Originally Posted by
WorldLux
I may be wrong on this but IIRC a fifth freedom flight is suboptimal in terms of TP as the system considers it as one flight rather than two separate flights. E.g. Rather than getting 300 TP for LHR-SIN and SIN-SYD you get 240 TP for LHR-SYD.
If you fly LHR-SYD direct, you're not using the fifth freedom element. The SIN-SYD-SIN flights are the fifth freedom part of this, and that I think is what people are suggesting.
So if you fly LHR-SIN on BA11, SIN-SYD on BA15, SYD-SIN on BA16 and SIN-LHR on BA12, you are (a) making the most of the fifth freedom elements of the operation; (b) getting all four eligible flights in one trip; and (c) improving your total TP earning on the trip. Although I suspect only the geekiest of us would regard that as a triple, rather than double, win.