Getting deeper into planning the round-the-world journey, I'm learning that this deal isn't as strict about the ordering of flights, but it's terribly strict about number of flight codes. Once a flight changes codes, it's two "coupons" and that's what I'm limited to 16 on, including the return flight. This forces some replanning.
Example 1: I want to visit the cradle of civilization, but I don't want to go through the shooty bits of Iraq. I can land in Erbil rather than Baghdad, where the Kurds have kept things pretty quiet since before Gulf War II. Problem is, only the only flights listed to Erbil go through Vienna. While I don't mind making a spending a stop in Vienna on the way in, spending two to change flight codes in Vienna on the way out means I lose a destination from the whole trip. So Erbil may be off the menu. While I may be crazy, I'll leave convoying from Baghdad to Kurdistan and back to our boys and girls in uniform. Scratch a stop at the Tigris and Euphrates.
Example 2: Oryx raves about Kigali, Uganda, and offers many good reasons to check it out. The Star Alliance only lists two cities with direct flights to Kigali: Cairo and Johannesburg. Cairo was already on my list of stops, but Jo'burg I hadn't been considering. So if I'm going to see Kigali, I'm also going to see Jo'burg. That or spend a second coupon to bounce back through Cairo.
I don't see an intuitive rule for the flight routing tables.(1) The best rule of thumb I'm coming to is: About every third destination can be obscure. The other two in between work out to being to a hub stop to get away from the obscure spot, then to another hub stop to change airlines to one that services the next obscure stop. That's what's going on in the Kigali example: Cairo is EgyptAir's hub. Jo'burg is South Africa Airways' hub. Destinations too obscure to be served by two alliance member airlines are cases like Erbil, where there's no cheap path through.
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Footnote that should only be read by academic programmers:
Example 1: I want to visit the cradle of civilization, but I don't want to go through the shooty bits of Iraq. I can land in Erbil rather than Baghdad, where the Kurds have kept things pretty quiet since before Gulf War II. Problem is, only the only flights listed to Erbil go through Vienna. While I don't mind making a spending a stop in Vienna on the way in, spending two to change flight codes in Vienna on the way out means I lose a destination from the whole trip. So Erbil may be off the menu. While I may be crazy, I'll leave convoying from Baghdad to Kurdistan and back to our boys and girls in uniform. Scratch a stop at the Tigris and Euphrates.
Example 2: Oryx raves about Kigali, Uganda, and offers many good reasons to check it out. The Star Alliance only lists two cities with direct flights to Kigali: Cairo and Johannesburg. Cairo was already on my list of stops, but Jo'burg I hadn't been considering. So if I'm going to see Kigali, I'm also going to see Jo'burg. That or spend a second coupon to bounce back through Cairo.
I don't see an intuitive rule for the flight routing tables.(1) The best rule of thumb I'm coming to is: About every third destination can be obscure. The other two in between work out to being to a hub stop to get away from the obscure spot, then to another hub stop to change airlines to one that services the next obscure stop. That's what's going on in the Kigali example: Cairo is EgyptAir's hub. Jo'burg is South Africa Airways' hub. Destinations too obscure to be served by two alliance member airlines are cases like Erbil, where there's no cheap path through.
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Footnote that should only be read by academic programmers:
VIEW 9 of 9 COMMENTS
d23:
welcome to the high school yearbook comity! 
roxy:
Yup, I'm on my way to Davis 
That was the best email I've ever gotten.
That was the best email I've ever gotten.