Travel plan 2013 - any advice?

[jdaerial]

Hi everyone,

I have been learning as much as I can about international routes and RTW trips over the last 2 weeks.. there is so much information it's crazy. I was hoping someone could give me a sense check on the Kayak route my girlfriend and I are looking at, and whether a RTW ticket would be better than point-to-point tickets through Kayak etc...

1) Our objectives are to get OW tier status at some point - but are unsure of the best membership program to join. QF looks like a looong road.
2) It'd be nice to fly one leg of this trip business (never flown business before!) to give it a shot.

At the moment our itinerary looks like (dates really flexible - from July until December 2013):

All economy

Mel - AUK: Air NZ - $250
AUK - SFO-JFK: Air NZ - $1058
JFK - BGO: (Norway): Iceland Air $550
BGO - ATH: SAS - $180
ATH - CDG: (Paris) SAS - $180
MAD - LGW: (London) EasyJet $62
LHR - JNB: Ethiopean Air $578
JNB - BKK - Mel: Emirates $835 (Thought this was a particularly good fare with stopover in BKK)

Any advice on routing, saving bucks, which leg to take business or which membership program is best for OW would be fantastic!

Thanks everyone!

 

[Mwenenzi]

..Any advice on routing, saving bucks, which leg to take business or which membership program is best for OW would be fantastic!

Welcome to the forum

As you are not planning to fly OneWorld airlines you cannot get miles/points let alone status (apart from the EK flight). You have a possibility of getting QF points (but no SC's) on DXB-BKK-MEL on Emirates.

You need to do a lot of research to determine if any of your airlines are partners in a Star alliance airline ffp. Air NZ is not a good fpp

Both alliance' have RTW fares, but are probably higher than your individual fares. You seem to be looking for the absolute lowest fare. Be aware of other possible charges: baggage, non-web check in fees, credit card fees

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi everyone,

I have been learning as much as I can about international routes and RTW trips over the last 2 weeks.. there is so much information it's crazy. I was hoping someone could give me a sense check on the Kayak route my girlfriend and I are looking at, and whether a RTW ticket would be better than point-to-point tickets through Kayak etc...

1) Our objectives are to get OW tier status at some point - but are unsure of the best membership program to join. QF looks like a looong road.
2) It'd be nice to fly one leg of this trip business (never flown business before!) to give it a shot.

At the moment our itinerary looks like (dates really flexible - from July until December 2013):

All economy

Mel - AUK: Air NZ - $250
AUK - SFO-JFK: Air NZ - $1058
JFK - BGO: (Norway): Iceland Air $550
BGO - ATH: SAS - $180
ATH - CDG: (Paris) SAS - $180
MAD - LGW: (London) EasyJet $62
LHR - JNB: Ethiopean Air $578
JNB - BKK - Mel: Emirates $835 (Thought this was a particularly good fare with stopover in BKK)

Any advice on routing, saving bucks, which leg to take business or which membership program is best for OW would be fantastic!

Thanks everyone!

Take your proposed itinerary to a couple of travel agents (like flight centre) and ask them to price it for you. That will give you a good idea if you have scored a good deal booking the individual sectors yourself.

 

[jdaerial]

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for the input.

I'm considering looking at a LONE4 or equivalent. Could you advise on which frequent flyer program would be best? I thought perhaps the AAdvantage Challenge may be an idea to achieve status in a short period.

It looks like QFF is a long(er) journey than other membership programs.

THanks again!