RTW - Mostly on A380's

[Edman5700]

Hi Guys,

These questions will be prior to me going off to my travel agent or online agent.

Back when SIA bought out the A380, I flew with them within 6 months of introduction and I loved it. Been on other planes since, and nothing boils my potatos.

This coming May I'm planning to go RTW for 5 weeks, but I want to fly mostly on A380's.

So far *A has the most A380's in their entire fleet. So I would like to base my flight around them and lucky enough they fly to the destination I would like to go to.

I went on the *A website and did an interactive itinerary and this is what I could do:

SYD > SIN: SIA A380
SIN > HK: SIA B777
HK > SIN: SIA A330
SIN > LHR: SIA A380
LHR > CDG via DUS: LHT (no sure of aircraft)
CDG > JFK: AF A380
JFK > LAX UA
LAX > SYD UA (I wish it was QF A380)

Questions are

1. I can assume this if I took this plan to my travel agent and got quoted discounted economy or premium it would be most expensive than the 'off the rack' special they may have in store....Hence I I'll be going with other airlines on the *A list.

2. Because I'm going via the US (I haven't been) that we can take 2 x 23kg luggage
or
3. Some RTW ticket can let you take 2 X 23kg luggage all the way

4. Could a RTW ticket back track eg: after JFK or LA I fly back to asia...Eg: HK then back to SYD ?

I know some could be stupid questions but I thought I ask.

Any advice would be great.

Cheers

 

[drmikki]

Star Alliance RTWs are based on milage, so the exact cost will be dependant on your final routing. I have put your itinerary into the *A milage calculator and it is saying it is a valid RTW fare with 28456 miles. The lower of the fares I think is up to 29000 miles and therefore this would qualify. (Note there are also sometimes 26000mile Economy specials which obviously wouldn't work). I think that dual stopovers in SIN are prohibited but you can route via SIN to get on SQ's A380.

That said, please note that Air France is NOT a Star Alliance member and therefore you won't be travelling on a AF A380 using this fare. Lufthansa have A380s that I think go to San Francisco, Tokyo, Beijing and Johannesburg as well as JFK.

You can route via Asia (specifically ICN) to get back to Sydney but I don't think another stopover is permitted. Plus this will push you into the next milage bracket. Better option may be via AKL on Air NZ if you want to avoid United...

I think you can book online (via Lufthansa) or via AirNZ or SQ's aussie call centres but I don't think that there is a price difference between these and most reputable travel agents. I wouldn't use Flight Centre, they have NFI what they are talking about with these fares, but there are other agents who may be able to improve on this or save some $$. Try playing around with the *A RTW planner and then you can always take that to a few agents and ask for quotes.

Good luck!