Done4 itinerary help
 

I am new to this site and thus will apologise in advance for asking questions that other more experienced travellers would probably consider silly. Here is my situation. My husband and I are planning the itinerary for a world trip however he is unable to take longer than 8 wks at a time off work. On researching the DONE4, I have read that if we start our trip in Amman, the overall cost is substantially cheaper. This would be ideal for us as it fits in with our itinerary. It would also allow us to break the trip up into two 8 week holidays. Our major points of interest in the first trip are Jordan, Italy, France, North America. The second part of the trip we would focus on Turkey, Greece and New York.

Our itinerary is as follows:
AMM-FCO (surface sector to Vienna), VIE-CDG, ORY-EWR, LGA-ORD, ORD-SLC (surface sector to Los Angeles), LAX-SYD.
Then we planned take a 9 month "break" at home before recommencing the DONE4 as follows: SYD-HKG, HKG-AMM, where we plan to do some travelling in Turkey and Greece before heading back through New York (our daughter lives there) hopefully on a ticket purchased with QF points gained during the trip.

I have played around with the Oneworld planner and this itinerary came in at around US$16,500 for both tickets. I was able to choose mainly QF, AA or CX flights to maximise the FFP points with Qantas.

My questions are 1) can I purchase these tickets on line or must I have an american address on my credit card? 2) have I maximised the FFP points? 3) Is there a better way to arrange this itinerary?

Hoping someone can take pity on a beginner and give me some advice!

Welcome to the forum

Mileage Monkey can help with routes and miles/points earned. But may not be 100% up to date with routes.

You can have 16 sectors (including surface) You can add some more eg. SYD-PER-ADL-SYD, to give a trip to Perth. You have a lot of surface sectors

http://www.slfft.org/mm/award.htm?ow...G-AMM&cabins=y

Welcome to FT pye1201

I was like you back in 2008 when we were planning our LONE4 trip - a total noob:)
Happy to help where I can

Firstly - good idea to break the trip into two parts, and to start somewhere like Jordan, because it so much cheaper than starting from OZ.
I'm sure you realise that you have to somehow get yourselves to the starting point.

Next, fares are a bit cheaper if you start in Egypt (base fare of EGP40,900 about AUD6,300, compared to JOD5100 about AUD7750 - so a saving of about AUD2900 on two tickets). Of course you would have to start from Egypt, but you could still end in Amman - the rules say if you start in the Middle East you must end back there - but not necessarily in the same country

Next - your itinerary is using only 12 of the 16 allowed segments.
No self-respecting FTer would let that happen!
So perhaps during your 9mth stopover in Sydney you could have a couple of short trips? SYD-AKL-SYD and SYD-NOU-SYD come to mind

Do you have a reason for flying VIE-CDG,ORY-EWR,LGA-ORD instead of VIE-CDG-JFK-ORD? You are using 5 segments instead of three ('surface' travel between airports counts as a segment). The two extra segments could be used elsewhere - perhaps additional stopovers in Asia?

The on-line tool has a known bug with itineraries that start with an RJ flight (there's more on this in the 'tool bugs' thread). FTers have identified two workarounds:

1. Play with the tool to find a simplified itinerary that the tool will ticket, then later pay the USD125 change fee to get the itinerary you actually want
2. Set the itinerary up using the AA round-the-world desk, then use an agent in the country of origin to ticket it (AA has an agent in Cairo; not sure about Amman)

There is no requirement to have a US address for your credit card

I doubt you will earn sufficient QF points to do what you want at the end.
Your current itinerary is close to 25,000 miles, so you will earn about 31,000 points, which won't go far (25% bonus for business class; assumes you have no status with Qantas).

Mileage Monkey is useful for planning - as pointed out by Mwenenzi

FYI - here's a link to the fare rules

Thanks for the help!
 

Really appreciate your replies mwenenzi and pandaperth.

Will check out Mileage Monkey thanks mwenenzi.

Pandaperth - I'll check out the itinerary on an Egypt departure - can get a Cathay Pacific airfare to Cairo for much the same as an Amman oneway.

