NickB- what "rules" are you talking about and what specifically do they say? That's the main problem with awards for most FF programs, that other than the basic stopover rules it can be very hard to learn the true rules and you are often at the mercy of the agents you get on the phone (who often just make blanket statements about what is or is not allowed, instead of citing to rules). Just to be clear, at least one of my other FF programs allows routing SYD-south east asia-europe-US, so what I am asking is not as crazy as you seem to think. If there is a clear rule at BD that prohibits this (such as a mpm or specific routing rule) then I am happy to abide by it. I was looking for some recitation of the specific rule(s) for diamond club that precluded this redemption, not the same blanket statement I got from the agent I talked to that "this isn't allowed."