willphillipson

Hi all... Apologies if there is a similar post already - I couldn't find it.

I have a rather arduous journey ahead of me, and was looking for suggestions / ideas from those of you smarter &/or more experienced then myself...

Hopefully all in business class, to make it less arduous....

Starting in BOS
Wednesday mtg in LHR
Sunday to Tuesday in AKL
Wednesday to Friday in BNE
(If I can swing it, weekend in SYD)
Monday to Wednesday in MEL

I absolutely need to be back by Thursday evening in Boston...

I'm 1P on UA... At 51K EQM now. Not sure it's possible to make 1K...

My preferences are to fly LH and SQ - I think there product is better then UA at present... And I believe it's most efficient to go east and keep going (except for the bouncing around in NZ & AU) which means coming home on UA or NZ or AC...

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions (besides prozac?)

Thank you,
w.

mahasamatman

Your best bet is to check out the Star Alliance forum. Many people there specialize in RTW tickets.

Enigma

I think for RTW you'll need to stop in Asia somewhere, but the Star Alliance forum experts will advise.

In Australia you'll be on Virgin. If you're going to Auckland you'll definitely need to use Air New Zealand, or maybe SQ to Hong Kong or Singapore, and then connect to Air NZ.

CarlTheWebmaster

I was able to piece together some routings using the *A RTW Calculator, which is a fun way to waste many, many hours.

That's the best way to try out some different flight times, airlines, and other options.. For example, I like the IAD-LHR day flight that gets in around 2300 to LHR. You can make that from BOS by leaving at 6am. It's UA all the way (should be mainline 733 BOS-IAD). But if you prefer TATL overnight flights, you'll choose other options (such as taking LH via FRA or AC, sure to be a better service/hard product experience unless you are somehow on the new C on UA).

I'm not sure what to recommend for your AKL-BNE-SYD-MEL fun -- not many *A options -- but as mahasamatman said your best bet is the *A Forum (most of whose regulars would be SHOCKED at the lame under use of a RTW represented by my BOS-IAD-LHR-AKL-SYD-SFO-BOS UA-fest ). Note while most any other *A carrier beats UA on longhaul for service and hard product in C, only UA metal gives you lifetime miles toward MM, and depending on your status may give you extra EQMs as well.

Anyway, good luck and happy hunting!

-C

mre5765

Go to the *A web site and see if your RTW is acceptable to the tool. Beyond that, I have not actually booked a RTW, but my understanding is you send it to a *A carrier and it will price it for you. And I agree with visiting the *A forum for more tips.

mre5765

The *A website's RTW tool says SYD/MEL is on UA.

TonyBurr

Virgin Blue in Australia is not part of Star Alliance and cannot be part of this itinerary. You can only fly between MEL-SYD if you arrived or depart with UA (I recently tried to do SYD-MEL but arrived on SQ and left on NZ and was not allowed to do the SYD-MEL) You will have to do any BNE as a separate ticket.

You do not have to stop in Asia for a Star Alliance RTW. You need three international stops, and 10 days on the road.

To go from LHR-AKL then to Australia may be considered "backtracking" and not allowed.

You would have to return to the US over the Pacific.

Hope this helps

CarlTheWebmaster

Mods: may want to move/merge this to identical *A forum thread started by OP.

Dinky SAN

The general rule of RTW fare is that you keep flying in the same direction, i.e. head west and you have to keep heading west and you cannot backtrack east. You also have to have a minimum of three stops (each defined as one overnight) and a minimum number of days (forget how many). I did a RTW a few years ago and stopped in AUS. That's where it's tricky because Virgin Blue is not *A, only regional alliance with UA and no miles. So I ended up buying Virgin Blue separate from the RTW ticket, which is possible with an open jaw. So you may have to fly LHR to SYD on SQ, then buy NZ to AKL and then returning. Faring is based on the total miles, the first price point around 29k or 30k.

These are tough routing so you will need to call UA. Good luck.

willphillipson

Thanks all. After much hassel - calling several travel agencies, united, singapore airlines, and trying every website out there, I managed to find someone at LH to help me book the trip. The hardest part - after getting someone who could actually help - was finding a way to get from LHR to AKL... LH has me routed LHR-FRA-SIN-BNE-AKL, with a 6 hour layover in SIN... Hopefully I can still make changes to improve before ticketing.

Now I'm just waiting for the LH pricing department to get back to me with prices.

The *A RTW planner was an invaluable start... Though some of its recommendations - and particularly the codeshares it comes up with - are quite bizarre!

Finally - the inter-AU travel... found a UA flight from MEL to SYD (UA 840) and found a Thai Air (TG991) from SYD to BNE (but couldn't find availability, so still looking at my options...)

Now all I have to do is figure out if I should do this on UA MP or LH MM - get 1K on UA or most of the way to SEN on LH...!

mahasamatman

The UA flight can only be booked in conjunction with UA travel between SYD and the U.S. - it's illegal for them to sell that segment separately. I suspect the TG flight may have a similar restriction. Unfortunately, the *A calculators think these are legal, but when you try to ticket, they won't do it.

willphillipson

Wow. Well that will be interesting... LH has booked it and priced it... Better not wait for the last minute to ticket! Thanks for the head's up mahasamatman.

chiflygirl

Hey gang,
My travel agent booked me an RTW ticket with Star Alliance. She used my Mileage Plus number when making the booking.

Here's my question: do those 26,000+ miles all come to my United account? And how will it work with United's "double EQM" promotion?

Thank you

100% Green

Only the flights on united metal will count towards the double eqm. All the flights on star alliance should count towards united, but I believe it depends on the booking class you are in and the particular airline that you are on. For example, inter european LH flights and for some of the asian airlines.

eap

Yes, as you fly, on a flight-by-flight basis. See http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,1177,00.html to see how many miles you will earn (most likely 100% of miles flown).

Any segment you fly on United during the promotion will earn doubled qualifying miles for status.