Just picked up a copy of the owe rules, and saw a few interesting changes. Since there has been a lot of speculation (even by the AA rtw desk, who still doesn't know them), I thought I would share a couple....

- Travel from the last point outside the country of origin may not commence prior to 10 days after departure of the first international sector.

I read this to mean that the clock starts ticking on the flight in which you leave the country of origin, and you can't reenter until 10 days later. Something tells me that if you are a day off, though, you will push it through.

- Travel between Canada and the US is *not* International travel.

- Segments changed to 4 for every continent but NA, which is still 6.

- No more than 2 sectors between Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Macedonia, Malta, Morocco, Funchal (?), Portugal, Romania, Russia, Tunisia, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, and the Middle East.

So you could do lon-dxb-lon-ist-lon, but not lon-mos-lon-mos-lon.

- Additional flight segment charges:
First - 550usd, 750aud, 350gbp, 4300hkd, 450eur
Biz - 400usd, 500aud, 200gbp, 3200hkd, 300eur
Economy - 150usd, 200aud, 75gbp, 1200hkd, 100eur

I will assume that the charges are assessed in the currency of the country of origin. Not in the ticketing country.

- Additional segments can only be purchased in the class of service of the rtw, or in a lower class. Can't buy a biz rtw, and buy extra segments in 1st.

- 2 Intercontinental departures and arrivals in:
North America, if one is a transfer
Asia, if one is a transfer *or* on one flight number to the SWP
Europe, if going to Africa, but not Nambia, South Africa, Zambia, or Zimbabwe.

The Asia one is huuuuuuge in my opinion, because it allows CX to be flown to Australia from Europe, and it allows someone to fly BA to Bangkok and QF or CX to Australia if they want. It also allows someone to go from Australia to the US on Cathay, via Hong Kong. Routing would be Europe-Asia-SWP-NA via HKG.

- One transcontinental allowed in the US.
From: BAL, BOS, FLL, BDL, MIA, EWR, NYC, ORL, PHL, SJU, YYZ, DCA
To: LAS, LAX, OAK, PDX, SAN, SFO, SJC, YVR

Phoenix is omitted. As is Seattle. (woo hoo!)

Looks like even though they raised prices, they made the trip a bit easier to navigate.

Happy Flying...

Darren - thanks for the information.

What do the new rules say about transiting through the same city more than twice? In other words, can you do LHR-HKG-SYD-HKG-NRT-HKG-SFO-LHR, and therefore flying three times to/via HKG.

I remember someone posting here that you could only fly in/out any city twice in one OWE itinerary.

Nothing. I even looked again just now, and nothing. Unless I am just missing it, which is entirely possible, but otherwise it doesn't seem to be an issue.

Who came up with that definition of transcontinental flights? It ignores Seattle, Sacremento, Reno, Palm Springs and Anchorage, but includes Las Vegas?

I am also sure that our Toronto resident members are pleased to know 1-World considers them to be living in a coastal resort town.

rich

ps. I guess this means you could fly SEA - MIA - SEA - MIA - SEA - MIA - SEA all in P class.

It also considers the US and Canada to be the same country...

I think in some of your cases (especially ANC) that there is no possibility for a transcon. Only Anc flight I know of is DFW-ANC. Seattle and Sacramento are the most odd, since I think SMF has come connections back east and SEA certainly does. Funny also because they included YVR. Go figure.

Some of the "changes" sound familiar. I thought 4 segments was already the rule, likewise only the same or lower class for extra segments.

Asia was 5 segments. The rule of the same or lower might have been there, I don't remember seeing it, but I would have had little reason to look.

The rules posted on travel.com.au don't list the # of segments for Asia, but most people on here have said it has been reduced to 4.

Also the rules only seem to prohibit more than one Mideast/Armenia/Cyprus/North Africa from the UK only, would HEL-LCA-LON-DXB-LON or MAD-TLV-LON-DXB-LON be valid under the new rules?

They have been. (see my first post). The exact wording of the rule is:

1. -FREE- FLT SEGS WITHIN EACH CONTINENT ARE LIMITED AS FOLLOWS:
AFRICA 4
ASIA 4
NORTH AMERICA 6
SOUTH AMERICA 4
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC 4
EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST* 4
* NO MORE THAN 2 MAY BE BETWEEN THE UK AND
ALGERIA/ARMENIA/AZERBAIJAN/BULGARIA/
CYPRUS/GEORGIA/GREECE/ISRAEL/MACEDONIA/
MALTA /MOROCCO/FUNCHAL/PORTUAL/ROMANIA/
RUSSIA/TUNISIA/UKRAINE/YUGOSLAVIA/THE
MIDDLE EAST.

That routing doesn't seem like it is valid.


[This message has been edited by Darren (edited 05-21-2001).]

but here, isn't it true that you have 3 sectors between UK and the list of countries:

HEL-LCA-LON-DXB-LON:
1 - LCA-LON
2 - LON-DXB
3 - DXB-LON

MAD-TLV-LON-DXB-LON:
1 - TLV-LON
2 - LON-DXB
3 - DXB-LON

*kicks self* Big duh.. ;-)