Less than 18 hours until purchase of LONE4 xBKK (hopefully)! please comment
 

1. On the legality of the routing
2. On any suggestions for maximizing more miles for AA, and in particular for acheiving the Platinum challenge.
3. Is there a grace period on the 1-year validity of the ticket? even a few extra days would help me a lot in my route.

Thank you!

Sorry for the confusing format. It is a download from Excel:

Asia (part 1 - 1 segment, 0 stopovers)
Flight Frm Departs To Arrives Typ Meal Freq Begins Until OperatedBy
AA 7278 BKK 8:35am NRT 4:35pm 747 M MT...SS July 28
AA 60 NRT 6:10pm DFW 3:40pm 777 DB MT...SS July 28
AA 963 DFW 7:45pm GRU 7:52am 763 DB MTWT.SS July 28 - July 29

S. America (3 segments)
Flight Frm Departs To Arrives Typ Meal Freq Begins Until OperatedBy
LA 755 GRU 10:00am SCL 1:10pm 320 MT...S.. Dec 27
LA 572 SCL 9:20am LIM 12:05pm 763 .T.T... Dec 28
LA 572 LIM 12:50pm BOG 3:50pm 763 .T.T... Dec 28
BA 248 BOG 8:05pm CCS 11:00pm 767 ......S Jan 2
AA 2154 CCS 7:05am DFW 11:48am 738 B MT...SS Jan 9

N. America (6 segments)
Flight Frm Departs To Arrives Typ Meal Freq Begins Until OperatedBy
AA 512 DFW 8:59am MSP 11:23am M80 MT...SS Feb 24
AA 659 MSP 7:47am DFW 10:15am M80 MT...SS Feb 25
AA 3811 DFW 8:53am CLT 12:22pm ER4 MT...SS Mar 24 AA EAGLE
AA 2219 CLT 5:00pm DFW 6:38pm M83 MT...SS Mar 25
AA 3655 DFW 1:10pm NAS 5:23pm CR7 MT....S July 7
AA 3656 NAS 7:45am DFW 10:08am CR7 MT...S. July 11 AA EAGLE
AA 66 DFW 2:00pm ORD 4:18pm 777 MT...SS July 11
AA 66 ORD 6:30pm LHR 8:15am 777 DB MT...SS July 11
AA 6447 LHR 9:00pm JNB 8:50am 744 M MT...SS July 12 - July 13 BA

S. Africa (4 segments)
Flight Frm Departs To Arrives Typ Meal Freq Begins Until OperatedBy
BA 6241 JNB 11:10am PLZ 12:50pm 737 S MT...SS July 13 COMAIR
BA 6242 PLZ 1:20pm JNB 2:55pm 737 M M.W.F.S July 15 COMAIR
BA 6427 JNB 3:45pm CPT 5:55pm 737 M MT...SS July 15 COMAIR
BA 6406 CPT 9:10am JNB 11:10am 737 M MT...SS July 20 COMAIR
CX 748 JNB 12:50pm HKG 8:00am 343 M....SS July 20 - July 21

Asia (part 2 - 3 segments and 2 stopovers)
Flight Frm Departs To Arrives Typ Meal Freq Begins Until OperatedBy
CX 785 HKG 10:05am DPS 2:45pm 330 M...... July 25
CX 784 DPS 3:55pm HKG 8:45pm 330 M...... Aug 2
AA 6106 HKG 8:55am BKK 10:30am 744 B MT...SS Aug 3

I haven't read your post beyond this first line and already see problems: isn't AA7278 a JL codeshare? if so then I understand that it is not allowed on a OWE.

Will look at the rest, but since you are in a hurry I thought I'd mention this now, in case you want to put your plans on hold, to give you enough time to reconsider the itinerary and give the pros here a chance to comment on it.

The segment count is all wrong. A segment is one flight number, not what you have taken it to mean.

My suggestion is that you postpone your plans to purchase the ticket and study in depth the FAQ, because your itinerary will have to be totally redone and there's no way you can do that in 18 hours.

The only problem I see with the segment count is that the total is more than 20. In each of the sections, the OP has included both the intra-continental sectors and the inter-continental sectors, making it appear that there are more than the 4 or 6 permitted per continent. There are two continuing flights (AA66 and LA572) each which is only counted as a single sector since they are through connections on the same travel day. So I make it a total of 23 sectors. Got to reduce it by 3, perhaps by purchasing some of the sectors on a separate ticket.

As per the first response, the JL codeshare is not allowed so the only way from BKK to NRT is to use CX via HKG which is an additional Asia segment, so the return can only include 2 Asia segments and not the three planned, so DPS is not going to happen. You can't purchase additional segments in the home continent.

Isn't this a LONE5 - Asia/NA/SA/Eur/Afr.

You are going via LHR - I know this is allowed in terms of re-entry to transit through, but I don't think you can go via LHR to Africa and not count Europe as a continent.

Anyway your time in LHR is longer than 24 hrs thus a stopover.

