xONE4 planned - L or D, and where to credit?

[tuapekastar]

Well, after cancelling last year’s LONE4 at 6 days notice, I’m now planning a xONE4 for next year (and trying to talk myself into a DONE4).

This post is to advise of the path I’m heading down and to seek advice/hints as to whether I’m heading the right way, or could do things better. Which is one of the things AFF’s for!

Past flying habits: Occasional domestic flights
Trip to NZ most years
Other OS trip every 2 years or so (mix of ATW and there ‘n’ back)

Future plans: As above, except plan ATW every 2 years minimum, probably a DONEx, and maybe a little more domestic and regional (Asia-Pacific) travel . All leisure.

FF Status: QPNB (corporate rate) – expires Q1 next year, probably will renew, but no guarantee. ~90K points, most earned from CC spend (I do tend not to let these balances get too much larger than this).
QF FF year expires end May
AA Gold (due to expire Feb 2008) ~17K points
And just to muddy the waters (in a nice way), I inadvertently became CX Diamond (OWE) recently (and have never set foot on CX )! Expires May 2008

Trip Plans: Need to be in Rio de Janeiro in the last week of May 2008 – this is the driver for the trip. I would also like to visit friends in the UK and Asia (and Perth). Would like to do a DONE4, (the D part just because)!! If I am going to fly D, then I may as well route to get WP status.

Potential Routing: This will most likely change. There may be other people on the trip and I need to discuss with them, but to kick things off I have mapped out this route:
MEL-AKL-SCL-GIG-GRU-LIM-EZE-LHR-DXB-LHR-KEF-LHR-SIN-NRT-DEL-NRT-HKG-PER-MEL-CNS-MEL. Not 100% sure this is ‘legal’ but think so. Mileage Monkey declares LHR-KEF-LHR is not an OW route but BA appears to fly it. Am happy enough to fly some long (and possibly unnecessary) segments to get the status, and visit some places I haven’t been.

I have done a certain amount of research into points and status to be gained from such a routing - quite a few miles and SCs - but don’t want to get caught up in analysis paralysis, and status is more important to me than miles - given my relatively infrequent travel I’m not sure it should be, but I figure I can buy a ticket anytime, but I cannot buy status anytime (with certain restricted exceptions).

Crediting to QF, the above routing in D class would give me c. 2060 SCs (the first 320 of those would expire during the trip at end of May), thus giving me WP status late in the trip (except I won’t have flown 4 qualifying segments in that membership year). So I’ll just have to sneak in a quick cheapie somewhere after the 1st arrival back in MEL (the MEL-CNS-MEL can probably wait till a little later).

I know AA’s scheme is far better earn and burn for the miles (unsure about CX), but my reasoning is this: If I make WP, then that will last at least 12 months from when attained (if attained in, say, July 2008, then would last until either July 2009, or possibly even till end May 2010, unsure). If I’m no chance to requalify then I’ll get dropped to SG. If I do another DONE4 commencing around May 2010 I’ll still be at least SG, thus get those benefits, and elevate myself back up to WP again. And so on. Crediting to AA may get me to AA Plat but with a far shorter lifespan and little/no chance of requalifying, ditto with CX as far as I can tell. And no real chance of candy thieving on that routing.

One concern I have is D class availability on LA AKL-SCL...is this scarce?

Does any of this make sense? A lot can change between now and next May but that’s the plan for now.

Sorry for the long post, and any hints/tips/thoughts welcomed and appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[Mwenenzi]

BA flies to Reykjavik from LGW, not LHR. That's probably the problem.
This means LHR-LGW & LGW-LHR which is another 2 segments. The segment rules changed on 1 July to a maximum 20 including ground segments

link here

Go in D 20 segments is a lot in Y and think of those miles

 

[Keith009]

According to this post on FT, airport changes in the same city do not count towards the 20 segment limit. Someone might like to re-confirm that with another CSR or indeed, another carrier to make sure it's correct?

 

[Shano]

If I make WP, then that will last at least 12 months from when attained (if attained in, say, July 2008, then would last until either July 2009, or possibly even till end May 2010, unsure).

