adding EZE/GIG makes it a DONE5, which is more money. they are planning a DONE4.

Sure it does. It was just a suggestion. That is why i mentioned Latin American or North America. routing. There is also so much potential within North America as well. I would ensure to max use of the each region. Like MEL is the only destination in the Pacific region and no segments within the ANZ and S. Pacific region.

It doesn't seem to on QR plated tickets. My friend who is currently on a DONE6 ex-HND had only $144 in YR, he has 5 JL coded segments and 9 QR coded segments, so it seems the ex-Japan tickets are still attracting minimal YQ/YR.


One thing you can't do is leave your hand baggage in the storage in the lounge. Or if you do it, then you have to keep it quiet and don't leave the lounge right away. But I have also left the airport when I had checked luggage in transit.

That seems outrageously low. What was the ticketing carrier?

Japan origination for xONEx doesn't guarantee low surcharges ... This is probably the QR plating effect.
I've seen a couple of ex-HND itineraries ticketed with AA that have $1000-1600 in taxes and fees.

I am planning a short DONE3 for the autumn and plan to book with BA for the same reasons as you mention (OSL-LHR-JFK-DFW-NRT-KUL-DOH-MAD-OSL). Flight codes and metal aligned as 2*BA. 2* AA, 2*JAL, 1*QR and 2*IB. base cost appears to be c£4100 and I was wondering how the nTPs are allocated. In the end could you share how your nTPS were assigned to each flight?

Thx in advance

Why with BA? You will pay much higher taxes and fees than if you are plated by another carrier like QR etc
And why use marketing carriers like BA, AA, or IB? They are not good for giving you nTP... Better to get codeshares like AY/QR/JL instead

The calculation that BA makes for nTP for the fare based one is proprietary and impossible to predict beforehand IMO. It doesn't track with the distance of the flight, they are somehow calculating the weight to apply based on something else. Unless someone else thinos they have cracked the code!

I agree with you that BA/AA/IB codes are best avoided (unless it's a really short flight and the BA bonus tier points make it better than distance-based TPs), but spend-based TP predictions are definitely possible and have been for over a year: https://xonex.pages.dev/

It's basically just distance prorated spend calculated from the base fare.
What's harder to predict is whether a BA/AA/IB marketed flight will credit using the distance or spend basis, and that depends on the ticketing carrier, the number of times the ticket has been reissued, the marketing carrier (AA marketed flights seem to always post based on prorated spend even after numerous reissues), the phase of the moon, etc.

Which airlines are generally the best to use as the marketing carrier?

In general you'll want to avoid BA/IB codes for long haul flights like the plague because of high YQ. Switching an IB code for a QR codeshare once saved me $600 with the AA desk...

Beyond YQ considerations you should just choose whatever carrier credits the most tier points and Avios (or the equivalent in your FFP if you're not with BA). For BA that's going to be JL (massive Avios multiplier and 50% of distance for TPs), AY (less Avios), QR (still 50% but significantly less Avios).

For AY you should be aware that they don't do original routing credit...