Okay, I've looked and looked, trying to get exact answers, but it appears that some answers are either unavailable or out-of-date.....

I have booked a First RTW from Seoul-ICN coming up in less than a month (ticketed by United, but mostly on other carriers, of course!). I paid for and ticketed it earlier this year, before the big RTW price increase, so I'm not wanting to re-issue/fare under any circumstances. I have a few questions that I wanted to pose to the experts here....

My first flight is on SQ F from ICN-SFO (what a way to start!), with a same-day United flight from SFO to SEA..... What are the exact circumstances in regards to changing the first flight? I'm not necessarily needing to do it, but I'm kind of intrigued by the rules.

Is it absolutely written in stone that the first flight cannot be changed? The date? The carrier? Even if the entire RTW is going to be finished well within the 1-year limit? What if the departure city and destination stayed the same, but I wanted to switch from SQ to UA () ICN-SFO-SEA? Or fly on the original departure day, but change the destination?

Also, UA agent (Korea) mentioned that my ticket was non-refundable.... I'm not wanting to do that, but I thought that a First Class ticket would be refundable, no?

Any info that would appease my curiosity would be great!
Thanks all!
-Paella747 :-: