FWIW I called the AA RTW desk a few hours ago to remove four QR flights from my upcoming trip and replace them with AY and MH flights. The agent I spoke with mentioned that American has a travel waiver for flights that touch AUH, AMM, BAH, DOH, DXB, and LCA. The waiver states that it applies for flights through March 15th. The agent mentioned that the waver has been incrementally extended since it was first issued, and that she expected it would be extended roughly week by week until the mid-east situation was resolved.

The waiver also mentions that it applies when you "Are traveling on an American Airlines flight" so I asked if it would apply to a QR flight number on QR metal (which is what my 4 segments are) and she said that it would because it is part of a RTW ticket issued by AA. The agent stated that they would waive the $125 change fee for changing dates, origins/destinations, and airlines so long as the flights fell within the waiver date limits.

I don't know if you booked through the AA RTW desk, but the waiver details are here:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/travel-alerts.jsp

More technical waiver notice at https://saleslink.aa.com/en-US%3C-%3...2-28-2026.html. I don't think QR prime flights are supposed to be covered. That may be the agent extending the interpretation for you.

I'm struggling with a RTW itinerary. I keep hitting a waitlist pop-up on flights between LAX and Tokyo (both HND and NRT) on the oneworld website. I tried flights on JAL and AA. EF was showing D class availability. It doesn't matter what date I select - nor the route - I seem to get the same error. I've tried SFO and DFW as alternatives and I get the same pop-up. I called BA. They sent the itinerary off to the 'back office' and never got back to me. Finnair said it wasn't possible to book a RTW ticket - they don't offer it. AA said that they could only accommodate 8 segments.

OSL-HEL-MIA-EZE-MIA-LAX-HND-PVG-HKG-SIN-DXB-HEL-OSL if that helps.

Who best to call and ask?

Palmer

Did you call the AA RTW desk specifically? I have a hard time believing a RTW desk agent would be so misinformed as to suggest a limit of 8 segments :confused:
+1 800 247-3247 is their number

pretty sure oneworld doesn't fly that nonstop.

QR SIN-DOH-DXB
CX SIN-HKG-DXB
UL SIN-CMB-DXB
WY SIN-MCT-DXB
Stopovers in EU-ME? (continent of origin) DXB & DOH are in EU-ME

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changi_Airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_...tional_Airport

Yes, I can confirm this (change fees waived)

Via LHR with BA.

Correct. Caught myself out. It’s via Doha.

Palmer

Each stop would be less than 24 hours in DOH, DXB and HEL

Palmer

Hey pandaperth, when I originally posted this question I was in a bit of panic and looked to anyone who would give me a straight answer. I apologize for not responding to your answer. But AA RTW desk permitted me to change my routing from JNB to DOH-OSL to JNB-LHR-OSL. A bit of a sting on BA surcharges, but change fee was waived, so I am in Oslo as I write this, having just completed my first RTW. Now my attention has turned to RTW #2 which I booked two days before our dear leader (I am US based) decided to attack Iran. I have several DOH transits starting June 1 and I am not sure what my options are with Qatar flights currently not being operated to OSL, though my DOH-DUB-DOH flights do appear to be operating. I do not have any spare segments to play with so any routing from OSL will add an additional segment to get me back on track if I route through MAD or HEL, or even the dreaded LHR. Unable to contact AA RTW desk yet and AA chat was pointless.

My current itinerary starting June 1 is:
OSL-xDOH-DUB-xDOH-DFW-SFO-ANC-SFO-JFK-DFW-SYD-HKG-NRT-KUL-BKK-DOH-OSL

Any thoughts?

My immediate thought is simply move the DOH-DUB-DOH segments to the end of the itinerary
and change the start to be:
OSL-HEL/MAD/LHR-DFW
(according to FlightConnections, AY flies HEL-DFW and AA flies MAD-DFW)

Flights within NA
 

Recognising only one transcontinental flight across the USA is permitted, is .....DOH-LAX, LAX-JFK, JFK-HND .... valid ?

Yes

The actual rule for North America transcon flights is:
Since neither DOH or HND is in any of those states (last I checked anyway - it's a strange world these days... :D) they aren't limited by the transcon flight rule.

And it bugs me that a flight from MEM to LAS is considered "transcontinental"!

Since column A and column B list only states, US states, why is there a reference to Canada in this rule?

I suspect it's probably there for historical reasons, back when oneworld still had a Canadian carrier! Pretty sure I've seen an older version of the rule that had Canadian locations in the list.

More recently CX flew JFK-YVR-HKG, in 2013 I flew the JFK-YVR segment.

