sweens said:
Two questions... 1.as a new user where do i go to understand the abbriviations used in the various forums?
Others have pointed you at some very good resources, and strongly recomment reading through Lindsay's Ultimate Qantas Guide - its a masterpiece and regularly updated.
sweens said:
2. I am a low ranked bronze Qantas FF who is about to fly on a RTW ticket bus class I think the fare is DONE4 Syd-Lax-Las-Mia-Tpa-Was-Lhr-Cpt-Jnb-Syd.
It is a business trip over 3 weeks... yes I am spoiling myself I usually travel cattle class.
ok, lots of options here. The first web page I open when planning a RTW trip is the
Great Circle Mapper. Then a flight availability tool like KVS is next, or you can use the individual airline's schedules.
Now, if you have the time you can opimise the trip, or look for some other choices.
Firstly, getting from Australia to USA:
- Take a 3-class aircraft option SYD-LAX and try for an upgrade to First Class, which is great experience. Does not maximise the SC earning, though.
- Go via HKG with QF to HKG (soe you get the status bonus FF points) and the CX to LAX/SFO/VYR/JFK. Get to experience the wonderful CX service and earn more SC's in business class.
- This is not going to work for a return through Africa as the Asia transit between SWP and NA will make it a 5-continent routing. So it depends on whether the South Africa stops are just an attempt to add sectors/miles or are desirable places to go.
Now within USA you have up to 6 sectors, only one can be trans-continental:
- As already noted, the 2-class AA domestic flights book into A class, which earns First Class SCs and FF points.
- Look for flights operated by 767 or 777 aircraft for best comfort. I avoid 757 operated flights. LAX-DFW and DFW-MIA have regular 767 aircraft (the 777 MIA-DFW is no longer). So consider going LAX-LAS-DFW-MIA which will more comfort than the non-stop LAS-MIA and since you have the spare sectors its only a matter of having the extra time. It also earns more SCs than the non-stop flight.
TPA-WAS. Which DC area airport do you prefer to use. WAS includes DCA, IAD and BWI. BWI is a long way from down-town DC and if only viable if oyu need to be north of loop I495 (say Anapolis Junction or similar location). I always use IAD as most of my work up there is around Virginia or Falls Church and access is easy on the Dulles Expressway. No direct flights, so it back through DFW.
Europe. Do you plan to stopover in London or only transit? Remember that the UK taxes are higher for business class (40 pounds vs 20 pounds for economy) and are exempt if transit for less than 24 hours. So you can get to anywhere in Europe for a similar price (fuel surcharges vs taxes) since you have up to 4 sectors to use in Europe.