End of next year its looking possible that I need to be in a couple places (hopefully not at once). LAX LHR and CDG look like what I need, but perhaps DCA and BCN as well. I'm lazy and really not much chop at travelling up the back of the bus, and as such have been thinking about DONE*'ing it. The prices make it worth while, versus a point to point J ticket on OW. What I would want to do, once I've sorted out where and when I need to be places, would be to max out my other segments to get maximum status/mileage out of them. Has anyone used the majority of their segments to do this? If so, have you found it a pain in a relative of a mules backside? I'd be wanting to minimise time away, and time in hotels. Breaking the journey isn't really an option, as I don't want to have to purchase several tickets/ use award flights except to where ever I decide is the cheapest for my particular circumstance to start the trip. I realise this is *could* have been posted in the OW forum, but I wanted to get some feedback from local legends first....

thank ya

[mod hat]
I think this should move across to OW - and for the "local" view leave a redirect in the QF forum.
Cheers
[/mod hat]

Try this thread: RTW ticket, longest routing's ??.

There are plenty of good posts in this regard. In it for example I post a routing that enabled me to attain & retain WP.

serfty has put together a great DONE4 that includes Australia travel and almost maxed out, which he flew this year. Note some of his flights are seasonal. It is certainly possible to add lots of SCs and even save some nights in a hotel.

For price, it is significantly cheaper to start somewhere like CMB or BKK than to start in Australia, even after allowing for price in $ or points for award to get to & from the start and end. Even NZ has a reasonable price saving over Australia (and would be less hassle factor compared with CMB/BKK albeit less savings too).

A sample itinerary starting in SYD might be

SYD-lhr-mct-LHR-CDG-lhr-LAX-bos-dfw-anc-ord-slc-jfk-hkg-cmb-hkg-nrt-syd-adl-per-SYD

By my reckoning this earns 2330 SCs, and assuming you start as QF Gold status with no SCs earned in your membership ytd 123,000 QFF points (+ further 26,000 accrued from loyalty bonuses).

I've done 1 RTW in 8 days elapsed, with 2 nights in a hotel (the rest sleeping on airplanes). This was for work, and not a MR, so no attempt to maximize but it was over 50K base miles. Also very tired at the end of the 8 days, despite flying in F with a nice bed on most flights. So it is possible. As for mileage, you can make EXP on AA with a single DONE4 (but much easier with a DONE5). Whether it is worth it is a matter of opinion. There are more cost-effective ways to earn miles and status, however none will get you to top-tier in 8 days elapsed.

You can make QF WP in 8 days (probably more like 6) on a suitably routed DONE4. Agree this would be tiring though.

If you're starting your MR in Australia, do it in another city to that where you live. For example in 2004 I started a DONE4 in SYD, so when I arrived in BNE I still had the 3 Australian segments left to use at my leisure eg BNE-DRW-PER-SYD or BNE-ADL-PER-SYD.

willyroo,

The rules have changed so that you can now come back through your point of origin. The only relevant restrictions are two stop overs in the continent of origin, and only leaving (& entering) your country of origin once.

Ahh thank you all for your help. This has given me some to think about. When I've gotten my head around it, I'm sure I'll have more questions to beg answer to, but for now, thank you very much