Originally Posted by gemac

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To save the rest, you have to not return to your starting point (that is the end of your ticket). But you can come back someplace where you can book a cheap paid ticket back home (Charlotte?). You can't change your routing without a fee, so you have to pick where you go next, but not when. Let's say you would like to go to Costa Rica, but don't know when. You book your original trip routing and dates (for example, RDU-JFK-LHR-CAI-AMM-DXB-LHR-JFK-CLT) and tack on the end CLT-MIA-SJO-MIA-RDU as far in the future as you can (330 days). To AA, it looks like a long stopover in CLT on your way from DXB to SJO. You buy a cheap one-way CLT-RDU to get you home. Then when you have dates that work for you and have award availability in First/Business to Costa Rica, you change the dates for free, buy a cheap one-way to CLT, and off you go. Total for the Oneworld award = 18,623 miles and 12 segments.

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