I've got some time off and money to burn and was thinking about doing a RTW. I'm an AA Plat living in San Diego. I'd like to visit:

SYD
BNE

Also, I have friends who will be traveling at the same time who want me to visit them in:

FCO/VCE April 14-23
HNL May 25

And I'd like to catchup with friends/family who live abroad in/by (these are optional):

Europe
CDG
MAN
LGW
LYS
North America
JFK
YVR
IAD

So, is a RTW the best choice for me? Do I want to go east bound hitting Italy/Europe first, then on to Australia and ending up in Hawaii? I'd be doing this to re-earn my AA Plat for '05. Or perhaps I should fly to Europe, start my RTW there? Any thoughts?

Read the stickys up above - the OW RTW products are great value but have highly complex rules about stops, limitations, routing etc.

You don't indicate what class of service you're planning; be aware that J or F RTWs originating in N. America are among the most expensive, while there are much better prices ex-eastern Europe or Cairo. Of couse you'd have to fly there first in order to get ticketed, then back when you're done.

With a carefully constructed (i.e., grueling) J or F (D or A) RTW you can get very close to EXP with AA, so that might be a consideration. OTOH if you book into coach ("L" class) be mindful that your AA mileage credits will suffer on some carriers.

Happy planning.

This isn't entirely true; there is no rule that requires you to take all of the flights on your itin. You can book a OWE that starts and ends in Europe, and just not use the last leg. I am currently in the middle of an RTW ex-Australia, but have yet to decide whether I'm going to take the last few legs (LAX-AKL-MEL-PER) - I'm home in SoCal now. Paying for a one-way to Sydney and then buying my LONE4 in Oz saved me roughly $1500 over the price of the LONE4 ex-NAmerica. I did get a student price on the one-way, but it would have been a better deal even if I had paid full price. In your case, if you can get a decent one-way to Cairo or some other city in Europe with cheap local OWE fares, I'd fly there, purchase a Europe-Australia-NAmerica OWE3, and just stay in NA once you get there. The only problem with that itin that I can think of is that I seem to recall there being some restriction involving OWE3's that include Australia; you may have to get a OWE4 to make that work, and stop in Africa or Asia en-route to Sydney.
I don't know how many miles you need to re-qualify, but if you need a lot, I'd consider using trains or discount carriers within Europe, as most of them will earn very little, if any, miles on AA. You would then be able to mix in a few mileage-run segments to cities you don't have to stop in. The point about credits from other carriers is a good one, though - had my LONE4 been a mileage run, I would have been severly disappointed with the actual miles that now show up on my AAdvantage statement.

dagSD

I am in the middle of an AONE3. Even though I am booked in A (first), I am being credited with AA q points of on 1.25 mileage- not 1.5.

Just an FYI

I would disagree. Rule 4 in the "Application" section lists the instances where you can begin your trip in one place and end it in another -- you can do so within Africa, the Middle East, South America, and a few individual country combinations, but not Europe.

As has been mentioned by several others, an airline issuing a OWE could theoretically pursue a customer who does not complete a OWE, seeking a total of the charges for each point-to-point flight.

This is clearly wrong, so I assume AA will fix it if you point it out to them.