RTW, Credit Card, Altitude, QC and QFF

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alien

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Nov 6, 2002
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Hi All,

I'm after some advice with planinng a RTW trip with my partner next September to October covering approx 7 weeks travel.

This post is in a number of parts.

Part 1
We would like to cover 3 key locations September 11th in New York, Oktober Fest in Munich which is around 15th September and Ohio to vists friends, the rest of the trip will be what ever we can cover in the time we have available.

Destinations we would like to cover:
  • New York
  • Ohio
  • San Francisco
  • Canada
  • Munich
  • Berlin
  • Italy
  • Greece
  • Scotland
  • Ireland
  • London
I looked at the RTW with QANTAS and not sure if this would best suit what we are trying to do. If we chose this option what would be the route we should consider? Do any other airline offer this kind of fare?

Some of those destinations we are looking at in Europe will more than likely be through a tour operator so it would be more than likely the tour would be leaving London I'm assuming. Still need to check this out.

Part 2
I currently have an Altitude Gold card and Amex with a total of 280k points of which approx 50k will transfer 1:1 QFF.

I'm also a member of Velocity (and The Lounge) with approx 20k points (doing RET SYD-MELB approx 10 times a year) and also a member of Airpoints (NZ) however i have never used this program.

I would like to try and use my Altitude points towards a ticket purchase and with that in mind what would be the best option to maximise my points value? Should I stay with Altitude and join QFF or QC then trasnfer points or get another credit card and join QFF or QC? I might consider QC because of the distance being travelled. You never know It might be handy. What status would this trip potentially give me if I join QFF?

Part 3
I believe early bird specials are starting to hit the market and that Flight Centre have a travel expo on the 19th November which I intend on attending. Do you believe its best to purchase at these kind of shows?

Anyone recommend a tour operator to go through ie Kumuka, Traflgar, Cosmos or Insight for the Europe tours etc?

Any help with planning or suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers
 
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Can't speak to the credit card situation, as have one that credits automatically to QF. There is the two One World RTW that use the BA, AA, LAN, QF,AY,EI,CX and IB airlines, shedules. These come in two flavours a xONEx, which allows set number of sectors, must cross both Altantic and Pacific etc. The other is a Global Explorer, limited by milage, up to 39,000 flown miles. To plot out the trip go here Great Circle Mapper

For More info go to oneworld - Air Travel Options.
The downloadable "widget" for the want of a better word is a great tool. as is the milagemonkey website, who's link I've lost but Google it and it will showup.:oops:

From what I can see you've got too many Europe stops to do it on a conventional xONEx, so the Global Explorer may be the go for you. However you may want to do the xONEx and do some personal bookings inside that itineraty.

There are others on the forum that may correct me but IIRC the xONEx has a limit of 4 sectors inside europe but gives you 6 inside the US.
 
Have a look at the various threads in the AA forum. You will save at least $300-400 if you DON'T let whomever issues the ticket plate it on QF as the fuel surcharges are ridiculous. Your destinations are mainstream enough that you should be able to book it direct with AA, pay by credit card and have an e-ticket. Look for posts by Dave Noble, he's the ATW expert on here and gives great advice.
 
alien said:
Part 1
We would like to cover 3 key locations September 11th in New York, Oktober Fest in Munich which is around 15th September and Ohio to vists friends, the rest of the trip will be what ever we can cover in the time we have available.

Destinations we would like to cover:
  • New York
  • Ohio
  • San Francisco
  • Canada
  • Munich
  • Berlin
  • Italy
  • Greece
  • Scotland
  • Ireland
  • London
I looked at the RTW with QANTAS and not sure if this would best suit what we are trying to do. If we chose this option what would be the route we should consider? Do any other airline offer this kind of fare?

There are lots of types of RTWs. As mentioned already alliances have RTWs. One World has xONEx (One World Explorer) which is continent based - this isn't suitable for the itinerary you have planned since a maximum of 4 flights within europe. OW also has a xGLOBx (Global Explorer) which is distance based. That might work better for you.

Star Alliance has distance based RTWs (up to 39,000 miles), and has the advantage of much better network in europe (so less backtracking for you).

I'll ignore Sky Team - for someone based in Australia/NZ they aren't too useful requiring connections through ICN on Korean Air each way.

Many airlines also have RTWs based on airline groupings - these aren't necessarily only airlines in the same alliance (eg Emirates/United (EK/UA) has one). These are generally cheaper than alliance RTWs but more restrictive (both in routes available and also in backtracking rules, stopovers etc).
 
Thanks for the replies.

Still not sure how i wil lbook however I was thinking that I would fly from SYD to LAX then get an Airpass (Just found out they exist) to travel the US then depart on the rtw from say NY. Have to check if Canada would be included or not so if it was I would go NY to Canada (not sure which city yet) then from there to UK. From UK do a Europe tour than back to UK starting the rtw trip again down to Tokyo then SYD. I'll check these destinations out on the circle mapper to see if the are valid trips.

It gets complicated doesn't it when you don't know alot of tips and tricks etc.

I've also found out I can transfer my Altitude points to Airpoints so I might see what the conversion rate is. I looked on the site but no luck finding out yet. Kiwi Flyer do you know what the rate is?

I want to try and get at least 1 ticket using point and earn as many points travelling etc
 
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