RTW Advice

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be22er

Junior Member
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Jul 18, 2011
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Hi Everyone

my partner and I are planning an RTW trip in May/June/July this year as a final blowout before settling down to a life of domestic bliss and we have come up with the following itinery -

syd-akl-scl-lim-cuz-lim-scl-gig-dfw-sfo-las-ord-jfk-man-hel-hkg-hkt-hkg-syd (this includes the transit stops)

The must haves are Cuzco for the Inca Trail (for her) and Rio for the football (for me) and I am getting issues with the oneworld planner -

Firstly there are too many segments (18 in total) - is this due to the lack of direct flights?
We are also exceeding our 4 segments in S.America - I'm guessing this is the same reason?

Are there anyways around this? I'm hoping to go OneWorld to earn points towards a potential move to QFF Gold (Silver at present) but I'm not sure of my options.

Any other suggestions would be gratefully received.

Thanks
 
Is your planned ATW on points or a oneworld/global explorer?

The maximum number of segments for most fares these days is 16.
 
It's cash rather than points (maybe one day!). We seem to be using up segments for changes and I thought a segment was an actual stop (leave the airport) but obviously not.
 
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Transfers are counted as segment

If you go to the oneworld site, they have a good planning tool that lets you know if your itinerary is valid
 
As serfty said, the 16 segment maximum is hard-wired, and cannot be altered.

The intra-continent limit, however, can be extended by up to 2 additional segments, which will add to the base-cost. However, in doing so, you still cannot exceed that 16 segment overall limit.

Why not purchase some point-to-point fares within S.America (or use an alternate means of transport) to drop the total down to 16?
 
A segment is any travel between two points and that can be a land or air segment i would have thought, that was how it was for my points award and i imagine it might be the same for the cash version...So anytime i went between two airports it was counted as a segment... The way I got around the 16 segment limit was that i flew into Buenos Aries on my RTW ticket then while in South America i bought a LAN South America Airpass and flew 5 flights on that plus a flight on GOL to Rio and it was there i reconnected with my RTW trip when i flew up to Miami...So my flight from Syd-BA was the second segment of my RTW, the gap of 3 weeks in South America getting from BA to Rio i put down as the third segment of my RTW (considered as a land leg) and then my fourth segment was my flight from Rio to Miami... The 5-6 flights around South America i booked seperately and it wasn't considered part of the RTW and didn't count as segments for the purpose of the RTW...It was an extra cost obviously to book the flights seperately but it is a away to get around the 16 segment limit if you really want to see some places in South America (Iguassu Falls was good as well)...As for leaving the aiport etc, that to me sounds like you are thinking about transits (less than 24 hours) and stopovers (more than 24 hours) but this has nothing to do with segments of a RTW trip... I think the only time two flights count as one segment is if they share the same number, i had a flight which left from Barcelona, stopped in Madrid for an hour or two to pick up passengers, then flew down to Johannesburg, the flight number never changed and it was considered one segment...
 
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Edited Interpretation for clarification

A segment is any travel between two points and that can be a land or air segment i would have thought, that was how it was for my points award and i imagine it might be the same for the cash version...

So anytime i went between two airports it was counted as a segment...

The way I got around the 16 segment limit was that i flew into Buenos Aries on my RTW ticket then while in South America i bought a LAN South America Airpass and flew 5 flights on that plus a flight on GOL to Rio and it was there i reconnected with my RTW trip when i flew up to Miami...

So my flight from Syd-BA was the second segment of my RTW, the gap of 3 weeks in South America getting from BA to Rio i put down as the third segment of my RTW (considered as a land leg) and then my fourth segment was my flight from Rio to Miami...

The 5-6 flights around South America i booked seperately and it wasn't considered part of the RTW and didn't count as segments for the purpose of the RTW...

It was an extra cost obviously to book the flights seperately but it is a away to get around the 16 segment limit if you really want to see some places in South America (Iguassu Falls was good as well)...

As for leaving the aiport etc, that to me sounds like you are thinking about transits (less than 24 hours) and stopovers (more than 24 hours) but this has nothing to do with segments of a RTW trip...

I think the only time two flights count as one segment is if they share the same number, i had a flight which left from Madrid, stopped in Barcelona for an hour or two to pick up passengers, then flew down to Johannesburg, the flight number never changed and it was considered one segment...
Edited Interpretation for clarification ... cheers.
 
Thanks to all for the clarifications and explainations so far.

It seems I'll need to get a little creative with the S.America leg in order to supplement the 4 segment restriction!
 
Thanks Serfty, for the last month or so AFF on my work computer has changed to a very text based layout rather than being graphical at all, not sure if I changed some setting or not on my work computer as it shows up fine at home??? But when i write a reply and put spaces between paras etc and then save it just lumps all together as one long para... Maybe the IT mob have seen how much time i spend on here and are trying to save bandwith or something and have changed what i see on AFF??? :)
 
Either that or buy the couple of extra stops if you can in South America and reduce your number of stops (and so segments) somehwere else on the trip... I tended to find South America amongst the most expensive places to fly as no real budget airlines like in Asia or Europe, but by the time you purchase a few extra intra South American flights and then say buy a cheap return flight to HKT from HKG it might just be cheaper to use a LAN or OW South American Airpass...
 
