RTW / UK to US - one way?

[rory breaker]

Gday,

Next July I'm planning a RTW type trip with my partner.
I cant find where I can use QFF points for this, so I've looked at it this way....

SYD - LHR - using ASA
LHR - DEN - paid ticket
DEN - LAX - paid ticket
LAX - SYD - using ASA

Using this I pretty much burn all the QFF points that my partner and I have.

Question is, how do I get from LHR to DEN one way for a good price, most of the prices I've seen are more expensive than than the return!
I'm open to leave from anywhere in the UK to make it work. SC would be nice, but not essential.

Or any other ideas are welcome.

Cheers

 

[grussellt]

Please let us know how long is required for stopover (LAX?DEN?), class of travel and how many points you have. Award travel in July will need to booked as soon as available and July travel ex-UK is rarely cheap. You can travel SYD-LHR via DEN stopover for 83000pts each and then OW home but there may be other choices.

 

[rory breaker]

OK,

Travel is in economy.

We have 280K ffq to spend.

I dont really need a stopover in LAX (and would prefer not to!), but will be having ~ 3weeks in DEN.

83000 - would that be a classc award?

Cheers

 

[grussellt]

You may need to wait a little longer to make a firm booking. You could travel SYD/DEN (Stopover) followed by DEN/LHR and then home LHR/SYD. That will be within the rules of a 140000pts trip (each person) of a multi city booking. There is also room to be a bit more imaginative if want more stops. I did a dummy booking in June/ July and it was available.
Happy travelling.

 

[rory breaker]

Please let us know how long is required for stopover (LAX?DEN?), class of travel and how many points you have. Award travel in July will need to booked as soon as available and July travel ex-UK is rarely cheap. You can travel SYD-LHR via DEN stopover for 83000pts each and then OW home but there may be other choices.

Hey,

Thanks for the info, what route did you use for the 83K?

I cant find one for less than 96K...

Cheers
RB

 

[grussellt]

The points calculator shows 83000pts. The following route is 84000pts:
SYD/LAX QF11
LAX/DEN AA3014 (STOP)

DEN/DFW AA762
DFW/LHR AA50

To find this use SYD/DEN and DEN/LHR and use multi-city for QF/AA only. Using BA will cost more pts except on kangaroo route. If you really like flying then SYD/LHR/ORD (with less than 24h in LHR) is close to the limit for 64000pts.
Interestingly SYD/LHR (BA10) and LHR/ORD + ORD/DEN (AA47 + AA867) is only 76000pts but it's a long trip......and for those who really like flying!
Cheers

 

[rory breaker]

Thanks for your help.

I reckon that I dont get on well with the Qantas www page...

I cant see any flights that go SYD-LAX-DEN, they all go through ORD or DFW from LAX..

Also what do you mean when you say "use multi-city for QF/AA only" - I cant see a way of filtering just for QF/AA, or this just a manual thing?

Thanks again

 

[Cocitus23]

Rory,

Have you tried using the OneWorld web site? I find it fairly simple, and great for planning Round The World itineraries like yours. It seems that you don't have many obligatory stopovers (just DEN and LHR?), and I would be surprised if you could not manage two tickets for 280,000 points. What's more, you could throw in numerous other stopovers to spice your trip up, if you wanted to.

Cocitus23.

 

[rory breaker]

Ok, 1st off, thanks heaps to Grussellt, our conversation gave me hope in making this work when I'd all but given up.

So, for the:-
a) benefits of others
and
b) ideas for refining this,
here's the best I have....

8 Jul CBR BNE QF948
BNE LAX QF15

26 Jul DEN LHR BA218

3 Aug LHR NRT BA5
4 Aug NRT BNE QF22
5 Aug BNE CBR QF1471

This is 147000 points per person.
Also, I was hoping to get to DEN on the first leg, but this seems impossible on this date.
I've tried every route back from LHR, eg Singapore, Hong Kong, and I still come out with 147K, I once got a 140K through Hong Kong but 5 minutes later it was gone.
And I'm hoping to leave London on 5 Aug, but flights are not available yet!

Any ideas how to get down to 140k?

Cheers
RB

 

[Flashback]

Ok, 1st off, thanks heaps to Grussellt, our conversation gave me hope in making this work when I'd all but given up.

So, for the:-
a) benefits of others
and
b) ideas for refining this,
here's the best I have....

8 Jul CBR BNE QF948
BNE LAX QF15

26 Jul DEN LHR BA218

3 Aug LHR NRT BA5
4 Aug NRT BNE QF22
5 Aug BNE CBR QF1471

This is 147000 points per person.
Also, I was hoping to get to DEN on the first leg, but this seems impossible on this date.
I've tried every route back from LHR, eg Singapore, Hong Kong, and I still come out with 147K, I once got a 140K through Hong Kong but 5 minutes later it was gone.
And I'm hoping to leave London on 5 Aug, but flights are not available yet!

Any ideas how to get down to 140k?

Cheers
RB

Call QFF and book through them, they have greater access to availability. It will cost you 2,500 points per person, but still an overall lower cost in points.

 

[grussellt]

Congratulations - you're nearly there! I can't understand why the trip is coming up as 147000pts. I did a booking leaving LHR a day earlier (August 4/5 2011 may be available tomorrow) and it was 140000pts. Try booking the legs as as CBR-DEN, DEN-LHR, LHR-NRT and NRT-CBR. Make sure you have something cool to wear in Tokyo!

 

[rory breaker]

grussellt, thanks for your PM, I havent made enough posts to reply via PM.

I could get CBR to DEN to work for 1 pax, but not 2.

So for 280K points, for 2 pax I booked just last night....

CBR-BNE (2 hr between flights but booked on seperate 'lines')

BNE-LAX-DFW-DEN

DEN-LHR

LHR-SIN

SIN-BNE
BNE-CBR

Thanks for your help!

Cheers
RB

 

[grussellt]

I'm glad your persistence has paid off. Have a good trip!