RTW Award flight - Some help pls

[ljk23]

Hi,

I'm planning early.. (Flexible dates -July, Aug or Sept 2012) but would like to have some idea of the best way to attack securing 2 x J class award RTW..

I was planning a USA trip for two, but it seems that the best value would be to do the RTW and it looks a little easier to secure a flight to USA if stopping somewhere like Hong Kong. ( is this the case?)

Ive read numerous threads and am still a little baffled about the best way to do this and what travel i can do within the USA once there..

Heres what I had in mind.

ADL -HKG - LAX - JFK - LHR -CDG - DXB - ADL

I'd really like to visit the following places in the USA, Seattle, Boston,Chicago, Miami

My questions are:

1. Are the above main flights listed above quite difficult to secure J seats? ( I understand the AA class rules)

2. Am i able to include the other USA cities in within my 280,000 points? Do I rely on the qantas award booking engine or phone an agent to play around with these cities?

3. If i am wanting first class travel between LAX - JFK - can I book seperatly?

4. Any other suggestions for a stopover from Paris ( or London) to Adelaide? ( that would have more chance of securing j seats) Would Dubai be pushing it?

Sorry If it seems I havent done enough research, just hoping for some suggestions that might get me started.

 

[serfty]

1. J seats are always hard; you need to look often and book early. QF/BA flights have award seats available at 353 days, AA at 330.
2. You have 16 segments, 5 stopovers and 35,000 miles. Note that on AA 2 class domestic flights you would be be booked into economy on a Qantas Business award; 3 class flights need to be looked for.
3. If you want first class travel on any segment you need to book separately as the the award would then cost 420K QFF points.
4. See #1

 

[ljk23]

Thanks for that! Thats what I thought.

Another question.. What is JLs J product like, i am trying to hunt for a flight out of USA to Tokyo and then onto Australi, I keep getting AA flights..

Would AA's J product be nice for that leg? Any other suggestions how how to maybe get a JL flight out of US?

Thanks

 

[rtyuiop]

I'm dealing with pretty much the same issue. Might even end up going to east coast US via Asia and/or Europe and then back the same way if it doesn't take me over the 35,000 mile limit.

It's a little infuriating how many more non-Y award seats are available trans-Atlantic than trans-Pacific, I have to say!

Danny

 

[ljk23]

Yeah its a bugger, I kept going over my 35,000 miles trying to go that way..

Where are you thinking of going exactly? And when ?

 

[rtyuiop]

I'm aiming for mid-2011 (meeting some friends in NYC after some of their own travel, so don't have exact dates yet). The only reason I've got any chance at all is that I only need 1 seat on the flights, not two!

I'm still thinking about where I'm going. Main destinations are NYC, Orlando, and probably Washington DC. Then I'll probably stop for a few days somewhere on my way back - leading contenders are western Europe somewhere or South Africa if I can swing it...

Danny