Dear FT RTW experts,

Hoping to get some updates and advice from those with recent firsthand experience here. Pre pandemic, I did three ex Japan DONE4/5 fares, and always valued the optionality of rerouting (usually 2-3x per ticket) despite it being such a pain to do so. It got tiring and with all the pandemic issues in air travel ie changes/cancellations/revenge travel etc, only now with things fully reopen everywhere am I considering looking at them again.

- Is it still the case that the rerouting/changes are to be done with the airline that issues the RTW ticket, which is determined by the operator of the first leg/flight on the issue RTW ticket?

- Are there any particular airlines that are better in terms of ease and access when it comes to rebooking/rerouting RTW tickets assuming I am familiar with RTW rules and well prepared (usually with route in hand)? I historically used CX which required a voice call to the normal ticketing line to describe the issue briefly only to get them to have a CX RTW desk call you back and explain it exactly (i got quite used to this). But given the past pandemic years I wouldn't expect this to be much smoother if not worse so wondering if JAL, AA, BA, etc would be better and any particular views when it comes to the rebooking experience?

- Generally is D class availability harder now vs 3+ years ago on transoceanic routes?

- I saw on the webtool now that there is a maximum mileage limit (34k?) - was that always there or did that appear only recently?

- any other comments/advice on how things may be different compared to pre pandemic?

thanks!