Not sure if I get your meaning here, but value in premium-cabin RTW seems to have gone down by a bunch recently. I'd love to travel in business or first, but there aren't really any good options for a trip like this at the moment.

I was originally considering the SQ *A RTW in business, which is 240k. That said, the YQ would likely be outrageous. If I'm paying $1500 in fees, I might as well buy a full *A RTW and have lots more options.

As far as redeeming individual flights like in my example, it's also tough; I've relied on UA's lenient open-jaw and stopover rules, so it only really makes sense with MileagePlus, and we all know about their grossly devalued *A premium awards.

Anyway, this is why I posted this. There are many things that aren't great about the example I gave, which is why I'm on FT trying to see what other people have come up with!