The purpose of this thread is to collect some FAQs on the most popular oneworld ticket, the Explorer. This thread is not intended to be totally comprehensive, nor is it a substitute for using the search function for specific or obscure points (the search function is at the top right of your screen, in case you missed it!). It is an aid for planning your massive mileage-earning trip round the world on the airlines of the oneworld alliance. Once you have trawled through this thread you should be OK to start work on your itinerary. If you have any questions not covered here or in a search of old threads, don't be afraid to post and ask the experts here.

Please note that while we attempt to be as accurate as possible, the official rules do change. The airline who issues your ticket will have final say on what the rules are, and how they interpret them. Here goes:

Terminology:

Q: You people seem to like talking in code. Do you have a glossary?
A: Of course. Here are some basic terms:

ONE or OWE = oneworld Explorer ticket
DONE4 = D class (business class) oneworld Explorer ticket for 4 continents. The initial letter is A, D or L depending on whether it is First, Bus. or Economy, and the final number is the number of continents, 3-6 (sometimes a * is used to indicate a generic question/response, eg. *ONE4 or *ONE*)
Segment = a flight with a single flight number between two cities, whether or not it stops between the origin and destination, and whether or not there is a change of aircraft along the way. So for instance SYD-JFK is one segment even though it stops in LAX, but NRT-BKK is two segments (NRT-HKG, HKG-BKK) since there is no oneworld single flight number between NRT and BKK. Don't confuse "segment" with "sector," another term you often see. A sector is one take off and one landing, so SYD-JFK is two sectors but only one segment.

The Airlines:
AA = American Airlines
AY = Finnair
BA = British Airways
CX = Cathay Pacific (and KA for Dragon Air)
IB = Iberia
JL = Japan Airlines
LA = Lan Chile (and XL, 4M for the other Lan's)
MA = Malev
QF = Qantas (which DOES NOT HAVE A "U" IN IT !!!!!!!)
RJ = Royal Jordanian


Other Useful Terms:
F, J, Y = the full price booking classes for first, business and economy classes respectively. Being discount tickets, *ONE* tickets generally use A, D or L for the respective classes, but sometimes people like to use "J" as a generic way of describing business class, for instance.
RTW = round the world
SWP = South West Pacific (one of the continents)
WT+ = World Traveller Plus, the premium economy cabin on some BA flights

The Basics:

Q: What airlines can I fly with on a ONE ticket?
A: Any oneworld airline, which are currently American Airlines, British airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Lan, Lan Peru, Lan Argentina, Malev, Qantas and Royal Jordanian, or their affiliate airlines:

• AmericanConnection service is operated by one of the following independent carriers: Trans States Airlines, Inc., Chautauqua Airlines, Inc., and Corporate Airlines, Inc. American Eagle service includes flights operated by Executive Air.
• American Eagle

• British Mediterranean (only under BA code not BD)
• BA CitiExpress
• Comair (not to be confused with the Delta affiliate in the US with the same name)
• GB Airways
• Loganair
• Sun-Air
• Zambian Airways
• Regional Air

• Lan Express

• QantasLink
• AUSTRALIAN FOR QANTAS
• Jetconnect
• Jetstar (JQ) is allowed if a QF codeshare (but not as JQ code) if ticket is purchased outside Australia or New Zealand


Aer Lingus, Cathay Pacific Airways and Finnair do not have any affiliates.

NOTE: The ticket must have you flying on one of the above airlines; codeshare flights operated by other partner/affiliate airlines are not permitted on this ticket. So for example the QF flights that are codeshares operated by FJ (Air Pacific) are not eligible. However it is possible to fly on codeshares within the alliance. For example you can take an AA flight number that is actually operated by BA. The benefit of doing this is that it may help depending on which frequent flyer membership you are with, and what bonuses are given with these flights.

NOTE: If a ticket includes travel to/from/via Cuba it may not also include flight segments for travel on American Airlines/American Eagle/American Connection due to US Government restrictions.

Q: What are the basic rules of the fare?
A: It is a round the world ticket, so you must cross both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, but can only do so once for each ocean. The fare is calculated based on the number of continents you visit. The continents are counted even if you only change planes there (eg. stopping in Asia on a flight from Europe to Australia), and the continent count includes the continent of origin. See below for backtracking rules. You can fly up to 16 segments in total.

