Thank you so much Gardyloo and Pandaperth - I would not be attempting this itinerary without your help!

First yes I think you are right Gardyloo - every time I start in either Cairo or Amman the planner just spits the dummy! I think I might have to get a human to do the booking…. I will definitely use Emeco Travel, Cairo. Thanks for the heads-up also about ticketing the first segment via DOH or AMM.

Pandaperth - so first up - looking at the AA Other Airline Award Chart, I'm assuming we could book any Qantas flight not starting with N, G, S, O or Q to London before "commencing" our DONE4 and earn enough to qualify Platinum with AA? Looks like that might be a cheaper option than going with AA or BA or a full economy fare on a partner airline?

As far as gaining Platinum status, we would then use 45k of the miles earned on a business fare back home and possibly use up the remainder on a fare to either London or New York (45/40k on the AA Award chart?). Would there be any other benefits to being platinum?

I like your DFW-ANC-DFW suggestion - you mentioned that last year and of course, I couldn't find it on the planner (obviously because it was the wrong season). If I take your suggestion to maximise the miles and go with the itinerary: CAI-NRT-SYD-NOU-SYD-WLG-SYD-JFK-YVR-DFW-ANC-DFW-MEX-ORD-CDG-AMM, I can book the rest of the itinerary with the RTW desk and leave the DFW-ANC-DFW as 2 spare segments? Then when the flights become available after May, do I book them with the AA RTW desk or the airlines direct? And is this itinerary OK as far as no. of sectors goes? I can't run it on my Planner no matter which way I try! I can however get the itinerary minus the DFW-ANC-DFW segments to run if I start it in Tokyo but it comes to 15 segments - does that mean I can't fit the Anchorage segment? And again, for mileage earning ORD-AMM-LHR - isn't this adding yet another segment?

Again many thanks for your very generous help - it means a great deal to me.