Hola flyertalkers,

I'm a student who needs some advice, hoping you can help me. I;ve gotten an internship in Buenos Aires, Argentina for 11 months. I'm suppossed begin working on Nov. 1st (if all the visa papers continue going well).

Now since a one-year ticket costs me around 3200 CDN, I'm seriously considering a RTW or continent ticket ex-yyz..
I would like to maximize my mileage (as everyone else) and I would like to make the followin stops, brackets are exta)

yyz-yyc-lga-lax-iah-mty-mex
mex-scl-pmc-poa-bue
(11 months later)
bue-syd-mlb- auck
tyo-hkg-INDIA-tlv-yyz

comments? suggestions?
IS THIS Possible??
THANKS A MILLION FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!

In general it's clearly possible, but you will have to refine some of the details. For North America you are basically restricted to the routes operated by AA, for South America LA and LP. I doubt you can fit all your Mexican and Brasilian destinations into a OWE. As for your "return," somthing like

BUE-SYD-MEL-AKL-SYD-TYO-HKG-BOM/DEL-HKG-LHR-TLV-LHR-YYZ

would work. You can also add two Asian and two European segments to get more mileage.

Speaking of mileage, what FF programme do you plan to put the miles in? If you want AA miles, for example, you need to avoid BA transatlantic, which means LHR-YYZ nonstop is out.

thanks a million for your reply.

I'm going to be using AAdvantage program for accural as I've just gotten their credit card and would benefit me the most.

As well, I was overlooking the last part of the trip and realized TLV is Europe, and considering I'm using North America, South America, Australia and Asia, I'm unusure if I can use the TLV segment. I'd prefer not to pay extra so if worst comes to worst, I can eliminate this segment.

second part of question. I think if I fly via yyz-ord-yyc (calgary) would that force me to pay extra as it's an extra segment? This way I stick to AA metal and not Air Canada metal.

Thanks a million for your advice..

oh last question, does the ticket HAVE to be used in EXACTLY one year or can I extend it a few extra days (seeing that I'll be spending 11 months in Argentina)

YOUR HELP IS HIGHLY APPRECIATED!!!

You will have to pay for Europe as a fifth continent whether you stop there or just transit on your way from Asia to North America.

YYZ-ORD-YYC counts as two segments, so it all depends on what your other North America segments are, you are allowed a total of six. If I remember correctly you are also limited to two stops in your continent of origin which may pose a problem for your desired itinerary.

I doubt very much they will let you go over the one-year limit.

About AAdvantage miles for a OWE RTW in coach, you need to be careful with BA (no miles for transatlantic, possibly no miles at all depending on your country of residence), CX (no miles unless you have a Canadian address), EI (no miles), IB (at best 30% miles), and QF (70% miles). Try to book as many code shares as possible on AA, AY, or LA code (must be oneworld metal) as they all earn full miles. This is from memory, I may remember wrong or it may have changed. You can read about the current rules at aa.com/memberguide under Earning miles.

It's not all that competitive but you might want to consider an OW Circle Pacific fare. You'd be limited to N.Am. - S. Am. - SWP - N. Am. (If originating from N. America, it's either Asia or Latin America but apparently not both).

A route you could use would be YYZ-ORD-MIA/DFW-SJO-SCL-EZE-AKL-SYD (and whatever stops you can fit into SWP, SYD-MEL-PER) -LAX-YYZ. You're allowed 4 free stops with extra stops costing more. Not sure how competitive the fare is with a 4 continent OWE (I think the OWE does not permit crossing the same ocean twice so you'd have to do a 5 continent fare N. Am. - S. Am. - SWP - Asia - Europe - N. Am).

Doubt you can extend the fare even by one day.