Travel agent recommendation?

[4lex]

I'm finding booking a RTW rather tiresome and would sooner pay someone else to do it. I'm flying out of PER and want to go to DFW and LON in either direction in J. I have a metric tonne of QF miles but no status. I'm prepared to pay cash instead and would like to bag some SCs if that were possible, hoping there'll be a DSC shortly. Any recommendations?

 

[JohnM]

Well, if you pay cash for a DONEx (where x is 4, 5 or 6 continental zones) (and what is the true RTW fare in J), you will of course earn SCs and points - like, a lot. One DONEx, by itself, every year for 16 consective years kept me WP constantly.

You won't if it's a J OWA (OneWorld Award in J) - which is not necessarily a RTW fare.

Your post is a touch ambiguous on that.

Any competent TA should know how to book a DONEx, but it's easy to do yourself trough the QF website if the itinerary isn't too complicated and you understand the basic rules.

But a really competent TA will know how to book a DONEx that saves you a considerable amount of money by not booking through QF.

 

[4lex]

Don't know what a donex is, will search.

 

[JohnM]

Don't know what a donex is, will search.

It is simply a Oneworld RTW business class airfare. It books into the dicount D bucket of Business Class fares.

So, D bucket must be available on a sector for it to be bookable into the RTW fare. Because it is a discounted bucket, it may not always be available.

However, D bucket does earn full J SCs and points.

And, as I said, x simply indicates the number of continental zones.

Here's the link from the QF website: Enjoy great savings on your Round the World flights.

The OW website: RTW Flights: Round The World Airline Tickets - RTW

There are rules, but once you get your head around them, they are not too complicated.

Basically (OneWorld Explorer):

16 flight sectors max
One way between continental zones; any direction within
4 flight sectors in each continental zone, except for North America, where it is 6
Only one full coast-to-coast trans-continental flight allowed in each continental zone.

Caveat: they were the rules in my day before covid stuffed up my ongoing plans. They may be different now.

 

[4lex]

Thanks very much John. Not the first time you've offered solid advice, I feel like I owe you a beer
I'll get amongst that knowledge tomorrow

 

[4lex]

PER not even available for selection as a departure on the OW page you linked though, is it broken?

 

[JohnM]

PER not even available for selection as a departure on the OW page you linked though, is it broken?

No idea. Can't see why not. But the OW RTW tool is known to be a bit flaky.

Thta's where a knowledgeable TA can come in handy.

But I mostly positioned separately to SYD or MEL for departures on DONEx's - for no special reason; generally only because I was heading E first and maximising sectors outside Australia.

 

[justinbrett]

If booking a cash DONE4 you save a significant amount money commencing your ticket in Japan. If you can get yourself from PER-HND/NRT and fly to LHR from there it will definitely be worth it.

I’d find a travel agent now before the DSCs commence as they are probably going to be too busy to reply to new clients contacting them during the promo - best tell them now what you want to do and that you want to wait for DSCs and they can have it all ready to go for when the promo hits.

I strongly advise against booking these tickets yourself, it’s simply not worth it as they are very complex - even for HBA staff. You won’t get an airline employee to monitor your trip the way a good TA will. They can also optimise your trip with codeshares for max SCs and points.

 

[Cynicor]

Try round about travel, I think they are based in Adelaide.
While I can book these, there’s no commission so we need to charge pretty high fees. No idea how roundabout does it, but they’ll be cheaper than I.