A Circle Asia fare question

[sinophile888]

I am planning a trip involving the flights shown below and I was wondering if they would be eligible for a Circle Asia fare. And if so, would it be cheaper than using Singapore Airlines for all but the internal China flight? The trip will be at the end of September.

PER -> SIN (Qantas) Must be mid afternoon.
SIN -> PVG (China Eastern)
CKG -> SZX (Air China)
HKG -> PER (Cathay Pacific)

I tried ringing Qantas today but gave up after waiting on hold for 40 minutes only to be told that the computers were on a go slow.

 

[Hvr]

Well the Circle Asia fare is a One World fare and the flights must be on their airlines, therefore unless you can find a code share the China Eastern and Air China flights won't be eligible.

Have a look at this map and you can find One World flights between various ports.

Good luck with your planning, I have taken a couple of the Circle Asia trips and found them to be very beneficial in gaining SCs.

 

[dajop]

I am planning a trip involving the flights shown below and I was wondering if they would be eligible for a Circle Asia fare.

Your itinerary may be challenging on the Circle Asia, as it only allows one crossing between regions and as far as these fares are concerned HKG is in SE Asia (same region as SIN). Star Alliance is OK in that allows to criss cross China using Air China and SZX is a good surrogate for HKG, however Star Alliance requires travelling back to PER via AKL.

Bottom line Circle Asia fares are much better travelling from east coast than from PER.

 

[browski]

Well it certainly will not be cheaper than flying SQ. If you do not actually have to visit SIN then even CX would be cheaper. If you do not actually have to go to HKG, then it is worth noting that Silk Air fly to both CKG and SZX. Circle Asia fares are not actually designed to be cheaper, they are designed to be a little more convenient (IMO).

As an aside, on the CKG -> SZX leg, I would definitely fly Hainan Airlines instead of Air China.

 

[sinophile888]

Thanks for the input from Hvr, dajop and browski.

My Circle Asia idea seems like it’s not the best option.

I am planning to cruise up the Yangtze from Shanghai to Chongqing. So bottom line is that I have to get to Shanghai to catch the boat, get from Chongqing to Shenzhen for some shopping, and then fly home to Perth.

I don’t fly at night, thus the stopover in Singapore on the way. The Cathay Pacific afternoon flight back to Perth is possible, otherwise another stopover in Singapore for the return leg. The non-stop from HKG to PER is very tempting and gives us another day away.

I will try Qantas again today and ask about PER->SIN on QF, SIN -> PVG on MU and HKG -> PER on CX.

 

[sinophile888]

I was able to book three of my four flights on my QFF points.

QF 71 PER -> SIN
MU 546 SIN -> PVG
CX 171 HKG -> PER

I was very lucky to be able to scrounge up 160K+ points to cover the three flights. And also lucky all the flights that I wanted were available for late September/early October. Busy time in China.

I have also booked a paid flight CA 4347 from CKG -> SZX.

So all is well.

Many thanks for the input.