Planning to purchase Oneworld RTW ticket at end of May, which Citi AAdvantage card?

[Zach1213]

14 hours ago, happy cruzer said:

So maybe we change the order of our itinarary?  Right now we plan to have two day in Oslo, two day in Prague, train to Vienna, 2 days in Vienna, train to Budapest, 2 days in Budapest, fly to Madrid, two days in Madrid.

 

Ideas to improve?

 

 

Honestly that's a pretty good itinerary. Lots of moving around, so you'll get a little taste of some really good cities. Oslo itself is...fine. I would say that's the weakest of all of those cities so if you wanted to cut one of the two Oslo days and apply it somewhere else, that's not a terrible idea. But Oslo is still great and you'll find plenty to do. Maybe adding a day to Madrid to hit either Toledo, Segovia or El Escorial would be nice. 

[SelectSys]

14 hours ago, happy cruzer said:

Time, Finances, and Resources

...

 

Ideas to improve?

In terms of your Europe segments, maybe you can consider dropping at least one location as you are trying to make lots of stops in a very short amount of time? 

 

Each stop will eat up some amount of time traveling and checking in and out of hotels or other forms of accommodation.

 

Be optimistic that you'll have additional opportunities to pick up another trip in the future.

 

Good luck!

[Gardyloo]

15 hours ago, happy cruzer said:

Time, Finances, and Resources

 

Time - we have two weeks (one of us is still employed with limited vacation time) to spend on the Europe sections.  Either Aug 24 to Sep 8 or the start Aug 31.  Note the Aug 24 to Aug 27 part is on our nickel to get to Oslo.

 

Finances - still employed.  Fairly low priority to save bucks.  The great ideas of using cheaper econ flights will matter in 2 years. HA!

 

Resources - We are slowing down.  Like to spend 4 to 6 hours touring then a nice meal.  A few days can be longer.

 

So maybe we change the order of our itinarary?  Right now we plan to have two day in Oslo, two day in Prague, train to Vienna, 2 days in Vienna, train to Budapest, 2 days in Budapest, fly to Madrid, two days in Madrid.

 

Ideas to improve?

 

The only recommendation I'd make given this would be to look at using Finnair via Helsinki to get from Oslo to Prague instead of BA via London.  As long as you use AA between Madrid and DFW, which would incentivize the AA RTW desk to issue the ticket, switching from BA to AY for the first segment would potentially help you avoid big BA fees and surcharges.   The total elapsed time will be similar for OSL-xHEL-PRG but will give you some time to visit the nice Helsinki Finnair lounge, while the LHR transfer would potentially be a footrace.  Plus, the HEL route would all be in Schengen, speeding things up for your arrival at PRG.  

[happy cruzer]

On 4/16/2024 at 9:21 AM, Zach1213 said:

 

Honestly that's a pretty good itinerary. Lots of moving around, so you'll get a little taste of some really good cities. Oslo itself is...fine. I would say that's the weakest of all of those cities so if you wanted to cut one of the two Oslo days and apply it somewhere else, that's not a terrible idea. But Oslo is still great and you'll find plenty to do. Maybe adding a day to Madrid to hit either Toledo, Segovia or El Escorial would be nice. 

Yes, you are correct about Toledo, Segovia and El Escoral.  We did all 3  many years ago on a road trip around Europe - 18 castles, 17 churches in 21 days....  It was fantastic and got us hooked.  Would visit again if there is time.

[happy cruzer]

On 4/16/2024 at 10:12 AM, SelectSys said:

In terms of your Europe segments, maybe you can consider dropping at least one location as you are trying to make lots of stops in a very short amount of time? 

 

Each stop will eat up some amount of time traveling and checking in and out of hotels or other forms of accommodation.

 

Be optimistic that you'll have additional opportunities to pick up another trip in the future.

 

Good luck!

Yes, we will be allowing a full day for travel time that include the time traveling and the hotel check in/out.  Only 2 full days in each city with have to suffice.

[happy cruzer]

On 4/16/2024 at 10:27 AM, Gardyloo said:

The only recommendation I'd make given this would be to look at using Finnair via Helsinki to get from Oslo to Prague instead of BA via London.  As long as you use AA between Madrid and DFW, which would incentivize the AA RTW desk to issue the ticket, switching from BA to AY for the first segment would potentially help you avoid big BA fees and surcharges.   The total elapsed time will be similar for OSL-xHEL-PRG but will give you some time to visit the nice Helsinki Finnair lounge, while the LHR transfer would potentially be a footrace.  Plus, the HEL route would all be in Schengen, speeding things up for your arrival at PRG.  

Points well taken and will be pursued when I call in to AA. 

