Originally Posted by
barking frog
...1) Is there any reasonably inexpensive way to fly from YYZ to a major hub in Europe in August '07, and return, say, December '08 (not fixed)? Or is my only option 2xone-way or an unrestricted fare? (Many open-return tickets have a one year limit.)
2) What would happen if I went ZRH-xMAD-TLV-xLHR-DXB-xHKG-PER-...-JFK-ZRH and a delay at one of the transits caused it to become a stopover?
3) What would happen if I had a 20 segment trip, but then one of the routings became invalid because an airliner left the alliance, lack of demand, or it was seasonal? In other words, what would happen if I needed an extra flight to connect to my next destination?
4) Last question, do surface segments count as segments?
...
1)all airline tickets are limited to 1 year validity, this is by IATA agreement and no way around it. So you must have 2 separate (oneway) tickets for Aug 07 and Dec 08 return.
2) delay causing a stopover or involuntary reroute has no effect on your ticket -- only voluntary changes count. The airline involved reaccomodates you as best it can (this varies from very well to abysmal). Best to book a realistic connection schedule.
3)If there is a schedule change and a segment no longer operates, the result differs depending on open-dated or not. If open dated (no set date for the segment), you must reissue the ticket for a valid route, with no accomodation for the missing segment. If dated, then the airline will treat it as an involuntary reroute, which might involve additional segments for travel. Your ticket is not reissued, and you are only considered to have used the originally ticketed segment. So basically with dated segment, risk is the airlines, while with open dated, risk is yours.
4) surface segments do not count in the 20 segment limit. They do count in the stopover limit (important only in the continent of origin, as the other continents have unlimited stopovers). Each end of a surface segment is considered to be a stopover (which is reasonable, imho). Also the first segment on OWE can never be a surface segment (to prevent using fares from countries that have no active flight service, and very low fares which cannot be used).