Great Escapade versus Air New Zealand RTW

Hi all, as some of you know Steve & I are planning a Great Escapade next year & I've been busy researching everything for months - many thanks to Sarah for all her tips via PM a a few months back. I was on the verge of taking the plunge & booking direct with VA, and also reaping tons of miles in the process by getting 6 miles/£ on AMEX.....however

....I've now seen that Air New Zealand is offering London to NZ RTW Business Class with Virgin & NZ for £2,800 incl tax. The Great Escapade is £3,996 excl tax, so way over £4K.

Given that our planned itinerary is LHR-HKG-AKL-SFO-LHR it seems to be a no brainer to go with NZ's offer & save way over £2K - especially if we can opt to fly VS on the LHR-HKG & SFO-LHR sectors and thus earn max TP's

What do the rest of you reckon?

Cheers,

James

[mcmbenjamin]

Oh go for the gold! Book a JetStarAsia HKG-SIN and do a SQ F SIN-KUL run or two.

You may already be gold half way on the RTW if your upcoming trips are paid UC/DL F.

[HighFlyer]

James

Certainly a good option if you are not especially concerned with maximising VS tier points, and netting you a substantial saving.

I would first check with ANZ that they will allow you to do the LHR-HKG & SFO-LHR sectors on VS metal, if not, your plan may come a bit unstuck. I dont see the problem with LHR-HKG as until ANZ's own direct service comes into play in October they are utilising that flight anyway, but it that may be a condition of the cheaper fare to fly on ANZ metal from SFO. Check with them, if they will let you, i'd certainly think of booking!

You can also route through NRT on their RTW tickets - not that i want to mess with your itinerary or anything

Thanks,
Sarah