TMSO and I are planning a new DONE*, our third, through AA starting in Japan and would appreciate any input as I'm struggling a bit with the itinerary.

First, the needs and desires:

Essentials:
1. To be in Bangkok for business in November 08.
2. To be in Cape Town for a conference July 09.
3. Cut the travelling down to manageable chunks - no more than 6 weeks at a time.
4. No convoluted mileage runs or TMSO will divorce me. So no more than 2 flights back to back.

Desires:
Earn around 2000 QF Status Credits to preserve Plat status for another year and also reach QF lifetime Gold during the course of the trip. With first class US travel and the JQ star class flights, this itinerary earns well over that mark. This assumes that QF do not "enhance" the program so it's beyond my reach An enhancement is in the air at the moment.

See more of South America - BA, Macchu Picchu, Sao Paulo.
See a game park in South Africa.
Visit one of the Baltic states
Visit friends in Tel Aviv, Nagoya and Salt Lake City and San Francisco.

The draft I have is:

NGO-oBKK-oHKG-oMEL-oCNS in November.
(CNS-NGO on JQ *Class)

CNS-oSYD-oSCL-oGRU-oLIM-oEZE-oJFK-oSFO-xORD-oSLC-xORD-oLAX in April/May.
(LAX-CNS on VS points [NZ to SYD] or QF points)

LAX-oLHR-oTLV-xMAD-oHEL-NRT in July/August.
(CNS-LAX on VS or QF points. LHR-JNB/CPT-LHR on VS/QF points. JNB-CPT paid. Paid side trip HEL-RIX-HEL. NRT-CNS on QF points or maybe to NGO then JQ to CNS).

The issues at the moment are it's a 20 segment itinerary so for an eticket only part can be booked and then fleshed out as the segment numbers come down. After our current experiences I definitely do not want a paper ticket.

I guess too timing of a booking is important so that I avoid possible reductions of the *ONE* limit to 16 segments.

I'm mainly concerned that I'm making a mess of the route. Is there a better way? A lot of the travel is outside the DONE5 albeit mainly using points.

So much again is outside the DONE5. If I make it a DONE6 I dilute where we can go and have to use busier routes with less flexibility for D class fares eg HKG-JNB maybe. As well, using points to break the trip and return home could be more difficult from some places eg JNB or SCL

So any pearls of wisdom would be appreciated. ^

Good luck with your Lifetime Gold. We all hope that it will still be there in a few months time.

Just a thought (and since I am at work I can't spend much time on it.): Maybe don't do a DONEx at all.
How about doing the first bits on points (or on a Circle Asia and SWP but this goes over budget).
Then North and South America through a Circle Pacific Fare.
And then Europe through a Finnair RTW special with some BA business specials attached in Europe.

Might not work at all but might be worth investigating.

It looks like you might have the "x" and "o" in the reverse order to standard notation of an x for a connection and an o for a stopover. I only say this to save you from an imminent divorce.

Or maybe make that a DONEWCx at the end so that you can include the Africa bit?

LHR-CPT/JNB return on points will be difficult to get, especially if you want first/business. For that reason I'd be inclined to include Africa in your DONEx.

... which is why I never use them, as I always get it wrong!

I just have to try to remember that it's reverse logic (to me at least). "o" is a little hole that logically one would pass right through and keep going (so a connection) and "x" is a definite X!! Stop!! ..... so I just try and remember that it's the other way round...

Oops. I'm proving a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

Thanks. I've now corrected it.

I haven't as yet looked at the suggestion of not doing a DONEx at all but doing it on circle fares and points. My initial impression is that this may be a bit more expensive.

However,when I checked VS a couple of months ago and looked out at award availability 330 days ahead, it seemed ok in Economy+ and Business. On BA I could see not much. Now, on checking VS again to get an indication of my chances, there is very little. As this will be during summer, I imagine a peak time for UK-SA award travel, I'll take your advice and include it in the itinerary. That makes it a DONE6

So a revised itinerary could be:
NGO-oBKK-oHKG-oMEL-oCNS in November
(CNS-NGO on JQ *Class)

CNS-oSYD-oSCL-oGRU-oLIM-oEZE-oJFK-oLAX in March-April
(LAX-SFO-LAX on points or paid, LAX-CNS on VS points [NZ to SYD] or QF points)

LAX-oLHR-oTLV-xMAD-oHEL-xLHR-oCPT-oJNB-xHKG-NRT in late June-early August.
(CNS-LAX on VS or QF points. LAX-SLC-LAX on UA or DL. Paid side trip HEL-RIX-HEL. NRT-CNS on QF points or maybe to NGO then JQ to CNS).

Unless anyone has better (ie cheaper!) suggestions?

That is probably true in terms of cash outlay. But depending on the value you put on the points you use for breaking up the DONE6 itinerary - and only you can decide what that is - you could get a different answer. IME the breaks can add significant costs to the total outlay even if I price the mileage tickets very conservatively.