RTW start and end in same city?
 

I just checked the different posts on RTW tickets on OW carriers. I could not find any indication anywhere that a RTW flight has to start and end in the same city. For example, I would like to fly LAX-Asia-Australia-FRA. Any idea if I can do this with a RTW ticket?

No, and no. They don't have to start and end in the same city, but rather in the same *country*. So you could start in LA and end in NY, but not in FRA.

well, actually you COULD do what you want but then you'd have to throw away the rest of the segments and that would not be allowed. Since the ticket itself will have to be issued to show round the world travel you will end up with a bunch of extra flight coupons. Since a RTW is normally valid for a full year couldnt you use the rest for a later trip? The savings over a normal ticket on your routing would most likely be significant - esp. in J or F class.

Now that is the question I have been wondering about....can you use the segments later in the year?

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MRKEY

I am not sure about OWE...but there is at least this CX/UA RTW that has a rule on this...it is in fact officially allowed ??

more on this CX/UA RTW: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum85/HTML/000177.html

I have been told by the rtw desk of AA (2 different agents at two different times) that if you dump the rest of your itinerary, they will charge you the full price for the segments that you have used. As far as using them at a later date, there is no problem, as long as you finish the routing. I almost did this to get home from my trip later in the year, but decided not to since I don't know what will be happening with me later in the year/early next year.

Say you were to book a 12 segment OWE in First (for which you paid $6000) and then terminated your travel after 2 segments,they would refund the difference between the $6000 and the A-class one-way value of the 2 segments already completed and then take off a further 10% of the remaining value.
So if the published A class value of each of your completed segments was $2000, your refund would be:
6000-4000) = 2000. Now they would take a further 10% off this so you would get back $1800.

Salt.

Kinda interesting thread. I have an unfinished rtw that should take me back to Vancouver, Canada, but because of the difficulty with LAX-YVR the tix are issued just to SEA. No one seemed concerned about that when they were issued, and I certainly would be disappointed to receive a bill for the journey, point-to-point.

a few more points ...

1) valid termination points - for the OW Continent RTW's you need to end in the country of origin. I'm not sure if this is true for other RTW's. Also, on a lot of the mileage based RTW and the Continent RTW you can actually have greater than RTW due to the permisability of backtracking.

2) using the segments at a later date - you can definately do this within the maximum stay rules of the fare.

3) refund of fare - in my one experience with such a refund they will actually use the full fare and not any discounted fare. so you will typically not get a lot back unless your used segments are relatively low cost.

4) most RTW's consider the US and Canada to be one country so you could start in Canada and end in the US without problem.

if you really intend on not using the remaining segments first calculate the OW segemnt fares. if you're due a refund (which is pretty unlikely in most cases) go and cancel the ticket. if you're going to end up owing money just do nothing. either use the segments later or dont - the airline isnt going to come after you and make you pay a penalty!

[This message has been edited by indogulf (edited 01-03-2001).]

Practically speaking, they will never charge you for the unused segements. What are they going to do? Send a collection agency? NOT!

I've had stacks of unused return segments and have never been bothered.

If you're nervous, change your credit card number (tell the bank you lost it) after the ticket is paid for. This way they cannnot charge the card on file. I think this is unnecessary though.

i can 100% assure you that you will not and cannot charge you for unused segment difference. these agents tends to tell lies to intimidate you.

also, you dont have to change your credit #. it is against the law that they charge it via you credit card and your caredit card company will not allow for it.

well...if our names somehow turned out to be coincidentally similar i dont mind helping you consume that last (few) segment if it ia D/A class ;-)

In terms of chages for unused OWE segments, there is never any additional charge above the original price paid for the ticket- it is possible to cancel a OWE AFTER departure and what they then do is assume the full price for completed segments and refund the remainder of the original price paid, less 10%. Quite often though, even 2 or 3 completed segments add up to the overall OWE price, so you are left with nothing as a refund. If you have completed segments that add up to a price greater than the overall value of the OWE, they will not charge you any extra.


[This message has been edited by salt (edited 01-07-2001).]

[This message has been edited by salt (edited 01-07-2001).]