I'd like to fly from DFW to Johannesburg sometime between Nov 1 and Dec 15. The only fares I find on the AA website are in the $2000 range which is too expensive. The itinerary is through Zurich using AA and Swiss but it seems if I break the trip up into two separate tickets I won't qualify for AA miles on the Swiss flight from ZRH-JNB.

Is there anyway I can get a lower fare and get qualifying miles on the entire trip? Issued separately DFW-ZRH is $600 and ZRH-JNB is $500 on Swiss. I need every mile I can get to qualify for executive platinum