Global Explorer vs. OneWorld Explorer
 

Has anyone carried out an analysis of the costs on a Global Explorer (in A gives you 34K miles).
vs.
an equivalent class Oneworld explorer (3 or 4 continent).

Are South Africa/Sweden/Europe (not UK or Ire !) the best originating countries.

Any differences in the fare rules to be aware off ?

You should also look at ex-Australia fares.

I would be interested to learn more about the 3/4 continent fare - they list a max of 4 segments per continent and 6 segs in Nth America with backtracking allowed.

Does that mean you can do SYD - LA - NYC- SFO-NYC-SFO-NYC-SFO-LHR? (Is the SFO-LHR segment counted as Nth America?

You cannot do more than one transcontinental in the US or Australia, so no SFO-JFK-SFO's or SYD-PER-SYD-PER-SYD. There are some exceptions such as DFW-SJU and SYD-PER-SYD for travel originating in South Africa.

Look at the posting "Maximising BA tier points within NA" for more ideas.

Thanks!

For the kind of travel we do OW seems a much better bargain than Star. Besides being significantly cheaper, OW has a couple of carriers with premier-quality first-class cabins (and you can buy a Concorde upgrade), and useful hubs in both Asia and Europe. Of course ymmv.