I’m sure this has been posted elsewhere, but I just became aware of this AAdvantage Award chart that displays the number of miles needed for a oneworld Explorer ticket, the continent based round-the-world travel product from the oneworld alliance:
Travelling the world has never been easier, more flexible or more affordable thanks to oneworld Explorer. Reaching more than 800 global destinations across six continents in the oneworld alliance network, oneworld Explorer lets you create your ideal round-the-world trip.
To keep things simple, we divide the world into six continents to calculate your oneworld Explorer fare.
The fare you pay is based on the class you choose to fly, plus the number of oneworld continents you visit or pass through, (including your continent of origin and any continent in which you transfer).
Hattip to @colinize and @wfagundes
The number of miles required varies depending on the distance and class of service traveled. To determine the award for your travel plans, please call AAdvantage Reservations with your complete itinerary and one of our helpful service representatives will calculate the miles you are flying and advise you of the correct award to use.
Distance Zone 1
Total Trip Miles = 0 to 1,500 |
Miles Required |
| Economy Class |
30,000 |
| Business Class |
60,000 |
| First Class |
80,000 |
|
Distance Zone 2
Total Trip Miles = 1,501 – 4,000 |
Miles Required |
| Economy Class |
35,000 |
| Business Class |
75,000 |
| First Class |
100,000 |
|
Distance Zone 3
Total Trip Miles = 4,001 – 9,000 |
Miles Required |
| Economy Class |
60,000 |
| Business Class |
80,000 |
| First Class |
100,000 |
|
Distance Zone 4
Total Trip Miles = 9,001 – 10,000 |
Miles Required |
| Economy Class |
70,000 |
| Business Class |
90,000 |
| First Class |
120,000 |
|
Distance Zone 5
Total Trip Miles = 10,001 – 14,000 |
Miles Required |
| Economy Class |
90,000 |
| Business Class |
115,000 |
| First Class |
150,000 |
|
Distance Zone 6
Total Trip Miles = 14,001 – 20,000 |
Miles Required |
| Economy Class |
100,000 |
| Business Class |
130,000 |
| First Class |
180,000 |
|
Distance Zone 7
Total Trip Miles = 20,001 – 25,000 |
Miles Required |
| Economy Class |
120,000 |
| Business Class |
150,000 |
| First Class |
230,000 |
|
Distance Zone 8
Total Trip Miles = 25,001 – 35,000 |
Miles Required |
| Economy Class |
140,000 |
| Business Class |
190,000 |
| First Class |
280,000 |
|
Distance Zone 9
Total Trip Miles = 35,001 – 50,000 |
Miles Required |
| Economy Class |
160,000 |
| Business Class |
220,000 |
| First Class |
330,000 |
|
source: American Airlines at AA.com
Did you know there’s a Flash-based tool for planning these routings? I posted about it today… what a nice coincidence!
http://boardingarea.com/gettingstatus/?p=557
I think you’re confusing 2 different products.
The oneworld Explorer ticket (offered by AA as well as other oneworld airlines) is indeed continent based.
However, the AA oneworld “Explorer” award is just the old DISTANCE based oneworld award given a new name. This is obvious when you look at the award chart posted above which doesn’t mention continents at all, only the total distance flown.
It’s merely a marketing change – there is nothing substantial here.
These awards are by and far the best use of AA’s miles in terms of award redemptions in my humble opinion. I’ve redeemed two awards to date using this award chart:
ORD-LHR-HKG-FUK-TPE-HKG-SIN-CMB-SIN-SYD-LAX-ORD in F class which I did last year on a combination of AA, Cathay, and Qantas on the A380 on two legs. I just redeemed again for a J class award going SFO-LAX-HNL-LAX-ORD-HKG-KUL-HKG-JFK-BOS-NRT-FRA-BER-JFK-AMM on a combination of AA, Cathay, JAL, Air Berlin, and Royal Jordanian.
The two awards cost me 500K AA miles total, but when you think about how much it would have cost me to do all those trips individually with AA miles? An amazing deal.
These awards are amazing. For just a little more miles you should always get the business class. It’s amazing experience. You get all the perks the business travellers get, like access to the business lounges in the airports, some of the carriers provide free towncar service to your hotel (like Etihad in Abu Dhabi), bigger luggage allowances, special check in lines so no waiting in long lines, and all around pampering on board. It really is worth it. I took two of these in my life so far, going around the world visiting many countries. A tip is to book at least 4-6 months ahead of time, and be flexible on your dates of travel, and you can then go pretty much anywhere. Try to stay on a logical directional route so you aren’t backtracking and wasting miles. Highly recommended.
I don’t see the AA RTW award chart posted on their website anymore…