I called AA looking for a BKK-SEA-JFK-BKK award in J, believing that I was entitled to one stopover in the country of destination. They said SEA is not a valid stopover between BKK and JFK, so I would have to get two awards, one for BKK-SEA-BKK and one for the domestic sector (SEA-JFK). So they've booked BKK(JL)-NRT(JL)-LAX(AS)-SEA//JFK(AA)-NRT(JL)-BKK for 110,000 miles and SEA-JFK for 45,000 miles.

I wanted to confirm their interpretation of the rules- must my stopover in the country of destination be at the international gateway (as they say), or do I have flexibility in stopping at any point on the way to NY?