Thanks for pointing out the discrepancy re NY airports - I just didn't think of the difference given we were thinking of spending a week in NY with our daughter. Will redo with JFK arrival and departure.

So even flying business class with mostly QF partner airlines, you don't think there will be enough FF points to get us back home? We are only Bronze members in the QF program - we have about 32000 points each currently. I'll see if I can work it out on Mileage Monkey!

When I get to purchasing the tickets, is there a number for the AA world-wide desk? I have read that the AA desk is far more efficient than the other alternatives. I guess the AA desk will be able to provide me with contact details for an agent in Egypt, assuming it works out that way?

Thanks again for all the help - I'm very new to the RTW experience!!

I'm about to start a DONE4 ex-KRT in 2 weeks.

I will be using the AA program to accrue and redeem. If you signup for the AA Platinum Challenge a reasonable chunk of your trip will be at the 100% Platinum bonus. When it comes to redemptions, AA is also significantly cheaper than QF, both in terms of points required and tax/fuel surcharges.

I'll be ending the trip in Asia, and I think we'll each have about 50k points (I can't remember exactly, it's around that). A one-way business class ticket on Qantas from HKG-MEL is only 35k points + $60 cash.

Cheers

You're welcome

I would have expected Qantas or Emirate to be cheaper - maybe use itasoftware to check this. And if travelling in discount economy, the QFF earning might be better

The AA RTW desk is located in Dallas - phone +1 800 247 3247
It's best to do your homework so that you can feed the agent the flights you want and the dates you want. They are good - setting up our ex-KRT DONE4s last year took about 20 minutes.
Explain to the agent that you will ticketing in the country of origin (be it Jordan or Egypt). Otherwise the agent will assume you are ticketing in the US and it will be priced accordingly

The agent probably will not be able to give you the contact details of the sales agent in the country of origin, but a search in this forum should give you that. When AA has priced it, you contact the agent and pay.

Some ideas on maximising miles:

• As lcag08 said, AA's program has a much better earn/burn than QF's (we stopped accruing to QF in 2008)
• Look in the thread on the Platinum Challenge in the AA forum
• Some ideas for maximising points:

This itinerary is 15,000 miles longer AMM-FCO,VIE-CDG-LHR-LAX,SLC-ORD-JFK-HKG-SYD-NOU-SYD-AKL-SYD-LHR-AMM

For the OP: there is a 'gotcha' to watch out for (it got me last year whilst trying to book a DONE4). Once you get the booking in the system and are given a reservation code, there is a message something to the effect that 'this reservation will expire unless ticketed within seven days'. I got a fare from the AA rate desk but then got distracted for two or three days. When I then gave my local agent the go ahead to write the ticket, he came back and said that AA would not allow him to proceed. At that point I rang the AA RTW desk again and learned the following: while the reservation will keep for seven days, the fare quote is only valid for 24 hours! But no-one had ever mentioned that to me, earlier in the process.

cheers,

Henry

I just did a little back-of-the-envelope comparison of the benefits of this SAMPLE route: CAI-LHR-FCO-LHR-DFW-YVR-JFK-ORD-SLC-LAX-SYD-NOU-SYD-HKG-BKK-LHR-DXB using the AA v. the QF FF program, and assuming you challenge up to Platinum with AA before the start.

Bottom line, you'd earn roughly 87,741 redeemable miles with AA and have Platinum status (Oneworld Sapphire) whereas you'd earn around 68,200 points with Qantas and have Platinum (Oneworld Emerald) status with QFF, i.e. 1500+ status credits and 4 Qantas-metal sectors. (Note I am not an expert on the QFF, so I could be quite wrong.)

So I'd look at both airlines' redemption charts and decide if staying with QFF vs. "defecting" to AAdvantage makes any sense. AA is getting rid of its "soft landing" feature (you only fall one level regardless of how little flying you do) so if you didn't keep up flying 50,000 or more miles annually it would be a one-time thing; of course you won't keep Qantas status indefinitely either.

One note on the previous posts - VIE-PAR is operated by Nikki, which is not included in my copy of the OWE rules as an eligible carrier. Maybe something's changed?

