Can you please comment on the validity of the following DONE5:

JNB-HKG-PER; ADL-PER-SYD-LAX-MIA-DFW-YVR-DFW-YYZ-BOS-LHR-ATH-LHR-CAI-LHR-ACC-xLHR-xMAD-JNB

Any thoughts appreciated

Nope - since the rules changed on 1 July you can only have 20 segments including ground segments. You have 21.

And, more importantly, you are re-entering Africa twice - you can't do that. The exception is for a second entry (in transit) to Europe in conjunction with travel to Africa. There is no exception for second entries to Africa.

Oh, and you've got 5 intra-Europe segments so you'd have to purchase one of those additionally.

I believe

LHR-ATH-LHR-CAI-LHR

Breaks the rule of only being able to have two flights between UK and various cities/countries (both Greece and Egypt are on that list). If you fly from anywhere else other than UK then that would be ok.

Man, I am really confused with Africa and OW. Does this mean then that it is impossible to go to JNB and any West African destination such as Accra, Lagos etc?

If you start in Africa then it's only possible if you start in one place and finish in the other (orig-dest open jaw permitted in Africa). If you start somewhere else than Africa it is only possible if you make other arrangements for getting between South/East Africa and West Africa (and that would now also count as a ground segment towards your total of 20 allowed).

Hi Christep, thanks for your help so far and pardon my absolute ignorance of this but I'm still confused on this statement in the fare rules (taken from the sticky): (c) a transit without stopover in Europe on a flight between Europe and GHANA/NIGERIA/KENYA/UGANDA/TANZANIA or vice versa. Any of these transit without stopover benefits can be taken in either direction (eg. Europe-SWP or SWP-Europe) and either before or after you wish to enter the continent for the second time to use your stopovers there.

In what instance would you actually ever be able to use this provision since if I read this right it says that you can have a transit in say London on a flight between say Ghana and one of the other four countries listed say Tanzania but you can't enter Africa twice? Is there any OW route where would you ever be able to transit Africa in this fashion?

Would the following be allowable ...LHR-ACC-LHR-Dar es Salaam-surface to JNB?

OW is killing me in Africa

No - you can't enter Africa twice!

The sticky is misleading and needs a rewrite (I have posted to that thread).
"(c) a transit without stopover in Europe on a flight between Europe and GHANA/NIGERIA/KENYA/UGANDA/TANZANIA or vice versa." is just wrong. The rules say "a transit without stopover in Europe on a flight between GHANA/NIGERIA/KENYA/UGANDA/TANZANIA and another continent or vice versa." In this context "another continent" means NOT Africa or Europe.

The provision is to allow a second entry into EUROPE in order to get to the named countries. For example:
HKG-JFK-xLHR-ACC-LHR-HKG is a valid xONE4. It would not be allowed without the exception because you have two entries into Europe.

No. You have to understand that the rule is all about two entries into Europe, not two entries into Africa. That's because any OW flights in southern Africa (meaning, Comair) can connect to JNB, from which you can go to HKG or SYD as well as Europe, while the only intercontinental flights from the listed cities (DAR etc.) are to Europe.Tell me about it.

Thanks all for setting me straight. Guess I'm not going to ACC as planned.
Finlly hit Exec Plat and my additional travelling in Africa means I'm going to have to seriously look at changing alliance to *A or Skyteam. Very frustrating.

Spreading your miles between QF and AA may be a little wasteful as both are OW airlines.

Where has that ever be mentioned as an option by the OP????

Sorry, I have just seen his Programs, and there it is!

Not wanting to put words in the OP mouth but...it depends - as a Gold with Qantas (Sapphire) allows you to use the AA lounges on domestic flights and if you fly often with Qantas it allows to UG using miles.

Also Qantas potentially takes far less miles per annum to reach Emerald than AA, so if the amount of flights p/a drops there is still the possibility of keeping Emerald with one airline.

Having said that I use AA miles more than anything as I always have to get out of their poor long-haul business class and into a bearable first class on trans-pacific flights.

It has to be said, for me, keeping three on the go I find the most wasteful part is the time I spend working out which program to put each flight and faxing across and chasing all the one's I chose not to designate before I flew.