Pegasus8228
That is a very good suggestion and solves my dilemma of two JNB transfers

Aren't you still violating:

"1 INTL DEPARTURE AND 1 INTL ARRIVAL FROM/TO THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN PERMITTED" ?

perhaps, i would jsut cross my fingers
since they also viewed canada as us regarding this rule,
one could apply similar logic about south africa and zimbabwe. again, i suppose it depends on how they interpret it.

Good point Hagabard
I may do HRE-VFA by own arrangements and do VFA-JNB-CPT-JNB

How did you get to HKG to HRE without using your one allowed arrival to country of origin. If you've done HKG-JNB you can't do VFA-JNB

drbala,
i guess yours is still ex-ZA.
so it could be cpt-jnb-vfa(--)hre-nbo-sez-lhr...asia/oz-jnb-cpt. the only thing you have to worry is #segments. (vfa-hre cost $94)

but it seems nothing works if one wants to go cpt-lhr or jnb-lhr, because i will be entering jnb from hkg/syd on the return.
so it forces me to take the NBO detour if i want to go to VFA

the schedule makes it quite difficult if i want to take your routing (i have to stay oevrnight at NBO/HRE if going to SEZ, is it safe/convenient/worthwhile?)
alternative, i thot about XXX-lhr(x)-los-lhr,

[- 2 PERMITTED IN EUROPE TO/FROM/VIA GHANA/NIGERIA. 1 MUST BE A TRANSIT WITHOUT STOPOVER BETWEEN GHANA/NIGERIA AND ANOTHER CONTINENT.]

so the only way to have non-ZA africa segment is one of the following options
1. jnb-vfa ($100) hre-nbo-(sez)-lhr-...TC1+TC3...hkg/syd-jnb
2. jnb-vfa/windhoek ($5-700)-acc/los-lhr(x)-TC1+TC3-europe-jnb

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 12-25-2001).]

I was planning JNB-HKG-JFK-LHR=SEZ-NBO-HRE-VFA-JNB

Just be careful with your stopovers, as you only get two. I can only assume that you are staying in SEZ, and you will have to count HRE/VFA as your second. I assume that these are your intended stops, but you could run into a problem in Nairobi because the NBO-HRE flight is only once a week (friday).

there is also a NBO-(LUNx)-HRE on TUE.
alternative, if you reverse the direction of travel, you will stay overnight at NBO (her-nbo-sez) but that is not a stopover since it is <24 hours

i am thinking of taking the acc/los option but not sure how to get there economically and safely. i prefer this way because
1. i can do ZA-los/acc-lhr(x)-americas-asia-europe-ZA, and i don't have to hurry through europe trip before going to the americas(more evenly split of the journey as i am based in HKG now)
2. i can stop by LHR twice (a bit more miles as well), i.e. no need to take the hkg-jnb option

Isn't the rule that it's not a stop-over if less than 24 hours or if you take the next available flight (even if more than 24 hours)? If so, you could get a "free" stop in NBO thanks to the infrequent flights.

No. AA interprets it at 24h.

That rule has been mentioned several times in connection with Star RTW's. Is this a difference between * and 1W, or is it just AA that has its own interpretation (I guess this question is never relevant within AA's own network)? Do you know BA's version?

No, I don't know how BA interprets it. But AA does interpret it as 24h. Ran into a stupid thing where a connecting flight was 1:55 away from arrival, so they wouldn't book the connection (2h minimum), and they wouldn't book the following day because it was over 24h (only 1 flight a day). Had to issue as an open segment and set up a diff itinerary for the one segment. It was absurd. But I went back and forth for several days with tariffs on this, and they do view it as 24h.

Impossible to tell.