Although I never had occasion to fly it, I distinctly remember that route. It was popular because you could fly in the [then industry leading] CX F cabin for comparatively little and without leaving North America.

I could be wrong but I think JFK<->MEX might be one of the longer non excluded routes. It’s also a pretty expensive route if you’re not on an rtw ticket.

It used to be handy under the old BA FF scheme as at just over 2000 miles it qualified for long-haul tier points. The downside was that AA uses a short-haul bird so it's not a very comfortable flight.

Of course it was the only one not featuring caviar service, but always worth the extra 210 points

I flew that route on explorer fare twice, back when it didn't compare unfavorably for crediting to AA. As I recal it was a lot of dark, but very nice.

It used to cover the Cathay Pacific JFK-YVR and vv sectors.

What are most people’s strategies for optimizing North America stopovers without doing more than one of the limited transcons? I've done JFK -> EGE -> LAX -> EGE -> MIA -> EGE -> JFK, which works well for me because I live in both Vail and NYC and Vail, CO and EGE flights are notoriously expensive. I also have another ticket where I'm doing a JFK <> MEX turn.

optimizing for what? maximum flight distance?

DFW-ANC and back is always a good turn for a mileage run.

Thanks so much everyone for all your contributions from a few weeks' back about my inability to get additional flights on my oneworld Explorer ticket. They were really helpful and I thank you all. My main issue however was nobody at BA even having any knowledge of the oneworld Explorer ticket, never mind being able to help with changes. Two months on, and I thought you might like an update.

I finally got the final set of flights added to my ticket, after a total of 13–16 calls (I lost count) over three months. Progress only began when I started calling the BA Executive Club Silver member telephone number (I'd made the mistake of calling the general number at first), but even then, three out of four operators I spoke to had no knowledge of the oneworld Explorer ticket. They just blindly passed messages to and from "the pricing team", often getting the request wrong because they didn't understand what I was asking about. One operator even convinced me she did understand, but gave the game away by politely asking why on earth I wanted to put new flights on an existing ticket booking, which made no sense to her. When I explained why, she said it was "really interesting". Note that my flight additions were completely valid within the ticket rules, by the way, following the helpful comments here about possible problems. I just don't know why nothing ever got done with my requests.

Four or five calls in a row ended with a promise that the operator was keeping an eye on things and would personally call me back within 3–4 days with an answer. No call ever came. This included the only operator who did know about the oneworld Explorer ticket – he told me that they only got "one or two enquiries a month" about changes to such bookings, so could I be understanding if staff didn't seem helpful. Then suddenly, after so many weeks and yet another call ending with a promise that they'd get things sorted, out of the blue I got a boilerplate email saying to call in to settle up money owed (which turned out to be the expected administration fee) ...and it was all done! Even on that final call, the operator didn't seem to understand what the administration fee was all about, but at least was able to accept it.

So all's well that ends well. I am now composing my letter to BA about the saga. Not that I'm going to to complain (I'm quite aware that would go on a pile to be ignored), but to request that a dedicated line be made available where the operators were at least aware of the oneworld Explorer ticket, and why this would make business sense to them. If nothing else, it'll make me feel better.

I'm very curious why you decided to book with BA rather than with the AA RTW desk which is exactly what you are looking for.

...because I was daft enough not to read this thread before booking! I know better for next time.

BA used to have people with knowledge of these fares and they could be reached by email [email protected]. However, the last time I used them was some 10 years ago so I have no idea they are still there.

Fair question …I would just say overall personal value.

Then it will be hard for anyone but you to have a relevant opinion.

I didn't phrase it that well, but I was trying to understand what other people were getting significant value out of, to inspire my own future plans

Some people try to optimize their FF program, and each program requires a different set of codeshares or airlines. Some want to get exactly 16 segments. Some just want to visit some fun destinations. Some try to optimize the cost requiring an Oslo departure, or similar, and to reduce the surcharges by selecting flight segments optimizes for cost (as opposed to points). Some want to fly specific routes or airlines or airplanes. Some people skip the AA RTW desk in an attempt to train other airline reservation staff.

I start with the places where I want to stop. Once I have those, I want to use all 16 flights and maximize miles/points.

My/our first Oneworld RTW (20 segments, paper tickets) started and ended in Istanbul, which was the cheapest of its day. Our aim was to see places on our wish list and to see some far flung family. However I also was keen to earn enough AA qualifying points (or "Q-points") to make Executive Platinum (OW Emerald) in AA's FFP.

This quest led to something of an epiphany as we tried to wrap everything up in one calendar year, the AA requirement. I did a trip report commemorating this dubious achievement.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip...urkey-day.html

I last contacted them via that email address around June 2024 and it was still in use at the time.