Already done (in fact dozens of examples, not just one). You can find them using the "Search" function in this forum (Oneworld). But remember that status qualification varies by FF plan, so optimal routing for QF, BA and AA are all different (CX may be same as AA) -- so you have to be a bit more precise and say which status. As for prices, they change frequently but several pricing spreadsheets are linked to from this forum. Some rumblings of further rule changes in Jan 2005 that will make the OWE much less attractive for status acquisition, so if you really want to do this better start within a few months. Each year the OWE fare/rules have changed to be less desirable, as the airlines tweak the product.

The problem is that there are too many variables. Restrictions vary on where you start your journey, and not everyone will want to start in CAI or some other low-cost place. As for ballpark figures, you should be able to get 50,000 miles relatively easily one a xONE4, without going all out for miles. I think I've seen an itinerary of over 60,000 on a xONE4 here. On a xONE5, you're looking at 70k miles or so. I've never played with xONE3's, nor paid attention to them, so I can't give you a figure there.

One idea to get around this would be to add a section on classic mileage runs, e.g. LHR-DXB-LHR, US near-transcons like JFK-PHX, SWP maximizers, etc. Giving mileage run building blocks is more feasible than entire itineraries.

Quit raining on my 2005 OWE parade!! :)

I take it that merely buying the ticket before 1.1.05 would be no insurance against these rule changes? To beat these 'rumblings' one would have to do the actual flying during 2004, right?

[PARANOIA]
OWE 2005: 16 segs only, much less attractive, rumblings, ... what next? :(
[/PARANOIA]

If you've been issued a ticket in 2004 and they do change the rules for 2005, I don't see how they could take your ticket away. At that point, you'd have a ticket and paid for it. Making changes to your itinerary under hypothetic new rules could be trickier though. I wasn't around when the 20-segment rule was imposed, so I don't know how that was handled. It seems difficult enough even now to convince the airlines of the rules, and with multiple rule sets applying to RTW depending on when they were bought could really screw things up.

No - if you buy it before the rules change then those are the rules that apply. But if you have to do a reissue after the rules change then the new rules will apply. Note that changing the routing does NOT constitute a reissue, but changing the first international flight or any preceding flights does require a reissue.

You mean changing the flights on an open segment, no? to change the actual routing one would have to change the coupons so how could you do that without a reissue?

Apologies, I phrased that badly.

What I meant was that on my reading of the rules, changes for rerouting are covered within the "contract" which is the one that you entered into when you bought the ticket. So it is not technically a reissue: it is a change that is permitted under the original contract. NOTE though that the rules explicitly say that for tickets originating in Area 1 (Americas) then a routing change before departure IS a reissue.

If you need to do something that isn't allowed within the "contract" then you have to cancel and issue a new ticket - this would be under the rules pertaining at the time.

The problem is that to get the contract under the "old" rules you need to issue the ticket before they change. That means you set the "Not Valid After" date for the whole itinerary as 12 months from the date of the first flight, as ticketed.

As I understand it, as you make changes to the ticket before departure, the Not Valid After date changes at each rewriting of the ticket to be:
- the NVA date in the previous version of the ticket, or 12 months from the first flight in the new version of the ticket, whchever is earlier.
So care is needed with these changes that you don't pull the start date too far forward unless you are sure you won't want to move it back into the future.

Hmmm... I hope someone can phrase that a bit better for the FAQ :)

Another way to phrase the important point that christep made: tickets are good for up to 2 years: the first flight must be within 12 months of the date of purchase, and the last flight must be within 12 months of the date of first flight. The rules are at the time of purchase, so you can lock in the rules for up to 2 years. BUT you cannot make any changes to the first flight (either date or routing) without losing the lock on the rules; if you do that (and the change is free!) then the ticket is repriced at the current price (on the date when you make the change) and the rules are changed to the rules on that date (effectively you have refunded the original ticket without penalty and bought a new one). So in this scenario you must fly the first segment as originally purchased. All other changes, after flying the first segment, can be made without affecting the ticket rules or price (but incur a USD75 change fee).
Sometimes rule changes occur with no notice (for the 20 segment rule there was about a month notice). The airlines are paying close attention to the rules now during re-issue, perhaps due to some of the past abuses that have happened, but I have found the rules to be fair. And no problem in re-issuing a pre-20 segment ticket, adding extra segments (even purchasing extra segments for a continent), after I pointed out the original issue date.

OK, final version is posted here and I have PM'd Randy asking for it to be made into a sticky. Post or PM any corrections etc, and I will edit the post accordingly. Cheers

please add a note to the bottom -
if you need further help please start a new thread- ? most long term stickies, i think tend to get ignored over time by Ft'ers -
or maybe lock it if no-one else has anything to add

good post me thinks

Good work here folks - thanks very much for bringing it together.

A couple of comments (sorry they are late - I've been travelling):

- On A&D tickets booking into Y on single-class flights: this is true for American Eagle, AY domestic and EI domestic, as well as LAN.

- On upgrades: you have misused "sector" when what you mean is "segment" as you have previously defined it. It is also possible to upgrade individual segments on CX using AsiaMiles.

- On "real First": CX offers real first also to FRA, SFO, SYD, MEL, CDG and on some flights to NRT, SIN, BKK, MNL, KIX, DXB, SEL, TPE, CGK

Eamus, many thanks for pulling it together. Excellent stuff.

One question and one comment:

The continents are counted even if you only change planes there (eg. stopping in Asia on a flight from Europe to Australia), and the continent count includes the continent of origin.

and

You can backtrack within countries and continents, but you cannot re-enter a continent after leaving it, except: (a) a transit without stopover in Asia on a flight between Europe and SWP or vice versa,

Is the order relevant? Could you do a one-segment Europe to Australia flight and then re-enter Asia to travel around? The way I parse this means that the non-stopover transit continent re-entry has to come after you've done your traveling in the continent which you're re-entering. I.e. you can't do LHR-SIN-SYD-MEL-BNE-SYD-SIN-BKK-HGK-... route.

The flights across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans do not count against any continent allowance, although obviously they do count against your 20 segment total allowance. There are, in addition, other restrictions you need to be aware of.

None of the intercontinental flights count towards the 20 segment limit, not just the transoceanic ones. If you fly LHR-CPT, it's an intercontinental flight, and does not count towards either the Europe or Africa stops.

the ba pdf link (oneworld map) doesn't seem to work anymore-

replace with this

http://www.rtwinfo.co.uk/ft/explorerlatest.pdf

also include a link to the star files somewhere?

Thanks to all for the comments and amendments. Will tweak the main posting this afternoon. I thought the wisdom was not to link the starfiles but I will put the link on if you all think it is worthwhile/appropriate. Personally I would put the link up there, but I recall others took a different view.

No, the order is unimportant. I will tweak the language to make it clear that it makes no difference which direction (in your example, Europe-SWP or SWP-Europe) you travel, nor in what order (TWS and then enter and travel around, or enter and travel around and then TWS).

Good point. Will tweak the language to make that clear too.