - SQ345 (77W)
Dec 14 - SIN - MEL - SQ217 (77W)

It will be cheaper for you if you take the SQ only RTW from Australia. And the internal UA bits, you just have buy seperate tickets on.

From LAX-IAD-IAH-NYC instead of IAD, take UA, and then from NYC to FRA on SQ, connecting to SQ's 77W or take the onward flight to SIN.

No use wasting on a *A RTW if you're only restricting yourself to 2/3 airlines.

SQ only RTW in F class : AUD$ 8452
*A F RTW1 : AUD$ 14069

UA in F, LAX-IAD-IAH-JFK : AUD$2282

Thanks,

I was think of other options, like a Circle Pacific, and then LAX-IAD-IAH-DEN-LAX, second ticket But wasn't sure if the savings would be that much.

I will be in business not first, but just from what you suggested, it looks like a big saving.

Wow - SQ only RTW in F class : AUD$ 8452 - that is cheaper than RTW in business - but company policy states business unless it is a 2 class plane, then you can go in what they call First in the US domestic.

I would then get some Air NZ points from the West coast to MEL.

AH.. you didn't state that you were flying in Business and with your optimism in flying on the 77W on most of your longhauls on SQ.. I thought you knew...

...that any flight on a 77W aircraft on a RTW ticket would be charged a supplement of between US$300-500 per sector! But as you kept going on and on about it, I thought you were in First - as First Class RTW tickets do not have this surcharge!

Above surcharges pertain to any SQ RTWs, including *As.

FYI - SQ only C class RTW is AUD$ 6194, vs *A RTW1 AUD$ 9989. A Circle Pacific Star 1 is AUD$ 6589.

Indeed you didn't state the class of travel.

Unless you really need all those SQ segments I would suggest trying ANA on the NRT-LAX segment which is a great airline.

In the OP, he says that he would choose UA over ANA because the Japanese don't serve Bacardi rum. At first I thought he must be joking but ... there is no :) and now I'm not so sure.

cheers,

Henry

Can you fly MEL-SYD on UA, then connect to SYD-SIN on SQ, on the 380?

I know about the surcharges and they don't worry me. I have completed 2 RTW tickets so far this year including SQ sectors and the 77W surcharge.

And its no joke - I won't fly ANA as they won't serve what I want to drink on the flight. I have flown long haul LHR-NRT in the past, so I know what the service is like.

It also needs to be a *2 - as its over 29,000 miles for the RTW.

I have tried to do something similar in the past - fly OZ to Sydney and then connect to the UA flight - but Travel agent insists that traffic rules don't allow it.

They could be wrong, and usually are.

You used to be able to get away with it - until the Oz Government started fining UA for breaking it's traffic restrictions on the MEL-SYD tag of it's flight to/from the west coast of the U.S. UA was permitted by the Oz Government to fly MEL-SYD provided the only passengers carried were those connecting to/from a UA flight to/from the U.S. According to UA sales here in SYD, the restriction also extends to the UA codeshares from Hawaii (on AC) and N.Z. (on NZ). The only connections permitted are those to/from the UA 744 services to/from LAX/SFO. I believe the same restrictions are in place for QF on their LAX-NYC tag so it's probably a bilateral limitation.

Because of the fines, it's now UA MEL/SYD check-in themselves that are denying passengers at the desk if they slip through all the other checks and balances in place and won't allow them to travel on the sector unless they are continuing onwards, or arrived on, UA only. At the start of the crackdown, there was almost a daily parade of denied travellers having to purchase best fare of the day with QF - on day of travel, that usually 'aint cheap! :)

They also had a blitz on the local travel industry community advising of the restriction and as such the travel agents here are now (or should be) well aware of UA's traffic restrictions and the consequences for the passenger at the airport if the MEL-SYD flight is incorrectly booked.
If making a booking on an agency GDS/CRS for the UA MEL-SYD flight, there is a warning that comes up stating "ONLINE stopover/connecting traffic only" as a further advice for agents.

Yup and if using the *A RTWMC tool, adding UA MEL-SYD vv without connecting UA flight brings up a warning about violating traffic rights. Of course some other booking sites seem to be happy to add UA MEL-SYD for flights to/from Asia so the traffic limitation isn't universally coded.

But why would UA not cancel a reservation directly after reservation (or not even confirm it in the first place)?

SmilingBoy.

Unless you're trying to qualify on SQ or something, it seems like this is much better suited to a circle pacific fare, with domestic US legs bought on a separate ticket.

Oops! guess you thought of it already. Circle Pacifics are only about US$4750 for the 22k mileage tier (granted, that is the number originating from the US).

I don't know as I didn't go through with the booking. It was a online TA site.