Originally Posted by headinclouds
Yes there was a lot of speculation of 4-continent trips becoming 3 continent, etc. And at first AA did consider it trans-atlantic, but reverted to trans-pacific 2 weeks later.
One of the main reasons for this is probably the requirement for a xONEx to have 3 "ocean" segments for the financial divvy up as described by
number_6 in this recent thread:
Airline compensation for one world explorer.