Originally Posted by ReelChief
Thanks for posting the rules, GibSpmuh. As a newcomer, I'm having difficulty seeing how it works. For instance on the first example given on bestflights (PER-JNB-LHR-BRU-MAN-LHR-JFK-YUL-ORD-HNL-SYD-PER) there seem to be more transfers than permitted 10 vs 8) and the total mileage is over 27000mi which is more than 50% greater than the PER-LHR distance. Can someone clarify what is permitted. Thanks.
Keep in mind you're allowed 8 transfers, plus 6 en-route stopovers, plus the destination stopover - that allows a maximum of fifteen segments if you use them properly. As for the total mileage, it's governed by the Maximum Permitted Mileage (or MPM) - unlike the other Global Explorer product which has set allowable mileage per tier (26,000 miles, 29,000 miles etc).
MPM is a weird and wonderful beast, which actually changes depending on your routing to the destination - thus if you were to fly to LHR via the US, the MPM is higher than if you fly via Asia. It's not just based on the Great Circle Distance. You'd have to check on your particular routing, but there's flexibility to exceed the MPM up to 25%, in 5% increments, paying an increased fare to match. Others can probably explain MPM better, but that's my rough understanding anyway.