Answering my own question, I think—the final segment, which must be flown, adds xHEL so I have too many segments in Europe.

Also, AKL-JFK is really, really tough for availability/

It's around 7k USD. Anyone get a better DONE5 than that? Just trying to benchmark the YQ fees! This is for ex OSL

AA fly AKL DFW, DFW LIR & LIR-JFK/PHL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanacaste_Airport

Maybe AKL-oHKG-JFK?

That sounds about right for a DONE5. Unfortunately ex-CAI was the only one that had negligible price differences between DONE3, 4, and 5, so may as well do a 5 on them. But other points of origin tend to range $500-1000 per extra continent.

Also sounds like you've done pretty well on your YQ charges since base fare on ex-OSL DONE5 is just over $6200, so a good portion of the difference is actual government taxes & airport fees.

One notable quirk is that QR seems to charge more for the first segment than additional segments so it's adding just one QR segment that can lead to a noticeable hit.

Also i *think* (would love more data on this) AY is much cheaper going east than going west.

I can only answer the QR part, yes your observation is correct. If I recall correctly, QR applies a flat YQ/YR to the first segment then a much smaller incremental YQ/YR for subsequent segments.

Many of us in this board maximize QR segments, so it balances out in the end. It's pretty easy to use them for the long haul intercontinental segments, plus any intra-Europe segments. You'd also most likely use them for any Africa segments.

Yes, to get the 7k USD DONE5 fare on the online chatbot tool, I did:

OSL-xHEL-DOH AY
DOH-BNE QR
​​​​​​BNE-CNS QF
CNS-SYD QF
SYD-xLAX-JFK AA
JFK-xDOH-NBE QR
NBE-xDOH-LHR QR
LHR-OSL BA

Seems like I can't add another holiday inside Europe and Middle East because there are already 4 segments (OSL to HEL to DOH, DOH to LHR, LHR to OSL), and 2 sets of intercontinental departures from Europe and Middle East (out to BNE and NBE, and back from JFK and NBE).

The routing seems to minimise YQ fees, but anyone have advise for better routing? And the ability to add on more trips and keeping within the routing rules?

The annoying thing is it's a 5 continent fare even though we wouldn't visit Asia. I guess there's noway around that, but maybe we could add in a flight via Asia from Australia?

There's no reason to do that transit in HEL on your outbound, just don't book through the tool and fly it on QR. That's a wasted segment that you can use for something else.

Do you have any interest in Hong Kong or Tokyo, as you mentioned, you have to pay for Asia anyway, so why not use them? You can fly HKG-JFK on CX or HND-JFK on JL (or AA but wouldn't unless it's the absolutely only option). No need for the xLAX segment what way either. That actually gives you one more segment that you can use for another Asian city. Could be somewhere that QF fly to (since CX and / or JL fly to all of those), or anywhere that another OW airline flies to from Australia that also has flights to HKG or TYO (KUL, CMB come to mind), that gives you quite a lot of options for 2x Asia stopovers. JL shouldn't add too much in YQ, I don't think UL does either, but MH or CX might, just have to investigate.

I suspect you have an error in your codes as well, NBE is a relatively unknown airport in Tunisia that's mostly served by LCCs, I think in Tunisia QR only flies to TUN, but that's also Europe for OW Explorer purposes, so probably you want NBO since that's Africa?

Thanks, yes the HEL was just to price this thing properly on the tool for indicative purposes. Hopefully starting with QR doesn't boost the YQ fees much.

Due to timings constraints we would have to do Asia after Australia, will have a look at going via Tokyo! Hopefully not too much YQ, and JL are v nice I've heard.

I meant NBO, typo! Good inference!
Sadly the connections in Africa are quite poor for OW, so would have to do an surface sector if adding something inside Africa itself, and can't visit South Africa or Mauritius itself either, so would look at Seychelles perhaps.

Thanks for the help. Is it best to book via AA RTW, or can a travel agent book earlier than the 330 days (need to secure some high demand dates around New Year's 2025). Any travel agents specialise in this kind of thing?

Sadly yes, Africa is a major hole in the network at the moment since the franchise of BA in South Africa went bust. Hopefully in the coming years Rwandair and / or Airlink will join.

But lots of options to add something inside of Africa with a surface segment. Seychelles are beautiful but like many island paradises, very expensive on the ground. WB (Rwandair) is a partner of QR and you can use Avios for them at a very reasonable rate, they are bookable on the QR app or website. Rwanda itself is a very nice country to visit, and they reduced the price of the Gorilla permit at the beginning of this year to be in line with Uganda's price, sadly QR gave up their KGL service and let's WB fly the DOH route now with a QR codeshare (not eligible for OW Explorer). Entebbe in Uganda is also nice along Lake Victoria, QR has a daily service to EBB. You could consider Victoria Falls, but to catch QR down there you'd need to make your own way to HRE or LUN, neither are particularly close but definitely do-able.

For booking, it depends on where you credit your miles to. If not AAdvantage, then definitely just use AA to book. If you do credit to AAdvantage though you likely don't want the required AA coded inter-continental segment, so that's where a travel agent would be better. I don't know this firsthand but have heard that finding a travel agent who can ticket on QR stock via Sabre can cut a lot of fuel surcharges out. There are some travel agents who lurk on this board but not sure any of them can ticket that way, none that have raised their hand anyway.

Ok super helpful, thanks so much! Changing to something like OSL-DOH-MEL//(Avios for internal QR flights) SYD-AKL-JFK. Might fit in some side trips here within North America. Then -DOH-NBO//LUN-DOH-MAD-TOS (for the Northern Lights)

That gives 4 segments for side trips in NA to be planned (can skip SYD to AKL and do that Avios if another is another segment needed). Hopefully when FJ joins OW I'll add in NAN, although it does mean 2 segments extra with the DFW stop.

I'll credit to BAEC, so I probably will do AA RTW booking

I used ITA Matrix, set the country of sale and currency to Norway and NOK, but can't see many fees for even the QF3 AKL-JFK flight which I would imagine has huge YQ/YR fees. Currently looking at QR, QF, CX (FJ hopefully!). Are there any tricks for dumping and checking the YQ/YR fees for these?

If any travel agents frequent this forum, feel free to DM me to see if you can help me out here with ticketing on QR or any stock that cuts these fees, I would be interested!

I think I've figured out a DONE4 route that works and has availability, but when I use the oneworld tool it thinks I'm trying to book a Global Explorer and tells me I've passed the mileage limit:

OSL - xDOH - oCMN - xDOH - oSIN - oHKG - oAKL - xSYD - xLAX* - oJFK - xMIA - oSJO - xDFW** - oHEL - OSL

* AKL-SYD-LAX-JFK not bookable as one ticket, but layover at LAX is < 24:00 (3:00)
** SJO-DFW-HEL not bookable as one ticket, but layover at DFW is < 24:00 (21:30)

Is it the tool? Do I have to call AA and feed every flight to an agent?

I went back to the oneworld booking site and it apparently doesn't see any QR segments, although ExpertFlyer shows D availability. Is this normal, and I have call it in?