I thank everyone for their input.

I am in academia and C class tickets are usually out of the question. Only on rare occasions do the hosts offer to pay for C class, it's pretty much always NC for me. I have to be in PER to give a one hour lecture (almost doesn't seem worth it) on wednesday and then to MIA for a half day meeting on saturday. SAN will be easier as I will be there several days and it's my normal hometown, except for this year. The hellish part is getting from PER to MIA in such a short time and have to be functional in MIA.

The reason I came down to these two options are the following:

1. I cannot do PER-SIN-LAX because even leaving at 0155, I cannot catch the UA flight from SIN the same day. Otherwise, it will be broken up into two days with SIN-MIA in one very long day. The only routing is through SYD which is a touch better. I can break in LAX or SFO for the night before going to MIA. NZ is not convenient because I lose one day from PER-AKL-SYD to then catch UA metal.

2. I considered UA most of the way by flying LHR-LAX-SYD-PER. But this is the long way to down under from London. It's more miles and I could probably get NC but it would really be hell going and coming back in such a short time.

3. I thought being able to sleep one night on my own bed after hustling back from PER-LHR right away would better. Then LHR-MIA is a pretty simple flight.

4. On the RTW, SQ is not releasing their seats to *A. The LH and TG flights are not as convenient time-wise. This puzzles me because the SQ flights are wide open right now.

In all, I am worried most about the RT LHR-SIN-PER-SIN-LHR all in three days in coach. The eye candy may be nice but I have never been that impressed with SQ if I am crammed in a packed 777 or 747.

Thanks again.