Circle pacific questions - perhaps!

[Rexer]

Hi all,
long term lurker on the forum, new poster.........

I am based in Perth and have to travel to Chicago and then Orlando for work in early December.

For various reasons, it is my preference to travel business class - it's a fairly short trip and I don't fit into economy class seats all that well.......

Having looked around, I think a one world business class circle pacific booking may be my best bet in terms of price, and I'm wondering what my strategy should be -

Perth - Sydney - Los Angeles - Chicago - ? - Hong Kong - Perth

with perhaps Chicago - Orlando - ? as a separate fare.

I'm not sure, and would appreciate any comments that from the gurus.

I'm QF Silver at present, and will probably get to QF Gold by the end of my year without this trip, not sure if that is useful information.

Thanks.

 

[dajop]

This sounds like a reasonable way of getting to Chicago from PER. Cost will be circa $9K AUD. A 26,000 mile fare should get you from Chicago to Orlando and then to ? to leave Nth America for HKG (either LA, San Francisco, New York, Toronto or Vancouver). One other thing - 2 stopovers in NA are free, the other come at approx $100 per stopover.

If you're going to achieve gold anyway, you should be able to get to Platinum on this itinerary, if not it is worth trying to split some of the US sectors as they are in the lucrative First class (eg LA-Dallas - Chicago instead of direct).

 

[simongr]

At 9K for the CirclePac plus the fare to MCO wouldnt a DONE4 be close in price with an opportunity to get flights at the end of the trip around Oz?

 

[Rexer]

Thanks for the comments so far.

I don't do a lot of flying within Australia that I have to pay for - most of my flying is business related and I have 2x AMEX platinum cards that really cover my need for domestic travel each year.

In addition, I need to be a bit focussed on price as I will have to pay for the difference between economy and business class travel out of my own pocket..... with a 50% contribution from Peter Costello or Wayne Swan!

 

[NM]

You are not going to get from PER to ORD and back within a DCIR22 fare. The shortest path I can find it PER-BNE-LAX-ORD-NRT-PER and that is 345 miles over the 22,000 mile limit.

So you could do a DCIR22 to get you to DFW (PER-BNE-LAX-DFW-NRT-PER which is 21,988 according to great circle mapper, so hopefully the airlines agree its under 22K miles). Then buy separate tix to MCO/ORD.

Otherwise you are stuck with DCIR26 and its higher cost. So I suppose it depends on the cost of the extra tix for MCO and ORD. And DCIR26 would allow you to return with CX via HKG rather than AA via NRT. I suggest the daytime CX flight from LAX if you can fit it in.

 

[dajop]

You are not going to get from PER to ORD and back within a DCIR22 fare. The shortest path I can find it PER-BNE-LAX-ORD-NRT-PER and that is 345 miles over the 22,000 mile limit.

Don't know if it's still the case, but I two years ago I flew ex DRW on a DCIR22 and I finished the trip in MEL. The distance back to point of origin was not included as the rules did not require that (either that or I lucked in as it would have pushed it over 22K). If this were the case you could do something like SYD-LAX-ORD-SFO-HKG-PER, to use CX transpacific rather than AA, and pay for flights PER-SYD (although probably cheaper to pay for DFW-ORD).

 

[NM]

Don't know if it's still the case, but I two years ago I flew ex DRW on a DCIR22 and I finished the trip in MEL. The distance back to point of origin was not included as the rules did not require that (either that or I lucked in as it would have pushed it over 22K). If this were the case you could do something like SYD-LAX-ORD-SFO-HKG-PER, to use CX transpacific rather than AA, and pay for flights PER-SYD (although probably cheaper to pay for DFW-ORD).

True on both counts.

 

[serfty]

F. Travel may originate at any point for which fares are published and must terminate at the same point, or an intermediate point in the country of origin.

The wording may have changed, but (to me) the use of "intermediate" implies the distance between any terminating "intermediate point" and the origin should be taken into account in distance calculations.

 

[serfty]

This routing will fit easily into an xCIR26: per-syd-lax-ord-mco-dfw-nrt-hkg-per

See here for more info: oneworld - Circle Pacific

 

[dajop]

This routing will fit easily into an xCIR26: per-syd-lax-ord-mco-dfw-nrt-hkg-per

Except this routing would necessitate crossing the north pacific on AA (DFW-NRT), and if I had a choice would much prefer doing this on CX direct to HKG from either YYZ, YVR, JFK, LAX or SFO (I also hear JL are quite good as well which adds ORD as another departure point). These would also all fit into the xCIR26.

 

[simongr]

Interesting how I now am seeking routes across the North Pacific on AA due to the potential to confirm into F at booking.

 

[NM]

... and if I had a choice would much prefer doing this on CX direct to HKG from either YYZ, YVR, JFK, LAX or SFO

I recommend either LAX or SFO and take the daytime flight over the Pacific. The others are red-eyes to be avoided in my opinion.

 

[dajop]

I recommend either LAX or SFO and take the daytime flight over the Pacific. The others are red-eyes to be avoided in my opinion.

As well as SFO & LAX services, JFK-HKG is a daytime flight (2:40pm/7:55pm) and with CX's expansion in services during Nov, another daytime from JFK has been added using a 77W with the new J class product (9am/2pm) and there is also a daytime from YVR (2:25pm/8:50pm).

But, having had a few goes at QF94 , as long as there are at least angled lie flat beds on board that allow a good sleep, I really don't mind the red eyes on flights of 14-16hr length (hate them on flights like SIN-MEL which are only 7 hrs).

 

[NM]

As well as SFO & LAX services, JFK-HKG is a daytime flight (2:40pm/7:55pm) and with CX's expansion in services during Nov, another daytime from JFK has been added using a 77W with the new J class product (9am/2pm) and there is also a daytime from YVR (2:25pm/8:50pm).

Ahh, that is good news. Has changed a little since I last reviewed the options. Much more traveller-friendly.

However, I just checked a random date about a month out and find there are no J seats on the two day-time non-stop JFK-HKG services, and for 3 days in a row there are no J seats on the afternoon departure. So it seems these are very popular in J on certain days.

 

[Rexer]

Thank you everyone for your helpful information!

I'll have a think about it, and ask more questions if I need to........

Regards

 

[Keith009]

I was looking at an LCIR22 when I realised that I had to travel to HNL and HKG next year in SEPT.

But I've now changed to an LLGLOB26 for the following reasons:
- More miles, lower fare (the LLGLOB26 is cheaper by $300)
- Ability to travel several segments in J due to AA metal and I'd have EVIPs by July.
- Ability to travel in W on BA (LHR-HKG) for a $600 surcharge. Compare this to being stuck in Y for a route like LAX-HKG.
- I can take the opportunity to visit NYC or CHI again (depending on what hotel rates are like), and visit Berlin for the first time.
- SYD-HNL or HNL-SYD availability in L is proving difficult on AA/QF; GLOBx fare allows travel on FJ (even though they're cough by all accounts...737 for HNL-NAN :shock - but alas it's either FJ or don't fly at all. At least I get 100% AA award miles in L on FJ.

The other option is to buy seperate return tickets - MEL-xSYD-HNL-xSYD-MEL on AA and MEL-HKG-MEL on QF. They'd book into fare classes that are more obtainable. But the prospect of visiting those other cities along the way on a RTW is too hard to resist.