If you qualify WP status in July 2008, then you would hold this status until end of May 2010, then back to SG

 

[Dave Noble]

I know AA’s scheme is far better earn and burn for the miles (unsure about CX), but my reasoning is this: If I make WP, then that will last at least 12 months from when attained (if attained in, say, July 2008, then would last until either July 2009, or possibly even till end May 2010, unsure). If I’m no chance to requalify then I’ll get dropped to SG. If I do another DONE4 commencing around May 2010 I’ll still be at least SG, thus get those benefits, and elevate myself back up to WP again. And so on. Crediting to AA may get me to AA Plat but with a far shorter lifespan and little/no chance of requalifying, ditto with CX as far as I can tell. And no real chance of candy thieving on that routing.

The trip distance is approx 57,500 miles. If you were to do this as a DONE4 and credit to AA, you would earn approximately 86,250 Qualifying Points which will leave you 13,750 short of Executive Platinum. Assuming that you do do flying during the year, getting the remaining 13,750 is not that difficult a task to attain Executive Platinum. This would give you Executive Platinum for rest of 2008 and through to 1 Mar 2010 at which point you would drop to PLT until 1 Mar 2011

If you can do the extra travel to get to EXP, you do also of course earn 8 eVIPs which do have a decent value plus the miles that have been earned would be of better value than in QF

If you do a a second DONE4 during 2010, that will enable you to renew PLT for 2011. If you look at the value of what you can buy with the Miles, I would suggest that the value of the miles would be better than the slight extra benefits of OW Emerald over sapphire

Dave

 

[serfty]

The time you will be CX Diamond is important. Inadvertent or not, this affects the answer to the question posed in the thread title.

As you are to be emerald through CX for some time and are already AA gold (How many Qmiles do you have so far this year?); I suggest going with Dave Noble and posting to AAdvantage.

You would earn at least 100K burnable AAdvantage Miles. Depending upon when you attain AA Plt during the travel it could be a lot more.

(If not for CX diamond - and AA Gold - I would suggest doing the Qantas thing).

 

[Keith009]

FWIW CX Diamond has lots of undocumented benefits if you happen to be flying CX. It looks ho hum on paper but my CX elite friends often boast about the high probability of op ups, the free buggy rides at HKIA, the ability to turn seats from revenue buckets into award redemptions, the numerous favours performed by CX/MPC staff etc. So if you're going to be flying CX a fair bit and your flying patterns allow you to keep Diamond (retaining is a lot easier than getting it at the first go), Diamond is worth keeping.

I'm not sure what's Asia Miles like though - but I do know that other than CX/KA, you can also do MFU on BA and AA with that scheme.

 

[JohnK]

If you qualify WP status in July 2008, then you would hold this status until end of May 2010, then back to SG

There is also the chance that he won't go back to Gold but be comp'ed Platinum until May 2011.

 

[tuapekastar]

Thank you all for the advice posted (and the PM) - much appreciated.

I clearly have some more detailed research and thinking to do, but it's very good that my eyes have been opened to some of the possibilities.

Seems AA, which I had virtually ruled out may indeed be an option. I think it's all going to come down to how much 'other' flying I'm intending to do (and I just aint sure at the moment).

And in answer to I think serfty's question, I sadly have no EQPs or EQMs on AA this year, the Gold is a drop from a prior Platinum, and the CX Diamond should have been CX Gold as a result of a status match with the AA Plat, but the wires appear to have got crossed somewhere in the process. Not that I'm complaining.

I do have someone in Mexico I would quite like to visit, which would turn it into a DONE5, which I wanted to avoid, but if meant being able to PLAT challenge early on in the trip (and travel to SA via NA) it may be something to consider (though I'll need to think some more about whether that would be an effective and useful thing overall).

BTW, the potential 2010 trip involves travelling to HET :shock: - which certainly isn't on the OW circuit, but that's another thread well into the future.

I'm sure I'll be back with more in this thread!!

