I thought I had a ticket all sorted through BA in South Africa but a phone call tonight put paid to that. They were telling me I was breaking some of the rules despite the online tool saying it's a valid itinerary.
JNB-LHR, LHR-LAX-DFW-SEA-DFW, DFW-LGA, LGA-DFW-LAX-HKG-BOM-HKG-DEL, DEL-NRT-SYD, SYD-HKG-JNB
Can someone point me to where I've apparently gone wrong? I guess to keep the ticket I'll have to modify the itinerary.
My guess is that it's what I'll call the "old" (restrictive) interpretation of the poorly-drafted rule 2(e)(2) -
(e) Only one intercontinental departure and one intercontinental arrival permitted in each continent except as follows:
1. Two permitted in North America when one is a transfer without stopover.
2. Two permitted in Asia when one is a transfer without stopover or on direct single plane service between the Southwest Pacific and Europe.
The placement of the "between the Southwest Pacific and Europe" clause vis a vis the "or" has been interpreted differently over the years. Does it mean the only routing where you can use the "second Asia entry" rule is between the SWP and Europe, or between the SWP and anywhere else? People have been ticketed with your type of routing, or for example, Asia - SWP - Asia - N. America, but have also been turned down.
Your choices seem to be (a) phone and try again (always worth a shot) or (b) just book Qantas' nonstop SYD-JNB flight and be done with it, and use the remaining segment to make up some of the lost miles elsewhere.