Hi Guys,

got the reservation in. I appreciate your advice Dave re the fuel charges however in the end I booked through Qantas with a Zurich origin as this worked best with payment terms and my expense recovery in the office. Appears it may have been AUD$400 or so cheaper with AA tickets but at $9699 base plus $900ish taxes plus $40 booking fee I'm pretty happy for a 43,000 mile trip in business.

The Qantas guy was very good and efficient and laughingly suggested I'd stretched my friendship with all the airlines with my 19 sector itinerary which must mean I'm getting good value thanks to all the advise here ^

Cheers,
ozscot