Agree that the OP needs to do her homework on this
But her stated intention was to earn enough to redeem flights: from Europe to US and from US to Australia

With QFFWith AALatest version of the rules includes HG as an allowed carrier

Done4 itinerary
 

Thanks so much for all the help out there - I know you will roll your eyes at my next few questions but here goes:
Due to an unavoidable work commitment we have had to postpone our trip to the latter half of next year (and must fit in with paragliding weather in turkey for my better half which is apparently August/September) thus my first question is how far ahead can one book a DONE4? Obviously, using the Oneworld Planner is a guessing game as far as dates go if my trip finishes more than a year from now. Am I being completely ridiculous setting up the framework of this trip so far ahead?

Next, due to starting so late in the year, I have had to reverse our itinerary. I have (thanks pandaperth for suggesting I better utilise the number of sectors) come up with the following itinerary:
AMM-IST-KUL-SYD-HBA-SYD-LAX-SFO,SLC-DFW-MEM-ORD-JFK-LHR-FCO-AMM
I tried originating in Cairo however, the planner quoted me an increased US$8,000?? We intend to do Turkey & Greece in August 2014, head home for Christmas, quick trip to Hobart in February (thanks pandaperth) and then recommence the American and Italian content in May 2015.

I would have liked a stop in Paris however, I think I can only have 2 stopovers more than 24 hrs in the origin country - thus IST & FCO are the two best ones for us. Am I correct or is the bug that plagues itineraries starting with an FJ flight responsible?

I ran this itinerary through Mileage Monkey and came up with 28,247 miles - would I be better switching to the AA program and forego QF? Icag08 advised me to look into the AA Platinum Challenge, however, even after reading up on this forum and elsewhere I'm still not sure if it will benefit me in this situation as I think we have to fly 25,000 miles before we qualify? So as we are only flying 28,000 in this trip, is it worth it? Of course, it could be me incorrectly deciphering code with which I am totally unfamiliar.

Thanks again for those of you brave enough to wade through my ponderous list of problems, undoubtedly caused by my own ignorance!

I would come back in Jan-Feb 2014 and start again. By then Qatar will have joined OW and possibly Sri Lanka. Prices & routes will be different

Flights can only be booked 355 days out (330 days for AA). And be completed 365 days after the first flight (or is it 365 days after reservation?). You can move dates out: many people do this.

SYD-HBA-SYD is cheap fare so a little wasted, Head for PER, as my sugestion above or as PP's NOU suggestion to get more value. Effectively costs very little to nothing for an extra trip.

Unless a transit, a business class departure from LHR costs a lot (APD tax). If you want to go to London / UK take the train fom Paris

A minor tweek to get 35377 miles AMM-IST-KUL-SYD-HBA-SYD-JFK-SFO,SLC-DFW-MEM-ORD-LAX-LHR-FCO-AMM. JFK & LAX swapped. Easy to do more.

MM shows some sectors with business class not available. But for KUL-SYD I think this incorrect. For USA dometic flights DONE* tickets book into first class IIRC if business is not sold (more SC & miles). Most fliights in the USA do not have business class

A lot of changes are going to be happening in the next year and I think if you're postponing you should assume you'll need a full re-do of the whole thing when you're ready. In addition to Qatar and Sri Lankan being members by then, AA will (probably) have completed its merger with US Airways, increasing dramatically (or not?) its transatlantic reach. So who knows what the route system will look like? The same goes for the AAdvantage program and things like the Challenges - no idea if they will look the same post-merger as now. Frankly I wouldn't sweat it.

If it were today I'd visit Turkey before Jordan, so that you could conserve a European stopover and not use a short (but expensive) segment of the RTW. Istanbul to Amman is an inexpensive and short flight.

The bump in cost for the CAI origin reflects a bug in the online booking tool (one of many.) It seems that when you exercise the option of finishing in a different country than where you started (e.g. in the Middle East or Africa) the tool picks the finishing country's price rather than the starting country's price (which it should do.) The work-around for this is (a) use the RTW desk at AA, or (b) have the trip end where you started, then once booked just do a re-issue with the desired endpoint instead.

For theses trips you need to decide
- what cities you absolutely want to go to
- what cities you would visit if possible
- what cities / airports you would transit to get more miles

- Also getting to an adjacent city and then going by train or separate air fare to your destination can be worth while (Europe is small)
- Close land segments like SFO- SLC are best avoided to maximise mileage
- Be very aware of taxes and fuel surcharges
- Flying codeshares can be beneficial to mileage - status e.g AA flight number on BA CX aircraft

AA freq flyer programe is calender year. Not based on the month you join like Qantas. AA challanges start January or June IIRC

Agreed
If ticketing with AA, then certainly long-haul BA is to be avoided, because AA collects the hefty fuel surcharges for BA
The more stops you have, the more taxes you will have to pay
If flying in business class then it generally doesn't matter whether you fly the AA codeshare or not; you still get the 25% class of service bonus. And with AA you get the status bonus with all OW airlines (unlike say the QF elite status bonus)
One circumstance where it would matter is if you are doing a challenge - flying the AA codeshare on a CX flight will count towards the challenge whereas flying the CX flight number will not count (CX is not one of the airlines eligible for the challenge)
Yes AA membership year for gaining status runs from 1 Jan to 31 Dec for everyone - elite qualifying miles/points/sectors accrued in the year count for gaining status. At the start of the next year, you have to start accruing all over again
The elite status year runs from 1 March to 28/29 Feb

Things are different with the challenge

• you can start any month of the year - and either on the 1st of the month or the 16th of the month. You then have three months from the starting date to complete the challenge requirements
• successfully completed challenges that are started before June 16 will give you status through to the last day of Feb the following year
• successfully completed challenges that are started on or after June 16 will give you status through to the last day of Feb the year after next

Some further thoughts (it’s a quiet Sunday afternoon here)

Done4 itinerary help
 

I am boggled by how much you guys know!! I am SOOO out of my depth in getting the best value I can with my DONE4 - very grateful for the help as my husband and I intend to do a lot more travelling now that the kids have all moved out and started paying for their own flights!

Thanks MWENEZI - I think I will take your suggestion and consider booking in January next year when there will be a clearer picture of what airlines and routes are available. Also taken on board are yours and PANDAPERTH's suggestions for flying SYD-JFK-LAX or SFO then travelling back east visiting all the places we want to across the state.

We need to stop in NY, we want to spend time in Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Italy and Paris, we are happy to spend a couple of weeks travelling across the US and will transit anywhere just about to maximise mileage as by then I will be busy planning the next trip (2015) which will involve Spain, Morocco & Portugal with the necessary stop in NY to visit the daughter again.

Thanks GARDYLOO - I had already thought about doing our Turkey/Greece content first before staring the DONE4 - I will have to recheck a Cairo vs Amman origin in Dec/Jan when I book so thanks for the bug work-around.

PANDAPERTH - you would be proud of me - the last itinerary I came up with I managed to use ALL 16 sectors - with a little help from your suggested itinerary! Thank you so much for your succinct explanation of the AA Challenge rules - nowhere else explained it so well.

Just a couple more questions (for now that is) - when I book in January, intending to start the itinerary later in the year, for dates which then fall outside the required time - you mentioned dummy dates. Would I just book in earlier dates and change them when I commence the itinerary? And if I book in a dummy finish date, will I incur a fee pushing it out to near the end of the 12 month ticket?

And regarding the taxes and fuel surcharges, is there a listing somewhere of these charges for each airport?

Thanks again for all your help!

Just saw this one PANDAPERTH - must have come in while I was writing my reply. You have confirmed it would be better to delay booking for now - I do need more knowledge and information and I think I would end up with a better itinerary by waiting. The DFW-ANC-DFW is a side-trip I had not considered but which definitely has me thinking now. And your suggestion re maximising flights to requalify for PLT status is food for thought - no doubt I will be bothering you again come January to guide me in the right direction!

And hopefully having a daughter in NYC will have side benefits re mileage!!

I will be researching the AA Australia-Europe return tickets which allow a NYC stopover - definite bonus! Can't thank you enough - I have no idea how you know the system so well - you must either work in the industry or have put in many many hours of research!

