OW Explorer help

[emirates777]

I am new to this forum, so bear with me...!

I wish to buy a oneworld explorer traveling economy (4 continents) for travel at the end of this year. My intention is to redeem a Qantas FF award flight Sydney-Hong Kong and then purchase a RTW ticket from Hong Kong (buying a ticket from HKG seems slightly cheaper than getting the same ticket ex-syd, is taxes also cheaper from HKG?)

My plan is to do this during Dec 08/Jan 09 HKG-NRT-SFO-YYZ-LHR-FCO-AMN-BKK-SYD... now can I say hold off till say Dec 09 and complete the remaining legs (i.e. SYD-MEL-HKG)? Would that still be permittable under the rules?

Also does anyone have a better and cheaper plan, I am all ears!

 

[Keith009]

I am new to this forum, so bear with me...!

Welcome to AFF, emirates777.

My plan is to do this during Dec 08/Jan 09 HKG-NRT-SFO-YYZ-LHR-FCO-AMN-BKK-SYD... now can I say hold off till say Dec 09 and complete the remaining legs (i.e. SYD-MEL-HKG)? Would that still be permittable under the rules?

You have up to 12 months from date of departure to finish the ticket.

I'm not sure that there's oneworld metal directly between SFO and YYZ. You might have to go via one of AA's hubs.

2 Asian entries/exits allowed so long as one of those is a transit between Europe and South West Pacific. So assuming that you aren't stopping over in BKK (ie not spending more than 24 hours there), yes your itinerary is most certainly valid.

You've got some spare segments left btw - the max is 20 if you get ticketed prior to 1st June and 16 otherwise. Could throw in a side trip or 2 domestically or trans tasman. Or a mileage run somewhere.

Also does anyone have a better and cheaper plan, I am all ears!

You might find this spreadsheet (courtesy of WeazyBizTrvlr over at Flyertalk) helpful in comparing prices:
http://qsi.cc/users/wbt/RTWFares2.0.1.xls

You might also want to try ticketing via AA to save some money on fuel fines as AA generally charges the least fuel fines - however that could prove problematic with certain offices (particularly GSAs) if your itinerary doesn't appear to contain transoceanic AA segments. Might want to book NRT-SFO on the AA codeshare.

 

[v8Statesman]

You have up to 12 months from date of departure to finish the ticket.

Is it date of first departure, or date of ticketing? I thought it was ticketing.

 

[Keith009]

Is it date of first departure, or date of ticketing? I thought it was ticketing.

You need to take your first flight within 12 months of ticketing. You then have a further 12 months from date of first departure to finish the itinerary.

 

[Danger]

I originally had advice that it was 12 months from date of ticketing but have since found, twice, that it is in fact the date of first departure. I was on the phone to AA last night finalising my OW explorer and when I checked the travel period the polite lady told me it was 12 months from ticketing. I asked her to check this, she did and came back "12 months from departure".

Note, though, my understanding is you need to take your first flight within 12 months of ticketing. As stated above, you then have a further 12 months to take the remaining flights.