Flo needs help with his RTW trip!

[flo]

Hello!

I am planning to do a RTW this August because I need to get to MEL and to JFK and thought that this might be the cheapest way to go. So ... I came up with the special *A RTW fare for 2000 Euros (26.000 miles) and I came up with this route:

http://web.mac.com/florian.wagner/rtw.png

(I will be flying SYD-MEL-SYD on DJ or QF ... dunno)

So ... I know this is not optimal because I have like 1000 miles open. Could you perhaps help me with optimizing my RTW? Perhaps a start from another location would be cheaper or so ... it needs to be easily reachable from VIE (so no ex-CMB fares for me hehe).

My criteria would be:
- I want to fly SQ as often as possible
- I need to visit MEL and JFK. I also need to go to CGK but perhaps I'll do that in a sidetrip.
- I want to see LA and perhaps IAD and BOS.
- As cheap as possible I wouldn't mind flying J but I cannot afford it. An RTW from VIE would be 2000 euros so ... if there would be a cheaper method for me, I'd be grateful if you could help me

Thanks a lot!
Florian

[KeithMEL]

If you aren't stopping over in SYD, you can chuck in SYD-MEL on UA as a connection from SIN-SYD.

And why not do MEL-AKL-LAX on NZ - very nice product in Economy.

[flo]

If you aren't stopping over in SYD, you can chuck in SYD-MEL on UA as a connection from SIN-SYD.

And why not do MEL-AKL-LAX on NZ - very nice product in Economy.

Forgot to say ... I want to try the A380 to SYD

And I think it's possible to fly SIN-SYD-MEL-AKL-LAX. Plus: I made a mistake on my .png file: I want to stop over in SYD for a day or two to visit a FT'er

But thanks

[SQ LPP]

I want to stop over in SYD for a day or two to visit a FT'er

Hmmm I guess SQTalkers in Australia is unimportant to you!

[KeithMEL]

http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=V...OR=&MAP-STYLE=

This would use up some of your spare 1000 miles, with the SYD-MEL-SYD legs on UA. The SQ flight connects very well to UA839 SYD-MEL. However not sure whether that will work with a stopover in SYD. Some UAers told me that it's possible on an international UA ticket, however not sure about a *A ticket (even with UA on SYD-LAX).

At the very least you could include SYD-MEL as a connection from your SQ flight and buy a one way to get back to SYD (thus saving some money as you only need to get a one way on DJ/QF/JQ) and stop there before heading over to the US.

Not enough miles this way to do NZ via AKL however.

Slightly cheaper to start in ARN but not by much and certainly not enough to justify the cost of getting there in the first place, unless you've got a long weekend trip there planned prior or something.

[jhm]

Include SIN-CGK-SIN in your RTW but that would make it too far ... so you could have your last segment as FRA-SZG (for example) as you only need to finish in the same country.

In other words, is the cost of SIN-CGK-SIN as a separate ticket more than the cost of a oneway SZG-VIE (for example) ?

I'm not sure you'd achieve significant cost savings by starting your RTW in another country given that (i) you have to get there; and (ii) the savings are more for J/F RTWs. Still, no harm in checking!

[SQ LPP]

I'm not sure you'd achieve significant cost savings by starting your RTW in another country given that (i) you have to get there; and (ii) the savings are more for J/F RTWs. Still, no harm in checking!

It looks like the OP picks the 26,000 miles max in Y (is it StarLITE? Forgot the term here .. ) Thus the J/F would add too much for the cost, i.e. even starting from another country, it will at least double the EUR2000 when starting from VIE.

[jhm]

It looks like the OP picks the 26,000 miles max in Y (is it StarLITE? Forgot the term here .. ) Thus the J/F would add too much for the cost, i.e. even starting from another country, it will at least double the EUR2000 when starting from VIE.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant to say to Flo:

1 You can save money by starting in certain cheaper locations, e.g. ARN as mentioned by KeithMEL (this was where I started my RTW).

2 The savings are greater if the RTW tix is in J or F.

3 However, you have to balance the savings against the cost of getting to ARN etc.

4 As Flo is doing a Y RTW, I don't think he'd save much (if anything) by starting elsewhere after he deducts the cost of getting there.

[SQ LPP]

I don't have the exchange range handy. But the general perception is cheaper to start RTW from Scandinavian country, especially in J and F. But I don't think for StarLite it would be worth it.
From CPH, the fares is DK14,560 and from Sweden is about SK70,100.

[SQ LPP]

This would use up some of your spare 1000 miles, with the SYD-MEL-SYD legs on UA. The SQ flight connects very well to UA839 SYD-MEL. However not sure whether that will work with a stopover in SYD. Some UAers told me that it's possible on an international UA ticket, however not sure about a *A ticket (even with UA on SYD-LAX).

