Originally Posted by kevincure

Thanks for the suggestions. I thought I'd done NRT-PEK a couple years ago on AA, but it must not have been as that route no longer exists. It's not that important to go via PEK vs. HKG; I'm planning to catch a flight (on my own) to Kashgar and take the train back east then south, and the flights from Guangzhou and Beijing are quite similar (esp. at the 60% discounts common on that route).

I'm going overland IST to MAD, so I don't need that segment either, which should get me in at 20 with an LONE5 to
SYD-AYQ-PER-NRT-HKG-PEK,HKG-DEL,BOM-BKK,SIN-HKG-JNB-MRU-JNB-VFA,
DAR-LHR-THR,CAI-BCN-IST-MAD-CCS,EZE-SCL-IPC-SCL-SYD

(buying the segments DXB-CAI, BKK-RNG-BKK, intra-Indian Ocean, SFO-SYD-SFO on my own).

Going to the Mideast after Asia is a bit rough simply because of timing. I'm leaving at the start of September, want to be in China after National Day but before the cold sets in up in Xinjiang, in India December-ish and Europe/Iran in the spring. Oz will be a bit hot in January, and the Indian Ocean maybe a bit wet in February, but I think the timing works out for the majority of the route (returning home in June 07).

If Malev is added into the network by next Spring, I assume I can get reticketed for the small route change fee, going DXB-AMM and CAI-BUD, then only buying the AMM-CAI ticket, which ought to be quite a bit cheaper.