To follow on from Alan, our recent DONE4 from Korea would have set us back about $6500pp plus as low as $1500ish for positioning flights, so say $8000pp.
That may seem like a lot straight up, but that alone would achieve the following:
- A round the world business class trip (except for one or two economy class positioning flights) with up to 15 stopovers that can be split over a year, and a side trip to Korea;
- Achieving at least One World Sapphire (or even One World Emerald) status, providing access to One World business class (or first for Emerald) lounges, as well as bonus frequent flyer points and other benefits;
- Earning about 120,000 miles on AA or 120,000 points on Qantas (due to some additional loyalty bonuses), which can be significant depending on how you value/redeem your points - for example, because we intend to use our AA points for return business class flights, our value is about 7c/mile (so about $8,400 in kind) and similarly for QF up to 4c/mile (roughly $4,800). This depends entirely on how you choose to use the points, as other methods of redemption - eg some domestic flights - makes the value of the points far lower.
For us, this made exceptional sense given it aligned with our plans anyway - and we picked up many of the tips and tricks on how to maximise the benefits from here and Flyertalk.
I was thinking about your situation last night when a similar points earning opportunity arose - we had dinner with family at a local restaurant that we go to all the time and had only recently discovered was part of the QFF scheme. So my wife put down her FF card, and for a $160 meal she will get 480 points, plus another 240 points for using her credit card - so 720 points for doing nothing different, which you may value (depending on your chosen redemption) between $7 to $30.
So with your four return flights from SYD-OOL, you may want to try to book the cheapest Qantas Red e-Deals on a credit card that earns at least $1=1 point. Some of them offer an extra point per dollar for booking directly through Qantas. Say it costs $90 each way (just guessing here), and you earn a minimum on 1000 points and 10 status credits each way. Your normal domestic flying will get you may get up to 9440 points a year - which will get you a one-way ticket to OOL, or about $90 worth.
On top of that, every five an a half years you will get 5000 bonus loyalty points based on the status credits you would have earned - say an extra 900 points a year.
If you fly an overseas sector once every two years, say to Asia, you may earn another 4500 in points for flying plus about 2000 for buying with QF, so another 6500 every two years.
So, for example, at the end of six years you may have up to 90,000 points, which is enough for a return economy trip to Tokyo, a return premium economy ticket to Hong Kong or Bangkok, or a one-way business ticket to Tokyo - so from to $1200-3000 in kind, or about $200-500 a year - by not changing your travel plans at all, or considering what you might earn from other spending on your credit card.
[EDIT - Of course, you may get cheaper flights from another airline / have to offset credit card fees, which is always a factor, so this naturally assumes that all of that is in order and that the QF flights are at least competitive with your alternate options.]
Sorry if I've gone on too much here or said something that may not entirely be useful/accurate, I'm sure one of the more senior members will set me straight - but the gist is, you can definitely make it work for you if it complements your currently planned activities, but don't be surprised if a side-effect is that your travel plans magically appear to increase.
