Can YOU solve my DONE4 puzzle?
 

Here’s a challenge for brighter minds than mine. Whoever helps me the most wins a crappy prize!

I have a 15-segment DONE4 and can't decide how best to make it a 16-segment DONE4 to maximize my miles. I've been trying to solve this Rubik's cube for weeks and I'm numb. For background: I'm based in New York, and the only destinations I actually need to hit are a) Rome in June, b) Sydney + Auckland in November, & c) Thailand in December.

The route as it stands is:
CAI-LHR-LAX-JFK-DFW-ANC-DFW-JFK-HKG-AKL-SYD-BKK-DEL-NRT-LHR-AUH (The only reason Rome isn’t included is because there’s no availability from Rome to New York on my travel date, and I don't wanna waste segments on European short-hauls.)

This is primarily a mileage run, so any thoughts from a wise, generous soul would be immensely appreciated. My savior, again, will wn a crappy prize :D

You could always just change SYD-BKK to SYD-NRT-BKK

OR, do FCO as part of your positioning.

then from SYD:
SYD-NRT-DEL-KUL-NRT-LHR-AUH

You are missing his requirement to be in BKK in December. I guess he could always buy another ticket outside the done4.

Great idea, thanks. That adds over 3k.

Can you elaborate on this? I don't understand.

You have to get from New York to CAI to start the whole thing off. Can you travel New York-FCO-CAI ?

kul-bkk-bkk on RJ will not be expensive!

I'm assuming he's starting in CAI because of the cost of the RTW from there? So starting in FCO might increase that a lot.

I guess the OP could toss another segment on at the end to get slightly closer to home, like AUH-AMM.

Or, for a few more miles, change the end to LHR-DME-AUH on S7 (edited to add: is the EY codeshare allowed in a RTW?) or LHR-HEL-DXB on AY.

These are not huge additions to the miles, but you could benefit from an additional destination and try another airline.

Unless they changed the rules recently, your JFK to AKL via HKG is not allowed. I realize Mileage Monkey says this itinerary is valid, but I question that. It would be great if one could fly NA<->SWP via HKG as I would have chosen that often, but I don't think it's allowed.

If I am wrong please enlighten me.

Below is a solution which is 16 segments and better seats TPAC on QF A380 J than going via DFW on QF 747 J. It is ex-AMM whose DONEn prices are close to those ex-CAI TTBOMK (my subscription to EF lapsed, but the most recent info from Nov 2012 shows a DONE3 price of $6206/DONE4 price of $7193). You didn't say you had to be in CAI, so I guess AMM would work for you. Much easier to get to on RJ non-stop ex-JFK (I did that last year). It also includes FCO which you can stop in ex-AMM, and then if you wanted to do a stopover in LHR you could do so on your return to EU.

AMM-FCO-LHR-LAX-JFK-DFW-ANC-DFW-LAX-SYD-AKL-SYD-BKK-DEL-NRT-LHR-AUH

How about changing LAX for JFK and using the one stop QF 108 service JFK-SYD: AMM-FCO-LHR-LAX-JFK-DFW-ANC-DFW-JFK-SYD-AKL-SYD-BKK-DEL-NRT-LHR-AUH. I assume stopovers / transfers will be placed to allow the JFK backtrack.

That would work, but it would be on a QF 747 and I don't know about the status of J upgrades on the 747s as I have always flown QF A380 F TPAC. You and/or OP may want to check QF forum and/or QF web site for more info on that.

I did a quick look in FT QF forum and was unable to find any information. I did look on seat expert and seat guru, and seat expert had all seats on all versions of QF 747s as Skybeds at 172-degree angle, whereas seat guru listed J on 747 flights with F as angle-flat seats (I believe QF's LAX-SYD 747 service has F). I don't know how updated the seat expert and seat guru info is. For me personally on a 15 hour flight it is all about the seat. IMO, the A380 is a much nicer plane too. YMMV

From a mileage run perspective, it is a better option. And since that is the OP's primary purpose, then it is probably a better choice for the OP.

I recenty posted the following in another thread:

Here's an itinerary that complies with the "old" interpretation of the 2-Asia-entry rule, and that comes in at 58K+ miles.

CAI-LHR-LAX-JFK-DFW-ANC-DFW-JFK-SYD-AKL-KUL-NRT-BKK-NRT-SIN-LHR-AUH

I believe that allset2travel was suggesting that you take care of your FCO visit on your way to CAI and before starting your done4.



I don't think the suggestion to go to FCO when positioning was to start the done4 there but to get the FCO trip requirement out of the way on the way to CAI and once that is done the OP could make his way to CAI and start the done4.

But why pay for that extra flight when the OP has one extra segment available and by routing SYD-NRT-BKK can add 3000 miles and save the cost of that other flight?

This is awesome, thanks. The extra transit of NRT adds miles while avoiding the headache of transiting India. My only issue is that SIN-LHR is on BA and I'd rather not pay their YQ, but if I substitute KUL then I can take MH to London for only about 100 miles less. (I'll tolerate an angled seat to save a couple of hundred bucks, and at least it's an A380.)

And yes, I'm going to FCO en route to CAI.

The consensus among hardened xONEx'ers seems to be that the Asia transit rule applies in both directions. Certainly, many people report having been able to book it that way. So I'm leaning towards CAI-LHR-LAX-JFK-DFW-ANC-DFW-JFK-HKG-AKL-SYD-NRT-BKK-NRT-KUL-LHR-AUH for 58,107 miles.

(How reliably are the fees and charges actually calculated? I kinda suspect I could submit the same itinerary and get a different quote on fees every time - in which case I might as well just fly BA from Asia to London. I wish there were greater transparency. Since it takes them days to recalculate taxes and fees, it's not easy to make comparisons. Any workaround there?)