I'm checking out doing a DONE4 next year and would appreciate your sensibilities on my plan/assumptions. Pls don't do too much legwork on this-- I 've got a lot of homework to do for myself and much to firm up before I'm ready for the expert breakdown.

1. I am ex-CHI.

2. I want to do a DONE4. This would be my first, so I'll save AONE for another time.

3. Part of the justification is to make AA EXP.

4.Seems good pricing options are CMB, KHI, or NRT. CMB and KHI seem hard to get to. KHI might get me noticed by Homeland Security. I know Japan very well, but that's it in Asia. So NRT is fine but more expensive (but cheaper/easier to get to).
Q: Does purchasing in NRT limit the miles I travel in Asia given routing rules?

5. My goal is to do ASIA-NA-SA-EUR-ASIA in that order. Planes fly faster going east. I like being on planes (or maybe more that I like putting down miles in plans), but time off from work is looking tightish.

6. The plan would be to use (probably) an award to get to Asia, fly around Asia, come back to NA in a long weekend (or more). Then fly around NA on a long weekend. Then fly to SA for a short vacation. Then Europe back to Asia and home in another short vacation.
Q: Anyone have a short answer on the deal with open-return cash tickets on AA or OW carriers?

7. I'm hoping to get a lot of travel in on long weekends or vacation days attached to long weekends.
Q: Is this reasonable thinking?

8. A bit more specific then. I want to leave on a Friday (1/12) to go to Asia. NRT arrives on the next day. CMB and KIH arrives two days forward.
Q: Can I get xDONx ticketed on a Sunday?

9. Then I want to fly around Asia. That's a following question. But first-- I need to be back in NA in ACA the following Wednesday night (1/17). I'd slightly prefer to stop in Chicago to change bags and maybe take a shower, but it's only a slight preference.
Q: Am I nuts? Can I max or close to max my Asia flying in that time such to depart Asia to arrive back in Chicago on 1/17 or to go straight to ACA on 1/17?

10. So I'm going to ACA. It would save me money or miles to make this part of my xONEx.
Q: Should I use some of my NA segments to do this? (It's allowed, right?)
Q: Am I better off not returning to Chicago until I absolutely have to? Thus go Asia-ACA-CHI-rest for a while?

11. So in between I want to fly around Asia as much as I can, racking up as many qpoints as possible and spending as many sleeping hours on airplanes as I can. I don't need to spend a ton of time anywhere-- it'll all be new to me ex-Japan. This section would be tour by air basically. If I get nights in a city, long stops, etc. that's fine too, even if they are at 2am local time.
Q: Where should I start?
Q: What routes should I be looking at to get the max?


Ok. That's more than I thought. Thanks for any info or for pointing me in the right direction. I know I need to go read the rules closely and I'll get on that. As a starting point I'd feel better knowing that what I'm conceiving is possible or reasonable.

Thanks!