Given all the above posted issues an airline (which knows the rules) nor a TA would be able to issue this ticket as it is an invalid routing.

Is this bookable when not on through flight to LHR?

Yes, definately a 5 continent trip. Even is LHR was only transit, it still gets counted as a continent. This is the same if travelling LHR-SYD, even on a single flight number and coupon, you have to include Asia in the continent count.

The 1 year validity rule is very firm and rigorously checked by the airlines. Your last flight must depart at most 1 year after your first flight (but arrival can be on a later day). So your last few flights must move forward several days to be within a year of your first flight. There are so many problems with this ticket that even if it is issued you will have zero chance of flying all the segments without one of the carrying airlines detecting the problem and refusing to fly you, or worse yet invalidating the entire ticket. Its sometimes possible to get tickets issued and flown with one or 2 mistakes, but not this many; if you have a BKK TA doing this, be sure to pay by credit card so that you can get your money back when the ticket turns out to be worthless.

ok
 

so much for my first time at this... i will try to rework using a travel agent.
Thanks for the input!

Does this look better for LONE4?
 

Asia (part 1 - 2 segment, 0 stopovers)
Flight Frm Departs To Arrives Typ Meal Freq Begins Until OperatedBy
AA 6102 BKK 6:40pm HKG 10:30pm 330 D MTW.... July 27
AA 6116 HKG 10:30am NRT 4:00pm 330 L MT...SS July 28

Intercontinental Flight (1 segment)
AA 60 NRT 6:10pm DFW 3:40pm 777 DB MT...SS July 28
AA 963 DFW 7:45pm GRU 7:52am 763 DB MTWT.SS July 28 - July 29

S. America (3 segments)
Flight Frm Departs To Arrives Typ Meal Freq Begins Until OperatedBy
LA 755 GRU 10:00am SCL 1:10pm 320 MT...S.. Dec 27
LA 572 SCL 9:20am LIM 12:05pm 763 .T.T... Dec 28
LA 572 LIM 12:50pm BOG 3:50pm 763 .T.T... Dec 28
BA 248 BOG 8:05pm CCS 11:00pm 767 ......S Jan 2

Intercontinental Flight (1 segment)
AA 2154 CCS 7:05am DFW 11:48am 738 B MT...SS Jan 9

N. America (6 segments)
Flight Frm Departs To Arrives Typ Meal Freq Begins Until OperatedBy
AA 512 DFW 8:59am MSP 11:23am M80 MT...SS Feb 24
AA 659 MSP 7:47am DFW 10:15am M80 MT...SS Feb 25
AA 3811 DFW 8:53am CLT 12:22pm ER4 MT...SS Mar 24 AA EAGLE
AA 2219 CLT 5:00pm DFW 6:38pm M83 MT...SS Mar 25
AA 3655 DFW 1:10pm NAS 5:23pm CR7 MT....S July 7 EAGLE
AA 3656 NAS 7:45am DFW 10:08am CR7 MT...S. July 11 AA EAGLE

Intercontinental Flight (1 segment)
AA 50 DFW 5:05pm LGW 8:00am 777 DB MT...SS
BA 2486 LGW 9:25am BCN 12:30pm 737 M MT...SS

Europe (2 segments)
Flight Frm Departs To Arrives Typ Meal Freq Begins Until OperatedBy
IB 6974 BCN 7:25pm CAI 0:25am 320 .T.T..S
BA 154 CAI 8:25am LHR 11:50am 777 M MT...SS

Intercontinental Flight (1 segment)
BA 5 LHR 1:40pm NRT 9:10am 744 M MT...SS

Asia (part 2 - 2 segments and 2 stopovers)
Flight Frm Departs To Arrives Typ Meal Freq Begins OperatedBy
AA 6115 NRT 5:10pm HKG 8:45pm 330 D MT...SS CATHAY
AA 6106 HKG 8:55am BKK 10:30am 744 B MT...SS

The above are not 1 segment as you have specified - each is 2 segments as different flight numbers. Which puts you over 20 segments in total.

The AA codeshare flight numbers on CX within Asia don't seem to have any L class created. It just doesn't exist, not merely unavalable. The transpacific flights don't have that issue. So you will have to fly on the CX flight number BKK-HKG-NRT. Or, AY also happens to fly BKK-HKG, for full AA credit.

Is this enough for platinum challenge?
 

If I cant use AA codeshares going BKK-HKG-NRT... then will I have enough miles to make platinum challenge using only NRT-DFW-GRU ???... on an ECONOMY class ticket (LONE4)?

Yes.

I am at ticket office in BKK right now... hoping to leave in 2 hours, but...
 

The Cathay Pacific RTW desk has 2 problems with my route:

1. No flights available in One World from BOG-CCS ?? (they say the one I want is a flight to LHR that only transits in CCS and that I cant simply book to CCS)

2. They say that if I start in BKK... I must end in BKK... instead of my planned ending point of SIN. I though BKK and SIN were treated the same as for ending points?

Are they correct about these two points?