Thanks for those numbers; this is very interesting.

One also has to take into account, of course, the strategy of using 'positioning' flights to take advantage of an attractive fare at a particular xONEx originating point. People will have their own reasons for choosing where and how they embark on an RTW (e.g., is the start/end country a desirable destination in and of itself, or is it merely a transit from the positioning flight to the xONEx). Our last RTW was a DONE5 ex-JNB because we spent a week in South Africa at the end. Otherwise, however, a DONE4 generally gets us where we want to go. In those circumstances, a DONE4 ex-NRT will save us close to $1000 p.p. compared to a DONE5 from JNB -- which savings help to seriously defray the cost of the positioning ticket. And since the xONE4 and xONE5 both have the same 16-sector limit, the potential for racking up boocoo FF points is unaffected.