At the very least you could include SYD-MEL as a connection from your SQ flight and buy a one way to get back to SYD (thus saving some money as you only need to get a one way on DJ/QF/JQ) and stop there before heading over to the US.

I don't have the rules of StarLite, but I know what I had done in my *A RTW. I did SIN-SYD SQ stop SYD-MEL UA stop MEL-SYD UA cross SYD-AKL NZ, there was no problem.
I also have done SIN-MEL SQ stop MEL-SYD UA stop SYD-SIN-CGK SQ.
Hope this will help in clarification about UA flight between SYD-MEL and MEL-SYD.

[KeithMEL]

Thanks for the clarification, SQ LPP.

Perhaps weigh up the costs of buying SYD-MEL-SYD (you can get QF sale fares for approx A$95 each way - JQ/DJ sales for a little less; otherwise aim at a DJ mid week mini) + FRA-SZG separately vs SIN-CGK-SIN separately, and go for the cheaper option.

[SQ LPP]

Perhaps weigh up the costs of buying SYD-MEL-SYD (you can get QF sale fares for approx A$95 each way - JQ/DJ sales for a little less; otherwise aim at a DJ mid week mini) + FRA-SZG separately vs SIN-CGK-SIN separately, and go for the cheaper option.

Well, I am confused. The OP lives in SZG or VIE? Or perhaps there were PMs exchanges that led to the discussion of the OP needs to go back to SZG?

Anyhow, I was looking at the fares, and for Star1 up to 29,000 miles, the fares ex-VIE is EUR2519 (420 more). Is this worth to cover a trip to CGK and other places to go to in addition to the one has been planned?
And also, 30 miles from VIE, there is BTS (BRATISLAVA) which has the RTW fares around EUR150 less than ex-VIE. The drawback is I only see the flight BTS-MUC on *A. Just a thought to throw in here.

[KeithMEL]

Oops typo, I meant SZG-VIE.

[cawhite]

... I want to see LA and perhaps IAD and BOS...

Flo, if you're considering a side trip to WAS, you may want to consider options using DCA in addition to (or instead of) IAD.

[flo]

hah, thank you all!

flying from BTS is out of the question i think, except if i want to fly BTS-MUC (LH) MUC-ZRH (LH/LX) and then on to SIN ... but I think I want to reach SQ345 to SIN and not the night flight. So flying from VIE would be okay as well for 150 additional Euros.

And yeah, I want to book a StarLite because I'll look into a real full RTW once I have my BA degree .. as a treat ... I need to fly to MEL though and flying there with SQ would cost like 1500 Euros and doing a StarLite is just 500 bucks more ... so I'd rather go with that option. --> Yes, in Y. Cannot afford more right now.

Right now I thought about dropping CGK and flying around a bit in the US instead. I could visit ORD, WAS(DCA -> thx for the tip cawhite! I thought about flying to IAD but I was shocked when I found out there is no airport train and a cab would cost 50 dollars), BOS ad New York.

My new itinerary would look like this:

DT * ROUTE CARRIER FLIGHT PLN DEP ARR CLSS
================================================== =================================
05 VIE - LHR OS Austrian Airlines OS 453 100 11:40 13:15 Y
06 LHR - SIN SQ Singapore Airlines SQ 317 380 11:55 07:45(+) Y
07 * SIN - KUL SQ Singapore Airlines SQ 118 772 20:00 20:55 C
08 * KUL - SIN SQ Singapore Airlines SQ 113 772 16:55 17:50 C
10 SIN - SYD SQ Singapore Airlines SQ 221 380 20:35 05:55(+) Y
11 * SYD - MEL QF Qantas Airways QF 136 332 08:15 09:50 Y
14 * MEL - SYD QF Qantas Domestic QF 432 763 12:30 13:50 Y
16 SYD - AKL NZ Air New Zealand NZ 704 320 11:30 16:30 Y
18 AKL - LAX NZ Air New Zealand NZ 2 744 21:30 14:30 Y
22 LAX - EWR UA United Airlines UA 98 319 20:30 06:15(+) Y
25 JFK - FRA SQ Singapore Airlines SQ 25 744 21:05 11:15(+) Y
26 FRA - VIE LH Lufthansa OS 7208 32S 17:15 18:35 Y

* = not included in the RTW


... equals 25996 miles ... so the StarLite limit is pretty much reached

... though I will definitely look into the MEL-SYD thingie on UA metal since the StarRTW tool always spits out an error when I try to book SIN-SYD(stop)-MEL(stop)-SYD(cross)-AKL(stop)-LAX. Thanks SQ LPP

Ah: If anybody wants me to visit him/her, feel free to tell me you have time for some catching-up in mid/end August I would try to go anywhere I could meet somebody because traveling alone ... well ... always makes me lonely and it's nice to have folks around.

Thanks!!! Your help is very much appreciated