Don't worry about that; I have similar problems ...


posted on a VA lounge PC using Firefox Portable
 
Thinking about this a little more: are you planning on a stopover or transit in DFW, and is the sequence in N.America negotiable?

With a little rejigging, gig-jfk-sfo-las-ord-man, successfully reduces the total segments to 17, and maintains the "important" places to visit in the US.

You'd still have to pony-up for the extra segment in S.America, if we can get rid of another segment somewhere.
 
OK, we think we have the itinerary sorted now and the flight availability also seems good.

We are hoping to do -

SYD-SCL-LIM-CUZ-LIM-IGU--GIG-JFK-LAS--SFO-ORD-LHR-BKK-HKG-HKT-HKG-SYD

This is on the limit and gets us to our preferred sites and includes a short flight from Iguassa Falls to Rio (looks around $80pp) and a drive from Vegas to SF (via Yosemite so a great work-around).

Do I need to do anything special to get the points/credits onto my QFF account and is it worth setting one up for my partner? Is there somewhere I can work out what this trip would yield with regards to points & SC's?

You really can waste hours on the trip planners!

 
Very nice!

MileageMonkey remains the "gold standard" for both validation of OWE's and calculation of status credits earned. Copy and paste the itinerary into the Oneworld Explorer Validator, tick the box for ignore errors, and press go. Down the bottom of the page will be the status credit calculator for each segment, for each class. I think you'll need to get rid of the double-hyphens from your itinerary to get it to work properly.

You'll simply need your QFF number in the booking when you made it. And, absolutely get an account for your partner so he/she can accrue points as well.
 
Thanks!

I've tried the mileage monkey with the full itinerary and it refuses to play ball so I ended up putting the indivudual flights in just to get a rough idea. I've also mocked up another option which takes us to N.America first and uses AA for the long haul flights from SYD-LAX and GIG-JFK-LHR as I am wondering if the AA gold or platinum challenge may be worth it. Can I claim the QFF points/SC's as well as use the points towards the AA challenges or is it an either/or situation?
 
You can take out 2 legs by routing from SCL-LIM-GIG and adding in Cuzco from Lima with a Star Peru return flight for US$119. Or if you have the time to take an overnight bus, they can be pretty luxurious and quite cheap - think a business class seat - and some even have wifi! They don't compare at all to our average Murrays/Greyhound buses except on price.
 
If you use MileageMonkey and ignore errors ( as Hawkeye suggested) then you get.....

# of Qantas SC's earned

econbizfirstContinentsA/C typesDistanceSector
45180270~swp-~samLA 340 (fjy)7053SYD-SCL
2080120~sam-~samLA 319 (y)
LA 320 (y)
LA 763 (jy)
1531SCL-LIM
104060~sam-~samLA 319 (y)364LIM-CUZ
104060~sam-~samLA 319 (y)364CUZ-LIM
2080120~sam-~samLA 319 (y)1749LIM-IGU
156090~sam-~sam734IGU-GIG
35140210~sam-~namAA 763 (jy)
AA 777 (fjy)
4807GIG-JFK
2080120~nam-~namAA 738 (fy)
AA 757 (fy)
2245JFK-LAS
104060~nam-~namAA 738 (fy)413LAS-SFO
2080120~nam-~namAA 738 (fy)
AA 757 (fy)
1843SFO-ORD
30120180~nam-~eurAA 763 (jy)
AA 777 (fjy)
BA 744 (fjpy)
BA 777 (fjpy)
3945ORD-LHR
40160240~eur-~asaBA 744 (fjpy)
QF 744 (fjpy)
5957LHR-BKK
156090~asa-~asaCX 330 (jy)
CX 343 (jy)
CX 744 (fjy)
CX 773 (jy)
CX 777 (fjy)
RJ 330 (jy)
1050BKK-HKG
2080120~asa-~asaKA 320 (jy)
KA 330 (fjy)
1428HKG-HKT
2080120~asa-~asaKA 320 (jy)
KA 330 (fjy)
1428HKT-HKG
30120180~asa-~swpCX 330 (jy)
QF 333 (jy)
QF 388 (fjpy)
QF 744 (fjpy)
4599HKG-SYD
3601440216039510
(DONEx: 1540)
16 entries


hope your flying business...

jakob
 
Thanks!

I've tried the mileage monkey with the full itinerary and it refuses to play ball so I ended up putting the indivudual flights in just to get a rough idea. I've also mocked up another option which takes us to N.America first and uses AA for the long haul flights from SYD-LAX and GIG-JFK-LHR as I am wondering if the AA gold or platinum challenge may be worth it. Can I claim the QFF points/SC's as well as use the points towards the AA challenges or is it an either/or situation?

Unfortunately, it is either / or. Well worth an AA challenge, although the cost to sign-up and the limitation to AA qualifying flight numbers, means it not quite what it used to be. What cabin are you planning to fly in - if first or business, then can be quite easy to get the platinum challenge.

Others on this site have will have additional advice about ticketing thru AA to decrease the fuel fines, thereby saving a few hundred bucks on the +++. I'm too lazy to bother and just ticket mine thru QF (which is automatic if you book using the online Oneworld engine).
 
We're flying economy sadly although all AA flight segments are L so I think we should still make the challenge? If we use the AA code share with QF for the Syd-Lax segment, can we still use QFF points to. Upgrade to premium economy?
 
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