Just a very minor alteration to your calculations - remember that flights from US to the Caribbean are in Business Class and not 1st so on LAX-SXM-JFK at 1.25 Q points per mile rather than 1.5 count on about 1000 Q points less than you've calculated. Don't let things get too close to the wire!

If you're flying out of Sydney after Feb 28th QANTAS will have recommenced direct flights SYD-JFK. So why not do SYD-JFK-DFW-GRU. It will give you a good safety buffer.

Is this RTW ticket available in the US for purchase or in JNB ?

YOu can call 1-800-247-3247 to purchase the ticket. This is the AA RTW desk

And it's done! $4900 with taxes. The extra LAX-DFW caused the price increase, but frankly I'm happy to have it OVER with. Cathay will be ticketing from their NYC office and will fedex me the tickets. I asked her about segment limitations and she said she hadn't heard of anything like that but she assumed these would be issued as 'conjunction' tickets and broken up into several books. As long as they can issue 'em, that's allll I care about.

I just got through reading this discussion and am amazed. This is a really great deal. I know where I'll be coming for advise when I'm ready for that RTW FC trip (it'll be a few years to save for that one).

Can something like this be done on Star Alliance?

Definitely! Visit www.fewmiles.net for more info and also check the Star Alliance forum.

Kanebear, how are you breaking up your trip into segments such that you spend only 1 day in a hotel? I am very tempted to do the same.

Kanebear,

Nice job. Since I am your next door neighbor I'll be interested to hear more about your experience.

Also - thanks for an idea. Taking all the time off was a concern of mine.

If I understand -- I could do a portion of the trip -- end up in DFW - stay home and work (bad sound to that isn't it?) stay for a while and then finish the RTW trip later.

Well done.
Frank

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TANSTAAFL - but if you work it right, FF miles comes pretty close.

Here's how it all works. Note that for the originating leg I'm having to take off a Tuesday evening and am gone through a Sunday. The rest are all out Thursday eve back Sunday except for the end which no matter how hard I try gets me back to DFW early Monday morning. Legs in parentheses are positioning flights that are NOT part of the RTW. Non-OW carriers will be noted, those got paid for with miles.

This is all on a weekend in March.

Tue - (CO CRP-IAH-LGW VS LHR-JNB arr Thur morning.)
Thur - CX - jnb-hkg
Fri - CX - hkg-cgk (overnight hotel stay)
Sat - CX - cgk-hkg-nrt-hkg-syd
Sun - QF - syd-lax-dfw-(aa CRP)

Note that if I didn't mind getting back on Monday morning I could have gone SYD-JFK-DFW and earned quite a bit more mileage but I can't let myself be gone that long and this routing gets me home (and in bed!) that Sunday night.

I then pick up two months later after hopefully calming my by-then wife and parent/boss down enough to let me go again.

This leg, I take off on a friday afternoon/evening. I have a 9 hour layover in GRU, not sure what I'll do but I'm sure I can figure SOMETHING out.

Fri (AA crp-)dfw-gru
SAT LA gru-scl-lax
SUN AA lax-dfw-(crp)

Again, two months later, I leave on a Fri.

Fri AA lax-sxm (with 2 stops)
Sat AA sxm-jfk (I was wrong, this is another hotel night. I could probably get home somehow but I chose not to bother.)
Sun AA ewr-dfw-(crp)

And finally, in Sept, I wind all this up. This time, I also leave on a Thursday evening.

Thu (AA crp-)dfw-lgw
Fri BA lhr-dxb
Sat BA dxb-lhr-jnb (doing a Darren turn here and leave 2 hours after LHR-DXB. Arr jnb Sun)
Sun (SAA jnb-gru AA gru-dfw arr Mon)
Mon (early EARLY morning)(AA dfw-crp)

And it's done! Except where noted, I overnight on the plane and am back in CRP on Sunday night. It'd be even easier from a hub or larger city.


[This message has been edited by kanebear (edited 12-29-2001).]

Interesting trip but it seems to violate the rule that states only two international arrivals in NA, one of which must be an in transit stop between SA and somewhere else.

I am so proud. I have a "turn" now named after me. I wonder if this is how Kennedy got started?

You're right, but CX didn't seem to have a problem with it at all. Different airlines seem to interperet the rules differently. From what I've read here, BA seem to err on the side of ignoring the rules and saying no, AA seem to follow the rules, and maybe CX gives a little leeway? If they're willing to rate it and ticket it, who am I to argue?

My brother (AA pilot) dropped off the latest (Dec 01) paper timetable the other day at my house and I was perusing the current 1-stop North American non-coast-to-coast allowable OWE mileage maximizer flights. It seems the big winner now is BGI (Barbados) to LAX with one stop at MIA. Comes in at 3,9XX miles! There are a few other new ones out there in CONUS that are above/around 2,500 miles. I can look them up if anyone is interested.

Why do I sense a re-route/re-issue in my future???