Millionmiler is incorrect in implying that all econ is the same, as somebody who flew nearly 100k real miles in Y last year I can say that the in flight entertainment and food on some carriers is way better than on others. I think that with your routing the only place you'll have a choice is from HKG to LHR at the end, their you can take BA or QF,I think the QF IFE and food is better.

You'll use LA a bit, they are as good as QF, unfortunatly you'll also fly AA, they're a huge step down.

Another area to look at the carrier is in respect to air miles. I'd recommend joining the AA program (you'll never get anthing useful with BA), with AA you can check the earning tables for various airlines, e.g. you will earn more with LA in L compared with QF in L. For this reason you may be better booking the SCL-AKL route using the LA flight number rather than the QF one.

You can pay to upgrade to WT+ on the BA flights, however I don't think it's really worth it, save the money and spend it on upgrading your hotel instead.



Also may be worth seeing if you could book with AA, their taxes may be lower for the same itin.

Regarding the Galapagos, you can book the flights in advance with the airline TAME, they fly from UIO to GPS. There's another airline flying to San Cristobal.