Cheers

 

[Mwenenzi]

BTW, the potential 2010 trip involves travelling to HET :shock: - which certainly isn't on the OW circuit, but that's another thread well into the future

HET (Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China) is not that far from Peking. Looks like a DONE4 or a circle pacific to me. You may be able to take a train from PEK

 

[tuapekastar]

HET (Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China) is not that far from Peking. Looks like a DONE4 or a circle pacific to me. You may be able to take a train from PEK

Thanks, my sentiments also at this stage (though 3 years is a long time).

 

[Mwenenzi]

more endless options

From Tuapekastar 1st post:Need to be in Rio de Janeiro in the last week of May 2008

Route:- MEL-AKL-SCL-GIG-GRU-LIM-EZE-LHR-DXB-LHR,LGW-KEF-LGW,LHR-SIN-NRT-DEL-NRT-HKG-PER-MEL-CNS-MEL
From route link on Great Circle Mapper=

As need to go LGW-KEF-LGW this may be now 22 segments (depends if LGW-LHR-LCY are treated as LON co-terminals. Conflicting information on FT)

How many are places you want to visit and how many nice to visit or a mileage run?

Easter Island (SCL-IPC-SCL 2336 miles each way) is an interesting place to visit for 2 or 3 days.

Another ticket option is a AA issued DONE3 or DONE4, ex Asia, with separate connecting flight Aust-Asia and/or USA-Rio. Does mean NA(USA) would have to be included. A DONE* ex NRT in Japan is cheaper than ex Aust. (no DONE3 ex Aust). NZ is also cheaper than Aust

Oneworld fares (currency conversion from www.x-rates.com)
ex Japan
DONE3----------LONE3
JPY656300----JPY335000
AUD6213------ -AUD3171

DONE4------------LONE4
JPY743200------JPY369600
AUD7035---------AUD3499

ex Aust
DONE4-----------LONE4
AUD10189------AUD3479

ex NZ
DONE4---------- -LONE4
NZD10599--------NZD3789
AUD9676---------AUD3459

The OnerWorld site say “Your journey must include at least three oneworld continents, or four from the Southern Hemisphere and Africa where three-continent itineraries are not possible.”

Any itinerary that has SWP must be *ONE4 or greater and any SWP issued ticket must be *ONE4 or greater. With the 20 segments limits, including land segments, *ONE4 & *ONE5 are now not as good a value as they were last month if you want to visit many places.

You have 12 months to complete a *ONE*, so can take a break back in Aust (via a cheap ticket). The 4 flights segments (with 2 stopovers) of an Aust issued ticketed *ONE*, are of less value (to me) than the same in Asia if used for visiting somewhere interesting or a place you want to go to.

The next enhancement is to maximise AA flights or AA codeshares to get the most EQM’s or if crediting to QFF distances over the SC mile break points

Option 1
(a) MEL-NRT (ticket no 1)
(b) DONE4 of Asia-SA-NA-Eu-Asia (order could be changed) (with 4 Asian flights, but with only 2 stop overs) (ticket no 2)
(c) NRT-MEL return to Aust (ticket no 1)

JAL have flight JL048 NRT-GRU (11489 miles)
Tokyo Narita, Japan (NRT) depart 19:35 to Sao Paulo Guarulhos, Brazil (GRU) arrive 08:10
It has 1 stop at JFK (so need to go thru US immigration). This flight is also a AA codeshare AA5825 NRT-JFK, but does not seem to codeshare JFK-GRU. With the new segment rules getting one flight number may be an advantage. A transit without a stopover is allowed going to SA.

