Now that the other LANs are in ow this is not quite as inconvenient as it used to be. Just be sure to avoid returning to Chile on the RTW ticket until the end (or only domestic flights left). If you want to make extra trips out of it then purchase side tickets between EZE/LIM/GYE and SCL.

I guess I'll be disappointed as I have only been to Victoria Falls. ;)

jgold

Thanks for the very comprehensive reply to the points raised. It is very useful to have actual experiences and situations to validate the options possible. Your effort in relating your experiences to date is very informative.
My only point of disagreement is with the ease of having a Canadian travel agent "take over" the booking. I have done exactly that (book in US through RTW desk and ticket by a Canadian travel agent) with absolutely no problem. Perhaps the agent may have technically canceled and rebooked, but all that was transparent to me. I received exactly what I had booked. Perhaps it was something unique to your situation that prompted the suggestion of difficulty.
Do I take it that your final decision is to purchase the ticket in Canada?, hence the visit to niagra Falls?
Could you update us as to how this works out, in terms of ease, time, etc. May be a good moneysaver.
Sounds like a wonderful trip. Really like the idea of seeing the world's great falls in one journey.
Regards
Rens

I'll let you know how it goes. The itinerary has been set, and I've cleared my waitlists for EZE-MIA on AA (which means I can qualify for Platinum early on in the trip via the challenge), and the ticket's been rated at 8,500 CDS, which is (sadly) about $8,500 USD. My originally planned routing for the DONE5, when it began in the U.S., was pricing at around $11,000, so it's a pretty big savings (although it was a slightly different itinerary).

Right now, I'm seeing if I can persuade my wife to go to Niagra Falls for a night in the next month...

One point I'll just note is that AA is very flexible with its reward tickets (which we're using to start off/finish the trip). AA permits free date/time (but not carrier) changes, and also permits an upgrade from coach to business without paying a monetary fee, notwithstanding that the carrier, routing and airports may change (e.g., starting in JFK rather than EWR). Unfortunately, for reasons I don't know, LAN doesn't seem to have any award availability from NYC or MIA to SCL in January 2009. I was hoping to set an alert with ExpertFlyer in case award availability opened up on that LAN route, but that doesn't seem to be an option (whereas I was able to set up an alert with AA). Does KVS permit award alerts for LAN? Thanks again to everyone.

I see Jan '09 LA award availability from MIA and JFK to SCL as wide open, both economy and biz.
 

And yet, everytime I call and ask about LA (or AA) business class award availability on Jan. 8, 2009 from JFK-SCL or from MIA-SCL (there actually doesn't appear to be a direct flight from NYC-SCL that day), I'm told there's none. (There is D availability, but apparently not award availability.) I am holding coach seats on the EWR-xMIA-SCL flights for 1/8, so at least that's something. Thanks for checking though...

There is a direct from JFK. In biz, you have one seat available on 1/9 and two on 1/10 and 1/7. Nothing is available on 1/8.

From Miami, you have two seats available on the direct on 1/7. Nothing on 1/8 or 1/9. You have one seat available on all three days.

:Well, that's a little different, your previous post says "in January", so my response was framed thinking you had at least some flexibility. :)

If it must be on the 8th then you have two biz seats on Lan Peru via LIM.

Edited to add: on second thoughts, I think that is not going to work as an All Partner Award; but, it brings the question of the choice of award, meaning that, if all else fails, maybe you should consider a oneworld award. There is the hassle of the second airline, but that can be worked out, and the cost in miles should be the same, maybe even 10K less.

A very reasonable assumption, but unfortunately I wasn't being as clear as I should have been. While we could probably pick a different departure day if we HAD to (e.g., if there wasn't even a coach seat available), given that we can get from NYC-xMIA-SCL, albeit in coach, I think we'll stick with that departure.

On the LIM connection, I actually had reserved seats on that, and was later told that the reservation was improper because Lima and Santiago are in different regions of South America, and I wasn't allowed to touch down in both regions. But maybe it's worth arguing with them further over that...

Don't; they are right. I was actually editing my post as you were posting this.

Calamity!

So, I took your advice, and began looking into a OneWorld Award, which actually seemed to work very well (JFK-GRU (JL)//SCL-LIM (LA)-JFK (LP)). But then a very, very big problem occurred to me and the agent--with an award ticket, as distinct from a $$ ticket, all travel must be completed within one year of the date of issue. Presumably this rule applies regardless of whether it’s a OW award or an All-Partners Award. Here, our RTW trip would commence Jan. 2009, and would finish in Oct. 2009. Assuming I purchase both the DONE5 and the mileage ticket to/from South America today, there would be no problem with respect to the DONE5. But for the mileage ticket, I think I wouldn’t be able to extend my return date any time past April 17, 2009 (i.e., one year from today), at which time I would be half-way across the world and in the middle of my DONE ticket. Given that, I cannot see a way to use a mileage ticket to get me to and from South America, unless I’m willing to wait until Nov. 2008 to ticket, which may be a bit of a challenge from the standpoint of finding award availability for Jan. 2009. Any solution? Thanks.

None, I'm afraid. The one year from date of issue validity is firm and there are no workarounds.

Well, I guess that brings me to Plan E: Use a 60,000 Milesaver award to fly one-way from NYC to SCL on Jan. 8, 2009. Since buying a one-way ticket (or even a round-trip ticket) from NYC-SCL is about $1,000 - $1,200, it still works out to a $.02 redemption rate, and I'll also still save about $2,000 on each DONE5 b/c I'm starting in South America (the taxes actually appear more favorable when purchased in Chile than in the U.S.). (fyi, I need to fly into Chile on a OW carrier so that I can purchase a Visit South America Pass.) The downside of this plan is that at the end of the trip, I'll be "stranded" in SCL, but maybe I can buy a OW Award in early 2009, which will let me do a second RTW and finish in the US (with the origin/destination being the one allowed open leg).

one-way mileage awards
 

I don't know if you have any BA miles, but they permit one-way awards at half the RT mileage...without regard to which OW airline you're using....