Yes that is what I mean. I apologize for the wrong term. I was reading the fare rule and I thought free transfer is used in the fare rule. Maybe I misread.
So the key question is whether this surface transfer is included in the segments. From what I read from your response, it is not included in the 4 segments in Asia but included in the total 16 segments? Or it doesn't count at all? (That can't be the case because of lga and jfk problem mentioned earlier...)

If surface segment is included in all counts basically I am losing a free flight (of course the taxes...) so there is notuch advantages for surface segments? I used it to avoid London departures for higher departure fees but I am not sure if I am losing a segment etc...what is the advantage of adding the surface segments?

Yes. 16 segments max. 16 is limited by the GDS software. Ground segments do not count against the "within each continent " limit. Note OW have bolded "flight"
3015 rules

It's hard to say why the OW tool wouldn't book yours, I don't see any flags that seem to be common issues with the tool. Maybe the UL flights but even that I'm not sure.

But I've booked all of my RTWs so far via the tool and all are in in the range of 45k-51k BIS miles.

Well, I see how this works out, so very happy with AA in terms of just reading out my flight lists. I've just put the following into the ticketing queue for an AONE4, thx for your advice and thoughts. This is essentially 3 holidays to Europe & Middle East, USA, Australia (and with a separately booked return back to Asia from DOH)
HND-HKG-LHR-BAH-DOH-LHR-MIA-JFK-LAX-HKG-SIN-SYD-MEL-HBA-SYD-HNL giving me CX F, BA F, QR F, AA F (& Transcon), CX F, QF F and finally JL F**

**With the following problems that perhaps someone would like to observe (per here, https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onew...king-tool.html), in these cases I could see availability in A on ExpertFlyer, with POS to either the US or Japan. I had to move one day later for the QF F (even though on the day I originally wanted it had lots of space the agent was unable to reconfirm)

1. No "A" availability on the transcontinental, I'm in business
2. Unable to see any A availability on the SYD-HNL, I'm in economy as D is also blocked

The agent advised that I should ticket and then I will be able to waitlist for the improved classes (think I would have to pay a change fee). Does that match other's experiences, anything else you'd suggest I do proactively? Only the JAL one would be a huge shame, there appears to be however nearly zero availability in D or A out of Australia or Asia (Except via HKG, where I don't have enough segments really) in early January 2025, but I really couldn't face 9 hours in economy there. I guess if it really didn't clear after a month or two. Note - I will be in NRT & HND in a few weeks time, if popping over to the airline ticketing office could help, I presume not.

I'm confused on your routing above -- the last segment is SYD-HND, right?
Also, you are thinking to stop by JL office to release availability for your AA-ticketed journey..?

Yes, that is the last segment SYD-HND. I'll be in Japan on another trip - the actual flight I want is in 6 months time. I was asking an opinion on popping by the JAL ticket desk so I don't have, as hopefully by that time I'd have an AA ticketed journey with a waitlist for JAL, so I'd need JAL to explicitly release the space for me, perhaps, not sure why AA can't see it. It would be very little inconvenience and is presumably an easy way to interact with a human who would presumably know who to escalate to make the request at least, but if you think its a waste of time I wouldn't bother.

The problem I see with "popping by the JAL ticket desk" is that the staff at a standard ticket desk is unlikely to have the expertise to know how to deal with xONEx tickets. The rules, as you know, are multitudinous and complex.

We are in the process of booking our first RTW with our travel agent and all the flights are available apart from an issue with CX.

We are trying to book BOM-HKG-JFK (with CX) and are having two issues:

1) CX will not allow us to take a connecting flight on the same day in HKG and require us to stopover in HKG. We have tried to get around this by booking BOM-HKG-SFO-JFK (I have one segment to spare) and using the AA codeshare for HKG-SFO but was rejected unless we stopped over for a night in HKG. Has anyone come across this and how we might get round the issue (why do CX require a stopover in HKG)?

2) CX have still not released their timetable for HKG-JFK for 10th March onwards (whilst we want to fly 9th March CX will not allow us to book and we are having to go for 10th March). CX seem to be late in releasing some timetables (they only recently released BOM-HKG).

Any thoughts/advice?

You state that you’re booking with a TA but that “CX will not allow” - this isn’t clear. Did you receive some communication from CX, or is it that your TA can’t get it to work? Additionally, who are they trying to ticket with?

There’s absolutely no rule requiring a stopover in HKG, but my guess would be you’re running into married segment availability issues since India is a lower revenue market many airlines won’t make lower fare buckets as widely available on connections which forces a stopover to find it.

Our TA tried to book it but apparently CX are rejecting the combination of flights without a stopover. I do not know who they are ticketing with, it is a company that specialise in RTW tickets.

If it is a married segment availability issue, is there a way around this?

If they are a specialist I suggest you go back to them with these questions. There’s nothing preventing this, so if they’re specialists and they’re telling you this they owe you a better explanation.

You’re paying them and not us, so I’d suggest if you’re not getting satisfactory answers from them and think free internet advice is more valuable you might want to reconsider who you’re paying.

I will do, but given your guess for the reason there will not be much they can do if the lower fare buckets are not available.

A way around this that has worked for me in the past (but obviously no guarantee it would work again) is as follows:
1) Book the HKG-JFK for the following day i.e. with the stopover.
2) Once ticketed, change the date of HKG-JFK to one day earlier, your desired travel date.

The downsides:
1) No guarantee it would work
2) Your ticket would include HK departure levy (HKD120 IIRC), which for a same day connection you do not need to pay
3) There should be no change fee charged by the ticketing carrier but your TA may charge a service fee

Can you credit part of a oneworld RTW to one airline’s frequent flyer program and part of it to a different airline’s frequent flyer program, or is that not possible?

Absolutely possible - just ensure when you check in for each flight you have them change your FF number and then verify it shows correctly on your BP. Obviously you only get status benefits from the program you're using on that flight.