At the moment, I am exploring my options so that I can get the most cost-effective solution. At the end of next January, I will be flying from LAX-HKT, and then next summer I will be flying from LAX to somewhere in Europe (not decided yet).

Because of the length of the flight to HKT, I will be flying in F. It seems that I can fly via a 125,000 mile award from LAX-BKK via HKG on Cathay and then take a hop to Phuket on Business class on Thai Air for under $200. Thinking about that, it made sense to me to maybe take a couple of days in Hong Kong on the way over and a couple on the way back in Bangkok.

I started looking at paying for business class on Cathay and then upgrading to First via AA miles (apparently can't be done), so it looks like the 125,000 mile award is the way to go. But it just galls me to fly all that way and not get credit for the miles (I know, I'm addicted ).

But the cost of F is about $11,000 round trip, and the cost of J is about $4,000 round trip. So, I started thinking about it, and I know that I will be flying to Europe (usually for about $1,000 plus 50,000 miles for J class - this year, plus another $500 for upgrade fees ). So, I am starting to wonder if it would make sense to get some kind of RTW ticket and fly F on all of the trips, or perhaps there is a way to get a DONE, pay to upgrade to F on Cathay and use miles to upgrade to F on AA. Plus, I could get in a bunch of the domestic trips that I will be doing next year, anyway.

So, for those of you experts in RTW trips, I'm looking for advice. What resources do you suggest I check to see whether this is right for me? Do you have any suggestions about routing, likely cost, etc.? Would it make sense to fly on a 125,000 mile award to BKK, then start a RTW ticket from there? Any info or resources you might offer would be appreciated.

Well you could be counter-intuitive and start by flying to Europe in January as cheaply as you feel comfortable doing, start your RTW there (CAI, WAW, IST, etc.) then go to Thailand eastbound, then back to the US, do your NA segments, then end the RTW back in Europe when you go in the summer. If you want to use FF miles to get to the jumping-off point, you might need less for a Europe hop (or wait for cheap winter fares or the ilk) than you would to go to Thailand directly.

That could be an interesting idea. The two things that might interfere with that is that some of my more expensive domestic trips (for example, LAX-GCM) are going to be in the fall of 2006. If I have already returned to Europe in the summer, they could not be part of my RTW itinerary. Also, I figure that if I start and end my trip in late January, I might be able to use some of the legs in 1/06 to re-qualify for Platinum in 2007.

Edit: I just realized that, if I take my ticket to Europe in the summer via the RTW ticket, I can't return to the U.S. on it afterward, anyway, nor can I use it for my fall domestic trips. So, I guess it means that I would have to use it only for one or the other, in any event.

So back-to-backs. If you're doing a fair amount of premium domestic travel anyway, you might save money using the RTWs. There are some older posts here from people who have had two concurrent RTWs going - one eastbound, one westbound, increasing intra-continental zigzag possibilities. Gives me a headache, but I guess doable.

I see. So, I would start one in Thailand in January, use it through North America through the summer, start the second one in Europe in the summer, and use it through North America through the fall. The first one ends back in Thailand the following January, with the second ending in Europe in summer '07.

No wonder it gives you a headache! Sounds really complicated (and expensive) to me, too.