Originally Posted by farmann
Newbie recommended to Flyertalk would appreciate any suggestions and ideas (a bit overwhelmed by all the info) - thanks.
Have been told that a OneWorld Explorer DONE4 ticket from Istanbul might be a good option (Cost approx USD 4500?). Might give two round trips to the US from the miles gained.
Data:
Based - Oslo, Norway OSL
Age: 35
Purpose: Private and business (own private company)
Generally felxible
Want a good long term global flying setup
Have membership with Star Alliance (15 000 miles)
Have membership with Delta Air Skymiles (10 000 miles)
Traveling regularily every year to Salt Lake City and San Francisco
Most flights out of Oslo are Star Alliance based
Vissiting this time (within 12 months):
Oslo
Amsterdam
New York
Washington D.C.
Miami
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Guatemala City (November 2006 for conference)
Caribbean (Would like to go to a dreambeach somewhere in the Caribbean for a weekend)
Rio De Janeiro
Manila, Philippines
Hong Kong
Singapore
Oslo
First, welcome to FT.
Next, your pricing info is outdated - look at the "sticky" threads at the top of the forum for more recent prices. Living in Norway, I think you'd find DONE4 pricing originating in Sweden would be preferable to Turkey. Because there's no Oneworld service between Sweden and Norway, your stayover in Oslo would have to be made on separate tickets because otherwise you'd run out of European segments and/or stopover allowances on the OWE.
The following route would get you more or less where you want to go, with only minor exceptions.
ARN-MAD-GUA-MIA-SXM-JFK//DCA-SLC//SFO-JFK-GIG-SCL-xLAX-HKG-MNL-HKG-SIN-HKG-AMS-MAD-ARN
You'd need to travel overland between New York and Washington but that's easy; also there's no AA service between Salt Lake and San Francisco, but there are inexpensive flights (or the train) that could be used instead.
You're allowed a second entry/exit of N. America if it's without a stopover en route to/from Asia, so in this case you could go from GIG to JFK, or via Santiago to JFK or LAX and then on to HK for your Manila/HK/Singapore segments. Then HK to AMS (or SIN to HEL, etc.) to complete the trip in Europe.
If you signed up for the AA Platinum Challenge before starting, you'd hit Plat early on and get 100% miles bonus (in addition to class of service bonuses) for most of the trip. Quite a lot of miles would ensue.