Thanks to some of the marvelous credit card deals this year, I'm within striking distance of having enough miles for a RTW (or RTW equivalent) type award for both skyteam and oneworld (and if I stretched could possibly make it on star alliance, but to be honest unless there is a strong reason to push for this I'd rather not). I know the basics (oneworld allows 16 segments--the amount of miles needed is itinerary dependent); delta/skyteam (6 stopovers permitted, max 3 per continent), but what other factors should I be considering? For anyone who has done an awards RTW, did you compare awards across alliances? Any general thoughts/tips on finding flight availability/scheduling etc? Do flights have to be the lowest bucket or as long as there is awards availability they can be added to a RTW itinerary. I've skimmed the oneworld and skymiles forums, but most of the information seems to be dated and/or about paid itineraries. Apologies if there is a thread or blog somewhere discussing this (please let me know).