Two things. First, round trips on Virgin Atlantic, BA, or Lufthansa in premium economy from MIA to JNB in March are running between $2100 and $2400, so more than coach but nothing like the $5,000 or so for business class. PE can make quite a difference on these long flights

Second, slightly off-topic, but bear with me...

How often do you travel? Do you have anything like a "master plan" for travel covering the next couple of years?

I get what you're saying about long flights with aging legs (or brains). Been there (still there) done that (still doing it.) :(

Let's imagine you like traveling, but want to do it more comfortably. So here's a "what if."

Fly one way to Joburg in March in a combination of premium economy (to Istanbul) and business (IST-JNB) on Turkish Airlines, a superior carrier. Turkish is quoting a price of $1600 one way from Miami; you can stop over in Istanbul if you like for a slight increase in price.

When you're ready to come home from SA, you use the first segment on a business class round-the-world ticket that you've bought before leaving home. RTW tickets are priced very differently depending on the country where travel starts and ends, with the differences being very dramatic.

For example, a four continent Oneworld Explorer RTW ticket in business class started in the US costs around $11,000 plus taxes. The same ticket, bought and started in South Africa, costs $4750 plus taxes.

For that five grand, you get up to 16 flights in business or first class, covering four continents, with the ticket being good for a year. There are lots of rules, of course, but the big ones are that you have to cross both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans going in the same direction. With the Oneworld ticket you don't have any maximum mileage limits, but there are some restrictions on routes, for example only one nonstop coast-to-coast flight in North America, etc.

You earn full miles on these tickets, and quite a lot of them, as well as bonuses for class of service, or elite bonuses if you fly enough to meet the elite threshold (which you will, easily.)

So back to your plan. Here you are in South Africa. You can get home via stopovers in Europe, Asia or Australia. Or say your "master plan" (aka bucket list) includes a trip to New Zealand. So you fly from Cape Town or Joburg to, say, Paris. Maybe hit London or Amsterdam or Seville, or Jerusalem, while you're in the neighborhood. No problem, just some of your 16 flights, using the (maximum of) four that the ticket allows in Europe or the Middle East.

Then over the water to Miami. Now, you have up to six flights available to use in North America, which includes the Caribbean and Central America. Alaska cruise? Canadian Rockies? Wherever, over the next few months you take weekenders to New York or San Francisco, or Vancouver or Costa Rica. All riding up front. The only time deadline is that you have to end the ticket before 12 months are up.

Anyway, time comes for your trip to New Zealand. Fly to Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane from the US, then hop over the Tasman to Auckland or Christchurch or wherever. Then back to Sydney, maybe a visit to the Great Barrier Reef or Ayre's Rock (Uluru), then the long flight back to Joburg, and your circle is done. Here's an imaginary route that would be doable with this ticket.

Here's another one (five continents, around $5400) that includes Buenos Aires and Easter Island (on your bucket list? Should be.) Same idea - stop in Europe/Middle East on the way home, hang out at home for months, maybe with a short shot to California, then return to South Africa via South America, New Zealand and Australia.

Now, flying this route would earn you up to 100,000 AA miles, maybe more once you qualify for elite status. You could use those miles to fly home at the end of the trip (plan your return when you can find award seats from South Africa.)

Or, you could do as we've done, just buy another RTW ticket and fly for another year up front - 16 business- or first class flights at an average cost of $275 or so per segment. That's good for Miami to Boston, pretty impressive for New York to Hong Kong, or Miami to Buenos Aires.

Obviously five grand is a lot to pay for a ticket, but if you view it as a year's travel in premium classes, I think it's a terrific bargain. But you need to have a plan in place before shelling out the bucks.

Note that South Africa is currently the cheapest place - in US$ terms - for Oneworld business class RTW tickets, but there are some other places - closer to home - where the prices are still way less than the US. Japan is cheap for the moment, as is Egypt.

I know this is a lot to swallow all at once, so let me direct you to a couple of other resources. First is a little "primer" I wrote for TripAdvisor, here.

Second are the "global alliance" boards here on Flyertalk, where RTW tickets and similar products are dissected and parsed like they're the Talmud.

Maybe not for you, but maybe worth considering.

Well done Gardyloo for taking the time for such an excellent arabesque! ^

Wow. We have thought about an rtw ticket but never understood what a great tool it could be-IF you have the know how. I traveled overland in my camper in the 70's from NY to Tierra del Fuego and again from Capetown to Cairo. Figuring out airline ticketing seem only slightly more arduous, but You have made a great case. I'm a convert.