Loadsamiles

After many weeks we've just finalised our Great Escapade RTW trip & I thought people might be interested in the number of miles and TPs that I think we notch up. Base price for the ticket is 3300 + tax. Its a surprise for my wife that we're going upper - was originally going to be PE and econ.

Route is below - GE miles are the actual flown miles (29k is limit on the ticket), FC miles is the miles I think we get (allowing for bonus earning in biz/upper).

from to Tp FC mile GE miles
lhr ewr 5 6916 3458
ewr sin 5 11911 9529
sin mel 5 4686 3749
mel sin 5 4686 3749
sin kul 3 230 184
kul sin 3 230 184
sin hk 3 1875 1500
hk lhr 5 11940 5970
34 42475 28323

In addition I get 15k for signing my wife up, and 10k each bonus on the 20k special offer on upper at present (we come back after the offer is finished so only get half the miles). As far as virgin are concerned, my booking states that I'm flying D class (not Z - the GE ticket is fully flexible) but with no limo. In total the two of us get 120k miles!

This strikes me as the best way to fly to the US in upper if you've got a couple of days to come home the long way. Cheaper than J, still flexible (although not many seats available so not that flexible!) and a bumper set of miles to collect. In fact, this trip pays for our next few flights in reward miles.

I'm assuming I get the TPs for biz on sin/kul even tho' I've been downgraded to econ (no biz, only first). I'm not enough of a TP junkie that I'm going to pay real money (£170) to collect the things by upgrading!

[HighFlyer]

Great to hear of your trip!

When did you book this? Im curious as i have booked my GE and my UC segments are booked in Z, so i wondered how you got D ?

Originally booked about a month ago, but only just finalised (and decided to go for upper/biz all the way). My booking printout says "class: D" for my 2 virgin flights as do my tickets. I can see that the Z fare is closer to the reality of what the ticket costs, but it seems to be the D fare rules (ie flexibility) that are being applied, ex the limo. If yours are Z are they non-changeable?

Edited to add:
I've just spoken to FC to book our seats on one leg. The GE tickets used to be in D class (like mine) but are now Z. This means I get the 10-20k mileage bonus, but newer tickets don't. However, there's still no limo either way.

[HighFlyer]

I must have just missed out then, mine are definately Z fares so i guess they have now changed it

I bought the all Biz GE, £3300 plus tax ticket, its amazing value!

Its a bummer that KUL-SIN have no business class, we are doing that route and upgraded to First, purely because it cost peanuts (you can buy the whole flight on Expedia for about £70, and i need it to get to Gold.

When are you heading off?

Its nice to hear from another GE'er, we are going in June 2005 for one month, which is going to fly by! So if you are going before me it would be great to hear your opinions?

We hope to do a GE next year so would also love to hear all about it. Air NZ are puting the UCS into their planes next year so Biz Class will be UCS on Air New Z.

We're off in 2 weeks, but will be taking 5 months over our trip Then we have another 7 months of travelling in addition! We've got roughly a month in each of the US, Oz, Malaysia, then 2 months in NZ (not on the GE ticket; bought a separate one locally from KUL-AKL) then back via a couple of days in HK. Our routing is weird (ie Sin-OZ-KL-NZ-SIN) because of family commitments in various places at particular times, along with summertime for hiking in NZ.

We weren't originally going to do HK but it gets you way more miles as you earn at 2x in VS against 1.25 in SQ, and by completing a second trip on VS I get the 15k round trip signup bonus for my wife, as well as maybe the other half of the 20k upper class offer.

I'd be intrigued to see if anyone can get the full 40 TPs for gold on one trip. My agent suggested that if there were enough miles spare on the ticket you could add in SIN-Penang return for a few more TPs and GE miles.

I'll try and post a partial trip report on the way round - maybe after the 19hr EWR-SIN flight [xx(]

I notice that GE comes up as Gatwick Express[:0] So those that dont know about the Great Excapade may think we are totaly mad[:o)] Or maybe I am (cant say we I dont know you all):) Whatever cant wait to use the RTW ticket. Yes would be very interesting to do Gold on one trip.

[HighFlyer]

quote:I'd be intrigued to see if anyone can get the full 40 TPs for gold on one trip.

We are getting 31 TPS on ours, so with the previous points we will hold we will just get Gold! Although if we had more time we could easily do all 40 points i think!

Our itenary is as follows:

LHR-HKG 5TPS
HKG-SIN 3TPS
SIN-BKK 3TPS
BKK-KUL 1TPS
KUL-SIN 5TPS
SIN-SYD 5TPS
SYD-LAX 4TPS (SYD-AKL / AKL-LAX)
SFO-LHR 5TPS

Making 31 in all (if i counted correctly)

We are only going to get about 4 dyas in all of the asia sectors (no hardship as im sure i will go back to the good ones again) and a week in Oz to ensure we see as much as we can.

Dave, hopefully we can learn from each other on this one! Have you registered your FC account with the airlines?

Stephen, do you have one booked or are you considering it? Its a great way to see the world (IMO) as its usually cheaper than a normal ticket.

HighFlyer
Not booked yet but will be in next few months. Mrs N is %$£%$"^$£years old next year;) so Birthday in Sydney is her dream and Xmas 2005 on a beach is mine. Hope to travel with In-laws as well as our two kids so will be a bit of a RTW party. (My in-laws are great fun)Hope to do Hong Kong, Auckland, Christchurch, Sydney, Singapore, LA San Fran and poss cook islands. Only have five weeks (kidz!!! at school)
Dreaming at the mo but will become reality when i book. as doing MCO this dec in UC with the 13 month FC year should go gold if i play my cards right[8D]

Ok a number of pointers here for people having done a GE (but in Y).

