Originally Posted by anabolism

You can use IB in/out of TLV to avoid BA fuel fines (but no F), or may be able to find codeshares on BA (EF is a great help with that).

It's not true F, but I enjoy adding AA sectors to the Caribbean, since that counts as North America (even if you go to, say, Curaçao which is right off Venezuela).

I like using EF to research flight options, then use the on-line tool to plan specific sectors/dates/times, since that makes it easy to see how the connections are going, elapsed days, etc. Then I use the summary from the on-line tool when calling the AA RTW desk, and just read off the cities, dates, and flights. I then ticket with an in-country AA office. If you use an independent agent, be sure it's one that can take over and issue PNRs set up by AA (many can't because they don't use Sabre).

Yes, ex-JNB can be great, but does require some care to be sure to book code shares when it's cheaper. I use the on-line tool to price a base itinerary, then change some flights to code shares and re-price to see if it increases or lowers the "taxes."