Let me start with a question. You talk about "frequent travel." Where and how often do you plan to travel over the next year or so?

The reason for asking is that you might benefit from products like round-the-world tickets which can enable business class travel in what I'd say is "affordable" compared to conventional round trip or open-jaw tickets. But to be worthwhile, they require a fair amount of planning and research so the basic cost of the ticket is spread out over a few or several destinations. Is Australia something of a bucket list destination? Do you have others? Is most of your travel domestic or international, or a mixture?

RTW tickets are sold by member airlines in two of the big three airline alliances, Oneworld and Star Alliance. (Skyteam discontinued their RTW product during Covid and apparently are not bringing it back.) They basically require that you cross both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans once each, and in the same direction, and end in the same country where you started. They include up to 16 flights and are good for a year. Changing the dates or the routing is easy and carries a surprisingly low cost.

Star Alliance's RTW is priced according to the total distance traveled, with various mileage tiers, from 26,000 miles to 39,000 miles, setting the base price. Oneworld's main RTW product is priced on how many continents are touched, from 3 to 6. IMPORTANTLY, however, the base price for the tickets (in both alliances) can vary hugely depending on where travel begins and ends. Sometimes with business class tickets the cheapest price can be half or less of the same ticket starting from a different country. For example, a Oneworld 4-continent business class ticket with travel originating in Norway has a base price of US$5700. The same ticket starting and ending in the USA has a base price of $11,329.

So imagine this as a completely speculative scenario. Sometime this summer you fly one way to Norway - maybe use some miles to keep the cost down. (Maybe you fly to London or some other relatively cheap destination then travel around Europe if you so desire.) Using the RTW ticket (that you've already bought) fly home in the pointy end.

If you use the Oneworld product (which is typically cheaper than the equivalent Star Alliance ticket) you're allowed up to 6 flights (of the maximum 16) within North America, which includes Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. So you're home (in California?) but you can use the ticket for travel around the country - maybe Alaska? Autumn in New England? Whatever.

Then in February you fly across the Pacific to Australia. You're allowed up to 4 flights in any other continents, so use the ticket for...where? New Zealand? The Great Barrier Reef? (Watch out for the jellyfish.) Tasmania? Then it's time to head back to Norway. You could fly around Asia if you want, or take Qantas' nonstop to Johannesburg and maybe pop down to Cape Town, then back to Norway, maybe via Doha (served from several Asian cities and/or Joburg and Cape Town.) You'll likely earned enough frequent flyer miles (and status) to cover the trip home, or maybe you buy another RTW and carry on. Where next? South America? Fiji? Paris in the spring or Hokkaido in the autumn?

Or, you could head west to east. Fly to Oslo in January, stop in Asia for warmth or maybe in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore for some of the world's best food, then on to Oz, home to California, bounce around North America throughout the summer and autumn, and end back in Norway before 12 months is up.

East to west:



West to east:



Now I know this is a pretty wild departure from your question, but trust me, these things are addictive. Maybe research the Oneworld and Star Alliance boards here on FT where there's a lot of good information. Start imagining.