Boy Did I get burned! I had a OW itin set up and I thought I was so clever. Originate in Canada save $$$'s. Fly to MSY (New Orleans) for a convention. FLy to MKE (my home) stay a week or so and then continue on to LHR and the rest of the world. Called BA to check on something and found out I got charged a huge surcharge and downgraded within the U.S.

Apparently the new rules in the N.A. is that I am allowed only one stop at the gateway. which in my case is ORD. So they charge me to fly to MSY and back to MKE and then on to ORD to make my connection. Does this sound right? I have to fly through ORD to get to MSY no other choice. At the very least I thought I could stop in ORD on my outbound in addition to the stop in MSY.

Any OW experts have any advice or am I just stuck?

What I understood from AA's rtw desk early this week is that you're allowed a stopover at each international gateway plus one other destination in north america.

The example I used was:
SEA- JFK (stop)- world - HKG - LAX (stop) - PSP (stop) - SEA

This is a total of three stops in NA, one of which is not an international gateway.

PaulSEA

You and AA are right.

I got so frustrated with BA, I called AA booked the same itin. and got what I wanted with no surcharges or downgrades! It really does depend on who works your record. This BA rate lady would have rather chopped off her right arm then to admit a hint of a possibility that she was wrong! The upshot -I'm letting AA ticket my itin., changed my trans atlantic from BA to AA!