[thewinchester]

I'm pretty low down on the QF totem poll (Only a QP Bronze), and I'm looking for some advice on how to get the most of a Explorer/Global Explorer ticket I'm looking to book for Feb to April 2010. I'm planning a blowout trip for my 30th birthday, so I'd like to maximise the points/status credits/tier bump/anything else I can earn from the trip.

The major points of the trip are as follows:

• Week in London before joining a Contiki tour around Europe
• Few days in Miami, Washington, Las Vegas, and Las Angeles
• Stop in Auckland on the way home

Currently figuring an itinerary along these lines:

7 Feb 2010     PER - SIN - LHR        BA7375/QF9
11 Mar 2010    LHR - MIA                BA207
15 Mar 2010    MIA - DCA                AA1068
17 Mar 2010    DCA - ORD - LAS        AA3934/AA1417
22 Mar 2010    LAS - LAX                AA774
26 Mar 2010    LAX - AKL                QF26
2 Apr 2010    AKL - SYD - PER        LA801/QF577

(May alter the SYD -PER leg to a later flight and take the day in SYD)

I've run it through the Oneworld planning engine, and the routings seem to all be valid with no errors or issues returned.

My main questions are:

• Is there anything else I can do with this itinerary to maximise points/status/tier earning opportunities? Is there a sidetrip which might be worthwhile for earning opportunities for example?
• Is it more advantageous to book the fare with QF, or are there potential advantages in booking it through another Oneworld airline?
• Anything else that I should be aware of with these fares?

Thanks in advance for any help and assistance provided.

[simongr]

Originally Posted by thewinchester

• Is there anything else I can do with this itinerary to maximise points/status/tier earning opportunities? Is there a sidetrip which might be worthwhile for earning opportunities for example?
• Is it more advantageous to book the fare with QF, or are there potential advantages in booking it through another Oneworld airline?
• Anything else that I should be aware of with these fares?

Thanks in advance for any help and assistance provided.

OK - first up any advice you get regarding a 2010 departure could end up being amazingly incorrect if the fare rules change - which they have over the past 18 months.

Is this in business or economy? That will make a lot of difference to earning options.

That said - a couple of things.

1 - Sidetrips - a nice one is LHR-DXB-LHR. You can do it overnight - flying out in the evening and home the next late afternoon. In J it is a breeze as you can sleep fully flat on the BA aircraft.

2 - There are advantages to booking through AA but they have probably been pretty much eliminated now due to forex movements.

[thewinchester]

Originally Posted by simongr

Is this in business or economy? That will make a lot of difference to earning options.

Yes, should have added in that information. Economy sadly, can't pony up the cash for J.

Originally Posted by simongr

1 - Sidetrips - a nice one is LHR-DXB-LHR. You can do it overnight - flying out in the evening and home the next late afternoon. In J it is a breeze as you can sleep fully flat on the BA aircraft.

Great idea, didn't think of that at all and would be nice to see Terminal 3 despite not being all that new by then. Was looking at the pictures this morning on Luxury Launches and it looks quite spiffy.

J would be a nice treat, but I can sleep in most airline seats without a problem (yes, even TT which I had the experience of back in June to see the Wallabies do over the irish).

Thanks for the info.

[simongr]

You can also use more flights in the US and potentially Asia.

[Mwenenzi]

For a OneWorld Explorer xONEx plug your intinerary into Mileage Monkey (an unofficial web site. But its not working just now . Try later )

[Mwenenzi]

Originally Posted by Mwenenzi

For a OneWorld Explorer xONEx plug your intinerary into Mileage Monkey (an unofficial web site. But its not working just now . Try later )

New MM web site MileageMonkey 0.95021 here. The old site is dead

[Leumas]

Several comments/suggestions:

- LHR-MCT-LHR is a slightly better SC earner than LHR-DXB-LHR. Having said that, it's only worth an extra 10 SCs...
- Starting from PER is a bit limiting as you can only fly directly across Australia once.
- Don't forget some of the newer OneWorld members - I wonder if there're better routes for SC with Royal Jordanian, similar to the MCT run...

There're plenty of experts around here, so I'm sure there're better runs to be uncovered...