One again, thanks for all the help I've gotten on this. I can tell that planning this is going to be very exciting and the actual trip will a dream come true. It should be agreat way to end my educational career and enter my real career.

This question concerns the timing of purchasing a OWE ticket.

My understanding is that the ticket is valid for one year. I assume that means one year after the commencement of the first segement, and not one year after purchasing the ticket?

Since I would want to buy the ticket before the rates go up, but would not do the bulk of the traveling until August 2002, would I have to purchase the ticket (most likley I wouold do this in September) and get fully ticketed and then fly one segement to lock in the fare, or is it that once you have paid and are ticketed, you could start it whenever you wanted to (within the one year, if that is correct)?

If I was to fly the first segment after getting ticketed in September, could I then wait until August to fly the next segment, or is this too long a wait?

Since surface transport is permitted within a continent, I am assuming that it would be okay to start the ticket from Canada, fly to Chicago and then restart the trip from NY. Is this correct?

Also, if I do fly from Toronto to Chicago on the ticket, would I be locked into traveling in a westerly direction, or does this not matter as it is within one zone?

Thanks so much for any answers you may have!

i try to answer as much as i could in one shot since you promised

1. yes, clock starts count on 1st segment
so u have to pay and issue, but do not have to fly until u want to (however, u might not be able to ticket a first segment one year beyond issue date..not sure about this)
2. u can fly all your remaining segments during the last weeks if u like (i.e. 360 days after the 1st segment), but there is risk of having to reschedule then
3. with a zone does not matter, u can do that. direction only matters when it comes to tran-continenetal

Pres, you need to get a copy of the rules and read through them carefully. Go to an AA CTO and harass them until they give them to you.

1. No, it doesn't start on your first segment. It starts on your first *international* segment. The RTW doesn't seem to treat US and Canada as different countries (much to many canuck's chagrin), so you might run into a situation where the clock starts ticking when you leave the US. Call the RTW desk and ask how this is treated.

2. Open jaws are permitted, and they count as one stopover. Realistically, this no longer matters, so yes, they are permitted.

3. You are limited in reservations by the amount of time ahead that the respective reservation system allows you to be booked. You can book a year ahead, but if a reservation system only allows 300 days, you can't reserve past 300 days. At that point, you have two options. First, do an open ticket and make reservations as you go. Something I don't suggest. I am finding that is causes a lot of problems, though my issues have nothing to do with an open ticket. What I am dealing with, though, is the same process and it is a real pain in the arse. The other option is to pick arbitrary dates, and change them as necessary. I did this on both this trip and on my last one, and it worked fine. You can't change routing easily, but you can change dates of an existing routing simply with a well placed phone call to *daytime* res or the RTW desk, or by stopping by a CTO.

4. You need to keep Asia, N/A, and Europe in one direction. East or west doesn't matter, as long as you are consistant. S/A, Africa, and Australia differ a little because they are north and south. Without going into a full explanation, get a copy of the rules. You will do yourself more good than you can imagine.

Advice: Do not buy your ticket more than 4 months in advance. If you do, you will want to change your itinerary 11 times between the time you buy the ticket and the time you leave. The costs of changing the ticket, both in $$ and exasperation, will dwarf any potential ticket-price increase savings.

pegasus8228,

Thanks for all the help. I really am done with questions, but I plan on providing regular updates on my progress in purchasing a ticket.

Darren,

Thanks for your help. I actually do have a copy of the rules from FewMiles site and have read through them several times. After two years of law school, I thought I was good at reading rules, but these have proved to be a real challenge! my questions were based on "syntactical ambiguities" that I found in the rules. I wouldn't want you to think that I am lazy, just neurotic.

wideman,

Thanks for the advice. I know changing my itinerary is a risk that I will have to run if I buy early. Realistically, I won't buy for a few months, and I have already started looking into where I want to go.

PRESRDC, I believe I speak for many if not all in assuring you that your questions and comments are always welcome here. No three-wishes limits, not even "it's been asked before a million times" concerns. Nicest bunch of correspondents on the net.

(Actually I think they're so mesmerized counting their FF miles it's like they're in a trance, and your questions are just a gentle background buzz. Over in the SQ section someone reported on an in-flight death of an elderly passenger (who was deplaned at an emergency en-route stop), and the next post was "Gee, I hope he got miles for the whole trip." Not sure if it was supposed to be serious or funny.)

So did he?

Pres, don�t worry about the questions. You are doing fine. But the rules are wordy (like most legal documents), and it is easy to miss a line or two. Just read it carefully and develop the patience of Job. You will need it.

questions are welcome in this board, that is why we are here, to help each other.

so don;t worry about 'last question' stuff )