Proof my parents' AONE4 please???
 

After success with building my own ONE here with your help... (thanks :D)

I am trying to build a RTW for my parents, as they will be retiring soon and get a few months of hotel stays and car rentals courtesy of their company (about 65 days worth). They are in JNB but will have paid travel to Europe and eventually North America as part of retirement in first class (although they will settle down near Cape Town). My parents are both elite with BA.

They would like to visit the following, starting either in Africa or Europe: Dubai, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand. All to sort of celebrate retirement. I've put together the following:

CAI-LHR - BA
LHR-SVQ - BA - stopover & drive
LHR-AMS - BA
LHR-DXB - BA - stopover
DXB-BOM - CX - stopover & drive/train maybe a sidetrip to Bhutan with A&K??
DEL-HKG CX - stopover
HKG-BKK CX - stopover & maybe a sidetrip to Vietnam??
BKK-SIN CX - stopover
SIN-PER QF - stopover & drive to Alice Springs, or somewhere else in Australia
ASP-SYD QF
SYD-CHC QF - stopover & travel up to Wellington
WLG-SYD QF - stopover
SYD-LAX QF - stopover & drive up PCH to Seattle
SEA-ORD AA - stopover
ORD-ANC AA
ANC-DFW AA
DFW-JFK AA - stopover
JFK-SEA AA - stopover
SEA-LHR BA
LHR-???

I remember that Vietnam is a problem, so did not include it here and will suggest they find a cheap internal flight.

I used the fare explorer and of course the problem is the last leg. If they fly back to CAI they violate the UK-Middle East/East Europe rule, but if they fly anywhere else they violate the requirement to return to country/region of origin. What exactly constitutes a region anyway?

CAI-LHR-SVQ,AMS-LHR-DXB-BOM,DEL-HKG-BKK-SIN-PER,ASP-SYD-CHC,WLG-SYD-LAX,SEA-ORD-ANC-DFW-JFK-SEA-LHR-CAI
Rule violated!!!! [LHR-CAI] Max 2 segment(s): UK <--> Middle East/Eastern Europe/North Africa

They could start in continental Europe somewhere instead, but it would cost more. Maybe downgrade to a DONE4, as there will not be very much first class anyway?

Any comments, including on alternate itineraries are welcome and very much appreciated!! I may tweek the itinerary a little, so hope people do not mind...

I count 4 Europe/Middle East segments at the beginning, one too many for an ex CAI itinerary flown eastwards.

Anyway to not have to end up back in CAI? Or is it an absolute must that one must land back in the country of origin? Otherwise maybe get rid of the LHR-AMS portion... there are good deals to be had on Eurostar anyway.

AFAIK- you have to end in the country/ area what ever its called but i read it as the Middle east - and thus Dubai / turkey et al, is what you can do -

Made some modifications. Cut out the original CAI-UK as they will just be transiting to Spain anyway. Threw in BCN to AMS just in case, although they might just go straight from Madrid to Holland. But that should not change much.

CAI-MAD,BCN-AMS,LHR-DXB-BOM,DEL-HKG-BKK-SIN-PER,ASP-SYD-CHC,WLG-SYD-LAX,SEA-ORD-ANC-DFW-JFK-SEA-LHR-CAI

It works according to the fare explorer. 44029 miles. Any suggestions of maybe how to modify the itinerary, add places and so on? Anyway to get to Vietnam?

Yes, an ex CAI OWE can end anywhere in the Middle East, but not in Turkey, which is part of Europe.

There seem to be a fair number of flights in the itin that don't offer FC, or, in the case of AA, two class flights where they'd fly up front anyway on DONEs. If they could handle biz class then they could originate in someplace like IST and still get in the Dubai stops, etc. Me personally, I'd ride in J and spend the extra money on higher-class hotel accommodations at the stopover points.

I think BNE would add a nice touch to the trip. Maybe like this:

...BKK-SIN-SYD-ASP,PER-BNE-CHC,WLG-...

or MEL:

...BKK-SIN-SYD-ASP,PER-MEL-CHC,WLG-...

Viajero's suggestion has the added benefit of an extra flight in F, as there's only J on the SIN-PER flight. And further to Gardyloo's comment, you have but a handful of flights in F altogether: LHR-DXB, HKG-BKK, SIN-SYD, SYD-LAX and LHR-CAI. Not sure it's worth it given the price difference.

Pretty sure Vietnam is still a no-no on the OWE. I had to purchase tickets BKK-SGN-BKK separately, flew Vietnam Airlines one way and Thai the other way. Coach tickets weren't cheap, I think about $350 or so for a rather short flight (was part of a longer ticket for me), but Business Class was only marginally more ($50 each way?) and worth it IMHO.

An excellent suggestion to include BNE and environs, but my suggestion for the AU/NZ section, coming from SIN, and provided it would be allowed by the xONEx rules is: QF SIN-PER (stopover if desired)- QF PER-ASP (stopover including AYQ/Uluru side-trip and surface to SYD [by overnight train (The Ghan) to ADL and overnight train (Indian-Pacific) to SYD]; QF SYD-BNE (stopover); QF BNE-CHC; surface to AKL via WLG; QF AKL-SYD (stopover); QF SYD-LAX etc.

Driving from ASP to PER, or vice versa) is not recommended, and ASP and Uluru (AYQ) are best visited in May to September when the ambient temperature is reasonably low. The weather is also perfect in Brisbane during those months, is somewhat cooler and damper in SYD and PER, and best avoided in ADL and MEL.

If they can't visit during those months, a re-think about visiting ASP would be advisable.