OW Circle Pacific fare?

[Emkay]

Can anyone advise approximate current costs of business class OneWorld Circle Pacific fares out of Australia? I know they come at three price levels, depending on mileage, and I will probably be looking at the 26,000 mile option.

My wife and I plan to fly to Japan for a cruise, she on award flights but I will be purchasing mine. I could just buy the return QF discount business ticket for about $4-5K but I'm considering a CP fare to boost SC earn, to retain WP.

Thanks,

Emkay

 

[madrooster]

The base fares are $9299 for 22000 miles, $11099 for 26000 miles and $12199 for 29000 miles. If you are only intending to go to Japan, just buy a J return.

 

[Emkay]

The base fares are $9299 for 22000 miles, $11099 for 26000 miles and $12199 for 29000 miles. If you are only intending to go to Japan, just buy a J return.

Thanks madrooster, the J return is certainly a lot cheaper than DCIR 26000! But I have just retired and am wondering whether I can retain WP for a few more years despite reduced travel needs, long enough to blow my 900,000 pts on award J travel for my wife, while I continue to purchase mine. The motivation is better access to award flights and the other little benefits of platinum over gold. I have already retained WP for the coming year, but apart from the Japan trip, only have one other trip planned in 2018 which will nett me 420SC. If I purchase a $4K return discount business ticket to Japan, I get another 240 SC but am 540 short of retaining WP for 2019. If I bought a $11K Circle Pacific fare for the Japan trip, I would return via the US to get the total SC earn up to the required 1200. But I am struggling to decide that retaining WP for an additional year is worth an additional outlay of $7K!

 

[madrooster]

Given you will be in J anyway and you will probably end up at gold, you'll probably find there's not that many benefits between J and what a platinum/emerald gets. Certainly not $7k worth if you ask me.

 

[dajop]

If it’s for status might be worth considering positioning (ie taking a separate flight) to start to the ticket in another country.

Close to home, starting the trip in AKL will cost $9500 saving $1600. Further away, starting the trip in HKG will cost $8400 saving $2700.

 

[Hawkeye]

If Japan is the main destination, but you're interested in a few extra SC's don't forget about a Circle Asia fare.

Base fare for a DAS13 is about $5599AU, with a DAS17 $6499AU.

The SC's haul wouldn't be as lucrative as a DCIR* fare, but would still be cost-effective.

 

[madrooster]

Something else you could consider is a JL J fare to the US which can earn a decent few SC's too due to the routings allowed.

 

[Emkay]

Thanks so much - I now have a few alternatives to consider. As the Japan trip is not until fairly late in the year, I could consider milking the DCIR26 a lot harder, using all the allowable sectors, starting in HKG, but only travel through Asia and back to Oz during that year - if I can get the required SCs for that year. Then a long stopover at home in Oz before resuming the DCIR the following year. This way I could spread the $8,400 cost of the DCIR fare over two status years, potentially topping up two years to the WP retain threshold. Will so some test itineraries tomorrow.

I dont see anything in the xCIR rules limiting the number of sectors that can be taken in each region. I know the xONE rules limit you to 4 sectors per region (6 in the Nth America) within the total of 16. xCIR also allows 16 total, but does it not set a regional limit like the xONE does?

 

[equus]

It does not set a sector limit per se, but there are limits on stopovers which effectively ends up imposing limits. Some of this will also end up costing more.

2 STOPOVERS REQUIRED AND A MAXIMUM OF 5 PERMITTED ON
THE PRICING UNIT
1 IN AUSTRALIA
2 IN SOUTHWEST PACIFIC
2 IN NORTH AMERICA
2 IN AREA 3.
STOPOVER ALLOWED ONLY ONCE AT THE SAME POINT.
AND - UNLIMITED STOPOVERS PERMITTED ON THE PRICING UNIT
AT USD 150.00 EACH
NONE IN AUSTRALIA
2 IN SOUTHWEST PACIFIC
2 IN NORTH AMERICA
2 IN AREA 3.
STOPOVER ALLOWED ONLY ONCE AT THE SAME POINT.

 

[madrooster]

I dont see anything in the xCIR rules limiting the number of sectors that can be taken in each region. I know the xONE rules limit you to 4 sectors per region (6 in the Nth America) within the total of 16. xCIR also allows 16 total, but does it not set a regional limit like the xONE does?

There's the IATA max of 16 segments:

   A MAXIMUM OF 16 SEGMENTS INCLUDING SURFACE                                   
   SEGMENTS BETWEEN ANY 2 AIRPORTS ARE PERMITTED                               
   FOR THE ENTIRE JOURNEY.

Other than that, there's no other segment limits. As already mentioned the stopovers will limit you on the number of segments per region.

 

[Emkay]

The best SC earn I can see using a A$6499 DAS17 fare for my Japan trip netts 640 SC for me. Add that to the 420 SC I will earn for my other planned trip next year gets me up to 1060, then I can expect 2 x 50 SC bonuses (one for each 500 SC earned), bringing me tantalisingly close to the 1200 required. (That was for a BNE-NRT-HKG-SIN-BNE-SYD-MEL-PER-BNE itinerary, BTW). The discount QF return J fare BNE-NRT for next year costs $3750. So even using the cheaper D Circle Asia fare, I would be shelling out at least an additional $2750 to retain WP in 2019. Looking again at the relatively minor advantages over gold (I'm LTG), I doubt it's worth even that additional amount, so I will probably just abandon the idea. But thanks to all for the great suggestions!