Hello Flyertalk! Your input and comments on here have really helped me plan my own RTW itinerary. However, i still have a few questions and need your help!

1) Planning on flying to South Africa via London (One World Explorer via British Airways). Then to get to Brazil, it seems like I have to go back to London then onwards to Rio de Janeiro. Will there be issues with backtracking here?

2) If I arrive in London Stansted or Gatwick and then out from Heathrow, will that count as a surface segment?

3) Purchasing additional segments - The T&C says up to 2 additional segments can be purchased per continent. So this means in addition to the 16 segments, I can purchase 12 more (2 x 6 continent fare)?

4)Cost - someone had uploaded a spreadsheet online comparing the cost of ONE fares depending on country of departure. Based on that, I was planning on flying to NZ using a buddy pass and starting my trip there. The savings versus starting in Canada is significant. Can anyone confirm that there is a difference? One world website makes it seem like cost of fare is dependent only on fare class and number of continents.

Thank you so much for your help! I look forward booking my trip and contributing here with my own experience.

Sophia