 

Have been caught up in the credit card stuff.  The Citi AAdvantage was approved but needed to see the terms and conditions in writing.  Took over a week to arrive in snail mail.  No mention of miles bonus.  Called and they will now send that seperately via snail mail.

 

FYI (many may know this already)  the new cards typically come with a fairly low limit about 13500.  So purchasing the RTW tickets may be difficult.  Then I pursued the Sapphire Preferred card thinking I would get that bonus on a card with a higher credit limit.  We have a sapphire card (very old and nice high limit) which I am the authorized user on per the first call to Chase.  Applied for Preferred and was denied.  Called the reconsideration line and told I was denied because I am a Secondary card holder not the same as authorized card holder.  No way to drop off the sapphire card, would have to cancel that card totally, reapply which would possibly lower our credit limit, take 30 days, etc.  Tooooo much hassle.

 

So getting close to resolving cc issues, to start the RTW ticket purchase.

 

So we will stay with our current cards plus the new Citi AAdvantage for the bonus miles.  More later.

[FlyerTalker]

In general, you can only hold one Sapphire product, either the Reserve or Preferred.  And you are limited on the new card bonus if you have already received it for the first Sapphire card.

 

 

[happy cruzer]

Ticket is purchased.    AA RTW was great; got flights that did not show in the OneWorld tool.  Got the flights that Gardyloo recommended.  All in for less than 12,000 business class for 2.  I be back bugging everyone for recommendations for dfw to osl in Aug.  🙂

[SelectSys]

1 hour ago, happy cruzer said:

Ticket is purchased

Congratulations.  These tickets are really an amazing deal if one has the flexibility to be gone.

 

1 hour ago, happy cruzer said:

dfw to osl in Aug

You might also consider using points for this flight one way at a reasonable price.  I just saw some really good business class seat deals on AA for 57k miles in August without a big cash outlay.  I would grab one of these quick - assuming I had the miles...

Edited April 24 by SelectSys

[Gardyloo]

16 hours ago, happy cruzer said:

Ticket is purchased.    AA RTW was great; got flights that did not show in the OneWorld tool.  Got the flights that Gardyloo recommended.  All in for less than 12,000 business class for 2.  I be back bugging everyone for recommendations for dfw to osl in Aug.  🙂

I'd be on the lookout for bonus offers or sales on purchased miles, or on credit card signup bonuses.  Right now AA is offering up to a 35% bonus on purchased miles, meaning you could get the flights listed by SelectSys for around $3200 for two persons, quite a lot less than the going price for one ways in business class.  Or Alaska Airlines is offering 60K Alaska miles (a good program) when signing up for their Visa card (which also comes with an annual $100 companion fare perk.)  

 

Or if you can spare a week and leave in late July, you can ride the Queen Mary II from NYC to Southampton for just over $1000 (inside cabin.)  That's how my late wife and I positioned ourselves for our first RTW (starting from Istanbul) in 2005.  Here's a long trip report I posted to Flyertalk during the Covid lockdown:  Trip report – Our First RTW, 2005 - FlyerTalk Forums

[ilovesalchows]

AS almost never gets those AA rewards flights in J.  I don't see any available for those dates.  

[Gardyloo]

1 hour ago, ilovesalchows said:

AS almost never gets those AA rewards flights in J.  I don't see any available for those dates.  

One big drawback to Alaska's program is that they don't allow multiple partners on one award - either Alaska + 1 partner or the partner alone.  So itineraries like American to London then BA to Oslo don't show up.  

 

However, there are numerous open flights from DFW to London in business class in August using AS miles; the OP would have to purchase a cheap one-way connection to Oslo from London.  

[SelectSys]

1 hour ago, Gardyloo said:

Here's a long trip report I posted to Flyertalk during the Covid lockdown:  Trip report – Our First RTW, 2005 - FlyerTalk Forums

Thanks for sharing this trip report link.  Your report was very moving and quite interesting to read.  I was struck by your statement regarding the "transformative power of travel."  While I guess I have known this intuitively, I have never expressed it as such and your family has taken this concept to a whole new level in terms of serving others.

[ilovesalchows]

1 hour ago, Gardyloo said:

One big drawback to Alaska's program is that they don't allow multiple partners on one award - either Alaska + 1 partner or the partner alone.  So itineraries like American to London then BA to Oslo don't show up.  

 

However, there are numerous open flights from DFW to London in business class in August using AS miles; the OP would have to purchase a cheap one-way connection to Oslo from London.  

This is where FinnAir awards come in handy.

[happy cruzer]

5 hours ago, ilovesalchows said:

This is where FinnAir awards come in handy.

Yes,  I am about 2 months from getting my AA miles on the Citi AAdvantage card.  The option of using them on FinnAir looks pretty good.

 

Love seeing all the options everyone is posting.