Hi

I'm new here (first post) so apologies if I'm asking the wrong forum.

I'm going to book an RTW from SYD, travelling with partner and 15 month child to LHR, then we go our separate ways until SYD.

First stop needs to be HNL (Mid Jan), then ORF, then LHR.

I've worked out that the best route for the first part, given that I'm travelling with family, is probably:

SYD-HNL
HNL-ORD, ORD-ORF
ORF-ORD, ORD-LHR

but then I'm free to do anything within the rules, from LHR back to SYD.

I'm currently QF Silver, SC 0 and AA nothing.

I was wondering what the best route and carriers would be to

a) maximise miles and SC with QF
b) maximise miles and Q-miles with AA

A secondary question, if that's OK within the one thread, is which program is better? My aim is to pay for 2 first class RTW and earn enough points for 2 freebies SYD-LHR in F return. Considerations are also the differences between BA and AA ORD-LHR in F (I understand that you need to fly with AA to earn AA miles) - I have heard, on this site, that AA F is antiquated - not sure what that means as I have only once flow F - one year ago on BA LHR-SYD. We'd only do the AONEx once, then we'd go for DONEx and hope for/ pay for upgrades. We're planning on doing an RTW once per year and a frebbie return SYD-LHR once a year.

Thanks

For pure miles but staying in F where possible I guess off the top of my head it would be something like:

SYD-HNL-ORD-ORF-ORD-LHR-DXB-LHR-IST-LHR-HKG-NRT-HKG-NRT-HKG-MEL-PER-MEL-DRW-SYD

You're a sector short of the maximum 20 because you only have 3in NA.

If you'd be prepared to go J for HKG-AKL then you could possibly get a few more miles that way. You do know that SYD-HNL doesn't have F either?

AA F on ORD-LHR is fine if you get one of the Flagship Suites - in my view these are the best F seat on OneWorld. On average the BA service might be slightly better, but there's not much in it. In fact with kids AA might be better because all the cabin crew will probably have grandchildren of their own

Maybe you need to set more realistic expectations and constraints. On the expectation side: free SYD-LHR earned from a single AONEx! You need to earn 150K for an AAdvantage award SYD-LHR. This requires flying 60K base miles (or twice around the world -- possible only with careful route construction on an AONE5 or 6). On the constraint side: you eliminate all of the good SC earning routes (they are in NA). syd-hnl-ord-orf-ord-lhr is 15K miles.
You can do lhr-dxb-lhr-hel-lhr-hkg-nrt-hkg-dps-hkg-mel-per-bne-akl-syd for an addition 35K miles, or 50K total (presuming Emerald status you would then have 125K earned miles, or enough for business class SYD-LHR). This is in the Aadvantage program. Using QF or BA would require considerably more miles, given your desire for the SYD-LHR redemption. Almost certainly AA would be the best plan in view of that constraint. You do realize that SYD-HNL does not offer F, and is one of the worst J services offered by QF, so your trip is off to a bad start. As for F on AA, it is reasonably good, better than most airlines, just not as good as QF, CX, or BA though I have sometimes picked AA over BA on some flights in F due to better scheduling -- it does offer a fully flat bed with state of the art seat and lots of space. Much nicer than J on QF for example.

If your aim is to get a free F class SYD-LHR after one RTW ticket, forget the QFF program.
Its possible with AAdvantage as follows:
Become Platinum by doing the Plat. Challenge giving you a 100% mileage bonus plus an extra 25% for cashing in your domestic upgrade certificates (which you won't earn the next year if you become Exec Plat! So you have to keep your Qpoints below 100000)
On a 5 continent RTW limited by the 20 segments you can probably eak out 60000-70000 miles at a push.
If you look at 60000 miles sticking to 1st class flights (hard to do) you're looking at earning :
60000 miles
30000 miles 1st class bonus
60000 miles Platinum bonus
15000 cashing in your upgrade certificates
Total 165000 AAdvantage miles
Miles required for SYD-LHR award in 1st 160000 voila!

The business class to HNL will not help nor will skipping South America which is better than Africa for high earning sectors.