Q: Can I backtrack?
A: You can backtrack within countries and continents, but you cannot re-enter a continent after leaving it, except: (a) a transit without stopover in Asia on a flight between Europe and SWP or vice versa, (b) a transit without stopover in North America on a flight between South America and SWP, Asia or Europe or vice versa, (c) a transit without stopover in Europe on a flight between Europe and
GHANA/NIGERIA/KENYA/UGANDA/TANZANIA or vice versa. Any of these transit without stopover benefits can be taken in either direction (eg. Europe-SWP or SWP-Europe) and either before or after you wish to enter the continent for the second time to use your stopovers there. You can only leave and re-enter the continent of origin once, except for North America where you may have an additional transit without stopover.

Q: What are the continents on which the fare is calculated? Which countries are in which continent?
A: Forget all your geography lessons, and take a look at the map accessible by clicking this hyperlink and you should see the continents. For those who prefer the text, oneworld defines the continents as follows:

North America = United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean area, Central America and Panama
South America = all of South America other than Panama
Europe = all of Europe, including Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and all of the Middle East including Egypt and Sudan
Africa = all of Africa other than Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia
Asia = all of Asia excluding everything in the South West Pacific
South West Pacific = all of the South West Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand

Q: How many of those 16 segments can I use in each continent?
A: Generally you get four (4) segments in each of Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and South West Pacific, and six (6) segments in North America. None of the intercontinental flights, including those across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, count against any continent allowance, although obviously they do count against your 16 segment total allowance. There are, in addition, other restrictions you need to be aware of.

Q: What about surface segments (eg arrive at LGA and depart from JFK)?
A: These are counted towards the total of 16 segments.

Q: Are there any other restrictions that I have per region/continent?
A: Yes:

Europe - Not more than two Europe/Middle East segments may be used for journeys between the U.K. and the following: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Funchal, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Tunisia, Ukraine, and the Middle East. You get four segments in Europe, so if you go from Heathrow to, say, Dubai, you cannot then go from Heathrow to Greece and back.

Americas - Within North America, only one transcontinental flight is allowed between selected cities on the East and West Coasts. "Transcontinental" is defined as a flight between one of BWI/BOS/FLL/BDL/MIA/EWR/NYC/ORL/PHL/SJU/YYZ/WAS and one of LAS/LGB/LAX/OAK/SNA/PDX/SAN/SFO/SEA/SJC/YVR. Also, in North America only one segment is permitted between the continental US and Hawaii (so if you want to visit Hawaii, you must go to/from Australia), and only one flight to/from ANC (Anchorage, Alaska) is permitted.

South West Pacific - within Australia only one flight is permitted between:

* Perth, and Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne or Sydney
* Darwin, and Melbourne or Sydney
* Broome, and Melbourne or Sydney

Exceptions - there is no restriction between Sydney/Melbourne & Perth for passengers originating in:

* Perth, when in conjunction with travel to/from Jo'burg/Mumbai/Shanghai/Beijing
* New Zealand, when in conjunction with travel to/from Jo'burg

Asia - The CX HKG-HAN flight is not permitted

Q: Can I take the QF flight from LAX-JFK (or vice versa) even if I don't have an onward flight with QF?
A: No. The rules would appear to allow it, but in actual practice QF does not.

Q: Can I buy more segments?
A: Yes, you can buy up to two more segments per continent, other than the continent of origin, at varying prices depending on the class in which you are booked. You cannot, however, have more than 16 segments in total.

Q: What about stopovers? What are the rules? And benefits?
A: A stopover is break in your journey of more than 24 hours. You can have as many stopovers as you like (one per segment if you like), but you cannot have more than two stopovers in the continent of origin. The key thing here is the 24-hour rule, and there are two main benefits. First, at some airports (eg. LHR) not having a stopover can save significant taxes as you will be classed as a passenger in transit, and second, you can stop for dinner and a night with friends, even if you are out of stopovers in the country of origin.

Q: Where can I fly on a ONE ticket?
A: You can get an idea of available destinations from the maps on the AA website at this hyperlink; just select oneworld cities once the relevant area has loaded. There is also a pretty bad map on the oneworld website here.

Q: What tools are available for working out my itinerary and the airline timetables?
A) You can download the oneworld electronic timetable by clicking on http://www.oneworld.com/travel_planning/home.cfm which opens a .exe file, or from the AA website by clicking this link.

Q: Can I end my itinerary in a city other than the one where I started?
A: Yes. You can separate your origin and destination under any of the following circumstances: anywhere within the country of origin, between the US and Canada, anywhere within Africa, anywhere within the Middle East, between Hong Kong and China, between Bangladesh and Bangkok or Singapore, or between Malaysia and Singapore. So you could start in CAI and end in DXB, but could not start in JFK and end in MEX.

(Please see thread continued in next post.....)