Testing out a OW Circle Pacific itinerary online

[heycam]

Hi,

I'm in the process of booking some work travel, and prices being what they are, I'm seeing if I can come up with some creative solutions to suggest to our corporate travel agent to keep costs down. I'm based in Melbourne, and need to be in San Francisco for a week starting September 3 or 4, followed by Vancouver for a week, before heading home. I'm wondering if a OW Circle Pacific fare DCIR22 might help me here, if I make sure to travel via Asia on the way to or from North America.

I want to play around with some different routings to see what's possible, but it looks like the planner at oneworld.com only supports Explorer fares, not Circle Pacific fares. Is there anywhere I can test out and price some itineraries online? (I understand that to book I'd need to call or have a TA do it.)

Thanks,

Cameron

 

[dajop]

You should be able to check availability using the tool - the DIR fares book into the same fare classes, but obviously you won't be able to check rule compliance or final fare.

ExpertFlyer indicates current base fare of $10779 AUD, ex-MEL. (of course plus taxes and surcharges).

 

[heycam]

Thanks. It looks like I can't progress to search for specific flights if I violate the RTW rules with my city selections. But yes I guess the date pickers give an indication that there is some available routing, though.

I ended up doing a bunch of searching on EF for D class availability. Took a while but eventually found some on QF 15 BNE-LAX on the way there, and on CX YVR-HKG-MEL on the way back. Sent to the TA now to check if my selections follow the rules and for final pricing.

 

[RooFlyer]

I ended up doing a bunch of searching on EF for D class availability. Took a while but eventually found some on QF 15 BNE-LAX on the way there, and on CX YVR-HKG-MEL on the way back. Sent to the TA now to check if my selections follow the rules and for final pricing.

Why not get the TA simply to scope out various permutations and prices? Or is it a corporate TA who only does bookings?

Either way, I'd avoid HKG and CX myself and go via Japan, making sure its a transit to and from the same airport!

BTW, if corporate costs are an issue, maybe look at a Finnair 'RTW', something like Australia-LAX (QF)-YVR (AA)-LHR (BA)-HEL (AY)-?Japan (AY)-Australia (JAL or QF), where you could get a free stopover in London and/or Helsinki . That could price abt $6K-$7K, although this close in, maybe all the cheaper biz categories are gone. Definitely a TA job, that one.

 

[heycam]

Yes, corporate TA. First time booking travel at this job, so I don't know how much help they need.

I did look for options via NRT, but there was no D class availability on the days I needed. Although with the current restrictions on entry into Japan, I'd worry about what would happen if there were delays and I missed my connection and needed to overnight. (Unless there's an airside hotel?)

I haven't heard of the Finnair RTW. I'll read up on it. Such an out of the way booking might raise eyebrows even if it is cheaper than my other options though!

 

[SeatBackForward]

I haven't heard of the Finnair RTW. I'll read up on it. Such an out of the way booking might raise eyebrows even if it is cheaper than my other options though!

They're a good option for business class RTW fares if you can spare the additional time required. May also mean quite long transits at some connection points.

 

[RooFlyer]

Here's a primer on the 'RTW' (it doesn't actually have to be RTW but does need to go via Europe). The conditions are quite complex; if the TA isn't across them, it may not be doable:

Great Value Round-the-World Tickets with Finnair & Lufthansa

Finnair Airbus A350-900. Photo: Finnair. Updated (August 2022): Since this article was published, Finnair and Lufthansa have made some changes to their

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

I don't know about your work situation/corporate TA, but for me, my TA helps me, not the other way round Also, good TAs can talk directly to airlines and get certain things done, such as seats released in lower fare classes etc. So I'd be telling the TA what I want and ask them to deliver. if they can't, then move to plan B ... But if they are a numpty, then yes, you'll need to have the answers before you ask them the question!

 

[kangarooflyer88]

One question that I think is worth asking is what are you looking to get out of this trip? Having had the role of corporate TA in a previous life, I know flights tend to be a function of what you want and what is in the corporate travel policy in terms of price, preferred carrier, etc.

If I was in your shoes (and I'm not in your shoes), what I would be interested in would be:

• Maintenance of frequent flyer status
• Routing (certainly flying out of MEL I would gladly connect to BNE or heaven forbid MEL for the better lounge if OW)
• Quality of J hard and soft product of airlines that service these routes
• Individual features of the fare itself (i.e. the flexibility to do a complimentary same day change)
• Price

Another thing to keep in mind too is that often open jaws can sometimes be cheaper than multi-cities involving multiple stopovers. So something like booking MEL > SFO, YVR > MEL as one ticket then booking SFO > YVR as another ticket may be cheaper than booking MEL > SFO > YVR > MEL as one ticket. Sometimes it may even make sense to back track and do something like booking MEL > SFO return and SFO > YVR return. This also has the added benefit of attracting additional miles and status credits since you have that additional YVR > SFO leg.

