Thanks all for valuable insights.
I am sorry if the questions created some uneasiness, i am trying to optimize my current RTW as well as planning for next.
I actually find it quite fun to learn and figure things out along the way, will be checking out expertflyer as suggested.

Which is what this forum is for, we may be currently lacking a proper thread for RTW related FFP inquiries, I suspect it's coming soon. There are a lot of threads currently existing here that are meant to help people optimize their RTWs as well as plan again. We're just currently sorely lacking that one for FFP optimization for OW RTWs and seems to be a sore spot in this thread at the moment since a lot of the questions land here and sometimes in one of the other RTW threads or even the general OW FFP thread.

It's definitely not your fault, until there's a better, "dedicated" place to ask them, then these questions will still land here.

IMO we're spending far too much time discussing whether or not certain posts are in the correct forum. Reminds me of the Paris Peace Talks to end the Vietnam War in the 1970s, where months were spent discussing the shape of the table before anyone even mentioned any of the substantive issues.

The Moderator has given us an opinion. If you think that a particular post needs Mod review, use the RBP button. Otherwise, let's get back to the substantive issues related to these tickets/fares and their use.

My ex-CAI routing to TPE without a stopover is routing via AMM/DXB/HKG. Can anyone chime in if I would be able to change any of my flights to TPE except CAI-AMM without re-pricing?. Essentially, the first flight "coupon" is CAI-AMM, no? Here is the fare wording:
"Changes are permitted provided ticketed points remain the same. If the first flight coupon is being changed, and the fare level has increased since ticket issuance, the difference between the old and new fare will be charged. If the fare level has decreased since ticket issuance, no refund will apply."

Nope. ANY changes to first segments triggers a reprice

key words: if they fare level has increased…the difference…will be charged.

I think the keyword in the rule is "coupon" as opposed to, for example, "flight". To my mind, that's a legacy of the paper ticketing days. If that rule was "first flight", it would probably be fine to do what you're seeking without a reprice.

My take on this is that your ticket will be repriced.
Four coupons are involved: CAI-AMM, AMM-DXB, DXB-HKG, HKG-TPE
And you are leaving the first coupon unchanged
But you are proposing a change or changes to the other coupons (changing airports perhaps, or changing your transits to stopovers)
Any such change is a change to ticketed points and so triggers a reprice if done before the first flight is taken.

I think the only thing that you can hope for on that is a major reschedule from one of the airlines on that combo. then they might let you adjust the schedule without repricing. Since there's no stopover on your current itinerary then there's no way to use your first segment without going all the way to Taiwan. If you had a +24h stopover at AMM or DXB that would have been different.

Is this QF ticketed? If so then I'd fly it as planned, they're too difficult to make last minute urgent changes with. If this is ticketed by anyone else, you could "accidentally" miss your flight AMM-DXB or DXB-HKG and since you'd have flown your first segment it 'should' just count as a no-show with a $125 penalty vs. a full reprice, but you still need to fly the first segment to hold historical pricing.

My understanding is that if you intend on still flying via AMM-DXB-HKG to TPE and you merely want to change the date and/or time of the flight but cities & airlines remain the same, you should be fine. But if you change the airlines or the routing before flying CAI-AMM, you will trigger a reprice at current fare levels. What I'm not certain about, however, is if adding a stopover along the route would trigger a reprice or not.

However, there are many more venerable experts on this thread who can chime in. That's my interpretation of the fare rules though.

ETA: Sorry I re-read dvs7310's explanation above and now see that since TPE is your first stopover point, any change along the way would be considered changing the first leg of your trip, which would trigger a reprice.

I guess no anecdotal evidence so far? It was what I was looking for by asking the question. I have successfully done date changes with both BA and AA ticketed itineraries without repricing and before the the start of travel. (Thanks to this thread and my own experience I quickly refunded QF ticket). I also eliminated DXB stopover recently, and I am not sure now it would be possible to insert that stopover back. Will keep everybody posted in case I try and do that, even though the risk to mess up pricing as well as my current travel needs make it unlikely I'd seek those changes.

I am trying to understand the implication of no show. Suppose I miss a flight in the middle, if I pay 125USD penalty, will I still be able to fly the remaining sectors or do I have to fly the missed segment to fly the subsequent flights?

I think deliberately missing a flight in the middle of your itinerary is dangerous. Ultimately, what was the original intent of all this?
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I think that's a very big, "it depends". What are you trying to accomplish there? You should just as easily be able to make the same change for the same fee after your itinerary is underway (after first segment flown). I don't recall if you're on a QF ticket or not, that may make a difference as well.

In my situation It was to forcibly break a married segment that CX initially claimed wasn't available as independent segments. In the end though it was just an agent that didn't know what they were doing and was really available as independent segments with the stopover so I wasn't forced to follow through with the intentional no-show. But they told me that I could have done the no-show if it were necessary and just call to rebook shortly after. I know it's a YYMV situation, especially if you have a QF ticket, but there's a reason there's a no-show provision in the fare rules and thankfully it's not very punitive.

Any insight on the news that Fiji Airways will join as a full member? Should it be feasible to add FJ flights to xONEx itineraries soon?

I need some in the SWP area and these would be off great help and likely A350 in J over a Qantas 737.

https://www.oneworld.com/news/2024-0...th-full-member
So ask again in 10 months. Would only be able to add to new itineraries.
IIRC when other airlines have joined have not been able to add the new airline routes to an existing ticket. The full rules, including airlines, apply when you get your ticket.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_destinations