Visiting USA in May

[Chucksta]

What's the most cost effective way to book business tickets for visiting the USA and possibly Canada in May? I am based in PER.

The only issue is that my wife has to apply for Visas for most countries!

The DONE4 price in Australia seems very expensive ($10499+tax).

I was thinking of either a DONE3 ex SIN ($11,550 SGD +tax) or Cathay D class booking SIN-HKG-LAX for around $8000 SGD. The taxes seem less in SIN??

If we took the Cathay option, then we would need to book AA domestic flights as well.

But if we took the DONE3 option, then we could visit Japan and Europe.

Has anyone worked out max SC earn for a DONE3? I am keen to earn atleast 1100 SC to keep my WP status.

thanks

Chucksta

 

[serfty]

May? .. hmmm you'd better get booking; D class tends to star petering out from many flight a few months out.

There's a wealth of information on xONEx's on the Flyer Talk oneworld forum.

Especially this thread:

• The oneworld explorer ticket FAQs - FlyerTalk Forums

Other than that, you may like to consider a business class "Circle Pacific Fare". A DCIR22 ex Oz has a base cost of AUD7,599. There's more here on the oneworld.com site:

• oneworld - Circle Pacific

 

[NM]

Cheapest regular fare will be the DCIR22 Circle Pacific. But when starting from PER you don't have many options for USA domestic travel. Minimum routing would be PER-BNE-LAX-NRT-PER which leaves you about 2200 miles to play with.

 

[serfty]

Or perhaps fly PER return to BNE or SYD and start a circle pacific from there?

 

[HardieBoys]

Either a oneworld Circle Pacific, or if you can book and pay before 16 March, try the Finnair Business Europe fare: travelling via North America to Europe, and back via Asia, for around $7700.

 

[Chucksta]

Has anyone completed a Circle Pacific fare in biz recently? What was your routing and how many SC did you earn?

Does anyone know if the AA domestic flights are booked into A (First Class), similar to DONEx fares?


thanks

Chucksta

 

[chrisb]

Does anyone know if the AA domestic flights are booked into A (First Class), similar to DONEx fares?

Subject to availability, AA Domestic flights on a DCIRC2X will book into A Class.

Chrisb.

 

[serfty]

As you are limited to 20 segments, but that's not the issue.

With a DCIR22/DCIR29 you are limited to 22,000/29,000 miles respectively.

Also, you are permitted 4 "free" stopovers, additional can be purchased for USD75.00.

Get to BNE and a sample route could be:

• BNE-LAX-JFK-YVR-NRT-BNE

That's 21181 miles, so you have 800 miles to play with in revising the bits betwixt LAX and YVR.

That basic route could earn 620 or more SC's.

You could go BNE-LAX-ORD-YTO-NYC-DFW-YVR-NRT-BNE (29,927 Miles) for an additional 40 SC's.

 

[serfty]

Subject to availability, AA Domestic flights on a DCIRC2X will book into A ...

As long as the flight is 2-class (i.e. First and Coach). 3 Class flights would book into D class if available.

 

[Chucksta]

Will this routing work: SIN-HKG-NRT-LAX-JFK-SFO-SYD-ADL-PER-SIN ??

From To Distance SC
SIN HKG 1595 80
HKG NRT 1842 80
NRT LAX 5445 140
LAX JFK 2472 80
JFK SFO 2582 80
SFO SYD 7433 180
SYD ADL 724 60
ADL PER 1315 80
PER SIN 2433 100
Total 25841 880

Total SC is 880 for a 26,000 mile Circle Pacific Fare in Biz.

I thought of starting from SIN as the taxes maybe less than Australia and the fare is much cheaper in SGD.

THe problem is they charge for additional stop overs! I think you are allowed 2 in each continent.

Chucksta

 

[serfty]

<26K miles Business is currently SGD 8,203 (~AUD6550)

26,000 miles – minimum two maximum five free stopovers permitted

NOTES:
i) Only one stopover permitted at any point.
ii) Two stopovers required outside country of origin.
iii) A maximum of one stopover in country of origin
iv) A maximum of two free stopovers per region

Additional: Permitted at an additional charge per stopover of USD75.00/CAD115.00

NOTES:
i) Additional stopovers may not be purchased in country of origin.
ii) Additional stopovers restricted to two stopovers per region.