Hi guys,
Looking for RTW options brought me here and I read through the stickies and some related posts, but it seems like a lot of information is outdated and changes rapidly. So I decided to open a new post to ask for advice and try to summarize some up-to-date information.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand getting the lowest price depends on:
- city of origin - determines the base fare (cheapest: Khartoum)
- airline issuing the ticket, which is typically the airline of the first flight when booking online, and determines the greater surcharges, such as fuel (cheapest: LAN?)
- avoiding certain airlines and destination, which impose extra charges (in one case changing one city lowered overall surcharges with nearly 40%)

Variance in price is huge. I experimented with 16 segment LONE4 routes which ranged from $2400 to $8000 (with the latter actually covering fewer miles)

I want to do Europe-S.America-S.Pacific-Asia-Europe

As a start point within the EU (where it's cheap and easy to start anywhere if you live in Europe) Madrid seemed like the best option because it was the only way I could start with a LAN flight (Madrid-Lima) and save $500 worth of surcharges compared to starting with EU airlines. The downside was that I had to pass through Santiago twice if I wanted to use 4 segments in South America. This got to me $4300 total.

Then I read about the Khartoum anomaly. Seems like flying 1st class cheap is no longer an option but the LONE4 base price shows up as $1292 in the booking tool (I got all the way to the payment information page so I assume it's legit). Surcharges added up to about $2400 total. It adds a few Arab segments I'm not so excited about, a $100 visa and a $700 return ticket to Khartoum. But the price still seems attractive.
Has anyone bought a LONE4 ex-Khartoum at that price? Even wandr.me doesn't list it that low.

Apparently if you don't want to go to North America, you start planning around Santiago-Auckland, which is the only south pacific crossing and has very limited availability. I read people mentioning some new alternatives but the online tool doesn't seem to offer anything. Maybe there's something planned for 2013?

The South Pacific has limited options. From NZ there's Australia. Anything else seems to be only possible by leaving and returning to Australia (which in turn adds a lot of surcharges). Any alternatives to visit the islands, or should I just book separate side trips?

S.E.Asia also has limited options but with Malaysia Airlines joining *O on 1 Feb 2013 that will change. Do you think their flights will be immediately available when they join?

There are two oneworld South Pacific flights, SCL-AKL-SYD (LA801/QF322) on Lan and SCL-SYD (QF28/LA807) on QF. The Lan flight is daily. The QF flight is 3 weekly.

Khartoum is now dead as a starting option. Or at least the price is not good now to warrant the hassle.

Himeno, thanks for pointing out the second South Pacific crossing option.

So is it a bug in the online tool then? I got the price of $1292 for a base LONE4 today.

[QUOTE=Viktor Valkov;19716572]H
The South Pacific has limited options. From NZ there's Australia. Anything else seems to be only possible by leaving and returning to Australia (which in turn adds a lot of surcharges). Any alternatives to visit the islands, or should I just book separate side trips?
/QUOTE]

From NZ, another oneworld option is to fly to HKG from AKL on CX.

You could fly Santiago direct to Sydney on QF/LA without stopping in NZ, if you are not planning to visit NZ.

Sure I could leave for HKG, but my point was the opposite - I want to use more up my 4 stops in the South Pacific. Thing is I either have to travel within Australia or leave australia for New Caledonya or Tansania and come back (which seems to add some re-entrance surcharge).

For a place with more holiday feeling, try SEZ.

DONE4 out from SEZ is �1774
AONE4 out from SEZ is �2157

You can't use SEZ on a oneworld ticket. No Oneworld members fly there. The price filed for Seychelles is a left over from when BA? did still fly there.
QR does, but aren't yet a member.

Maybe, just maybe, when QR does join we can all purchase those great fares
How long would that last I wonder. Way shorter than the ex-KRT fares lasted I'll bet

Each time you enter and leave Australia costs about $100 in government taxes and charges.
Most (all?) countries charge their taxes on each entry and each exit.

And by the way - Tasmania is part of Australia

Book it if you can! The fares loaded in the main GDS are far higher, so I suspect the tool won't actually let you buy. But please do post if you can complete the transaction!!!

Do you mean Tasmania? If so, it is very much part of Australia and best accessed from SYD or MEL on a cheap flight eg JQ or DJ.

You're right about Tasmania. New Caledonia, which I was more interested in, however increases surcharges a lot. I don't think every country has such entrance/exit taxes like Australia - in fact it was the only one mentioned in my quote.
I'm not ready to book in order to confirm whether the ex-Khartoum price works.

I have trouble with including Buenos Aires -> Lima. According to the oneworld Timetable there are at least two LAN flights every day, however none of them show up in the online planner between April and September 2013. Any idea why? I can't believe they would be already booked, when next week's flights are available.

The required booking class ('L') is likely booked out. Other booking classes in the economy cabin could still be available (hence the flight still showing tickets available normally), but if they are not L, you can't use them on an LONEx.

They don't appear to be loaded in the GDSs at all - no nonstops showing after April 3rd (using Expert Flyer.) Be patient.