It is not right, though often an invalidly issued ticket would be allowed to be used. However the rules are clear, you can be left stranded (and forced to pay full fare to continue the trip); having the ticket issued does not grandfather in any rule violations, and you can even be denied travel after the illegal sector has already been flown. Once again very low probability of this happening, but it can happen and you don't have a legal recourse for being stranded and forced to pay a high fare (depending on what city you happen to be stranded in). Whenever I have a ticket issued which relies on some obscure rule, I always have the issuing agent document the validity of the routing in the PNR and this has stood me in good stead when future questions arise. Of course this strategy only applies if you are in compliance with the rules and not relying on a mistake.

geez guys you are freaking me out. just got back from ko samui, next week i am going to tackle this whole RTW thing ...

problem solved. I just spoke to both CX Taiwan and MPC about my itinerary as posted: TPE-HKG-DEL-HKG-NRT-HKG-LHR ............ JFK-HKG-TPE.

No problem, both said, the rule being that ' in the continent of origin ', you can have a maximum of two STOPOVERS, but unlimited segments. I pointed out that "unlimited segments" is probably no the exact wording of the rules ... i have found no reference to this in the rules, but by now I have been assured by two different people at Cathay in Taipei and the MPC in Hong Kong that my itinerary is legal. Maybe somebody finds the pertinent rule, I am not gonna invest more time in this. MPC said if they'd actually enforce 'four segments' in Asia, nobody would by RTW tickets ex Taipei.
Well. I have recorded the conversation with MPC and CX, so in case they don't let me on a flight, I play them the tape.

How interesting... so can you break the 20 segment rule as well? What is to stop you just doing HKG-NRT-HKG-NRT-.... for as long as you want in order to get, say, Diamond status?

Personally I wouldn't risk it.

well, that's what I thought. I am hugely disappointed by this whole RTW business - can't seem to get reliable information. But a colleague tells me Star Alliance is even worse in that matter.

I hope to ticket the itinerary in a week or two, maybe somebody cries wolf then.

it's all perfectly legal. i checked the rules. appearantly you guys are mislead by the 4 sector rule.

Here is what it says on the oneworld website:

Flights and stopovers
You are allowed to taketwo stopovers in total within your continent of origin in order to get to or from a gateway to commence or return from your international travel.
After departing from your continent of origin, you are allowed to take up tofour flights to explore each of the other continents (six flights in North America).
You can book up totwo additional flights per continent, at a set rate.

http://www.oneworld.com/products/det...fm?ObjectID=21

The confusion arises over the limit of 2 stopovers in the continent of origin. Without this limitation, one could have 4 stopovers in one's continent of origin. I don't understand the need for this rule, but it is explicitly stated.

The star files define stopovers and the number of free flight segments per continent independently from each other. The rules explicitly state that one cannot buy additional segments in the continent of origin beyond the limit of free segments. The rules also state the number of free flight segments per continent. I have seen that language in the AA, BA, and CX version of the rules. It seems that the oneworld website is not consistent with the actual airline rules, where only stopovers are mentioned in the continent of origin.

This is a recurring problem with airlines. Travellers become angry when there is a conflict between the website and the airline rules. If ticketed, go for it. Just remember that you take a big risk if you need to do a reissue.

The "rules" on the OW website are not the complete "rules" for the OWE fare. Also from the same OW "rules" to which you cite:
I hope everything works out for you.

To avoid an upcoming fuel charge, I decided to get my RTW ticketed yesterday. Finally the truth came out when CX reservations passed the itinerary to ticketing. You guys were right all along. I humbly kneel before this mighty omnisapient board. And I will never put the opinion of professional airline agents before the wisdom of this board, I swear.

The CX ticketing agent told me that my RTW was illegal, I would have to buy HKG-NRT-HKG as a separate ticket. It�s four segments, also in the continent of origin, with 2 stopovers, everbody seems to be mislead by the extra mentioning of 2 stopovers, or whatever. They also say it happens all the time, "reservation people don�t understand ticketing rules!". Good grief.

I guess TPE-NRT-HKG-DEL will work then won�t it, which lowers the mileage count by almost 8000.