Lots of excellent advise here.

Just wanted to add that I am fond of using Great Circle Mapper to plan. It shows flight miles and segments, and the visual map is handy for visualizing if I'm properly going from continent to continent. I also use ExpertFlyer to plan specific flights, since I can see the airlines, the equipment, the flight duration, seat maps, etc.

Are you referring to the huge increase ex-Middle East last year, or something else/more recent?

I was able to save about $800 on YQ/YR on the DONE3 I just booked by using codeshares where available. AA code on CX transpac, MH and IB codes on European BA and AY flights.

:) Same here. I knew almost nothing until the local Qantas Travel office closed in 2007 and I had to start working almost everything out myself.

Something more recent

In June this year there were a number of price increases for Europe/Africa (and also it seems some decreases - but I've not heard which fares actually decreased)
See the 2nd post in this thread - oneword-global-explorer-economy-sale

Yikes! An ex-JNB DONE4 went up 10,900 ZAR ($1,116 USD). That's my staple RTW. (Luckily our 2014 is already ticketed, but not happy about an extra $1k per person going forward.)

Is anyone else having difficulty getting Oneworld Planner to work - I am currently working on a DONE4 originating in Cairo and haven't been able to get the planner to list flights for me?

Hello again pye1201:)

I've been having two sorts of problem with the online booking tool lately

1. Using my old desktop PC (Windows Vista:eek:) The tool won't even load properly - neither in Chrome nor in Internet Explorer
2. Using my shiny new Windows 8 PC the tools runs very well, BUT sometimes it just hangs when searching for flights

I've been playing with itineraries out of Sth Africa, and if my first segment is CX JNB-HKG the tool just hangs (BA to LHR and QF to SYD work fine). Also trying to add QR segments anywhere in the itinerary is likely to cause the tool to hang.

I just knocked up a simple ex-CAI itinerary and it displayed CAI-AMM and CAI-LHR flights just fine.

Hi pandaperth - thanks so much for replying. I'm having some real difficulties - I use a Mac OSX vets 10.7.5 - it's just not wanting to list flights at all. I can get my airport list down but then when I go to choose flights it just hangs. I've been working on the following itinerary: CAI-TYO-SYD-NOU-SYD-WLG-SYD-JFK-YVR-MEX-ORD-LHR-CDG-AMM and just can't get a pricing. I also have some more questions for more experienced one world RTW ticket users if I can just get this planner to work!!

Well now I'm confused:confused:

Earlier I was able to choose flights and get a price for a couple of ex-CAI itineraries
And now I cannot

I have managed to price up a variation of your itinerary pye1201 - the variation is that it starts in AMM instead of CAI. Why this should work and ex-CAI does not is a mystery

The pricing is in USD as follows:
Base Fare: 7,225
Taxes: 932
Carrier Surcharges/Fees: 1,580 :eek:

The true base fare is JOD5,100, which converts to USD7200 so that matches OK

Some more queries from the newbie
 

Thanks so much Pandaperth – that sounds a similar fare to what I was getting when I was able to get the planner to work. If you remember from my postings last year, I have waited until closer to my proposed departure date for finalization and as foreshadowed, our circumstances have changed a little in that we will soon have a son living in London as well as the daughter in New York, thus necessitating a change in the itinerary.

Our plan is now to fly one-way to London in September to spend a week with the son & daughter, then spend some 6 weeks in the Greek Islands, Turkey and Jordan, before “commencing” our DONE4 in Cairo in November.

We plan to fly from Cairo to Japan for a week then home to Sydney for a few months (incorporating side trips to Noumea and New Zealand in that time) before commencing the second half of the RTW in May 2015. Our plan is to rack up some miles in the US for a month, seeing a few places on our bucket list before heading back over to London, then down to Rome for a few weeks before finishing the trip back in Amman as per the previous itinerary.
On mileage monkey that comes out at around 40,000 miles I think.

My queries are:

Is the itinerary as previously described the best way I can rack up miles in the US sectors (tried to get all 16 sectors in there….)?

