Seems like the GUF2 must be really, really valuable to you, to be worth putting all of the miles to one FFP.

With all of the flying on AA, I would be tempted to also do a AA Platinum challenge and begin accruing miles with them as well.... I find that redeeming AA miles for trips (i.e. Europe to India on 9W, or Europe to S. Africa on BA) to be a much, much better value than redeeming BA miles (not to mention the huge savings on cash surcharges/fees).

Getting to BA Gold and also accruing some serious amounts of AA miles might be an alternative approach.

I guess I was uncertain on your timing. DFW-ANC is summer-only, and getting A seats can be quite tricky as the boat people fill the plane four or five days a week. But if it works for you, great.

I thought about that too, although being based in SYD right now means I'd probably only choose CX or QF FFP as an alternate. I've amassed something like 800,000 BA miles in the last 4 years, so I'd rather keep going with that. The comp upgrades haven't been too bad either!

Most of the travelling I end up doing for holidays usually involves either a quick trip to a beach, or longhaul to visit family/friends in Canada/US, London/Europe and Africa. BA seems to have the best connections and with Gold status, all econ seats are open (with an ever expanding brood, the days of F or C travel for personal reasons are almost over...unless there's another 50% off BA miles sale)

But you have given me something to think about and I'll investigate the AA program before booking the trip. What are the tax differences in an award ticket booked with AA points on BA from Europe to Africa? Is it the lack of a fuel surcharge mainly?

AA charges 100,000 AA miles for a RT from LHR to CPT in BA First, and leaves off the fuel surcharge, while BA quotes 150,000 BA miles, and adds in $400+ of fuel surcharge.

That said, BA has some equally outstanding offers on its partners --- especially for U.S. based customers i.e. it considers Easter Island to be S. America, and therefore offers NY to Easter Island with stopovers in SA both coming and going for 80,000 BA miles in LAN's superlative new BC. Likewise, BA offers some very attractive one-way offers from the US to Asia on CX (50,000 in J, 75,000 in F, plus just $38 in taxes).

Guess I spoke too soon...no A availability on DFW-ANC in June/July, but lots of A availability ANC-DFW...weird! Lots of F availability and all other fares except A...frustrating!

not wierd - fly up and cruise back ...

There does appear to be some A availability DFW-ANC in June - not much, I agree, but there seem to be 1 or 2 seats on various odd dates - probably not on days that would work for you, though ...

6/12 - A2
6/13 - A1
6/17 - A1
6/20 - A2
6/22 - A2
6/26 - A1
6/29 - A2
7/01 - A1

The problem is that "A" inventory is used both for paid "discount" F (like D > A with RTWs) and as upgrade inventory for pax using SWUs or miles. Because DFW-ANC and v.v. is so grueling in coach on a 757, anybody who knows anything works like hell to get upgraded, so AA is very reluctant to release A inventory too early.

A phone call to the AA RTW desk might break it loose, (not great odds but some) or else the OP could get ticketed for an acceptable itinerary, then pay $125 to re-issue when and if A inventory to/from ANC opens.

This is why I recommended the OP consider breaking the trip at HNL, flying in A for a 180 TP run to the mainland, then saving the transcon for a 180 TP segment later, vs. LAX-YYZ which doesn't offer A but only D as a Canadian destination.

AA codeshare or not, AS-operated flights aren't eligible for xONEx, right?

Correct.

Travel on any AA/AY/BA/CX/IB/JC/JL/JO/KA/LA/LP/MA/NU/QF/RJ/XL/4M codeshare service operated by AA/AY/BA/CX/EG/IB/JC/JL/JO/KA/LA/LP/MA/NU/QF/RJ/XL/4M is permitted. Other codeshare services not permitted.