Global Explorer RTW accomodations

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battler

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Aug 27, 2006
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Greetings all!

I just booked a Global Explorer RTW trip on bestflights.com.au. I have all the dates set and all of my flights booked, but just started looking at accomodations. The folks at bestflights don't seem to be very helpful in suggestions of specials. I'm hoping that someone here will be able to point me in the right direction. Specifically, we're going to be going through Tahiti for five days / four nights - we'd need to stay in Papeete for 1 night (because we get in so late) and 3 nights on one of the other islands. Anyway - every special that we've found on the internet has included the roundtrip airfare from Oz. Because we already have our flights booked, we've been looking at room rates only and finding them to be very expensive - the price for a RT flight to Papeete from Sydney including accomodation on a resort in Bora Bora is cheaper than what we're finding for budget hotels at the rack room rate.

Are there any package deals that take into account our flight?
If not, can anyone recommend any sites or travel agents that might be able to help us? And finally, has anyone had this same problem with bestflights?

Thanks,
Ron
 
Welcome to AFF Battler

I haven't been to Papeete for over 10 years so I can't comment on good hotels, however, you might try googling "accommodation Papeete Bora Bora". I do this when looking for accommodation overseas, and then search the hotels separately, get their website and contact them direct. I just did this search and there were lots of options, a lot included airfares, but as mentioned search and contact the hotel direct.
 
Hi Battler, I know Tahiti pretty well. In Papeete, they have several guest houses-Pension Puea is really nice for $65 USD, there's a new airport hotel for about $100 USD. Sofitel is usually the cheapest of the big chain hotels. There is also an Intercontinental, Sheraton, Radisson and Le Meridien. If you have points in any of their programs, Tahiti is a good place to burn them!

For other islands, there is a Tahiti specific online forum TAHITI EXPLORER - The Ultimate Tahiti Travel and Tahiti Vacation Guide for Bora Bora, Moorea and all French Polynesia where you can get ideas of just domestic packages. You can also see if the domestic carrier has a package. www.airtahiti.com

Do you know which airline Best Flights plated your ticket on? It can make a huge difference in fuel fines/taxes. There is a very lengthy discussion on my thread in the AA Advantage forum here. I am doing probably a very similar routing to you-you must be going on to Easter Island then to Santiago after Tahiti? Whatever you do, don't let them plate it on QF-they are the worst for fuel fines!
 
Can you tell me how you booked one world RTW on line with best flights, I cant seem to find how to do this on line.
 
Batesy said:
Can you tell me how you booked one world RTW on line with best flights, I cant seem to find how to do this on line.

I wasn't aware that ATW tickets can be booked online there. I would avoid using them since I would be very surprised if they issue the ticket on AA stock without lots of aggravation. I would just phone the AA ATW desk and get them to do the ticket since , as mentioned above by Tiki, QF are the pits for fuel fines

Dave
 
Dave, Thanks for the advice. Maybe you could answer these questions for me. I am taking my future wife on our honeymoon ATW business class in May next year (departing Perth). We will vist SIN. HKG, LHR, EDI, JFK and several other USA cities, stopping at Honolulu on the way home. I have not booked anything yet, but have used the one world RTW trip planner which is a great planning tool.
Some details;
I am QF gold and she is QC partner silver.
I was going to book through Qantas and credit all miles and status credits to QF. This was because the majority of our normal travel is domestic in OZ both for business and personal. My preference is to get myself to QF plat and my wife to gold and maintain gold or plat for myself going forward.

1. Which is the best airline to book through?
2. If I book through another airline will I still have access to lounges around the world?
3. If I book through an airline other than QF can I still credit to QF.
4.Any airlines to avoid?
Hope you can give me little advice, of course I understand that the decisions all rest with me, however any input is appreciated.
Cheers
Batesy.
 
1. Which is the best airline to book through?

American Airlines's Around the World ticket desk

2. If I book through another airline will I still have access to lounges around the world?

Yes

3. If I book through an airline other than QF can I still credit to QF.

Yes. I would consider , however, looking at crediting to AA since you would make AA Platinum ( c.f. QF Gold ) on one of the 1st flights , get 100% mileage bonus and much cheaper award flights ( have a look at the AAdvantage forum at the Challenge thread for info if interested) . If you want to credit to QF, that is no problem though

4.Any airlines to avoid?

I would book with AA since they have low fuel fines; the others ( except maybe LA ) seem to have higher ones


Dave
 
Thanks for your help. I have looked on the AA site and cant find phone number for the AA RTW desk. If you have it could you let me know?
 
Batesy said:
Thanks for your help. I have looked on the AA site and cant find phone number for the AA RTW desk. If you have it could you let me know?

0011 1 800 247 3247

Dave
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

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Check out this forum:

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/american-airlines-advantage/

The Platinum Challenge sticky has heaps of advice for overall status earning on the RTW tickets. Most of the members here are biz/first class travellers so they get more points for class of service. My thread called "Planning in advance 2007" is slanted towards the budget/economy class traveller. Dave Noble has been very generous with his time on advising everyone!
 