When I book the itinerary, I ring the AA desk and have the bookings done over the phone, then I have to find a travel agent in Cairo who will take payment via credit card over the phone?

With this itinerary, together with the separate flight to London on either American Airlines or Oneworld Partner airline Qantas, would I have enough points to qualify for a flight back given the miles are earned in BC (F in North America). Or would it be better to just buy a return ticket and apply for an upgrade on the way home?

Can I commence an AA challenge on the flight over to begin qualifying for platinum status?

And if I can qualify for Platinum status with American Airlines on the above flights, does that mean that for the period that I am on Platinum, if I pay for a full-fare economy ticket to JFK or LHR, the chances are good that I will be able to get an upgrade to business when requested? (Thinking of all the extra travelling required with both kids OS).

Are there any other tips I should be aware of re booking flights on an itinerary of this scale?

Thanks in advance – apologies for any obviously silly questions from a learner.

It might be a good idea to get the travel agent in Cairo lined up before you have the AA RTW folks ask their rate desk for a fare calculation. I seem to recall reading here that the fare they quote you 'expires' in some fairly short time (48 hrs?).

Emeco Travel in Cairo has been AA's GSA (general sales agent) for some time, and a number of RTWers have had xONExs issued through their services. http://www.emeco.com/index.php There are phone and email contacts listed on their site. Often a (Skype or similar) phone call helps get things started, rather than a blind email.

The online booking tool lets you put in destinations that require a plane change, but sometimes that causes it to seize up (along with its general perversity, the time of day, the wind direction, the tides and phase of the moon, apparently.)
In addition, it balks when Royal Jordanian or Qatar are the first carriers, and when you end in a different Middle East country than the one where you originate. Although the rules explicitly state this can be done at no charge, for some reason (the answer, of course, is lousy programming) the tool imposes the price from the ending country rather than the originating one. Thus if you start in Cairo and end in Amman, you'll get the higher Jordanian price for the whole trip. Seriously annoying; the work-around is either to have a human do the booking, such as the RTW desk or Mindpearl (South Africa) Tal (Israel) or hopefully Emeco, OR to show the trip ending in Cairo and then just re-issue the ticket later, changing back to Amman - US$125. Try CAI-LHR-NRT-SYD-NOU-SYD-WLG-SYD-JFK-YVR-DFW-MEX-ORD-LHR-CDG-AMM-CAI in the tool and see what happens. Having BA as the first carrier (CAI-LHR) will trigger huge BA fuel surcharges for the whole ticket, so you might ask whatever human you use to ticket via DOH or AMM as the first segment (i.e. CAI-DOH-NRT...) to avoid this, something the online tool can't handle.

Right, quite a few questions, so here goes.
I have re-ordered them, so that the answers flow a bit better (in my opinion)
Happy planning:D

Edited to add: with US Airways and TAM (Brazil) coming into the alliance on 31 March, there will be a new version of the rules. Hopefully without changes other than acknowledging US And TAM's entry

Thank you so much Gardyloo and Pandaperth - I would not be attempting this itinerary without your help!

First yes I think you are right Gardyloo - every time I start in either Cairo or Amman the planner just spits the dummy! I think I might have to get a human to do the booking…. I will definitely use Emeco Travel, Cairo. Thanks for the heads-up also about ticketing the first segment via DOH or AMM.

Pandaperth - so first up - looking at the AA Other Airline Award Chart, I'm assuming we could book any Qantas flight not starting with N, G, S, O or Q to London before "commencing" our DONE4 and earn enough to qualify Platinum with AA? Looks like that might be a cheaper option than going with AA or BA or a full economy fare on a partner airline?

As far as gaining Platinum status, we would then use 45k of the miles earned on a business fare back home and possibly use up the remainder on a fare to either London or New York (45/40k on the AA Award chart?). Would there be any other benefits to being platinum?

