You are very probably correct, Wasabi Tofu. In the past, it's been suggested in this very forum that itineraries could be arranged like this in order to use up some of the segments that would otherwise go unused, even several months before/after the true RTW trip. I guess part of the price we pay for an open forum is that OneWorld can react to the members' creativity where they think that we are pushing the limits too much.

That said, I believe it's very healthy that the market forces operate like this. It would not be in anyone's interest for the product to become so unprofitable that it were to be withdrawn.