rgm18

hi, i am flying to korea with a stop in japan and wanted to know if it is legal for me to have this segment on the end

jfk-yvr (stop for 10 hours but last in, first out) - nrt (intl gateway stopover)
nrt-icn (stop=destination)
icn-nrt-nyc (domestic stopover)
nyc-sfo or nyc-dfw

so i just tried to do this and the agent said the last segment is "back tracking" and is not valid. i dont think thats true as i booked a similar award a few yrs back with very similar terms (sea instead of sfo at the end there). i am pretty sure my last segment is allowed cause it is my domestic gateway stopover and an open jaw, both of which im allowed on this award.

would love to hear opinions,
thanks,
r

Ajohn

Yep, I'm afraid with All-Partner awards AA is going to pull out the "most direct routing" rule on you. I don't know if this was ever different.

bombayhog

I can't claim to be 100% sure on this, but am almost certain that you cannot have an open jaw in which you connect through your originating/departure city to get back to your final city. The problem, AFAIK, is not that you're flying somewhat indirectly by going via JFK on the way to the west coast. If you were originating in SFO and going back into JFK, there would be no problem.

rgm18

i called up and got a different agent to do it
i havent ticketed it yet though

i have to say i did an almost identical trip a few years back (only difference was beijing instead of seoul and seattle instead of san fran)

hopefully ill be able to ticket...
r

Happy

Agent booked it for you may not mean it would go thru the review desk.
You can ask to ticket it if you truly want this itinerary, then see if it would be actually ticketed or just hang in there for unusually long time w/o being actually ticketed. (no miles deducted, no cc charge). You will find out the truth when you call to follow up.

There are 2 issues in your itinerary, each has been mentioned by the above posts.

The stopover at your originating city is the one most likely would catch the eye of the review desk, even if they let you backtrack. Though it is also a rule that you must fly the most direct route on international all partner award.

steve32

You only get one extra stopover, that being in a gateway city for the destination zone.

Both that and the fact that you will have returned to your origination will cut off the ticket at NYC. If you want to stop elsewhere, you will have to go there directly, not back "through" home.

Also, AA may not want to let you slide on the YVR stopover. Doesn't matter that it's first out, if it's outside their definition of allowed layover (though I think you get 12 hours for international if no flights within 6 hours), they may not allow it.

Someone else got zapped by that about a month or so ago, with the flight continuing on being the first one with award space available, but it wasn't within the allowed time-frame, so too bad.

On All-Partner Awards, you have less flexibility on routing than with OneWorld Awards.

Steve

miles_navigator

I did this for a friend on the leg back from NRT to JFK a couple of years ago.

JFK --> DFW or JFK --> SFO is a NO WAY coming back from NRT.

I tried to get my friend JFK --> DFW and they said not a valid routing since there is NRT to DFW and NRT to SFO non-stop.

You maybe able to pull off JFK --> Florida (he did LGA --> MIA) or Carribean, and buy a one way back as part of seperate trip.

In case they hassle you with starting the journey/originating at JFK then considering starting at: BDL or PHL or even HPN depending where in NYC area you are, and connecting in DFW to get to YVR.

I don't know if they zap you for starting in EWR or LGA as part of the co-terminal thing.

Good luck, and let us know once the ticket is issued (after the review).