Hi All,

I figured I would do one monster MR for a week as I am based in Berlin and need to stop through Los Angeles for 4-5 days in August, and would like to knock off 30-40K miles on a trip as I don't have the ability to travel much in the Fall as I am locked into a job for several months and want to keep EP status.

So...I've never done a MR run before using RTW. I thought I would use OW Explorer since I could plan it online, but would love to hear if people think Gobal Explorer is better.

I was tentatively thinking....

TXL-LHR-AUH-NRT-HKG-SYD (or MEL) LAX-NYC-TXL

I was going to see if I could afford business since I am aware the coach fare class on some of these segments would be less than 1:1 EQM.

Am I thinking about this right or should I be using much less traditional routing in lesser known hubs for better pricing.

Last I saw, pricing was all about total miles flown and more importantly country purchased (started?) in. I can only imagine Germany is more expensive than some relatively close Eastern European countries. Maybe you can get to that starting point, and then work your RTW so that you get off in TXL before getting back to your starting point, then use that last unused segment in the future (or as return trip for a flight that gets you there to start?)

The Oneworld Explorer is continent-, not mileage-based. Starting in Germany (any Euro country in fact) a 3-continent economy OWE ("LONE3") has a base price of EUR 2110; a 4-continent LONE4 is EUR 2500. Your proposed route would be four continents, Europe, Asia, Southwest Pacific, and North America. In business class it would be EUR 6412 and 7019 respectively.

Within Europe and the Middle East (both the same continent under the rules) the cheapest starting point is Egypt, where the LONE3/4 fares are EUR 1914 and 2206 respectively, and DONE3/4s are EUR 4890 and 5135 respectively, so quite a difference.

The ticket allows 16 segments, four in each continent except six in North America. Using fewer segments obviously results in a higher cost per flight.

If this was strictly a mileage run, and if I were trying to re-up EXP in the process (been there, done that, have the black bag tags) I'd probably look at something like this in business class. That would keep you to three continents and allow a layover back home in Berlin before finishing the trip. Remember the ticket is good for a year, so you don't have to rush things, aside from getting your required EQP or EQM credited before your EXP turns into a pumpkin on New Year's Eve.

That route includes a lot of flying before your time in LA, so you could reverse directions with something like this - zigzagging around Asia in the process.

If you had 37.5K AA miles to burn, you could fly down to South Africa in J, where a DONE4 currently has a base price of EUR 4253, and put together a 4-continent trip like this.

With any of these scenarios you need to spend a fair amount of time butt-in-seat, maybe more than you have available. But a 50K+ mile RTW in business class earns at least 75K EQP (not even counting the current bonus offer, which would require you to have the RTW ticketed by AA) and upwards of 100K spendable AA miles, so even if it doesn't work this year there are more years out there.

"Greyish" luggage tags now instead of Black.

Gardyloo: Isn't there one two many segments in North America than allowed in your routing?

Yes, sigh... did it when I was still half asleep. Sorry, OP, but hopefully you get the idea.

Revised - Eastbound

Westbound

OP If your purpose is to gain miles, then your itinerary
> TXL-LHR-AUH-NRT-HKG-SYD (or MEL) LAX-NYC-TXL
is not particularly efficient... for starters you aren't even close to using all 16 of your allowed sectors. You could do more flights with no increase in base ticket cost and only pay extra taxes/fuel surcharges.

Since you are flying LHR and to SYD, if you don;t need to stop in Japan before Sydney, you could fly the Qantas LHR-SYD or LHR-MEL flight which is a single flight number and only counts as one segment. That is a lot of miles for one segment.

Hey, guys. Are these prices really accurate (+ taxes)?

They do appear to be very low
What is you point of origin?

To answer my own question - these are the ex-South Africa base fares
And yes they are correct
The prices are of course quoted in South African Rand (ZAR) and you have shown them converted to USD

In January I paid a base fare of ZAR67,880 for my ex-CPT DONE5, which at today's exchange rate (on xe.com) converts to USD5,348.18