I have the enviable problem of redeeming 250,000 in AA/BA/One World alliance miles.

Given the research I have done already, i think redeeming miles based on airmiles flown is my best bet. Am I missing anything? The oneworld interactive planner has been a great tool.

Also, am getting overwhelmed by the options...can anybody suggest some other good websites where people discuss RTW itineraries?

I'm interested in traveling to almost every country but need to narrow things down. What I learned from my SE Asia travel is that I liked it best when I settled into a place for at least a couple of weeks instead of always being on the move.

Welcome to FT!

There are no "Oneworld Alliance" miles; each frequent flyer program has its own redemption and routing rules, so you need to be a bit more specific.

For other sites that talk about RTWs, you might look at the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree's "Gap Year and RTW" forum - http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntre...spa?forumID=58 - which has many such discussions.

Most redemption tickets have a one-year lifespan, so your idea of stopping to smell the flowers is fine if you have the time.

Yes, Welcome to FT julesrules_79.

You are on the best 3rd party web site for researching this. I'd suggest searching Google for phrases like "Flyertalk.com RTW Award on AA"

You can also try http://www.oneworld.com/ and the web sites of specific airlines like AA, BA, etc.

You can also call the airline and ask to book a RTW award for help.

Or, you could post again on FT with more specifics about what you want to achieve.

Sounds like you will have a great trip!

I have 160,000 miles with AA and 100,000 with BA.

Thanks for the suggestion for lonely planet forums.

I think the toughest part will be deciding on travel dates once I start my trip - hopefully there is some flexibility with regards to leaving earlier or later than I had expected once i land in that country.

Thanks for the welcome! I have been a lurker on here for awhile.

Also welcome to flyertalk!

It depends on the program you are using how flexible your ticket is and how much it costs to change.
Keep in mind that you need to have award space on the new flight, which can be difficult especially on a short notice. So it often sounds easier to change an award ticket that it actually is. It depends much on the route.

If flexibility is most important you should look at other inexpensive ways to travel. Loock at the paid RTW tickets which book in a higher class, so much less problems to find space.

160K points with AA will get you a RTW in business class. They have their own rules e.g only one open jaw per itinerary etc so make sure you check them before commencing.

The 100K BA miles may allow a companion to accompany you in Economy. It will take a bit of coordination and flexibility . For instance Syd to Europe can be via Gulf and then Iberian... other than the obvious routes.

Good luck.

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Jules, There is an excellent sticky in the FT AA forum on redeeming AAdvantage miles for a oneworld award. You can get a 25,000-flown miles business class oneworld award for 150,000 AA miles. If 25,000 flown miles will not be enough for your itinerary, you can have one open jaw on the oneworld award, and perhaps use some of the BA miles to fly between the open-jaw cities. (For example, 25,000 BA miles will get you a one-way business-class award on AA from SFO or LAX to JFK.)

thanks for the posts. I have checked out that sticky post quite frequently and have been using the app on the oneworld.com website to try to figure out an allowed itinerary.

i've already forgone the south pacific because the oneworld alliance partners don't fly there. Fine i can start in New Zealand.

But where I am getting stuck is India to Africa (specifically, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania). The only way to make to Tanzania is to fly to London first via British Airways and then back down which seems rather silly.

So i thought that i'd transfer some Starwood Points to Qatar Airways as they seems to have the best redemption policy - namely ability to get one-way redemptions at 50% off the round trip mileage requirement. So for example Delhi to Dar Es Salaam one-way would only be 25,000 miles. I have United miles but it would require 80,000 miles for the same routing and it's offered in round-trip only. I also priced out the ticket, which would be $600 one way.

Any other suggestions for how to better travel between India - Middle East - Africa? I would obviously prefer to use up all my oneworld points first.

Thanks!

I think you're confusing two things here - the app on the OneWorld site is for planning and booking revenue tickets, not award redemption tickets. The rules for the two types are quite different.

Moreover the rules for using AA miles for a OW award from them are different from those for using BA miles for a OW award from BA. You certainly can't combine the AA & BA miles in one ticket.

I've read through the rules for AA redemption but not yet for BA. I think the app is helpful in that it at least tells me where oneworld flies. And the revenue RTW ticket has a 16 segment restriction, just like the award redemption.

And yes I'm planning on redeming two tickets - one with AA and one with BA with some time spread out in between. Especially since the award tickets have 1 year expirations from time of ticketing and I'll be traveling for a year so that may become an issue.

True but the redemption tickets are valid on some airlines that are not members of oneworld.

ARRGGHHHH - no flights (in any class) from SFO or LAX to SYD or AKL in all of July.

What to do???? Keep trying and hoping that seats open?

Try MEL or BNE instead of SYD. Despite what Air Sydney (QF) think SYD is not the centre of the universe.
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