RTW fare deals

[drcam]

I am currently planning a RTW trip while I take a year off work (partially) in 2010.

I plan to leave Melbourne sometime in late January 2010 when my contract expires. I then plan to locum in New Zealand for a couple of months and do some tramping there.
From there, I can go around in either direction, but I would need to be in Shanghai for Expo 10 sometime before October 31. My grandmother is going to have her 90th birthday party some time in late September / early Oct, if she is still alive then.
A one-world alliance RTW trip in business class costs $10500 before tax when purchased in Australia, but only $6400 from Fiji.

A few questions:
(1) Can I fly to Fiji and buy my RTW ticket there?
(2) Star Alliance has more destinations and flies to places that I would like to visit, but One World has less choice.
(3) How many QFF status credits would I earn for a 34000 mile One World Trip with the following sectors: NAN-LAX-SCL-LHR-OSL-HEL-PVG-TYO-NAN? Would that get me to silver or a chance of gold status for the following year? How many QFF points would I earn?
(4) If I did go the Star Alliance route, where should I buy my ticket to get the most cost-effective business class fare?
(5) In the case of (4), which frequent flyer system should I join and how many points/status credits am I likely to earn for a 34000 mile RTW trip?
(6) How expensive is Chile, Peru and Argentina compared to Australia to travel in?

 

[NM]

I am currently planning a RTW trip while I take a year off work (partially) in 2010.

I plan to leave Melbourne sometime in late January 2010 when my contract expires. I then plan to locum in New Zealand for a couple of months and do some tramping there.
From there, I can go around in either direction, but I would need to be in Shanghai for Expo 10 sometime before October 31. My grandmother is going to have her 90th birthday party some time in late September / early Oct, if she is still alive then.
A one-world alliance RTW trip in business class costs $10500 before tax when purchased in Australia, but only $6400 from Fiji.

A few questions:
(1) Can I fly to Fiji and buy my RTW ticket there?

Yes, you can. But the ticket will need to be a OneWorld Global Explorer (fare basis DGLOBxx. You cannot use the OneWorld Explorer (fare basis DONEx) since there are no OneWorld operated flights to/from Fiji.

(2) Star Alliance has more destinations and flies to places that I would like to visit, but One World has less choice.

Is that a statement or a question?

(3) How many QFF status credits would I earn for a 34000 mile One World Trip with the following sectors: NAN-LAX-SCL-LHR-OSL-HEL-PVG-TYO-NAN? Would that get me to silver or a chance of gold status for the following year? How many QFF points would I earn?

Use Great Circle Mapper to determine the distance for each sector, and look up the QF FF web site for the number of status Credits for each flight distance. You should easily make it to Gold on that routing.

(4) If I did go the Star Alliance route, where should I buy my ticket to get the most cost-effective business class fare?
(5) In the case of (4), which frequent flyer system should I join and how many points/status credits am I likely to earn for a 34000 mile RTW trip?
(6) How expensive is Chile, Peru and Argentina compared to Australia to travel in?

Can't help with any of those questions.

 

[parsonstrish]

Yes, you can. But the ticket will need to be a OneWorld Global Explorer (fare basis DGLOBxx. You cannot use the OneWorld Explorer (fare basis DONEx) since there are no OneWorld operated flights to/from Fiji.

nm, for some reason my detailed ?'s didn't come through so I'll keep it simple and add to all my ?'s I just asked, as hopefully people reply to.

How does one go about purchasing a dglobxx in Nadi?

I've just retired and would dearly love to shout myself one business rtw trip.
thanks, trish