I like your DFW-ANC-DFW suggestion - you mentioned that last year and of course, I couldn't find it on the planner (obviously because it was the wrong season). If I take your suggestion to maximise the miles and go with the itinerary: CAI-NRT-SYD-NOU-SYD-WLG-SYD-JFK-YVR-DFW-ANC-DFW-MEX-ORD-CDG-AMM, I can book the rest of the itinerary with the RTW desk and leave the DFW-ANC-DFW as 2 spare segments? Then when the flights become available after May, do I book them with the AA RTW desk or the airlines direct? And is this itinerary OK as far as no. of sectors goes? I can't run it on my Planner no matter which way I try! I can however get the itinerary minus the DFW-ANC-DFW segments to run if I start it in Tokyo but it comes to 15 segments - does that mean I can't fit the Anchorage segment? And again, for mileage earning ORD-AMM-LHR - isn't this adding yet another segment?

Again many thanks for your very generous help - it means a great deal to me.

SYD-NOU-SYD impossible on a DONE4?
 

I have just booked my DONE4 ex CAI (thanks to all those who helped this newbie get across the line on this one!). My original itinerary (CAI-XDOH-NRT-SYD-AKL-SYD-NOU-SYD-JFK-PHX-ANC-PHX-MEX-ORD-OMAD-OLHR-DXB) was fine – I left the ANC-PHX sector out as these flights are seasonal and I will add those closer to the date when they become available to book. After making the booking however, some hours later I received a call from AA to advise that the SYD-NOU-SYD sector was unavailable as Air Caledonia is not a Oneworld Partner Airline. When I searched the flights, they were accepted by both the planner and Oneworld flight search as a Qantas flight with no indication that it was a code-share operated by Qantas? Has anyone had any experience with this?

This leaves me with two flights to spare in my itinerary – does anyone have any thoughts as to how I can best utilise those flights to boost my miles? I’m hoping to complete a Platinum Challenge on my SYD-LHR flights prior to beginning the DONE4 and was hoping to maximise miles earned on my trip. And I just hate the thought of wasting sectors…..

The tool does have some errors and this appears to be one. Air Caledonia is not an authorizied affiliate for QF:
TYO-HKG, HKG-TYO? HND-SIN, SIN-HND?

SYD-NOU is 1230 miles and SYD-CHC is 1323 miles. I guess NOU was a real destination
In Australia a flight to the west builds mileage, subject to the rules. However I am not 100% with current Aust restrictions.
QF have a summer PER-AKL-PER flight that may have escaped the OW rules
http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=S...avy&MAP-STYLE=

Have a play with MileageMonekey, but unsure if USAirways, TAM & SL are in the flight data base. Click "ignore errors"

Edit
MM change log Look like the new OW airlines are not yet included. Is a massive job to include

For mileage run purpose, NRT-CGK-NRT, NRT-SIN-NRT, NRT-KUL-NRT, NRT-DEL-NRT are good candidates.
Probably, DEL requires VISA, so other three itin are better, same aircraft turnaournd can be done.
exHND flights cost extra surface segments NRT-HND, so aren't options.

If the ticket was bought after UL joined, then NRT-CMB is almost 1000 miles farther than SIN, and a turnaround appears possible. Not daily, and if the ticket predated UL joining, no dice.

I'd go to SIN and just eat.

Thanks for the help!
 

Some great suggestions here as usual – thanks all for your input! Have done some homework (which I should have done earlier) and found QF operates weekend flights to Noumea – apparently the codeshare flights are weekdays. I will have to ring the AA desk and change the dates to arrive and depart on the weekend. Would love to take up suggestions re NRT round trips but as we live in OZ, we are using this RWT to give us effectively two major 8 week holidays (first part and last part of the itinerary) and 2 side trips (SYD-NOU-SYD & SYD-AKL-SYD) in the 12 month period. So that leg of the trip puts us on the homeward bound section at which time my better half just can’t be away from work for too much longer.

Will just have to be content with a mileage of just under 45k miles – it’s enough (with the Platinum challenge) to get us a free flight home at the end of the DONE4! I’m happy!

Again many thanks for all your help – I love this forum where beginners like me can learn so much!
^

Good outcome. We also should have checked

Is hard to get award flights USA to Australia especially in business class. You may need a ticket out of USA for visa requirements. Awards flights are not free, but a lot less cash with AA than for QF awards