Hi! I think I may have some suggestion to you on two points:
Originally Posted by
mslise
1. What would be the best way to get from South America to Europe
IMO, BA or LA are the best option in D. IIRC, BA flies daily EZE-GRU-LHR, whereas LA flies from SCL to FRA & MAD. Another option may be LA to North America and then transfer without stopover to BA for the TATL leg, combining so both carriers and adding some more miles (two sectors, though). IB should be the option of last resort (their C-class is indeed poor when compared to BA).
3. Any suggestions doing something tricky like JFK-LAX-MEX to get miles across N America? We can't seem to make it work without using lots of sectors.
I suggest you fly JFK-YVR-MEX. Both sectors have real long-haul business class since they are "continental" legs of intercon services. JFK-YVR is operated by CX (773) daily with the flight continuing on to HKG. YVR-MEX is JL (744) twice or three times weekly (plane originates in NRT).
From MEX, you can then continue to SCL on LA or LIM on LP. Alternatively, backtrack to MIA or DFW on AA and take advantage of AA's South American network ex-MIA/DFW.
Your itinerary may look sthg like this: JNB-HKG-JFK-YVR-MEX-MIA-GYE-SCL-IPC-SCL-GRU-LHR-JNB (with four more segments to be added somewhere).