Advice Needed...
 

Am looking potentially at a LoneX next year for my mother and myself. Starting not sure where, but definately needs to hit, J'burg, LHR, Singapore and probably HK. There may be intra EU flights as well - she is in BNE, I am in HBA - so starting point needs to be somewhere easily accesible for both of us. Not sure about N/A or S/A yet, N/A may be a goer if she decides she wants to visit friends in Seattle, NZ is probably a yes and if we could get to somewhere like Vanuatu that would be great. Am looking at around April/May time to catch the garden shows in the UK - other than that not really sure. Probably looking at about 4 or so weeks all up I suspect. Suggetions as to starting points etc gratefully recieved.

You are looking for a LONE5 such as SWP-Asia-Africa-Eu-NA-SWP. Due to 16 segment LONE5 are not good value now. Stopvers in you starting continent are limited. Flying to/from JHB from Asia or UK on a seperate ticket would make it LONE4. Or starting in Asia with an Aust / Asia return on a seperate ticket.

What do you mean by starting point? You are both in Australia so that will be the starting point for a LONEx.

Vanuatu is not possible on a LONEx as there is no OW metal to there. Actually, other than New Caledonia and PNG there is almost nothing in terms of pacific islands which can be done on a xONEx (a Global Explorer would be required for flight in this area).

Maybe looking at a *A RTW might be a better option? You could fly something like SYD-SIN-JNB-LHR-FRA-SEA-LAX-RAR-AKL-SYD (and some side trip) and also get much more miles as this books into H class.

*A might work, but I dont belong to any FF program in the * network. Was thinking of starting in South Africa and just getting a return tix from here to there. I know LONEx are probably not the best value, but I am
1. Still working in hypotheticals
2. currently almost flat broke until I finish my PhD
3. Am highly unlikely to EVER convince my mum to fly anything other than econ as she doesnt believe the extra expense is worth it.

Firstly, you can just join a *A program so that wouldn't be a problem.

A LONE5 ex Australia is A$4299. The same from South Africa is A$3850. And for the difference you can't make it to South Africa. This is why normally the starting point for a LONEx doesn't matter that much. The savings are too low to justify the extra expense in many cases.
For a DONEx or AONEx the savings are in the thousands of Dollars so it is usually worth it.

However, if you want to look for cheaper places in the vicinity of Australia, a LONE5 ex NZ is only A$3350 and ex New Caledonia A$3650. So in those cases the cost of getting there is lower than the savings so it can make sense.

If starting in South Africa it could be a LONE4, with the same limit of 16 segments.

But then the OP will need a return trip SYD/MEL/PER-JNB.

If I started in J'brg I may be able to do some sort of flight redemption with the new Virgin flights (gotta use the DJ miles somehow) or even a QF redemption if I get the dates locked in early enough to do 300 odd days out. HOWEVER it remains to be seen if Mum would even want to go back..she hasnt been back for 28 years and expresses on a semi regular basis that the only reason she would go back would be to see my godmother in Sedgefield and only then if my godmother couldnt get ID90's to meet us somewhere else!