Hope that helps.

-RooFlyer88

 

[heycam]

Really I was hoping that I could find an option that was both cheaper¹ than the most straightforward one and also on OW flights. The former since I think it's good to select cheaper options when they're available and reasonable, the latter so I can get a head start on SCs for next year (as my QFF membership year resets January 1).

In the end, it was a bit too slow going back and forth trying to find a Circle Pacific option, and as it's only a few weeks until I need to fly, and there weren't many seats left on the straightforward option, I just got them to book that.

Final price was around 16,600 AUD, which seems exorbitant to me, but it did come with the magic words "in policy", so

@dajop above mentions 10,779 AUD for the DCIR23 fare. What's a rough estimate on what the taxes/fees would've been on top of this, for a MEL-BNE-LAX-SJC/SFO-YVR-HKG-MEL routing?

__
¹ Not that the company really needs to save money.

 

[FuzzyAUS]

I've been following this thread as I had heard about these types of fares but never understood them and think I know a few people using them as they seem to be a lot more cost effective if you have a few extra days to do the circle as such. Also think these are a good way to keep your Status Credits (QF) up quite a bit easier.

Am I right in thinking right now that this would be a good way to get the costs down for some Business flights to the USA if your willing to pop around to Europe and Asia on the way home?

 

[serfty]

@dajop above mentions 10,779 AUD for the DCIR23 fare. What's a rough estimate on what the taxes/fees would've been on top of this, for a MEL-BNE-LAX-SJC/SFO-YVR-HKG-MEL routing?

Make a multi-city booking using ITA with D class segments, forget the fare(!) and review the +++.

matrix.itasoftware.com

 

[heycam]

I was having trouble finding options using matrix, but maybe I was using it wrong. So I was reading the rules at https://www.qantas.com/content/dam/qac/oneworld-clue-cards/oneworld-circle-pacific-27Apr22.pdf and looking for individual flight availability on ExpertFlyer in D class that I thought matched the rules.

 

[SYD]

In the end, it was a bit too slow going back and forth trying to find a Circle Pacific option, and as it's only a few weeks until I need to fly, and there weren't many seats left on the straightforward option, I just got them to book that.

Final price was around 16,600 AUD, which seems exorbitant to me, but it did come with the magic words "in policy", so

I used to get the Corp TA to quote the straightforward routing and if I knew I could do better on an RTW or alternate airline/routing, get them to quote that also.

 

[bam71]

Make a multi-city booking using ITA with D class segments, forget the fare(!) and review the +++.

matrix.itasoftware.com

How does one narrow ITA matrix down to a particular class, i.e. D?

 

[SYD]

How does one narrow ITA matrix down to a particular class, i.e. D?

Extension code “Faring” and booking code - see help example

F BC=code

F bc=y

Use fares with the specified prime booking code. Note: the actual booking class used may be different due to being overridden by the carrier's booking code exception table.

F BC=code|BC=code|...

F bc=y|bc=b

Specify that fares use one of several prime booking codes (e.g. book in either Y or B class). See the note on the above item.

 

[bam71]

Did not see that - Thankyou

 

[Alucard19]

Hi Cameron did you have any luck with this

its quiet here so I've just been messing around with some circle trip routings and fares

I'm in the process of booking some work travel, and prices being what they are, I'm seeing if I can come up with some creative solutions to suggest to our corporate travel agent to keep costs down. I'm based in Melbourne, and need to be in San Francisco for a week starting September 3 or 4, followed by Vancouver for a week, before heading home. I'm wondering if a OW Circle Pacific fare DCIR22 might help me here, if I make sure to travel via Asia on the way to or from North America.

I want to play around with some different routings to see what's possible, but it looks like the planner at oneworld.com only supports Explorer fares, not Circle Pacific fares. Is there anywhere I can test out and price some itineraries online? (I understand that to book I'd need to call or have a TA do it.)

Thanks,

Cameron

 

[Humkat]

I appreciate this query was probably resolved but just piping in here as I am a former corporate TA.... your TA will certainly be offering you the best pricing with the best routing, of course within your company policy... If I was you, I wouldn't waste my time investigating the best price as that is what your company pay them to do. Your company may also have corporate discounts that come into play. Hope you were able to get your desired itinerary