I am half way through my RTW one world 4 continents trip.

my trip has the following segments and as you can see I made the most of my fare with the max # of segments:

SYD/SFO/NYC/CAN/ORD/BUF/ORD/NYC/LHR/CAI/BCN/IST/LHR/PEK/HKG/BOM/HKG/NRT/PER/CRN/MEL

I too whet booking with Bestflights at the cost of the LONE4 = $2,949 plus taxes.

However Bestflights came back to me with a insane tax figure at $1,300 :shock:

But thanks to the guys on this site I got wise to call up the AA desk in USA and book with them, I was over the moon when they qouted me taxes for the entire trip at only $690 :D

Whats more thanks to this site I found out about the AA Plat challenge and got Plat level by only my second flight segment, so the rest of my trip I had Plat level perks like lounge access (very sweet)!

Now I am back in Perth but still have the RTW fare valid in HKG, I go back to HKG come Dec and pick up the fare again.

So far its been pretty awesome trip and love these RTW deals and this site :D !!!

Now I got to figure out what the best way to use 35,000 AA miles.
 
Tiki said:
Do you know which airline Best Flights plated your ticket on? It can make a huge difference in fuel fines/taxes. There is a very lengthy discussion on my thread in the AA Advantage forum here. I am doing probably a very similar routing to you-you must be going on to Easter Island then to Santiago after Tahiti? Whatever you do, don't let them plate it on QF-they are the worst for fuel fines!
Hi Tiki,

Thanks for the advice... The way the itinerary currently stands, we're flying on QF 0327 from Sydney - which is Qantas flight, but operated by Air Tahiti Nui. Is there a better option? Sounds like we are taking a simliar route - we're really looking forward to Easter Island!

Ron
 
Dave Noble said:
I would book with AA since they have low fuel fines; the others ( except maybe LA ) seem to have higher ones

Hi Dave,

Do the high fuel fines only apply to Qantas flights or would it affect the entire journey? If we were to book the package with AA, we would still have to take a few Qantas flights. Also, how much does the AA RTW cost?

Thanks,
Ron
 
battler said:
Hi Dave,

Do the high fuel fines only apply to Qantas flights or would it affect the entire journey? If we were to book the package with AA, we would still have to take a few Qantas flights. Also, how much does the AA RTW cost?

Thanks,
Ron

AAs fuel fines are a single surcharge for the transpacific sector of USD90 plus a surcharge of USD65 for the transatlantic sector , total of USD145 ( Approx AUD191 ).

QF will charge fuel fines galore .

AUD145 for Australia - North/South America or India or v/v
AUD185 for Australia - Europe or v/v
AUD82 for Australia - HKG or v/v
AUD115 for other Long Haul sectors
AUD37.60 for any Australia Domestic sectors
AUD65 for trans tasman
AUD25.20 for any Intra EU flights
AUD55.80 for Australia to Fiji or v/v
AUD0 for flights within USA or between USA and Canada

The minimum fuel surcharge possible (e.g. just flying SYD-LHR-LAX-SYD ) would be AUD445

The fare is the same regardless of which airline you go to to get it issued. You can do exactly the same itinerary regardless of which carrier you get to issue the ticket. iirc the Global Explorer is the same price as the 4 continents One World Explorer which, ex Australian, is $2979 off peak (May 28 - August 15 and Dec 03 - Dec 24) and $3239 Peak (All other times)

Dave
 
cbert said:
I am half way through my RTW one world 4 continents trip.

my trip has the following segments and as you can see I made the most of my fare with the max # of segments:

SYD/SFO/NYC/CAN/ORD/BUF/ORD/NYC/LHR/CAI/BCN/IST/LHR/PEK/HKG/BOM/HKG/NRT/PER/CRN/MEL

I too whet booking with Bestflights at the cost of the LONE4 = $2,949 plus taxes.

However Bestflights came back to me with a insane tax figure at $1,300 :shock:

But thanks to the guys on this site I got wise to call up the AA desk in USA and book with them, I was over the moon when they qouted me taxes for the entire trip at only $690 :D

Whats more thanks to this site I found out about the AA Plat challenge and got Plat level by only my second flight segment, so the rest of my trip I had Plat level perks like lounge access (very sweet)!

Now I am back in Perth but still have the RTW fare valid in HKG, I go back to HKG come Dec and pick up the fare again.

So far its been pretty awesome trip and love these RTW deals and this site :D !!!

Now I got to figure out what the best way to use 35,000 AA miles.

Sounds like Best Flights is plating on QF-a good reason to avoid them! :shock: :rolleyes: Maybe if enough people do that, they will be motivated to start using better airlines to plate on.
 
battler said:
Hi Tiki,

Thanks for the advice... The way the itinerary currently stands, we're flying on QF 0327 from Sydney - which is Qantas flight, but operated by Air Tahiti Nui. Is there a better option? Sounds like we are taking a simliar route - we're really looking forward to Easter Island!

Ron

Ron, when are you going? We are going July 2007-seems like forever! The mileage fare is the only one that lets you use codeshares, I just wish TN would join One World so we could do this trip on the continent fare!
 
cbert said:
Now I got to figure out what the best way to use 35,000 AA miles.
Such as a business class award flight from PER to anywhere QF flies in NZ. Or if you can score another 5,000 miles, its two economy award flights from PER to anywhere QF flies in NZ. Pretty good use of candy from a <$4K investment!
 
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