Hi there all! I'm based in LAX and need to hit Entebbe, Uganda (EBB), CAI, and NRT this summer and LHR for Christmas. I'm thinking right now (and please correct me if wrong) that the cheapest way to do this would be to get a roundtrip LAX-LHR from June-Dec and a LONE4 that starts in LHR in June, gets the other destinations over the summer, and ends up back in England for the holidays. LONE4's are about $1000 cheaper if bought there.

My problem, though, is that I can't figure out how to get a valid route per the incredible OWE validator that many of you have worked on. This (expensive ex-US fare) works: LAX-LHR-EBB-LHR-CAI-AMM-DXB-HKG-NRT-LAX but this (less expensive, ex-UK fare) doesn't: LHR-EBB-LHR-CAI-AMM-DXB-HKG-NRT-LAX-LHR. I'm presuming it has something to do with the rule saying you can't go back to your home city (or something like that) but I can't figure out exactly why, or if there's any way around it. Any thoughts or observations? And yes, these trips are not mileage-maximised at all, and I will definitely do so before I ticket them I just wanted to get the base city pairings figured out first. Thanks in advance!

Adam