One World RTW ticket questions.
 

I am new to flyer talk and I have never purchased a rtw ticket. I have read alot of information on the subject and I have some questions. My planned routing is as follows:

AMM-LHR (RJ)
LHR-HKG (CX/BA/QF)
HKG-CMB (CX)
CMB-KTM (CX and KA via HKG)
KTM-YYZ (KA and CX via HKG)
YYZ-BZE (AA)
BZE-YYZ (AA)
YYZ-UVF (AA)
UVF-LGW (BA)
LGW-TUN (BA)
TUN-AMM (RJ)

Is this doable?
I am a little confused about stopover rules, am I allowed to stopover in HKG when travelling from CMB-KTM. I don't think I am.
I would like to add Guam, but I'm not how this would be possible. I know I'd have to pay for one extra Asia segment.
I need to fine tune this itinerary. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks.

To be helpful, it might be helpful if you

1. presented the proposed itinerary with all of the segments (i.e. I don't belive that there are direct AA flights between YYZ - BZE or YYZ -UVF)

2. numbered your flight segments by region (i.e. Asia 1, Asia 2, Intercontinental etc.)

3. identified your intended travel class

4. identified where you are accumulating miles/points

5. identified which stops are important to you (as opposed to connecting cities)

Welcome to FlyerTalk startpacking

According to MileageMonkey it is doable as an xONE3, with a few transits through MIA to get from YYZ to the Carribean:

amm-lhr-hkg-cmb-hkg-ktm-hkg-yyz-mia-bze-mia-yyz-mia-uvf-lgw-tun-amm

Note the above uses all 16 segments allowed

The rules on stopovers are easy - you can stopover anywhere on the itinerary EXCEPT that you are limited to only two stopovers* in your continent of origin. (* - further limited to a maximum of one outbound and one inbound in the country of origin)
So on the above itinerary, you can stopover three times in HKG and also three times in MIA

Your continent of origin is Europe, which for the purposes of an xONEx ticket includes the Middle East and North Africa. So you can only have two stopovers between your three 'European' ports: LHR, LGW and TUN. Presumably you'd make one of the London stops into a transit (i.e. <24hrs); this will also save you one set of the exorbitant UK departure taxes.

FYI the ticket rules are here

Some further thoughts:

RJ flies from AMM to CMB, so you could cut out the LHR stop and save two segments (AMM-CMB instead of AMM-LHR-HKG-CMB).

You can only get to GUM from NRT, so to get to it would entail 3 segments (from somewhere to NRT to GUM and back to NRT). Then you cannot get from NRT to YYZ non-stop, so add another segment. Looks next to impossible?

Thanks for the feedback.

I should have written that I cannot change YYZ, LHR and HKG in the itinerary and I need to fly LHR-HKG. (I can omit a stop in LGW and I am only thinking of flying to LGW to connect to TUN.) Any of the other sectors/destinations I can change. I would like to requalify for AA PLT status on this ticket and I would like to bank as many miles as possible.

I plan on purchasing a DONE3 ticket.

My itinerary is a follows:

AMM-LHR, RJ, Europe 1/2
LHR-HKG, CX/BA/QF, Intercontinental
HKG-CMB, CX, Asia 1/4
CMB-HKG, CX Asia 2/4
HKG-KTM, KA Asia 3/4
KTM-HKG, KA Asia 4/4
HKG-YYZ, CX Transpacific
YYZ-MIA, AA, NA 1/6
MIA- BZE, AA, NA 2/6
BZE-MIA, AA, NA 3/6
MIA-YYZ, AA NA 4/6
YYZ-MIA, AA NA 5/6
MIA-UVF, AA NA 6/6
UVF-LGW, BA, Transatlantic. Transit only in LGW.
LGW-TUN, BA, Europe 2/2
TUN-AMM, RJ


I am open to suggestions as to how to maximize my miles and which cities I should consider changing. (Besides, HKG, LHR and YYZ).

I don't mind omitting Belize and travelling to Guam, but I know this will involve an additonal cost on Asian sectors.

I would like to know how to issue the ticket so I am flexible to take a stopover in MIA, one of the three times I need to transit via MIA. Can I just issue the ticket with a stop over and then change the flight # and time to a connecting flight at a later date? I understand that this will affect the amount of taxes I will pay on the ticket. I understand that OW considers this a reroute. Is there anyway to avoid the fee and set up the ticket with the flexiblity of changing this once the ticket is issued?

I have my travel dates worked out until the HKG-YYZ flight. I need to be flexible with changing dates for the remainder of the ticket. Anything I need to aware of when issuing the ticket to allow date change flexibility?

Finally, who should I have issue the ticket? I reside in Canada. I would like AA to issue the ticket, based on the Jordanian RTW fare. What dos and don'ts do I need to be aware of? Will I need to pay in USD or CDN? Every time I've bought a ticket from AA I've paid in CAD, even when purchasing the ticket online, AA has changed my billing currency to CAD (despite I made the reservation in USD) and charged my cc.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thank you.

I would request stopovers for all of the plane changes in MIA. In the US, there is little difference in taxes/fees between stopovers and transits. Call the AA RTW desk in the USA, and have them create the PNR with open segments after HKG-YYZ flight. Also tell the RTW desk that you live in Canada and will purchase the ticket at an AA airport location. When ready to actually buy the ticket, call a day in advance and make sure that they have properly set up the ticketing. Go to the airport, and buy the ticket. Since it will have open segments, you will receive a paper ticket that should just print-out from the machine. I would suggest going during the week and during the 7-4 daytime shift so that the staff can call the RTW desk if there are any snafus. It should be fairly easy to do overall.

Since the OP is from Canada and I assume has a Canada issued CC and AAdvantage address, then a paper ticket can be ticketed and issued through the AA RTW desk over the phone and mailed to the OP? It is only those of us here in the US and other foreign counties, that need to actually go to a Canadian airport ticket counter to take advantage of the Canada exception.

Thanks for the feedback.

I would like to double check one thing, Regarding open segments, could someone please explain this to a rtw ticket dummie. (Most of my flying has been on point to point tickets in Y booked on AA.com). What information do I need to provide at the time of the reservation. How do I issue a open segment ticket with 3 stopovers in MIA? I am assuming I need to provide the destinations to AA at the time of reservation, and I can adjust the dates at a later date. Is this correct?

I do have a Canadian issued credit card and the address on my AA account is in Canada.

I've been thinking about the itinerary, I definitely would like to include Nepal. I would not like to remove KTM from the itinerary at all. HKG, LHR and YYZ are the other destinations that must be included, and I need to fly LHR - HKG. I am flexible with the rest of the itinerary.

Remember the old paper tickets? An open ticket (or better an open coupon) looks like a normal coupon. It has the from/to airports, the airline, valid from/to etc but no flight number and no date/time.
When buying the ticket you need to know the airports (and the order) to have the ticket issued. Then you call the airline (any time as long as you are within the validity of the ticket) and make a reservation for a specific flight.

A few warnings: first there must be space in the corresponding booking class on your flight. Second the airline still needs to fly that sector, otherwise the ticket needs to be reissued (which potentially could be a problem if you need to connect somewhere in addition and running out of sectors (total or inside your continent).

And about the routing: there are so many possibilities, you need to decide what you want to do. In case you are running into the limitation of the RTW (number of sectors etc) it is typically a good idea to do the 'heavy lifting (long sectors) with the RTW and then buy extra tickets for the shorter additional sectors, especially in places where these kind of tickets are not too expensive (Australia, BKK) and where you need to do a round trip anyway.