Thanks! That's really helpful.

Land segment rebooked to be air segment
 

If I book a LONE4 and leave a segment as a land segment, can I later change that segment to be on an airline?

Eg if I put JFK-MCO as a land segment, but later want to change to an AA flight?

In general, the answer is yes. But since it is a change, you must pay the change fee (USD125), plus any additional taxes etc for the flight segment

But there are some circumstances where is might not be allowed, or might cost you more, such as:

• The change is being made before departure - might trigger a complete recalculation of the fare if things have changed since the original booking
• The additional flight segment causes you to exceed the number of free flight segments in the continent - an additonal fee will be payable, the amount depends on the booking class
• the additional flight segment causes you to exceed the number of free flight segments for the continent - AND the continent in question is the continent of origin - NOT ALLOWED
• There might be more to consider...

The reason I wanted to try this was because the tool won't let me book AA segments with 9 passengers. So I was wondering if I could leave those segments as surface segments and then sort out the flights later.

I had understood that as long as the cities stay the same then changing dates/airlines could happen at no cost. But what is not clear is surface segment rebooked to air segment, leaving the cities the same.

Advice on RTW trip Syd-LHR
 

We are planning to leave Syd around April-May 2012.

2 x adults plus a 4 year old and 1 year old (will be 2 by end of trip)

Will spend most of our time in UK with likely side trips to Europe that we can arrange from there.

Pretty flexible with other destinations. Open to advice re costing advantages especially if it means we can go up to premium economy or even business class for not much more than the crazy Australian fare prices.

Kyoto could be nice on outward journey, especially if we can get there during cherry blossom season.

Italy or Greece en route could be good, but probably a huge hassle to connect.

Obviously London is key.

Return leg via USA, friends in San Fran/San Diego/Portland but also could be interested in Disneyworld/land, Yosemite, Arizona.

If possible, final leg in Tahiti or Hawaii or similar.

Thanks for any tips and suggestions!

Initital thoughts:

If you want to fly in Business, start in JNB. If not, start in New Zealand, but this will make HNL difficult, I think.

So, JNB-MAD-ATH-AMM-FCO-LHR-SFO-other US destinations-DFW/LAX/ORD-HNL-KIX/NRT/HND/NGO-other Asian destinations-SYD-JNB.

This routing doesn't maximise miles but I can help with doing so in the US if you need assistance. Just post three or four destinations in the US you're keen to go to.

Note that this routing means a five continent. If you're prepared to start and finish in JNB you could do a four continent with your final sector being HKG-JNB.

I've no idea where Kyoto is (other than in Japan) but it's not a oneworld destination so you'll need to do a sidetrip.

thanks very much for all that - will have a look. Where do i seek prices from JNB?

I doubt we would do the final JNB leg, would likely just stay home in Sydney after all that travel!

HNL isn't a necessity - though why would we start in NZ as it adds an extra couple of legs? Are prices much less from there?

The thinking of Kyoto in april - may was likely to still see cherry blossoms whereas when we return at end of year or start of Jan it will be ski season. Can we turn the order around?

We are no longer totally convinced of staying OW, have been QF for years but since the kids much less flying so just lifetime silver. Obviously wrong thread but if anyone knows equivalent on STar Alliance/Virgin etc very happy to look at that too.

thanks again

You can check prices here using this great tool created by a Flyertalk member whose name escapes me.

Yes. A DONE4 ex-New Zealand is about USD10499 but ex-Australia it's about USD12415 (both ex taxes). This link may also help with prices.

Certainly.

Kyoto is certainly served by a number of oneworld airlines via Osaka-Kansai airport (KIX) which has easy connections via the Haruka Kansai Airport Limited Express Train. If you fly into NRT you can save a segment connecting from Oz by taking the Nozomi Shinkansen which is only about 2.5 hours. Other than connections with major Japanese airports on JL (most domestic service is to ITM, however) KIX has nonstop oneworld service to TPE, HKG, BKK, PVG, HNL and even HEL (Helsinki on Finnair)

If headed to Kyoto on a RTW ticket I would almost certainly fly into Tokyo to save segments and did so with a JR pass on my AONE5 this summer, flying in/out of HND with stops in Nagano, Hiroshima and Kyoto.

My apologies. I referred to the oneworld online timetable and it didn't list Kyoto as a destination.

You sure about that? I thought that there was no fee as long as the city sequence on the ticket did not change.

Yes, as this requires a ticket reissue the fee should be assessed.

Changing from a ground segment to an air segment will require a reissue for the reasons listed by pandaperth and also obviously because of the change in calculation of taxes which will now be assessed on the segment now being flown. Similarly changing from a transit to a stopover will require a reissue. This has been discussed in a number of threads.

One interesting counter point is that there is no fee to change a stopover to a transit in my experience.

Not necessarily a counterpoint as there is no need to make a change in that circumstance. It's why I and some others have reported that we routinely book all connections as stopovers absent a specific reason not to usually high costs for the stopover, e.g., London and the UK APD charges.