I'm trying to make my rtw trip using the zone based explorer, however it is not clear what kind of airlines we are able to flight during this rtw trip.

Reading the oneworld.com site and brochure we are entitled to fly big names + some weird useless affiliates (ie QantasLink for example)

I'm looking for some stops in the pacific, mainly: NAN, RAR, PPT from OZ/NZ to LAX. However this is not possible with oneworld obviously...however I could manage to buy a South Pacific Pass or PolyPass to start from OZ or NZ.

I went to www.polynesianairlines.co.nz and...**** surprise, it says: "In September 2001, Polynesian Airlines joined the Global Explorer Fare as a participating carrier"
Argh ! so it means I could probably use polynesian airlines to do the stops I want. All that is not crystal clear so any help appreciated !

Global Explorer is the mileage-based version of the 1W RTW tickets and allows you to use a few "extra" carriers.

oneworld Explorer is the zone-based version and you are pretty much restricted to the 1W carriers and (some/most of) their subsidiaries.

Much more info on both versions of RTW tickets are found at www.fewmiles.net

Figured that out on the site few minutes after posting...sorry and thanks for your reply.

Now I'm stuck..my rtw is too long for a 34000 miles limit and I have more than 15 stopovers anyway.

Looks like the alternative is a zone-based with an additional pacific pass.

I don't know how you guys manage to do this but it takes ages to find the information for me :-(