RTW Dilemna

[Shano]

Well, my first dilemna was if I should put "dilemma" or "dilemna" in the thread title......

I was starting to make arrangements to travel to Hannover (HAJ) for a trade show in May. It is also my first OS trip to be booked in anything other than Y so I am a little bit excited about that.

This looked relatively straightforward as I could do MEL-SIN-MUC/FRA-HAJ return on SQ (with one LH codeshare) in J and this would have given me VA WP status.

It now looks like I need to go to Denver on the way to participate in a biogas pyrolysis trial. So my trip is now morphing into a RTW.

My dilemna is with which airline / alliance to book the trip.

I am surrently QF PS with 175 SC and a review date of 31 May and SG with VA with a current SC balance of 670.

The trip will be completed by the middle of May.

I don't believe that I will have the time to "optimise" a OW RTW fare to get me to WP, considering I need another 1,225 SC to get there, but would easily reach SG. I can probably get this down to around 1,150 prior to my departure with other planned travel.

The issue I see with a *A RTW fare is being able to credit all flights to VA.

I am thinking that it might be easier to book a OW DONE4.

There doesn't seem to be much info about RTW fares that maximise VA earning. I'm not sure if the VA-SQ RTW fare allows codeshares (such as DL, LH). If so then this would work reasonably well.

What advice do members have regarding potential fares?

My only other experience with RTW fares was a LONE4 about 5 years ago.

Cheers

 

[simongr]

A driver should be how are you going to use the status you get once you have it. I get really confused by the status requal system on VA so not sure if you can optimize the routing for that.

Is Hamburg HAJ or HAM? Ok I see there 81 miles between HAJ and HAM.

 

[browski]

Well, my first dilemna was if I should put "dilemma" or "dilemna" in the thread title......

I was starting to make arrangements to travel to Hamburg (HAJ) for a trade show in May. It is also my first OS trip to be booked in anything other than Y so I am a little bit excited about that.

This looked relatively straightforward as I could do MEL-SIN-MUC/FRA-HAJ return on SQ (with one LH codeshare) in J and this would have given me VA WP status.

It now looks like I need to go to Denver on the way to participate in a biogas pyrolysis trial. So my trip is now morphing into a RTW.

My dilemna is with which airline / alliance to book the trip.

I am surrently QF PS with 175 SC and a review date of 31 May and SG with VA with a current SC balance of 670.

The trip will be completed by the middle of May.

I don't believe that I will have the time to "optimise" a OW RTW fare to get me to WP, considering I need another 1,225 SC to get there, but would easily reach SG. I can probably get this down to around 1,150 prior to my departure with other planned travel.

The issue I see with a *A RTW fare is being able to credit all flights to VA.

I am thinking that it might be easier to book a OW DONE4.

There doesn't seem to be much info about RTW fares that maximise VA earning. I'm not sure if the VA-SQ RTW fare allows codeshares (such as DL, LH). If so then this would work reasonably well.

What advice do members have regarding potential fares?

My only other experience with RTW fares was a LONE4 about 5 years ago.

Cheers

I have never done this route in its entirety.......but I'm pretty sure you can do the major legs as a return ticket (although it is a RTW) on SQ.

Outbound:
MEL-SIN-SFO (via HKG) all on SQ
Inbound:
JFK-FRA-SIN-MEL all on SQ

$2650 in Y
Around 10K in J

You will then need to purchase a separate ticket for:
SFO-DEN-JFK. You can certainly fly Delta (VA partner) on the DEN-JFK leg.


Alternatively, I'd look at doing the whole flight as a return airfare MEL-FRA-DEN on Lufthansa/SQ since Lufthansa fly direct from FRA into DEN. You're outbound leg would be really long though travelling to the US first via Europe. Even in J, this can be a killer.

 

[Shano]

A driver should be how are you going to use the status you get once you have it. I get really confused by the status requal system on VA so not sure if you can optimize the routing for that.

Is Hamburg HAJ or HAM? Ok I see there 81 miles between HAJ and HAM.

VA is rolling 12 months, so once you get to a tier, you have 12 months to requalify, so you progressively lose SC throughout the year, unlike QF's annual reassessment date.

My apologies, should be Hannover (HAJ). The OW planner doesn't show HAJ as a destination even though BA and AB fly there. I have edited my OP.

 

[BensAdventures]

There are RTW fares with Luftshansa & Swiss, refer the Best Flights website for an indication of prices, and any agent can still book them. Your main flights are covered, but you might need to book some positioning flights in Europe or USA depending on the airlines you end up using. I've booked a couple of these fares for some colleagues and they haven't complained. However flying SQ, CX or QF long haul would be preferred compared to LH.

 

[Shano]

RTW looking less likely now due to time constraints, so now looking like just MEL-HAJ-MEL.

EK is around $7,800 [MEL-KUL-DXB-VIE-HAJ]
QF via DXB is around $16k :shock:

Both of these require 1 segment on AB.

SQ is around $10k

The EK flights would get me 660 SC so would get me to QF SG (assuming all the EK flights are eligible for SC).

Leaning towards getting SG with QF (OW) rather than going for WP on DJ via the SQ flights.

How does EK longhaul J rate?

 

[serfty]

Be aware that travel on segments booked with EK flight numbers does not earn SC's with QFF.

In business such travel should earn QFF points.

Have a look at the costs of booking on BA ...

 

[BensAdventures]

I really like long haul J on EK but you won't get any QF Status credits on EK flights without a QF flight number.

 

[browski]

RTW looking less likely now due to time constraints, so now looking like just MEL-HAJ-MEL.

EK is around $7,800 [MEL-KUL-DXB-VIE-HAJ]
QF via DXB is around $16k :shock:

Both of these require 1 segment on AB.

SQ is around $10k

The EK flights would get me 660 SC so would get me to QF SG (assuming all the EK flights are eligible for SC).

Leaning towards getting SG with QF (OW) rather than going for WP on DJ via the SQ flights.

How does EK longhaul J rate?

Perhaps one more option to consider (and you get to credit to both programs)

MEL-AUH return in J on VA/EY 10.10pm-6.30am $7562
AUH-DUS-HAM return in J on AB 8.35am-1.40pm (and then 5.00pm-6.00pm) $3926

I'm sure you can find a better price with a bit of digging.

 

[Shano]

Have a look at the costs of booking on BA ...

Nice - thanks. 640 SC for around $7,500

Thanks also to those that posted re lack of SC on EK flights. Need to pay more attention to the EK/QF threads .

 

[Shano]

After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing this is now back to a RTW trip.

I have just booked the following as a constructed RTW through our TA:

MEL-DXB-LHR-xMUC//HAM-LHR-LAX-xDEN-LAX-BNE-MEL.

This books into I class hence retrictions on availability on certain legs. I am waitlisted for LAX-MEL rather than having to go through BNE.

MEL-LHR is on QF, Intra Europe and LHR-LAX is on BA, LAX-DEN;LAX is on AA (A class) and LAX back to MEL on QF.

Total fare is around $11K.

I have two days over a weekend to get from MUC to HAJ, so may look at using the ICE. Hanover to HAM is also likely to be via the train.

I currently have 18F assigned on QF9 and 19J on QF1.

LAX-BNE I have been allocated 3J. 3E and 3F are still available so may swap to one of these. Based on the seat map I assume that LAX-BNE flight will be a reconfigured 744?

 

[Shano]

Work is paying