Commuting to the US

[Febs]

Not sure if it is unique to some discount deal my company has - I have used the D OneWorld Explorer (DONE4) for trips to the US on four occasions and have found it to be about 30% cheaper than QF J trans-Pacific

Out of curiosity, how much (roughly) does that equate to? My last SYD-LAX-DFW-MCI return trip (in QF J and AA F) was approx $8,500. If I could make that a DONE4 for similar money I'd definitely consider doing that next time!

Cheers,
- Febs.

[simongr]

My last DONE4 cost 10500 incl taxes/surcharges. I think the base price is about 9500 now.

[dot]

Out of curiosity, how much (roughly) does that equate to? My last SYD-LAX-DFW-MCI return trip (in QF J and AA F) was approx $8,500. If I could make that a DONE4 for similar money I'd definitely consider doing that next time!

The last three DONE4s have been:

MAY07 - $8030 incl tax
FEB07 - $9360 incl tax
OCT06 - $8073 incl tax

While I don't have the quotes for the direct option any more (I gave up on getting a quote on a direct option for the most recent two - because I know the DONE4 option will be cheaper) I recall previous quotes being in the order of $12,000 to $12,500 for MEL-LAX-AUS-LAX-MEL.

In addition, the travel agent charges a $55.08 transaction fee.

[Shano]

Has anyone purchsed a DCIRCx fare recently?

I have a China - USA trip coming up in September so am interested in cost difference between Y and D for a Circle Pacific fare

[dajop]

I have a China - USA trip coming up in September so am interested in cost difference between Y and D for a Circle Pacific fare

Obviously have to get a travel agent to provide a current quote inc. taxes, but a fare estimate (exc. taxes) is now found on the oneworld website for Circle Pacific fares (as well as all other circle/RTW fares)

[serfty]

Current ex OZ DONE4 cost is AUD10,189 base & +++

[serfty]

FWIW, ex Japan, a DONE4 is JPY743,200 +++(~AUD7,500)

[NM]

Not sure if it is unique to some discount deal my company has - I have used the D OneWorld Explorer (DONE4) for trips to the US on four occasions and have found it to be about 30% cheaper than QF J trans-Pacific plus a few US internal hops and return. The discounted rate also only appies for QF, AA and BA - I cant use other OW members and still get the discount.

My company used to have a similar deal. We received a discount off the list price based on the miles flown on each of those carrier's flight numbers. From memory, and it was a few years back that we had that program), we received 13% off QF, and 11% off AA and BA. So there was a real incentive to maximise the QF flight numbers, including code shares. It was a strange situation that adding 4 QF domestic sectors to the end of a DONE4 would reduce the overall cost!

As a result, some of my DONE4s were structured with only one non-QF flight number (the trans-Atlantic segment). All the rest were QF flight numbers, either QF-operated or codeshares. The discount was almost $1000 on one occasion when I was optimising for minimum cost (a DONE4 where I was paying the difference between economy point-to-point fares and the OWE).

However, our current agreement is different. We now pay the list price for such fares and then the company gets a "kickback" at the end of each period (quarter I believe). That means the person/project paying for the airfare pays the full list price and the company travel dept is then funded by the kickbacks. I much preferred the old way.

[Shano]

Obviously have to get a travel agent to provide a current quote inc. taxes, but a fare estimate (exc. taxes) is now found on the oneworld website for Circle Pacific fares (as well as all other circle/RTW fares)

Cheers. Now gives me an idea of price differential between the L and D class fares.

[JohnK]

If I am not mistaken, looking at the economy product LCIRx it appears that a LONE4 would be better value.

ex-Australia a LONE4 is priced from $3,289+++ ($3,479+++ peak season) where as a LCIR22 is priced from $3,069+++, a LCIR26 is priced from $3,739+++ and a LCIR29 is priced from $4,399+++.