What are most people’s strategies for optimizing North America stopovers without doing more than one of the limited transcons? I've done JFK -> EGE -> LAX -> EGE -> MIA -> EGE -> JFK, which works well for me because I live in both Vail and NYC and Vail, CO and EGE flights are notoriously expensive. I also have another ticket where I'm doing a JFK <> MEX turn.

optimizing for what? maximum flight distance?

DFW-ANC and back is always a good turn for a mileage run.

Thanks so much everyone for all your contributions from a few weeks' back about my inability to get additional flights on my oneworld Explorer ticket. They were really helpful and I thank you all. My main issue however was nobody at BA even having any knowledge of the oneworld Explorer ticket, never mind being able to help with changes. Two months on, and I thought you might like an update.

I finally got the final set of flights added to my ticket, after a total of 13–16 calls (I lost count) over three months. Progress only began when I started calling the BA Executive Club Silver member telephone number (I'd made the mistake of calling the general number at first), but even then, three out of four operators I spoke to had no knowledge of the oneworld Explorer ticket. They just blindly passed messages to and from "the pricing team", often getting the request wrong because they didn't understand what I was asking about. One operator even convinced me she did understand, but gave the game away by politely asking why on earth I wanted to put new flights on an existing ticket booking, which made no sense to her. When I explained why, she said it was "really interesting". Note that my flight additions were completely valid within the ticket rules, by the way, following the helpful comments here about possible problems. I just don't know why nothing ever got done with my requests.

Four or five calls in a row ended with a promise that the operator was keeping an eye on things and would personally call me back within 3–4 days with an answer. No call ever came. This included the only operator who did know about the oneworld Explorer ticket – he told me that they only got "one or two enquiries a month" about changes to such bookings, so could I be understanding if staff didn't seem helpful. Then suddenly, after so many weeks and yet another call ending with a promise that they'd get things sorted, out of the blue I got a boilerplate email saying to call in to settle up money owed (which turned out to be the expected administration fee) ...and it was all done! Even on that final call, the operator didn't seem to understand what the administration fee was all about, but at least was able to accept it.

So all's well that ends well. I am now composing my letter to BA about the saga. Not that I'm going to to complain (I'm quite aware that would go on a pile to be ignored), but to request that a dedicated line be made available where the operators were at least aware of the oneworld Explorer ticket, and why this would make business sense to them. If nothing else, it'll make me feel better.

I'm very curious why you decided to book with BA rather than with the AA RTW desk which is exactly what you are looking for.

...because I was daft enough not to read this thread before booking! I know better for next time.

BA used to have people with knowledge of these fares and they could be reached by email [email protected]. However, the last time I used them was some 10 years ago so I have no idea they are still there.

Fair question …I would just say overall personal value.

Then it will be hard for anyone but you to have a relevant opinion.

I didn't phrase it that well, but I was trying to understand what other people were getting significant value out of, to inspire my own future plans

Some people try to optimize their FF program, and each program requires a different set of codeshares or airlines. Some want to get exactly 16 segments. Some just want to visit some fun destinations. Some try to optimize the cost requiring an Oslo departure, or similar, and to reduce the surcharges by selecting flight segments optimizes for cost (as opposed to points). Some want to fly specific routes or airlines or airplanes. Some people skip the AA RTW desk in an attempt to train other airline reservation staff.

I start with the places where I want to stop. Once I have those, I want to use all 16 flights and maximize miles/points.

My/our first Oneworld RTW (20 segments, paper tickets) started and ended in Istanbul, which was the cheapest of its day. Our aim was to see places on our wish list and to see some far flung family. However I also was keen to earn enough AA qualifying points (or "Q-points") to make Executive Platinum (OW Emerald) in AA's FFP.

This quest led to something of an epiphany as we tried to wrap everything up in one calendar year, the AA requirement. I did a trip report commemorating this dubious achievement.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip...urkey-day.html

I last contacted them via that email address around June 2024 and it was still in use at the time.