Originally Posted by Gardyloo
Welcome to FT, neighbo(u)r.
We're in the middle of an RTW that will include Oz and southern Africa, leaving in three weeks. We started in Istanbul in April, returned home for the spring, then will be doing the southern hemisphere part of our DONE4s in Aug/Sept. mainly because we wanted to to Queensland in (relatively) cooler/no stingers time, then get to Africa for game viewing in the dry season.
Rather than complete the trip in September, we'll come home (from the UK) then return in March to go to Israel (better then than in September, from a melting-lead point of view) before ending up back at IST. The transatlantic portions outside the RTW will be in non-peak periods, so not prohibitively costly, or we may just use miles (of which we will have lots - see below.)
You could do something similar - fly to Europe on a cheap autumn ticket, pick up the RTW tix in some location that's more affordable than N. America (Turkey, Croatia, even Gibraltar), hustle home without stopping over, then down to Oz, over to JNB, back to Europe, home temporarily, then return to Europe to complete your touring there.
You could add Asia in this, but that would make it a A/DONE5, raise costs, and would reduce the number of sectors you could fly within given continents, since you'd be adding an additional intercontinental segment and wouldn't get any more than the 20 flights permitted.
One important thing to consider with premium xONExs is the mileage accumulation factor. If, for example, you complete the AA Platinum Challenge (see the AA board for info on this) before you start, and use AA as your mileage program, then your RTW will likely generate a ton of miles which you can redeem for additional travel to destinations you might miss the first time. For instance, if you accumulate 130,000 miles (not as daunting a total as it seems given the various bonuses you'd gain on the first RTW) you could get a OneWorld award for business-class travel for 20,000 miles. That's enough for YVR-LHR-BKK-SIN-HKG-YVR for example, i.e., a second RTW on the house.
On the A v. D factor, note that most intra-continental routes (Africa, Oz, Europe) don't offer A, except AA in N. America, which offers A instead of D, so you ride in FC anyway. (Lots of rules, exceptions, blah blah but that's the big, vague picture.) So is the upcharge worth it for longhaul F instead of J on the few flights where both are offered? Your call.
The idea of flying transatlantic just to buy tickets to fly back is counter-intuitive, and it's not worth it to many people. However, one of the quirks of the OWE program is that you're limited to 2 stopovers in the continent of origin. Yet you're allowed 6 segments in N. America, so if you buy your ticket in NA it seems you're condemning yourself to a lot of flights with not many destinations, if you get my meaning.
Welcome to the wacky wranks of won world wonks.