Originally Posted by
number_6
The OW rule is that the airline flying the first international sector on OWE must ticket; other airlines may ticket, at their option, but cannot be forced to ticket. AA typically will ticket as long as it gets some revenue, which means either trans-pacific or trans-atlantic. This includes AA codeshare on CX (HKG-USA) or QF (Oz-USA), so you can accomplish the AA ticketing without actually flying AA longhaul.
The AA GSA in CPT wasn't prepared to ticket with
only the trans-Pacific on AA (as well as my North American AA segments), as indicated by the e-mail I quoted. I guess, at the moment, South Africa is especially popular for OW RTWs, MindPearl are ultra-busy and can afford to take this approach.
The perspective on TBIT @ LAX v BA @ SFO is extremely valuable. My routing probably doesn't take me that way until Feb. 2010, but it sounds something to be looking forward to. I killed several hours there on my way to SYD back in 2002 (as OW Emerald) and it was OK but not out of the ordinary. I guess the refurbishment has seen significant improvements.