OK, I have friends who are planning an DONE4 originating in HNL. They plan on doing this trip over 6 months and in conjunction with their move from Hawaii back to the mainland US, so at the end of their DONE4 they will not be returning to HNL. They wanted to fly from HNL to the mainland, visit some friends and then continue on to Asia/SWP, and then Europe, and then back to their new home on mainland US.

I spoke with the AA ATW desk and they said this was not allowed. The answers given had an air of uncertainty and were not that convincing so I decided to float a question (in a minute) to the FT experts. Anyway the AA ATW desk said that after visiting friends in the US they would then have to continue on to Europe, then Asia/SWP, and then they could fly back to mainland US from Asia/SWP. I do not see where this would be any different than what they are currently planning other than being done in a different order. This would result in their having to adjust their dates, for seasonal considerations. The other option for them according to the AA ATW desk was to depart westbound from HNL to Asia/SWP and continue then to Europe followed by mainland US.

Now the question. Does anyone have any personal experience they can share with regards to departing on a xONEx out of HNL? Any other insights would be appreciated too.

From the FAQs:
"Also, in North America only one segment is permitted between the continental US and Hawaii"

But there is also the rule:
"It is a round the world ticket, so you must cross both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, but can only do so once for each ocean."

For departures from Hawaii ending elsewhere in the US mainland, it is not possible to fulfill the later rule specified above as best I can tell.