The following route is an example using 5 continents:
20 segment path: 71651 mi
SYD (33�56'46"S 151�10'38"E) JFK (40�38'23"N 73�46'44"W) 9950 mi
JFK (40�38'23"N 73�46'44"W) SCL (33�23'35"S 70�47'09"W) 5097 mi
SCL (33�23'35"S 70�47'09"W) BOG (04�42'06"N 74�08'49"W) 2629 mi
BOG (04�42'06"N 74�08'49"W) SCL (33�23'35"S 70�47'09"W) 2629 mi
SCL (33�23'35"S 70�47'09"W) CCS (10�36'11"N 66�59'26"W) 3036 mi
CCS (10�36'11"N 66�59'26"W) SCL (33�23'35"S 70�47'09"W) 3036 mi
SCL (33�23'35"S 70�47'09"W) LAX (33�56'33"N 118�24'29"W) 5569 mi
LAX (33�56'33"N 118�24'29"W) JFK (40�38'23"N 73�46'44"W) 2475 mi
JFK (40�38'23"N 73�46'44"W) SJU (18�26'22"N 66�00'07"W) 1598 mi
SJU (18�26'22"N 66�00'07"W) ORD (41�58'43"N 87�54'17"W) 2072 mi
ORD (41�58'43"N 87�54'17"W) LAX (33�56'33"N 118�24'29"W) 1745 mi
LAX (33�56'33"N 118�24'29"W) ORD (41�58'43"N 87�54'17"W) 1745 mi
ORD (41�58'43"N 87�54'17"W) LAX (33�56'33"N 118�24'29"W) 1745 mi
LAX (33�56'33"N 118�24'29"W) LHR (51�28'39"N 00�27'41"W) 5456 mi
LHR (51�28'39"N 00�27'41"W) IST (40�58'37"N 28�49'16"E) 1565 mi
IST (40�58'37"N 28�49'16"E) LHR (51�28'39"N 00�27'41"W) 1565 mi
LHR (51�28'39"N 00�27'41"W) MCT (23�35'36"N 58�17'04"E) 3629 mi
MCT (23�35'36"N 58�17'04"E) LHR (51�28'39"N 00�27'41"W) 3629 mi
LHR (51�28'39"N 00�27'41"W) JNB (26�08'21"S 28�14'46"E) 5621 mi
JNB (26�08'21"S 28�14'46"E) SYD (33�56'46"S 151�10'38"E) 6862 mi


With your restrictions you're looking at the following with a lot of it in D:
20 segment path: 53710 mi
SYD (33�56'46"S 151�10'38"E) HNL (21�19'07"N 157�55'21"W) 5066 mi
HNL (21�19'07"N 157�55'21"W) ORD (41�58'43"N 87�54'17"W) 4244 mi
ORD (41�58'43"N 87�54'17"W) ORF (36�53'41"N 76�12'04"W) 717 mi
ORF (36�53'41"N 76�12'04"W) ORD (41�58'43"N 87�54'17"W) 717 mi
ORD (41�58'43"N 87�54'17"W) YYZ (43�40'38"N 79�37'50"W) 436 mi
YYZ (43�40'38"N 79�37'50"W) LHR (51�28'39"N 00�27'41"W) 3556 mi
LHR (51�28'39"N 00�27'41"W) MCT (23�35'36"N 58�17'04"E) 3629 mi
MCT (23�35'36"N 58�17'04"E) LHR (51�28'39"N 00�27'41"W) 3629 mi
LHR (51�28'39"N 00�27'41"W) IST (40�58'37"N 28�49'16"E) 1565 mi
IST (40�58'37"N 28�49'16"E) LHR (51�28'39"N 00�27'41"W) 1565 mi
LHR (51�28'39"N 00�27'41"W) CPT (33�57'53"S 18�36'06"E) 5994 mi
CPT (33�57'53"S 18�36'06"E) JNB (26�08'21"S 28�14'46"E) 789 mi
JNB (26�08'21"S 28�14'46"E) HKG (22�18'32"N 113�54'53"E) 6631 mi
HKG (22�18'32"N 113�54'53"E) NRT (35�45'53"N 140�23'11"E) 1842 mi
NRT (35�45'53"N 140�23'11"E) HKG (22�18'32"N 113�54'53"E) 1842 mi
HKG (22�18'32"N 113�54'53"E) SIN (01�21'21"N 103�59'15"E) 1588 mi
SIN (01�21'21"N 103�59'15"E) HKG (22�18'32"N 113�54'53"E) 1588 mi
HKG (22�18'32"N 113�54'53"E) MEL (37�40'24"S 144�50'36"E) 4590 mi
MEL (37�40'24"S 144�50'36"E) PER (31�56'25"S 115�58'01"E) 1681 mi
PER (31�56'25"S 115�58'01"E) SYD (33�56'46"S 151�10'38"E) 2041 mi

Unfortunately the trade-in value of the certs went from 2500 miles to 250 miles a year or more ago, so that doesn't work any more.

In that case the 15000 becomes 6000 (I don't know what conversion I was using ) and it works out at an extra 10% rather than 25%. Overall the FC return SYD-LHR is still achievable,although not on Ethan's itinerary.