RTW Maximizing Miles
 

In planning my rtw, my two incentives are to 1) have a great experience and 2) Maximizing my miles.

I was wondering for those that have done rtw, which are the best extra miles that can be attained when going from continent to continent with transfers.

In case that was confusing, here's some examples:

LHR-JFK-GRU instead of LHR-GRU
JFK-SYD-HKG instead of JFK-HKG

Just wondering if there are any transfers that can add on a significant amount of miles in the trip.

Cheers

In both those examples you may be adding another continent (depending on the rest of the itin).

Similar issues for me. I don't love planes enough to want to spend anymore time in them than necessary, but on the other hand I want to maximize my points and status but keep partner happy that its not just a trip to watch in flight movies. Here's my compromise.

I have done things like:
CNS-SYD-HKG rather than CNS-HKG (5+ more hours at the start of the trip but its a written off day anyway and a reasonable chance of an F upgrade)
SIN-HKG-LHR rather than SIN-LHR (the trade offs are using the HKG Cathay lounge and a reasonable chance of an F upgrade on Cathay)
LAX-SFO-SYD rather than LAX-SYD
dog legging across North America but with a maximum of 2 legs a day using AA flights with just F rather than J and F (or equivalents?) where possible

Mine's a DONE4 via QF but manage a few extra points and status credits this way.

If you are on BA in D, I much prefer the LHR - (SFO/LAX/YVR/SEA) flights as you have a better chance of getting some good sleep if you pick times correctly. The trans Atlantic run to the East coast of Nth America is a pain as there isn't really enought time to do anything.

As for maximising miles, the beauty of the xONEx fare is that you can back-track within a continent. That opens up many options for very inefficient travel.

Like Kiwi Flier already said, you're adding a new continent with these and I particulary don't like the above route as a transit...are you really willing to "burn" the whole of SWP by just doing a transit at Kingsford Smith...? You cannot go back to SWP after that but still you pay for it? Is it really worth the money/effort?

Europe-N.A.-S.A. is another thing as 2 entries are allowed into N.A. and an extra transit makes more sense clearly.

I just did a LHR-LAX-SCL transit on a AONE5. It could not have been easier. I actually spent 23 hours in LA and had a great time before my LA flight to SCL. The EUROPE-NA-SA transit rule really helps pick up a lot of miles especially if you make your NA transit through the West Coast....

So just to clarify, are you not allowed to do Australia twice if you route is something like:

LAX-SYD(transfer)-HKG-BKK-SYD-MEL

Is it only North America, where you can enter twice by using South America as the extra continent.

That is correct. Only 2 exceptions are:

1. N.A. you can enter twice when one is a transit, it can be between S.A. and Europe/Asia/SWP or vv.

2. Asia when one is a transit or a single plane service between Europe and SWP or vv. (you find a lot about this issue with a search...some have managed to get CX to ticket routings with an Asian (=HKG) transit between NA and SWP and still being able to do Asia later/before...)

+the few African dead end destinations with specific expeptions that are only accessible from Europe