Hello Forums,

Newbie poster here. I've spent much of this year reading your posts and planning a RTW trip, and now things are getting real and I'm close to booking the ticket. I would love any advice or suggestions from your experience!

Although actual start/end point is San Francisco, we have family in Buenos Aires and are making that home base for the trip, so we get to visit there twice this year. Would like to maximize AAdvantage miles earned, but not at the cost of any destinations.

We are two people flying economy and the price I see is $3703 fare + $1017 taxes each. Any ideas to reduce the taxes would be appreciated!

Here's the proposed itinerary/ *local travel:
Buenos Aires
EZE - SCL LA2429
Santiago
SCL - SYD LA807 (Operated by Qantas)
Sydney
SYD - AKL QF141 (Operated by JETCONNECT)
Auckland
AKL - MEL QF136 (Operated by JETCONNECT), MEL - DPS QF267 (Operated by Jetstar Airways)
Bali
DPS - HKG CX784
Hong Kong
HKG - KUL CX729
Kuala Lumpur
KUL - BKK RJ181
Bangkok *Phuket
BKK - LHR BA10
London
LHR - VIE BA700
Vienna *Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris
VIE - FCO HG8466
Rome *Venice
(Overland segment - budget carrier)
Athens
ATH - MAD IB3151
Madrid *Barcelona, Ibiza
MAD - LIM IB7759 (Operated by LAN)
Lima *Machu Pichu
LIM - EZE LA4641 (Operated by LAN Argentina)
Buenos Aires

We have 15 segments so could add one more in Asia or SWP, or leave it open in case we need it later for unexpected changes. We'll be hostelling, with a timeframe of about 6 months.

Help/ideas?

Thank you!!