Working on my first RTW. I've been lurking here for a couple of years now and I hope I picked up a thing or two from you all. Here is my rough itinerary.

NRT-SEA-PHX-MEX-DFW-SCL-MIA-JFK-HEL-BER-MAD-DOH-KUL-NRT

I've been playing around with the super wonky OW tool. This route works there and prices out around $6,700 using random dates.

I am Seattle based. The idea is this would be the bones of 5 separate trips to Tokyo, Mexico City, Santiago, Europe, and SE Asia where I'd return to Seattle on separate flights between each major segment. The whole thing would be spread over 8-10 months. I'd book through AA most likely.

Few questions:

1. How accurate is the pricing on the OW tool? And does the pricing change if the dates change significantly? I can't price it out anywhere close to the dates I'd actually want to fly, so I'm not sure how much, if at all, the pricing would change for my real dates.

2. If I book through AA, would the flights to/from MEX and SCL on AA be enough to satisfy them, or do I need to also fly them on an ocean crossing? I'd prefer not to unless I have to but there are many comments about needing to include an ocean crossing with AA to book with them.

3. With my few extra segments I'd likely add stops in Europe and SE Asia, but I'm open to suggestions on maximizing North America as well (e.g. can I work my way back to Seattle somehow during the back and forth?)

4. I plan to credit to AS. Given my start date would be in early 2027, I'm hoping they will have implemented the new earn program by then (2027 is later then "later in 2026"...) and I'd select whatever method uses the anticipated 250% earn rate on partner business flights.

5. Anything obvious I'm missing, could improve on, etc,?

Many thanks for any advice you can provide!

1. The base fare shouldn't change much or at all by date. However, taxes and fees can be vary quite a bit depending on how and which airline books the trip.

2. IME AA's requirement is not for a transoceanic flight, it is for an intercontinental flight. I'm in the middle of an AA booked DONE6 trip where the TPAC leg is on QF and the TLANT leg is on QR. My only long flights on AA metal are JFK-GRU-MIA and that satisfied AA enough that they ticketed the trip.

3. You could fly SEA-MEX on AS and that would save a segment. Not sure how that fits with your AS earnings goals though. Finnair flies SEA-HEL non stop, so that might give you a more convenient way to wrap up your North America portion. For SCL the MIA<>SEA non-stops on AA and AS could be an option. If you must go through JFK you could try to get on AA's LAX-JFK or SFO-JFK premium transcon flights.

4. No clue about AS earnings...

5. The OneWorld online tool is terrible and it may be artificially constraining you WRT to choices/options. Study the OneWorld Explorer rules sheet and build your own itinerary that meets the rules. Use EF, Google Flights, etc. to find non-stop OneWorld flights. Then call the AA RTW desk and feed them the segments one by one.

Link to the OneWorld Explorer rules sheet:

https://assets.ctfassets.net/m9ph4qv...5_DEC_2025.pdf

Since you posted ~3:30hrs ago the rules have been updated following the HA brand~routes of AS formally joining oneworld.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/37719280-post755.html

I don't think Alaska Airlines flies to MEX.

How about
NRT-SEA-PHX-MEX-PHX-SEA-DFW-SCL-MIA-SEA-DOH-BER-MAD-DOH-KUL-NRT

This way, you can get the return flights back home as part of the ticket, instead of shelling out extra.
Remember, DFW-SCL is seasonal. If you are traveling to SCL outside of the S.Amer summer season, fly SEA-DFW-GRU then GRU-SCL on your own (separate ticket), coming back SCL-MIA-SEA
Also, SEA-HEL is both seasonal and only 2-3x per week when actually in service.

If you are optimizing this for more miles.. or more direct routing (ie, less flight time)... or certain carriers.. then that's important to factor in.

Nice catch. And how's that for timing...

You're right. I had my Mexican cities crossed :o

The base price for each country, in local currency, stays the same for months or in the past for years. A few countries may have the base price in USD. So buying with a start point in another country you have possible variations due rate of currency exchange. ROE variations can be minor or major (~Egypt).

Real taxes, in local currency, can change at any time. Total of real taxes is usually minor compared to the total price.

Airline carrier surcharges (local currency), if any, can change at any time. Total can be significant compared to the total price. Predicting airline carrier surcharges based on route~airline is hard to impossible.

First, thanks everyone for all the input. It's all super helpful and much appreciated.

re: the suggested route: NRT-SEA-PHX-MEX-PHX-SEA-DFW-SCL-MIA-SEA-DOH-BER-MAD-DOH-KUL-NRT, I didn't realize I could go back to SEA that many times. Anytime I included it more than once on the OW tool, it broke so I wasn't sure if it was the defective tool or against the rules. This will be super helpful.

The rough plan is Tokyo in January, Mexico City in February, Santiago in March/April, Europe by way of Helsinki in May, and then back to Europe and on to SE Asia in Sept/Oct. That aligns with the seasonal routes to SCL and HEL and hits some of my favorites times to be in these spots.

And I don't care too much about maximizing miles, probably? I'm admittedly keeping this pretty simple the first time just to see how it works out. I'm sure by the next one I'll be geeking out and squeezing every last drop from my 16 segments...

I'm sure I'll be back with more questions, but again thanks everyone.

The online tool has a lot of problems... and Oneworld has no incentive to fix the tool or improve it. After all, why allow users to create complex (yet allowable) itineraries for ticketing? The airlines would love to passively force the traveler into simplifying their RTW trip, so that the online tool will accept it.

Yes, you can return to SEA multiple times as long as you are following the various other rules for flights.
Looks like AA has already suspended DFW SCL after March, so it may be similar for 2027.
Finnair has SEA-HEL scheduled for Sun/Tue/Fri this year, starting at the end of May. Again, prob a similar sched for 2027.

When booking these tickets, I always advise people to focus on visiting the cities you want. If you aren't trying to achieve a certain status, then forget about mileage maximizing.. though you may choose to fly (or avoid) certain carriers which will then impact your routing choices. There will be plenty of people who look down on RTW tickets < 16 segments.. ignore them and focus on what works for you.

Last but not least, you don't have to wait until November to book your ticket if it ends in October. Date changes are free (after you take the first flight) so all you need to do is get the routing correct at ticketing AND ensure your first flight is on the correct date. After you fly the first segment, "expand" your trip out to the proper dates as time progresses.

The DFW-SCL routes are Chilean summer season oriented for Antarctica and Patagonia. They will return next year. And both of those destinations are fantastic, though I preferred Antarctica.

BA once told me in reference SYD-JFK-LAX-DOH “I couldn’t cross North America 3 times like that”
Whilst the rule sheet is clear, interpretations are dime a dozen.

More like misinterpretations are dime a dozen. The rules even list the departure and arrival points which constitute a North American transcon for the purposes of the ticket so there's no need for any interpretation of that and no excuse at all for any agent to get that particular rule wrong.