The Great Escapade - round world ticket

http://www.thegreatescapade.com/

Any one got feedback on this ? It was cheaper to purchase for my trip next month rather than the return flights to New Zealand via syd - looking forward to it, just wondered if there was anyone out there with previous experience.

I'll supply trip reports in due course.

We used Great Escape a couple of years ago for a round the world trip and had no problems. We flew with VS, Singapore & Air New Zealand. Trailfinders we great in making the actual bookings for the 15 flights after we had decided on the routes

We did this ages ago in economy, very good value and pretty painless to book over the phone with VS.

The upgrade to PE was very reasonable

Cheers for posting that Sam, will def be of use to me in the months to come.

I knew there was a program like this VS did, but had completely forgotten the name of it. Looking forward to hearing about your experiences. Enjoy y)

Is there any way of getting a quote for this online, or does it have to be booked through a travel agent?

Had to book direct with va customer services. Not able to be quoted online.

You also can not 'manage your booking' online - this is a tad frustrating as you need to phone va and other airlines separately to request seats. Air Nz permitted me to select seats way before 90days, where as VA didn't. Policy I guess.

I don't think you receive tps or miles ... I asked and both va cs operators I spoke to provided different answers - I guess I'll see what turns up, if anything on my account page after flying.

If you don't mind me asking, how much does the initial 29000 travel miles set you back by?

No TPs or Miles :0 :0 :0 Nooooooo!!!

Don't quote me yet on miles or tp- you'd think va would want to offer something for their pax using this service - their staff just doesn't seem to know what's what.

Total journey as follows
PE Lhr- syd via hong kong vs200
PE syd - Auckland (air Nz)
Internal flight Auckland - dunedin and back again a week later
Auckland to lax economy (air Nz)
Virgin America lax to NYC
Vs10 NYC to Lhr

The initial quote for economy all routes was £1.4 k I think... But I upgraded the va flights and one Nz flight to PE

On all the flights with VS, Sing & ANZ booked through GE I received both Miles & TPs

Sweet!!!!

We got economy miles and TPs for our flights with VS/NZ/SQ on the Great Escapade fare.

The exact number of miles/TPs varies by fare code.

I have used Great Escapades on several UC trips taking in USA, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, price has increased quite a bit over last 10 years but still imho provides great value.

Have a great trip

oldboy

http://www.thegreatescapade.com/
Any one got feedback on this ? It was cheaper to purchase for my trip next month rather than the return flights to New Zealand via syd - looking forward to it, just wondered if there was anyone out there with previous experience.
I'll supply trip reports in due course.

We've used it every year since 1997; rally good value for UC/Business in Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines.

Typical itinerary; London, San Fransisco or Los Angeles, Auckland, Brisbane, Singapore, Maldives or Bali, Singapore, Hong Kong, London; all within the mileage allowance.

Good for both VA air-miles, and tier points.

Air New Zealand do not provide pj's; so wash and hang-on to your VA pair. The food and service on ANZ is amazing, but the crew haircuts do include 'mullets', so 1970's.

NV and Starfish

Air New Zealand don't sell PE across the Tasman, a few flights have Business but the majority are all Y with varying degrees of service included as the fare increases.

Virgin Australia NZ do sell PE, and as they codeshare you may find you are on a VA flight between SYD and AKL.

Does anyone know what fare class needs to be available for these tickets? Have some specific dates in mind and would like to do some route checking before getting on the phone. Thanks.