QR also flys to CPT & DUR in South Africa. As a former resident of JNB (for ~2 years) any thing is better than Jo'burg.
The QR AKL flight currently flys AKL-(ADL)-DOH. They used to fly AKL-DOH non stop..

To maximise ff earnings going from the extreme of 1 continent to extreme/middle of the next is better than taking the shortest flight between continents. Example for North America to Oceania (AU/NZ) on QF JFK-(AKL)-SYD is better earning than HNL-SYD but the same 1 segment. (JFK-AKL-SYD earns as JFK-SYD as is 1 flight number)
A map from the Great Circle Mapper - Great Circle Mapper

My BOLD.
Agree, great suggestion. I had completed 2 ex-OSL DONE4. Once I used OSL-DOH-SFO, to get home to my home part.
Next time, I did OSL-DOH-LAX (also went home to SFO, but on a separate award tic).

EF is an excellent tools for planning a xONEx.
I use it also to get an estimate of what taxes, YQ/YR etc....

I do a lot of RTWs where I stop in each place for only three days. If it's our first time, it's enough to get a feel for the place and if we want to go back, and if we've been before then we know where we want to go. But that's based on doing an RTW each year.

Expert Flyer has a timetable query that's very helpful for this, although if you have a date range in mind, then the flight availability query works fine. For advance planning (more than 331-360 days ahead), I'll pick dates in the same month a year earlier, to get an idea if flights might be seasonal. The timetable query includes the start and end dates of a flight (although these may be extended). When using the flight availability query, as mentioned the "alliance" drop-down allows limiting to OneWorld flights. When using the timetable query, use the filter in the results window to deselect all airlines, then select the OneWorld ones. Be aware that in some cases, a flight may be available as a OneWorld airline code but operated by a non-OneWorld airline. Such cases might not earn anything, check the details of the frequent flyer program you will credit to.

I always go home at least once on an RTW, often twice, on occasion three times.

I agree, although I place BA pretty far down, because of the risk of getting their old Club World, which are dreadful seats.

This is a great option, although as i mentioned, stopping anywhere in the U.K. for 24 hours or longer will incur the UK APD, which is expensive. You might consider stopping just outside the U.K. (e.g., DUB) and taking a side flight or even surface transportation, although I personally never want to waste a segment, so what I usually do is to pick a place I'm stopping anyway, and get positioning flights from there to my home and back. E.g., on my current RTW, I originally planned to stop in DOH for six months, with positioning award flights from there to my home and back, but QR has dramatically reduced business class award availability, so instead I moved the six-month stop to LIS, and purchased a business class round trip from there to the U.S. and back. (It cost about half of what the same trip from the U.S. to LIS costs.)

This is an excellent point. One thing to be aware of is that QF offers direct flights between LHR and SYD (they make a stop in SIN but it's only one segment).

How do you use EF to estimate taxes and carrier surcharges? I know some people use matrix.itasoftware.com for that, although that shows what the operating carrier charges, not what an RTW ticketing airline charges.

Hi all.

Wow! Thanks for all the info and suggestions. I need a bit of time to go through it all and will reply in a bit more detail when I’ve done it.

But that’s really helpful and it looks like I have lots more homework ahead of me!:)

Just wanted to add regarding YQ/taxes. one of the things thats allowed on RTW is to book any codeshare even if not connecting. booking things on JAL/CX etc significantly reduces YQ. OWE tool defaults usually to ticketing on first segment airline (and QR/BA/AA/QF all have high YQ), BUT You can get it JAL ticketed for much lower YQ.

It seems to me also a lot of places to visit in a short period. It only takes one bad overnight flight, one misrouted bag, or one missed connection to ruin a day, and make your wish you were back in your own bed at home. If you are a road warrior -- you know the game: enjoy it, take those inevitable knocks on the chin. But make sure your travel partner is on board with this plan!

I don't think RTW fares deliver best £/TP. I'd be looking to make everything as comfy as possible, and if I needed more TPs, I'd just have to book another trip later in the year. :-)

I wouldn't sweat it about UK APD. Yes it's £191, but avoiding it by breaking your journey in Dublin or Paris can incur its own costs (extra hotel night, transfers to/from hotel, meals, drinks, separate flights to LHR -- doesn't leave you with a lot of change from £191). So maybe it makes sense to avoid the APD, maybe it doesn't, but don't assume you've saved £191 by doing so.

I'll also add, internal QF flights are very cheap for Avios redemptions. So you may find it more logical to do SIN-SYD-AKL, and book a separate SYD-HBA-SYD ticket on QF using your BAEC points.

Codeshares and which airline tickets are separate, although both may affect carrier surcharges (YQ/YR). I've been able to book any codeshare for international flights, but not for domestic flights (which makes sense because of regulatory constraints).

Yup - they are separate, but both affect pricing. eg those collection BA/Avios can find loads of BA codeshares but the YQ seem to grow significantly

Wow, that is good to know. Thanks for sharing.

Are you pricing/ticketing RTWs these days?

Yes, as anabolism said, not all code-share flights are bookable individually. Many have traffic restrictions.

How do you use it to get YQ? I have only managed to get DONE4 base fares. What have I missed?

My bad!

I meant to use ITA Matrix to get tax & surcharges; EF to do xONEx routing and flight selections.

Hi again all.



Thanks again for the very helpful replies and all the information and suggestions. It’s given me plenty to think about and discuss with the Tour Approvals Officer! :D

Special thanks to pandaperth, anabolism and Mwenenzi for your comprehensive replies and the alternative route plan which looks great, if a bit daunting for a first time.

Rather than answer each comment in turn, I will try and do it in topics and apologise if I miss any.

Duration.

I know it’s a lot in a month and we can maybe stretch it by a week. We have been to all but one of these locations before so are happy with short stops but plan a longer spell in Tassie. I note the comments about making RTWs into multiple trips and indeed picked that up from the Wiki. However, we want to keep it relatively simple for a first time. Who knows? we might get the taste for it as suggested. One thing the OW tool, despite its imitations has demonstrated, is we can do this in the timescale, subject to future schedules etc. We will have to balance time in the air, time on the ground and the TP earningin the 4-5 weeks, so it will be a compromise anyway.



Locations.

As said, there is only one new one, so we are ok with the time we have and what we plan to do in them, and we also chose easy places for us to visit re visas etc. I absolutely note the comments on Johannesburg, and Cape Town would be better (the tool would not give me an option, same with Kona over Honolulu!).



Segments.

Again, I note the 16 segments and trying to maximise these along with the TP potential. I had not picked up the single transcontinental US flight rule and that explains the options the tool was offering on the LAX to NYC leg, so yes, via DFW to HNL looks attractive.

Given the tools limitations, I agree, I need to look at the options separately on certain legs to get the best out of this.

General.

Intention was also to meet the ‘4 eligible flights rule’ so we will likely be looking at BA codeshares where possible. I note the comments about BA old CW…... (we are used to it!) and we have recent experience of AAs ‘F’ product on internal flights, particularly a redeye from LAS to JFK! So, we will seek the best comfort options where we have that flexibility.

Thanks again for the help and advice, it is very much appreciated. I still have lots of time and planning to do but I will come back and tell you what we settle on and how the process goes!?