Originally Posted by
startpacking
Thanks for the feedback.
I would like to double check one thing, Regarding open segments, could someone please explain this to a rtw ticket dummie. (Most of my flying has been on point to point tickets in Y booked on AA.com). What information do I need to provide at the time of the reservation. How do I issue a open segment ticket with 3 stopovers in MIA? I am assuming I need to provide the destinations to AA at the time of reservation, and I can adjust the dates at a later date. Is this correct?
I do have a Canadian issued credit card and the address on my AA account is in Canada.
I've been thinking about the itinerary, I definitely would like to include Nepal. I would not like to remove KTM from the itinerary at all. HKG, LHR and YYZ are the other destinations that must be included, and I need to fly LHR - HKG. I am flexible with the rest of the itinerary.
Remember the old paper tickets? An open ticket (or better an open coupon) looks like a normal coupon. It has the from/to airports, the airline, valid from/to etc but no flight number and no date/time.
When buying the ticket you need to know the airports (and the order) to have the ticket issued. Then you call the airline (any time as long as you are within the validity of the ticket) and make a reservation for a specific flight.
A few warnings: first there must be space in the corresponding booking class on your flight. Second the airline still needs to fly that sector, otherwise the ticket needs to be reissued (which potentially could be a problem if you need to connect somewhere in addition and running out of sectors (total or inside your continent).
And about the routing: there are so many possibilities, you need to decide what you want to do. In case you are running into the limitation of the RTW (number of sectors etc) it is typically a good idea to do the 'heavy lifting (long sectors) with the RTW and then buy extra tickets for the shorter additional sectors, especially in places where these kind of tickets are not too expensive (Australia, BKK) and where you need to do a round trip anyway.