Originally Posted by haddon90
last year i went iad-lax-syd-mel and then 4 days later i went mel-syd and then 4 days after that syd-sfo-iad. was that legal to go mel-syd on UA without continuing on to the US?
It is unclear to say the least. The (good) ticketing agent in SYD when I talked to him most recently said that online international connections are only allowed. Since you have a four day stopover, it clearly isn't a stopover.
However, I've seen many agents book at least award tickets this way. It may be that award tickets are exempt from the rule since there is no revenue paid to UA for the flight. I know this loophole can be exploited on LH with some of their tags in Africa where they don't have 5th freedom rights. Whether that is the rule or exception, I'm not sure.