Wideman, that's what I understand. My question was specifically what would happen if I had an RTW beginning in Budapest and stopping in Los Angeles, where I live. The rtw guy said that it has happened where the client was backcharged. Don't know if it was true or a scare tactic, but I really didn't want to be the guinea pig.

If they see that you have not used the first sector, then at checkin they can insist on reissuing the ticket, and recalculating the fare. It is both expensive, and time consuming.

I recommend that you buy a one way, full fare to the starting point of your RTW. You can then follow it, and use the last sector to start your next one.

Out of LAX, it is realtively inexpensive to get yourself to YVR. You can then start a RTW here (paying the Canadian fare). Your last sector will be LAX-YVR, which you can use anytime in the next year to go and start your next one.

Depending on the savings involved, you can follow the same tactic to start tix in other cheap centres, like BKK.

Let me put this into another perspective: The airlines have your billing information. (If you bought the ticket with a travel agent, they could easily get the payment info. from him/her.) Any major sort of foul play could lead to some huge charges on your credit card. I know of a situation where a person tried to flout the rules by missing a segment, and in the next month saw a charge from the airline of almost $2000!!!