Having been a lurker on this forum for quite a while, I've finally decided to get more involved with my first attempt at an AONEx.

My planned itinerary is designed to take me to various cities I want to visit whilst routing to maximise the miles and tier points, and is as follows:

NBO-JNB-CPT-LHR-DXB-HEL-DXB-LHR-CAI-LHR-SYD-AKL-HKG-JFK-LAX-DFW-ANC-DFW-LAX-LHRxLOS

I intend to start in Africa to maximise the number of seperate trips I can get from London. With this routing, I'll get 4 seperate holidays out of the ticket and be able to return home between each one. I believe that it should also earn me around 2900 BAEC tier points and 148,000 miles.

As you will see from the routing, I have 6 segments in Europe which means that I'll need to purchase 2 additional segments there. I am hoping that the two purchased segments will make the 2 trips (4 segments) to the middle east from London possible since, as far as I can tell from the star files, the limit of 2 segments from the UK to the Middle East only applies to 'free' segments.

Any comments or thoughts on this plan, and especially the UK / Middle East segments, would be greatly appreciated.

The AY service HEL-DXB is one of their charter type specials, operating one class sub-Y only (28 inch pitch if I recall correctly, on a 757 -- really hellish). These planes are normally used for 3 hour flights to Spain; do you really want to use you AONEx sectors for this? The rules haven't been changed to exclude them, so you could do LHR-CAI or LHR-DXB but not both, and then as many HEL-DXB as you wish. Of course you get Y status credit and mileage bonus, there is no allowance for voluntary downgrades.

Thanks for the warning about DXB-HEL - I think I might re-work that particular bit of the plan!

I'm still convinced from my interpretation of the star files that 2 trips LHR - Middle East is OK as long as one of them is on paid for segments. The sections I'm looking at are:

2. FREE FLIGHT SEGMENTS WITHIN EACH CONTINENT ARE
LIMITED AS FOLLOWS:

---------------------------------------
I CONTINENT I NUMBER OF FREE I
I I FLIGHT SEGMENTS I
---------------------------------------
I AFRICA I 4 I
---------------------------------------
I ASIA I 4 I
---------------------------------------
I NORTH AMERICA I 6 I
---------------------------------------
I SOUTH AMERICA I 4 I
---------------------------------------
I SOUTH WEST I 4 I
I PACIFIC I I
---------------------------------------
I EUROPE/MIDDLE I 4 /SEE NOTE 1./ I
I EAST I I
---------------------------------------


NOTE 1: NO MORE THAN 2 FREE SEGMENTS BETWEEN THE U.K.
AND:


ALGERIA ARMENIA AZERBAIJ BAHRAIN BULGARIA CYPRUS
AN
EGYPT GEORGIA GREECE IRAN ISRAEL JORDAN
KUWAIT LEBANON MACEDONI MALTA MOROCCO OMAN
A
FUNCHAL QATAR ROMANIA RUSSIA SAUDIA SYRIA
, PORTU ARABIA
GAL
TUNISIA UNITED UKRAINE YUGOSLAVIA
ARAB EM
IRATES

In my mind, the fact that the word 'Free' is included in the 2 segments limit rule, means that I can use paid for segments on any of those routes.

Has anyone actually tried this ?

A couple of thoughts.

There is no First Class service on the AKL-HKG route anymore, so would have to be in Business Class with no compensation. I advise you to fly back to MEL or SYD and take CX First Class from there. If you need an extra segment to do this, you could skip JNB-CPT, which is short and can be purchased as a cheap separate ticket.

For the SYD-AKL flight, the only F service is operated by Lan Chile and it is only operated three times per week (may go up to four). I would try for this flight, keeping in mind you could also get it using its Qantas codeshare number.

The rule about nonstops to the Middle East only applies ex-London, so there is nothing to stop you from doing HEL-DXB-HEL, but, as discussed above, it may not be the nicest flight ever.

Are you allowed to end in LOS or must you return to NBO?

Maybe try somehting like this:

1 - NBO-JNB on BA (Comair) J Class
(JNB-CPT on separate ticket, known as a surface segment)
2 - CPT-LHR on BA F Class
3 - LHR-DXB or CAI on BA F Class
4 - DXB or CAI-LHR on BA F Class
5 - LHR-IST on BA J Class
6 - IST-LHR on BA J Class
7 - LHR-SYD on BA or QF F Class
8 - SYD-AKL on LA F Class or QF J Class
9 - AKL-SYD on LA F Class or QF J Class
10 - SYD-HKG on QF or CX F Class
11 - HKG-JFK on CX F Class
12 - JFK-LAX on AA or QF F Class
13 - LAX-DFW on AA F Class (go for the 777 flight)
14 - DFW-ANC on AA F Class
15 - ANC-DFW on AA F Class
16 - DFW-LAX on AA F Class (go for the 77 flight)
17 - LAX-LHR on AA or BA F Class
18 - LHR-LOS on BA F Class

This would leave you with two extra segments. You are paying for Asia and have no Asian segments in your itinerary. I would reccomend adding HKG-NRT -HKG on CX First Class. At 1800 miles each way, it is a nice mileage earner and the service is exceptional. If you are pressed for time, this can be done as a day trip. Another option is HKG-DPS-HKG on CX Business Class. More miles (2136), but only J Class. Can also be done as a day tip, but much harder to do.

Adding the NRT turn around, you would fly 63822 miles. Not as good as your original routing, but this one is more liklely to be allowed.

In a similar vein, I noticed that AY operates non-stop HEL-MIA twice a week during the winter season. It is an MD-11, but only economy fare codes are displayed on AMEX itn web site. Could this be a 2 class plane sold as 1 class, with those in full Y or (D/A) getting the biz class seats? If booked into Y class when on a biz/fc fare, it is the same q-points for those in AA FFP, plus just over 5,000 miles for those in the QF FFP. Not the best use of a long-haul segment, but may be worthwhile for the miles and an East coast arrival city. Any thoughts???

Voluntary downgrade books into L and not Y unfortunately. The only time it books into Y instead is one of the listed exceptions (regional jet flights on AA which are 1 class, for example). You earn L miles/status and not Y even if on an A ticket. As for the MD-11, afaik AY has not refitted any so they would have the (very poor and beat up) J seats, but expect to have the worst possible AY flight -- these are charters sold for rock-bottom fares and treated by AY as such. Similarly to LPA and several other holiday destinations during the long Finnish winter.