I have been planning a LONE5 for the past few months and I "think" I have the best possible routing for our trip based upon Oneworld tools and this forum. Europe and OZ are the only destinations where we have some wiggle room with the only required destination being Rome. This itinerary works out to about 3700 USD per person after taxes/fees (but does not take into account we would have to buy a roundtrip to NZ)

Here is the validated LONE5 route with Quantas:

AUK-SYD > Quantas
SYD-BKK > Quantas
BKK-DEL > CP
DEL-NRT > JAL
NRT-LHR > BA
LHR-CDG > BA
Surface Sector CDG-FCO
FCO-MAD > IB
MAD-RIO > IB
RIO-SCL > LAN
SCL-EZE > LAN
EZE-LIM > LAN
LIM-CCS > LAN
CCS-MEX > MEX
MEX-LAX > AA
LAX-AUK > AA

We prefer that South America/Mexico are at the end of the trip, but have to get there within the Visa time frame required by Brazil (90 days)

Am I overlooking any better routings/cheaper options? A mileage challenge would be great, but we have only 2 AA flights on this routing.

Welcome to FT Jenneil

Looking at your itinerary, a couple of thoughts come mind:

• a LONE5 out of New Zealand is very good value in my opinion - NZD4099 plus surcharges & taxes (~AUD3300, ~USD2860) [an ex-NZ LONE5 is only NZD300 more than a LONE4 - excellent value IMHO]
• given that your are visiting 5 continents, I don't see an alternative that would come near to the value of an ex-NZ LONE5
• your taxes & fees seem high - at ~USD840 - this may of course be because you'll be ticketing with Qantas (no 'u') which is notorious for high fuel surcharges (using the on-line tool - in general the airline of the first flight does the ticketing)
• Perhaps instead - take your first flight on LAN - which happens to fly AKL-SYD - as it doesn't charge any fuel surcharges
• you're based in California and starting from New Zealand - have you thought of breaking the journey in California? Say after SWP/Asia/Europe and before Sth America?
• in my opinion you're wasting one of your 16 segments in flying LHR-CDG - take the Eurostar train and use the segment elsewhere - perhaps to go home to California before Sth America? Also since you have 'wiggle room' in Europe - why not drop LHR too - fly NRT-FCO and save another segment.
• with regard to your positioning flights - you could only need one - the flight from California to NZ at the start; you could 'forget' to take the final flight on the LONE5, the LAX-AKL flight. Alternatively, you can consider the cost of the second positioning flight, from NZ to home, as being the cost of having a second holiday in NZ one year after you started the journey
• if you're booking miles to AAdvantage, just be aware that JL only gets you 70% when flying in 'L', QF only gets you 50%, BA 25% and CX precisely 0%

Your current intinerary is: AKL-SYD-BKK-DEL-NRT-LHR-CDG,FCO-MAD-GIG-SCL-EZE-LIM-CCS-MEX-LAX-AKL
Suggested new itinerary is: AKL-SYD-BKK-DEL-NRT-FCO-JFK-LAX-MEX-MIA-GIG-SCL-EZE-CCS-LIM-LAX-AKL

• fly the first segment on LA to save on fuel surcharges
• fly these segments on AA (some are codeshare): FCO-JFK-LAX-MEX-MIA-GIG and LIM-LAX-AKL - a total of 24K+ miles; you'll easily make the Platinum challenge - provided you fly 10K miles in 3 months
• the second stop in LA has to be a transit (<24hrs) BUT if you're intending to forget to take the LAX-AKL flight...

1. Thanks for the tip on trying LA out of AUK. I was trying to maximize AA points by flying AA and it said that was a no-go. I didn't check LAN.
2. Last time I ran the Oneworld tool, NRT-FCO no longer had a direct flight. I called AA Oneworld Desk and they confirmed it has been discontinued. Is this true? If not, that is why my whole Europe Itinerary changed.

I have to run off to work, but I will definitely look into this more tonight.

Thanks again

Maybe the JL flight NRT-FCO is seasonal?
KVS shows JL409 3xweekly until Sep 30
plus some codeshares on AZ (which you no doubt know cannot be used on a One World Explorer)

OP, welcome to FT. Thanks for posting a topic that is of interest to me as well.

pandaperth,
As usual, your insight and the generous spirit of sharing is obvious. Thank you, I learn a great deal from you and from this forum.

You're welcome.

One day I'll get around to posting my thoughts on how one might make effective use of the exception "For travel originating in the South West Pacific, one transoceanic surface sector between TC1-TC2 or TC1-TC3 is permitted".

@Pandaperth-

Despite everything I have mentioned above... I am always open to new ideas or considerations. Thanks a ton for your help already.

*Bump* I also need advice on a LONE5 ex-AKL.

That LAN flight to SYD starts on Feb 1st, real shame it is seasonal, it is AUD$400 cheaper than booking through CX AKL-HKG through the tool.

I tried to book the first flight instead AKL-SYD on AA to see the price but the tool throws up an error, is this blocked if you start in AKL as the codeshare is only available if you are coming from the US via AKL, or is this something the AA travel desk or local office can help with?

LA's AKL-SYD flight is NOT seasonal. Therefore I suspect all 'L' inventory has already gone for January 2011.

I believe that AA's codeshare on QF's AKL-SYD service requires a connection with another AA codeshare flight - either before it (i.e. LAX-AKL) or after it (i.e. SYD- LAX/SFO/JFK)