Mileage on NZ

Rememember if flying NZ you get a lot less miles than with SQ/VS. Sadly for me the majority of my flights were with NZ (6 of the 8) so my miles didnt amount to much- my parents just flew LHR-SIN-CHC on SQ and got more miles than I did for LHR-SIN-AKL-CHC-AKL-CNS-SYD-AKL-CHC-WLG-CHC!!!

Air NZ and UCS

The UCS will be introduced slowly be introduced across the NZ long haul fleet. This means services to Australia and South Pacific will be without UCS, unless flying to PErth or on NZ50 which routes AKL-NAN-LAX or NZ54 which goes via Apia and Cook Islands onto LAX. Only 6 seats are in Business on routes to south pacific and OZ in the new A320!

2ndly UCS is being slowly introduced so the first a/c to get them will be the 744's in July 2005, last 744 will be July 2006. When the first 777's arrive (JUly 2006)to slowly replace 763's they too will have them and then finally the 2 7E7's will get them.

So all this means if flying:
- LHR-LAX
- AKL-LAX
- CHC-LAX
- CHC/AKL-NRT
- CHC/AKL-KIX (seasonal 744 NZ Summer is 763)

You Should have UCS begining in JUly 2005 (would imagine first route would be LHR-LAX-AKL then CHC-LAX).

If flying:
- AKL-NAN-LAX
- AKL-PER (though may become a 320)
- AKL-HKG
- CHC/AKL-KIX
- AKL- Apia- Cook Islands-LAX
- AKL- SIN
- AKL-Honolulu
- Plus any of the new routes being rumoured like PEK, BKK, Kulla Lumpar, PVG

You wont be getting UCS until at the very earliest July 2006!

So really dont book a GE if expecting to fly UCS on NZ for at least another 2 years if wanting to have UCS on all NZ flights! Hope all this makes sense and is useful!

PS: Currently they operate 3 classes, i wouldnt bother with first as its only the 744 routes and there business class is very good anyway!
PPS: Y is good except no PTV's until UCS is installed- but u dod get 35inches of legroom!

[HighFlyer]

Thanks for the info Will, esp. on the NV UCS, which i hope to sample as i will be doing AKL-LAX!!

Stephen, im with you there! Only 4 weeks myself to do this in, and have never done this before (or anything like it!) I guess its a learning curve which will be lots of fun along the way!

We are also off to Orlando in March next year before the trip, a taster for things to come

[RichardMannion]

Don't forget that if you are doing an itin that does not require the use of Air NZ, you can get a slightly cheaper RTW ticket with VSSQ that is booked in D class and therefore qualifies for limos.

I think it was just over £3k when I was last quoted.

Thanks,
Richard

quote:We are getting 31 TPS on ours, so with the previous points we will hold we will just get Gold! Although if we had more time we could easily do all 40 points i think!

I don't think paid-for upgrades are allowed in this new game whose rules I'm making up as I go along I thought a lot of zig zagging between SIN and Indonesia & Malaysia might do the trick. If you fly LHR-EWR-SIN-LHR you've basically got 9000 miles spare to play with for short high TP flights around SE Asia.

The info on ANZ is useful - we did look at an alternative route that involved them but it actually worked out less convenient so I'm glad the miles aren't as good! I wonder how many other airlines will go for the UCS?

Highflyer- I registered my account and its definitely on for the VS flights, but I suspect there will be a lot of missing mileage claims when I return, particularly for the separate MAS flights I've booked to NZ. I also managed to pre-book 1A and 1K for VS which I thought wasn't allowed, but is shown on my reservation.

HighFlyer
only can do 5 weeks as i am prepared to tell the school that i am taking them out on the 5/6th december[}:)]well it is an educational trip:D RTW its got to be !!!![8D] or am i [}:)] oh well just this once, never done it b4[:I] i know off thread but we have often found that 1 day off school has saved us ££££££££££. we went to ANU 2 yrs ago and flying on friday rather than Sat saved over £2000 on a two week holiday!;) and what do they do on a friday before the holiday? b****r all [^]

[HighFlyer]

Dave

Your not the only one making it up as you go along! LOL I just hope it all works out as planned! We are already talking about the next one though [:(] Hehe

Stephen

I agree with you there. I tend to travel in and out on Fridays, not only because its a tad cheaper but its more convenient. Its hard being confined to school breaks for holidays, the prices are so much higher and the resorts busier. If the kids arent missing anything important id gladly take them out of school a little earlier. Plus, a RTW trip is certainly an education!

Take a look at this (everyone): http://www.rfleming.net/index.html
Its about a family (Mom, Dad & 2 kids) who went travelling around the world for a year. Inspirational to anyone who has kids to even entertain the idea!!

As a great friend of mine said when asked about his life...(late at night and well tanked up) reply "my job in life is to launch my kids into life tell them what is right and what is wrong and then hope"

Just thought i would also add that the GE is an excellent ticket especially if u wana travel asia or new zealand/pacific. the ba/qf in that respect doesnt even come close!

And also everyone whilst NZ may not offer the worlds best IFE in Y its good in all other classes and its worth pointing out the following! On my recent trip i would rate the cabin crew out of 10 for politeness, helpfulness, good service etc:

1. SQ 9/10
2. NZ 8.5/10
3. VS 5/10

Go on give NZ a try- u cant fault them for there friendly Kiwi welcome (u cant tell my gf is a Kiwi can u lol!)