Originally Posted by Darren
Wideman is correct in theory but your example is a major exception. Because of an unrelated rule, once youre in HNL you can *only* leave from HNL (or another Hawaiian island). You cant do an open jaw to or from HNL *anywhere* but otherwise open jaws are generally allowed save exceptions like wideman pointed out.
OK, so once you hit HNL, your next stop on your xONEx ticket has to be to another continent. If I do a surface trip back to LAX, then it has to be a round trip, and if I go from North America to Australia, and plan on stopping in HNL before I leave, I can only take the SYD flight from HNL, which has no F seats.
That means that it makes more sense to fly into North America, landing at HNL and proceeding to the mainland, rather than flying out of North America by stopping in HNL first.
Also, given the outrageous cost to get to CAI from here, it almost makes more sense to fly to HKG and start an AONEx from there, flying into North America (JFK), and then either to Australia or Europe as the next continent. The cost of the trip to CAI or CMB seems to more than wipe out any price savings. In other words, the cost of a flight to CAI or CMB from LAX plus the AONEx from there seems to be higher than the cost of the trip to HKG plus the AONEx from there.