There is, or used to be a XONEX rule that flying out of Australia, it will count Asia as a continent, whether you go there or not (eg LHR-DXB-SYD would cause Asia to be counted as a continent, boosting you from a XONE4 to a XONE5 for instance.)
I was discussing tips and tricks with
@JohnM recently, when planning my own DONE4 and I think we concluded that this rule may have now been waived, but not sure. Is that right, John?
With XDONEX's there is a set charge for 3, 4 or 5 continent fares (although a Qantas rep told me on the phone recently that there wasn't - she was incorrect), and then there is taxes/surcharges on top depending on the airports and airlines you choose.
DONE4 (business class RTW, 4 continent for those who don't know the lingo) can earn 1,400 SCs without too much trouble if you maximise your sector allowance (16) and keep an eye on earn.
In my own DONE4, I did a combination of going where I wanted to go AND making sure I maximised SCs, so for instance to get from Nth America to Europe I'm flying DFW-DOH (another JohnM tip
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) and I'm starting off with SYD-xLAX-JFK on QF, which earns big AND counts as only one sector. I ended up with about 1,550 SCs.
After mapping out the trip on the OW planning tool, I then gave it to my Travel Agent to book. One of the advantages of doing this is that it can be 'booked' and not paid for until about 1 month before the first flight,
according to their rules # . I think if you book it through the OW planning tool, you have to pay there and then - or when you want to of course, but there is nothing booked in the meantime. I think that's correct.
# One of the long term benefits for using a TA is that, for any flight some way into the future, if I didn't want to pay when due, the flight could be cancelled and re-booked by the TA to kick the payment date down the road. Keep doing this until seats become tight. Now with the XONEX, which flies in April/May, it strictly should not need to be paid and ticketed until mid March. What the TA found was that QR and UL demanded payment for their sectors within a week of booking (which of course would have crystallise the whole ticket). The TA was able to contact both airlines and explain the situation, and I now have March again to pay.
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