Well after a lot of trouble trying to fit routings into our plans, we have changed our DONE4 to a DONE3.

The routing has obviously changed a little, and thanks to the advice on FT I (think I) have avoided some shortfalls in my original plan.

The only thing we are waiting for is the confirmed date of the event in IST- which means the cities will be the same, but the route reversed.

Routing is: None DONE tickets in italics

ICN-HKG-CMB-HKG-LHR[LGW-FGO-LGW]-AUH-LHR-IST-YUL-DFW-ANC-SFO//LAX-SJU-JFK-[LGA-DCA-LGA]HKG-SIN-[SIN-BKK-SIN]CMB-HKG-MEL

This gets us back home form Korea, to Australia, and fits in about a month worth of travel while our dog is locked up in quarrantine in SYD

It sadly leaves me about 4000QPTS short of EXPlat, with some economy domestic Qantas trips in Australia. Any tips on how to cheaply add about that many QPTS would be greatly appreciated.

Slightly confused by some of this. Is there a good reason why, for example, you are flying SIN-BKK-SIN-CMB and buy an extra ticket rather than SIN-BKK-CMB which you could do without an extra ticket?

Also I assume that IST-YUL is via LHR? And ANC-SFO is via ORD or DFW?

It would be helpful to us here if you could list explicitly the DONE3 segments... Is it:

CMB-HKG-LHR-AUH-LHR-IST-LHR-YUL-DFW-ANC-SFO//LAX-SJU-JFK-HKG-SIN-BKK-CMB

In which case you have one more segment you could use in North America...

Which must be used to do ANC-DFW-SFO, as there is no direct service ANC-SFO. Also, ORD-ANC-ORD is no longer an option, it seems.

Sorry for not making it clear...

We are taking the SIN-BKK-SIN legs with AY in J, to add some extra QPTS...

The DONE route is this:

CMB-HKG-LHR-AUH-LHR-IST-LHR-YUL-DFW-ANC-DFW-SFO//LAX-SJU-JFK-HKG-SIN-CMB.

None DONE tickets are:
ICN-HKG-CMB with CX (J) to start
LGW-FCO-LGW BA to visit Rome
LGA-DCA-LGA AA (Eco) to have a look around DC
SFO-LAX AA (Eco) to connect to SJU flight
SIN-BKK-SIN with AY (J) QPTS addition, and a little shopping
CMB-HKG-MEL CX (J) to get home

After returning to MEL there will be the following in QF economy:
MEL-PER-MEL
MEL-BNE-MEL
MEL-SYD-MEL
MEL-LST-MEL

We need to add another 2-3000QPTS I think, to get to ExPlat with AA.
If we use MCT instead of AUH, that works to add a few hundred more, but I am stumped on how to add the other 2000 or so cheaply.
A BA or IB I class in Europe perhaps?

Any ideas? The DONE routing might have to reversed, with SIN, then on to HKG and JFK, but the cities will stay the same (barring the AUH/MCT substitution...)

If I was looking for the best way to 'buy' EXP I'd would make it a DONE4, and include South America. Not only do you get the needed EQPs (and then some), you also add a great deal of flexibility to the overall trip, which enables you to perhaps forget ANC (unless you want to visit), for more comfortable flights.

Thanks for the idea of using the DONE4 to get the extra QPTS. It was our original plan, but with the difficulties on finding a routing we had given up, and stuck to the DONE3, but had trouble finding the last 2-300EQP we needed for EXPlat.

I know (thanks to FT ) that we can't travel JFK-MEL via HKG on CX. We also can travel Asia to NA-EUR-OZ-Asia right?

So with those rules in mind I made this DONE4:

cmb-xhkg-jfk-sfo-xdfw-iad-xdfw-yul-xlhr-ist-xlhr-xdxb-lhr-xhkg-syd-xbme-per-mel//syd-bom//del-hkg-cmb

X is for transit, or stop less than 24hours. The main problem we had with the previous DONE4 routing is that we need to go through HKG before going to OZ, as we are leaving A LOT of luggage there (after 6 years in Korea.... ) and we need to pick it up before arriving into the Australian winter.

SO, are we able to take the CX flights via HKG to SYD or must we take the QF flight with single flight number via BKK or SIN?

This route also gives us 156183miles as Plat, and 104126EQP..meeting the EXP qualification^

LHG-HKG-SYD is fine (but is almost the same distance as LHR-SIN-SYD, however I'd go via HKG).

Well your DONE3 is still one sector light in Asia, so at the very least get it ticketed as:
CMB-SIN-HKG-LHR-AUH-LHR-IST-LHR-YUL-DFW-ANC-DFW-SFO//LAX-SJU-JFK-HKG-SIN-CMB

even if you plan to go straight from CMB to HKG (unless the QF Plan somehow gives more points for a single flight of 2494 miles than two totalling 3298). To minimize the risk of the miles being merged together even with two coupons you might want to get off in SIN and continue on the next flight to HK 2 hours later.

Thanks for the help.

For the DONE3 I see 17 sectors, so I'll try and add a few more, to maximise the miles- perhaps HKG-SIN-BKK-CMB or something similar.

If the routing for the DONE4 is fine, then I think that is the best option though.

Looks like I'll finally be able to book this.^

FWIW, 4 return trips on QF anywhere on Oz as long as not N or Q class should garnish 4000 AAdvantage Qpoints.

e.g. If you book in O (the cheapest) red e-deal class you will earn the minimum 500 per segment.

Not sure I follow you. The last itinerary you posted had 16 segments on the DONE3 (land segments don't count). I was suggesting one more to bring it to 17, which is the maximum you can do on a DONE3.

A sprig of parsley? A drizzle of balsamic reduction? Or wrap them up with a pretty bow on top?

(The statement worried me but I can't believe how long it took me to work out what was wrong. )

Thanks. It was my mistake to think of getting 20 segments on the DONE3- I was thinking of some of our nested tickets(oops).

I got onto Qantas.com and checked out the prices for the trips we need in Australia, and if we buy them online, in discount Y, they are more expensvie than the difference between a DONE3 and 4, so we will do them as part of the DONE4 in business class and save some money

I have been on seatchecker.com to see if D and A class (US domestics) are available, and amazingly, there are a number of seats on all of the flights that I wanted^ No if I could only get the person I am dealing with in CX CMB office to actually reply to my emails (and 2 phone calls...)quickly. I'll try the AA office there I think.

If I book CX830 as the AA codeshare, are the taxes and charges cheaper than using CX?
As an aside, I must say I am glad we are not trying to find 2 A class seats on CX to the US....

Actually the word was supposed to be be garner ... but I spelled it incorrectly and my FireFox spell checker, somewhat inadequately assisted by myself, decided that I meant Garnish .

I was going to employ the word Glean but this idea was lost in the process.