Easy to take a bus from Sao Paulo(GRU) to Rio(GIG). Not worth wasting a flight segment. Buses in Brazil are very good (better than most aircraft) Have a look at Seat 2A’s trip reports on FT

Not sure is SWP-Asia-SA-NA-Eu-SWP is allowable. I have done SWP-Eu-SA-NA-Asia-SWP

Option 2 (but no SA tripping around)
(a) MEL-NRT (ticket no 1)
(b) Asia-NA of DONE3 (Asia-NA-Eu-Asia) (ticket no 2)
(c) North America to Rio return (ticket no 3)
(d) NA-EU-Asia of the DONE3 (ticket no 2)
(e) NRT-MEL return to Aust (return of ticket no 1)

Option 3
(a) MEL-NRT (ticket no 1)
(b) DONE4 of Asia-NA-SA-Eu-Asia (order could change) (ticket no 2)
(c) Asia to MEL (ticket no 3)
(d) Long break (working to pay for more travel)
(e) MEL-Asia (return of ticket no 3)
(f) The 4 Asian flights (but only 2 stop overs) of the DONE4 (ticket no 2)
(g) NRT-MEL return to Aust (return of ticket no 1)

 

[Ric]

How about doing it from Hong Kong? Can't get into the Oneworld site just then so can't compare the Done4 fares.

You could take a cheap Viva Macau:shock: fare to Macau. If you feel like staying over in Hkg then just take the ferry over to Hkg for HK$100+, if not take the ferry straight to Hkg Airport for HK$100+ and enjoy the Pier or Wing with your CX Diamond

 

[Evan]

If your aiming for status the Japan is a better idea since you can take the 2 extra arrival/departure flights, eg cough-KIX-NRT and then you leave from NRT. Atleast thats the way i understand it is that correct ?

2 flights in JP
4 flights in Asia
4 flights in Europe
6 flights in USA
2 flights in JP

If you fly from HKG for example then there is no flights available inside the continent of origin is there ?

So that means a DONE3 could be a max of 18 segments ?
I always looked at a DONE4 and for personal travel the $$ were difficult to justify but a DONE3 ex Japan seems really reasonable (Since i am already in Asia at the moment)

Anybody have a SC maximizes route using a DONE3 recently ?

E

 

[Keith009]

How about doing it from Hong Kong? Can't get into the Oneworld site just then so can't compare the Done4 fares.

HKG is expensive I believe - TPE is reasonably cheap but still 700 bucks more than NRT. There's also an AA GSA in TPE but no airport ticketing facilities unlike NRT.

Hmm - I didn't know there are extra allowances for flights inside country of origin?

 

[tuapekastar]

Gosh, there's a lot of fresh info there to digest (and thanks heaps for the suggestions - they are appreciated). I haven't had much time since my OP to devote to the trip planning, and may not have a lot in the next few days either.

But rest assured I will take it all on board and spend some serious time working through the options as soon as I can. One slight complicating factor may be potential travelling companions (there are a lot of people out there who for some reason I can't fathom do not think in the same manner as AFFers/FTers when it comes to complex itineraries and routings).

Actually, some of the suggestions here are a little left field even for me (but certainly do pique my interest anyway), but that's why I ask the questions here in the first place, in order to get some 'outside the square' thoughts.

As General Wotsisname said - 'I'll be back'

Cheers

 

[simongr]

Actually, some of the suggestions here are a little left field even for me (but certainly do pique my interest anyway), but that's why I ask the questions here in the first place, in order to get some 'outside the square' thoughts.

As General Wotsisname said - 'I'll be back'

Cheers

Wasn't it Arnie

If you have the time certainly take advantage of what the guys-gals here are suggesting. I am currently sat in the Finnair Lounge at HEL on my transit to the London (syd-hkg-fra-hel-lhr) so I either thanks these guys or curse them today

 

[tuapekastar]

Wasn't it Arnie

If you have the time certainly take advantage of what the guys-gals here are suggesting. I am currently sat in the Finnair Lounge at HEL on my transit to the London (syd-hkg-fra-hel-lhr) so I either thanks these guys or curse them today

simongr, you're quite right about it being Arnie.

A little bit of research reveals what General MacArthur allegedly said was "I came out of Bataan and I shall return", and was said at Terowie, South Australia (I've only seen that info from one source, though).

I know you are mostly thanking them (as will I).

 

[serfty]

Wasn't it Arnie ...

Yep, but for Antipodeans there was also General Douglas MacArthur.

 

[simongr]

simongr, you're quite right about it being Arnie.


I know you are mostly thanking them (as will I).

Sat in my hotel in London waiting to hear if any luggage will arrive and I am no longer sure