:lol:

My mileage is about 26,944 by my calculations. If I flew back from JRO through IST to Tokyo on Turkish that would drop my mileage under 26K. Would that decrease my costs significantly with a special business fare?

I doubt if the YQ surcharge is going to drop in the next 6 months.

Called United and apparently my mileage is much less than 26K so I do have the best fare possible at this time. She also told me that under 26K is significantly less. Should have booked this fare earlier but I was in Chile when the war broke out and I had too much on my plate upon returning home with taxes and work. I find that it takes me hours on the Star alliance website looking for flights on certain days with business seats on decent airlines. A simple itinerary with lots of flights is not too hard but when you venture off the beaten path it gets very tricky with this website. I must have tried 100 + combinations of flights to find what I thought would work before I called United to fine tune and buy tickets. Looking forward to the Room on ANA. Been flying ANA 787 that does not have the Room. Do like the Ramen, Corn chowder and Rice balls as snacks on demand on ANA. It seems that most ANA flights with the Room go to NRT and I much prefer HND.

​​​​I don't recall a time when they've ever gone down. The change from calling them "fuel surcharges" to the more generic "YQ" occurred when British Airways (as usual) lost a big lawsuit in US federal court when they couldn't prove a link between fuel costs and the surcharge. Badda bing.

The fuel surcharge used to be seasonal, going down in winter when jets consume less fuel. The surcharge is more dynamic now.

​​​​I don't recall a time when a war closed the Strait of Hormuz. US jet fuel prices doubled from 26-Feb to 1-Apr.

A problem has come up. I need to fly October 2 from TYO-LAX. My last trip therefore needs to end in a year on October 2 of 2027. Unfortunately Brussels air only flies back to Europe on Wednesday and Saturdays and my holiday time for Africa is best from the middle of September to early October. I can cut a day from JRO and fly on October 1 Friday with either Turkish air or Air Ethiopia back to London before flying to Tokyo on October 2 on my ANA flight. I called the United office and they informed me that I have to be on the final flight to my original country on the last day of my RTW even if I actually land a day later. Asked what happens if I miss one of my last flights. due to scheduling or plane problem and I don't make the final day flight on my final day. I was told there were no rules for this occurrence.

Talked to United again today and was told this time that I had to land on the year end date, not just be in the air. Also was informed that If there was a problem with the flights and I missed a connection due to the airlines that I would be accommodated on the next flights to reach my year end destination even if that date was passed. This seems reasonable.
Have been playing with the website a bit more and found out a few new things. Cairo has been mentioned on Flyertalk as one of the less expensive places to start a around the world Star Alliance ticket. I found that I could not use Cairo as a start unless I changed my country of residence to Egypt. Prices were not particularly great.
I changed my country of residence to Japan on my current itinerary and found the prices in yen to be about 10% less expensive. Also found Turkish air flights available from CDG to JRO and JRO to LHR. These flights were not available when I used the USA as my country of residence yesterday.

I have a few thoughts, not sure if any are helpful.

IIUC, your plan yesterday was to cut a day from your stay in Tanzania by a day just so you could make connecting flights to London and stay overnight in order to get the ANA flight to TYO the next day. I might do that. That would be instead of just making a connection at IST to TK or NH 787 to TYO. I see that ET from ADD to TYO makes a stop at ICN, not ideal but at least it is a scheduled trip from JRO-ADD-ICN-TYO all on Ethiopian. But, today I think you got around that issue?

A departure from London on Oct 2 after 4PM GMT would be on Oct 3 Japan Time.

For a year starting Oct 2 the "year end" date would be Oct 1. That would be like a JR Pass where day 1 ends at midnight on the day of first use. The anniversary date would be Oct 2 which would be a year "from" Oct 2.

I book domestic Japan flights at the JAL website using Tokyo as my "location" (not "residence"). When there was a schedule change I called (an 800 number IIRC) and was connected to a JAL agent in Japan. A translator came on the line and I had to explain why the new departure time would not work for me (airport bus timetable).

That worked but am wondering what specifying Japan as my residence would mean. Would it mean working with ANA instead of United? Do I have to show a Japanese passport to obtain ticket or boarding pass?

Here's the language from the published rules from the GDSs:

TRAVEL FROM LAST INTERNATIONAL STOPOVER MUST COMMENCE NO LATER THAN 12 MONTHS AFTER DEPARTURE FROM FARE ORIGIN.

​​​​​​So if London is a stopover (24 hr+) then you need to be in the air on your anniversary date.

Egypt was briefly one of the cheapest places to start both Star Alliance and Oneworld business class RTWs. That was due to the collapse of the Egyptian Pound a few years ago. Following that, both alliances de-listed Egypt as an eligible start point, then a few months later listed new fares that were MUCH higher than the old ones.

Japan remains the cheapest place to start Star Alliance business class RTWs, with base prices hovering around 40% - 50% less than other countries.

Country of residence should have NO bearing on flight availability or costs unless the ticket is plated by a US based airline (i.e. United) and your proposed route includes Cuba.

Turkish has no nonstops between LHR or CDG and JRO.

I suspect that these are more glitches in the Star Alliance tool.

>> Turkish has no nonstops between LHR or CDG and JRO
Seems obvious. Nobody does.
JRO - IST -TYO on TK/TK or TK/NH would make life easier.

So it seems you have to start on your last leg to your starting country before 12 months has elapsed? However October 2 in Europe could be October 3 in Japan as pointed out by mrwunrfl. It is interesting that flights on Turkish appeared when I used Japan as my country of residence. When I talked to United last night they told me that availability on Turkish/Air India and Singapore requires a response from that airline which could take 24 hours. They could see flight availability on other Star alliance airlines immediately. So the benefit of using Japan as my place of residence might be the ability to see Turkish flight availability before United. The cost difference in yen vs dollars is significant but I might need a credit card with a Japanese address according to United. Do not know if that is true if I just use the Star Alliance RTW website. I do however plan to book through United as my next RTW ticket has multiple flights on dates I will need to change as future flight schedules become available. I think this will be much easier with a phone call to United than to deal with the RTW website or Lufthansa. It would be nice to save $1000 per ticket paying with yen but I suspect it would not be worth it for the potential aggravation in the future when I need to change dates of flights or even itinerary. I did look at starting another new RTW trip in Europe or the US. Prices were as pointed out by Gardyloo 50% higher than starting in Japan. The agent at United did note that she had seen many people with more than RTW ticket so it seems I am not the only one to consider this route.

>> So if London is a stopover (24 hr+) then you need to be in the air on your anniversary date.

Then if London is a connection, less than 24 hours, then JRO would be the last international stopover?

>> might need a credit card with a Japanese address according to United.
Am tempted to make a dummy itinerary with Japanese residence and go on to the Pay Now page to see payment options.

Was going to stay one night and use LHR as my last stop over but now the only way my current plan seems to work is to fly out JRO on October 1at 5AM to IST and connection to a Turkish flight to NRT

Istanbul is GMT+3 and Tokyo is GMT+9

When you board the TK flight at 3:50 PM at IST it will be 9:50 PM JT on the same day.

JRO is also GMT+3. Your 5:05 AM departure from your last stopover would be at 11:05 AM JT same day.

>> you need to be in the air on your anniversary date.
I believe that to be true, just from reading that condition.

TRAVEL FROM LAST INTERNATIONAL STOPOVER MUST COMMENCE NO LATER THAN 12 MONTHS AFTER DEPARTURE FROM FARE ORIGIN.

Departure from origin is Oct 2.
12 months FROM that would be Oct 2
12 months AFTER that could be Oct 3