Are there any obvious mistakes in my first attempt at planning a Qantas RTW itinerary?

Frequent Flyer Programs
1

Hi,

Super excited to be starting the planning for my first Qantas RTW award booking. I’m very early in my planning stage. Before I start looking at which airlines for each leg, does anyone see any obvious errors in my route?

Brisbane - Tokyo
Osaka - London
Rome - Singapore
Singapore - Los Angeles/San Francisco
Los Angeles/San Francisco - Honolulu
Honolulu - Brisbane

Obviously there are a few land segments in there. Also I haven’t included any transits in that plan. Happy to put them in wherever they make sense.

It hits 34 000 miles in the Great Circle Mapper. Should I worry about not having much wiggle room with distance? I am looking at sometimes August to October 2023 as my starting time, so pretty flexible with timing.

I’m planning to break it into two trips at the Singapore stop by coming home via a separate flight and then recommencing the second part of the trip in 6 months or so. That will mean heading to the USA portion of the trip March/April 2024.

I’m a pretty inexperienced international flyer. I haven’t decided whether to go economy or business. It’s just one person. Are there any particular airlines that stand out for any of those routes for good or bad reasons? Also would you book the first part of the trip as soon as seats become available and then pay the change fee to add the second half of the trips seats later, or just hold out and try it all at once. I am only Bronze.

Thanks.

2

Route looks ok. You need to add transit cities to the total mileage but in theory you could stay under 35,000 miles if you get the most direct flights. Qantas may calculate mileage slightly different to Great Circle Mapper so you could go over. Without much mileage to play with you don’t have the luxury of choosing between airlines. You have to fly the most direct route. Getting business class seats will likely be difficult so be prepared to settle for economy. Booking the first part asap gives you peace of mind of having it locked in. The downside is that you have to pay a fee to add the 2nd part and its possible that there is no availability for the 2nd part so you may have to change your route.

3

I hadn’t thought about extra mileage that necessary transits might add. I guess I’m going to need to figure those out, plug it in to the Qantas site and see how it checks out. Thanks