Will require a reissue as your taxes will increase due to NRT arrival/departure taxes that don't apply if you were just connecting.

Rats, so a potential reprice as well I'm assuming if before first segment flown?

If that's the case, what if I called to reissue after landing in NRT? Can they turn around on a dime, or do they need days to do this?

Is SYD-NRT the first segment ?

rule:
IF you are trying to change the first segment, so you have to reissue the ticket before the departure.
You can't change the first flight without reissue and repricing.

I don't have good idea about immediate reissue after landing at NRT without change of the first flight.
At checkin of SYD, probably, an agent issues BPs for SYD-NRT and NRT-KUL.
So, flight coupon for NRT-KUL will be lifted (used).
You had better prevent this, and only checkin for SYD-NRT.

About time for reissue, It depends on carriers and agents.
In the best case, I expect a few hours.
But, it may need 24 hours.

they can uncheck you on nrt.xx x flight once you arrive at.nrt.

As I understand it, the first segment can be changed for free/without reprice IF absolutely nothing is changed besides dates... but I forgot that my NRT is not a stop, but is just a connection. So I'm trying to find a way to actually convert it to a stop without causing a reprice; and the ONLY way to do this, I think, appears to be to attempt to call my ticketing carrier at the moment of landing in NRT.

To make it simpler, my itinerary is:

SYD-NRT-KUL-LHR (no stops, just straight connections), departing in August. I'd like to fly SYD-NRT in February, but NRT-KUL-LHR sometime later in the year (unknown for now). If I'm understanding the rules correctly, what I should do is change SYD-NRT-KUL-LHR to depart on the day I actually need in February, and make the NRT connection as long as possible - as close as possible to to 24 hours - to give enough time to AA to reticket. Then on landing in NRT, I immediately get on the phone with AA, and move NRT-KUL-LHR to August, paying $125 + any changed taxes for the NRT stop, but not causing a ticket reprice. Does that make sense?

is the price from syd cheaper now with strong usd?

If you want to change your first flight (SYD-NRT in August, already ticket issued) to February, ticket has to be repriced and reissued. In that case, you can change NRT to stopover without hassle.

I understand that; but what I'm trying to do is avoid a reprice. SYD-NRT lands at 16:55, the NRT-KUL flights depart at 10:30, 11:00, 21:40. If I move my flights such that I land at 16:55, then next flight is at 11:00 next day, would my strategy work?

You have ticketed and reserved the first flight of August like

xx Aug 2017 SYD-NRT
(xx+1) Aug 2017 NRT-KUL
And, you want to change like
xx Aug 2017 SYD-NRT
yy Sep 2017 NRT-KUL

In that case, you MAY ask and change the ticket at NRT after landing from SYD. (As previous talk, you have to take care of NRT-KUL segment checkin/uncheckin thing). IMHO, overnight is enough to reissue.

However, you can't fly to NRT before/after xx Aug 2017 without repricing.

Interesting. Earlier in this thread I asked a similar question (about changing the first segment) and the response I got was that if only date change, then should be able to do without reprice. I'm very confused now... (the more complicated thing now is that I'm technically changing four segments up to the first stopover, but I think that should be the same?...)

Any change to the trip prior to departure is supposed to trigger the airline recalculating whether the price is still valid. I'm some cases, if the fare hasn't changed, the issuing agent might choose just to revalidate a segment (i.e., change the flight without reissuing the entire ticket). But, the agent is likely only to do this if the issuing airline is the carrier for which the segment is being changed. The issuing airline is usually not willing to touch a different airlines segments without reissuing.

Adding a stopover is going to trigger a reissue as new taxes need to be collected. And, the underlying e-ticket needs to reflect that a stopover was provided.

Note that your NRTKUL flight, which I assume is on MH, is a long time from now. Given changes in flight times, and the various changes occurring at MH, it's possible that your currently booked NRTKUL flight time will change. As a result, it then would be easier for you to convince an agent to make a change to that flight. But, they're not likely going to allow you to change it to a later date (therefore creating a stopover). They MIGHT let you change it to a different flight assuming the NRT connection is still less than 24 hours.

I've been off line for a while and am catching up
I'm struggling to understand your concern about a reprice:confused:

Your ticket is an ex-Australia xONEx. AFAIK ex-Australia fares have not changed for a long time. So a reprice will NOT result in change to the base fare being charged. As others have pointed out, changing a transit at NRT into a stopover at NRT will result in Japanese arrival/departure charges being added and will also incur the USD125 fee because it is likely to be considered a change to ticketed points.

Are explorer prices specific to the starting airport or the starting country? If country orices would be easy to check for a few places I can position to/from, airports would include a lot more work to compare prices... And is CAI so much better of a deal than other starting points that it's worth positioning?

Explorer prices are specific to the country from which you start

Fares ex-Egypt were such a good deal that it was worth positioning there to start. Those prices have now gone - see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...w-tickets.html

We will all have to wait to find out which country will be the next bargain basement starting country

Seasonally adjusted greeting to one and all