Originally Posted by graraps
So you're saying there aren't enough Canadians and South Americans transferring to intercontinental flights at JFK, ATL, IAH or whichever hub. I highly doubt that and my guess would be that, if it indeed was to be that way, it would be BECAUSE of the USA lacking in transit facilities
Well, sterile transit between Canada / USA would be a PITA for the majority of passengers. 95% of passengers flying between Canada / USA do not have international connections. The airports are designed to handle that 95% efficiently -- hence, the existance of pre-clearance facilities in Canada so that when transborder flights land in the USA, they can disembark at the domestic terminal (making USA domestic connections a breeze). If flights from Canada to the USA disembarked at international terminals -- that would really be a PITA for the average connecting passenger.
As for South Americans -- well, TWOV helped them out when it was around. Getting rid of it was dumb. It would be so much easier if flights departing the USA/Canada to non-North American destinations would undergo exit screening. I'm talking about a quick swipe of the passport with no questions, followed by entering a secured "exit" area. Then again, there are only a select few airports where that would really be helpful -- the others have too few international flights to justify tying up gates that would be unused most of the time. But where it makes sense (JFK, MIA, LAX, IAH), they should do it.
Originally Posted by graraps
b) In any case, if there is so much trouble in designing a RTW, and given I primarily want to visit 2-3 specific places as opposed to randomly travel around the globe, I'll just scrap the idea altogether and buy separate tickets on carriers from countries that would respect my time and myself as a person and value my contribution (however small) to their airline industry.
One thought....have you considered a *A RTW ticket? I don't know what the price differential is between plan b) and a *A RTW ticket, but it might be significant enough to make you jump ship from Skyteam (for this trip). It's much easier to get a transpac segment on *A that bypasses the USA than it is on Skyteam.
-notam