Originally Posted by mhtaipei
it's all perfectly legal. i checked the rules. appearantly you guys are mislead by the 4 sector rule.
Here is what it says on the oneworld website:
Flights and stopovers
You are allowed to taketwo stopovers in total within your continent of origin in order to get to or from a gateway to commence or return from your international travel.
After departing from your continent of origin, you are allowed to take up tofour flights to explore each of the other continents (six flights in North America).
You can book up totwo additional flights per continent, at a set rate.
http://www.oneworld.com/products/det...fm?ObjectID=21
The confusion arises over the limit of 2 stopovers in the continent of origin. Without this limitation, one could have 4 stopovers in one's continent of origin. I don't understand the need for this rule, but it is explicitly stated.
The star files define stopovers and the number of free flight segments per continent independently from each other. The rules explicitly state that one cannot buy additional segments in the continent of origin beyond the limit of free segments. The rules also state the number of free flight segments per continent. I have seen that language in the AA, BA, and CX version of the rules. It seems that the oneworld website is not consistent with the actual airline rules, where only stopovers are mentioned in the continent of origin.
This is a recurring problem with airlines. Travellers become angry when there is a conflict between the website and the airline rules. If ticketed, go for it. Just remember that you take a big risk if you need to do a reissue.