Hi all,

I'm taking a trip to Asia in 2 weeks, and since I've never tried booking a RTW or Circle Pacific before, I did a lot of reading on the OW site as well as FlyerTalk, but would still like to get some opinions from people who have done this before or have some tips.

Goal: Get a low cost, mileage earning route involving multiple stopovers in Asia
Required stopovers: SAN, SYD, MNL, HKG, PEK, pretty much in that order
Ideal stopovers (can pay additional): TPE, and SAN on the way back

1. Intended RTW US-originating LONE4 itinerary:
ORD-SAN-SYD-MNL-HKG-PEK-FRA-SAN-ORD
note: FRA is just used as a connector to SAN, all others are stopovers
This itinerary is allegedly $4100 USD right?

2. Intended RTW SYD-originating LONE4 itinerary:
Take a one-way from SAN-SYD for about $1000 USD
SYD-MNL-HKG-PEK-FRA-SAN-SYD-ORD [corrected]
This itinerary is allegedly something like $2400 USD, and thus $3400 total?

3. Intended Circle Pacific:
SAN-SYD-MNL-HKG-PEK-SAN-ORD
I checked the mileage using Great Circle Mapper and it seems to easily fall within 26,000 (five free stopovers) or 29,000 including a 6th one in TPE.


It seems that (2) is the cheapest, however it does not allow changing of the original SYD-MNL flight, and that may change depending on circumstances. I have no idea of the price for (3), but if it's not too much lower, should I just go for a RTW? Seems more flexible too, right? Also, I will take a look at CX's Asiapass too, since that seems like a possible option as well.

Anything I should watch out for, or tips on what routes to avoid/try to get?