OK I am taking an AONE for business purposes and trying to add a personal trip at the end. I am wondering if this is possible. The business itinerary is:

LAX --> LHR
LHR --> BOM
Bom --> BKK
BKK --> SYD
SYD --> MEL
MEL --> SYD
SYD --> LAX

Now what I want to add (ideally with a 2 day delay) is
LAX --> JFK --> LAX

Is that allowed? How about if I returned on a different routing? What routing is alowed?


THANKS!

There is a restriction on transcontinentals in North America between certain cities. Here is the rule:
67N . A. 1 NONSTOP OR SINGLE PLANE TRANSCONTINENTAL
68N . FLIGHT PERMITTED.
69N . TRANSCONTINENTAL FLIGHT IS DEFINED AS TRAVEL
70N . BETWEEN THE FOLLOWING CITIES:
71N .
72N . BWI/BOS/FLL/BDL/MIA/EWR/NYC/ORL/PHL/SJU/YYZ/WAS
73N . AND
74N . LAS/LGB/LAX/OAK/SNA/PDX/SAN/SFO/SEA/SJC/YVR
You would just have to route from New york to another city such as ORD or DFW.

Hi,

It would appear that you are originating in LAX. This would then be your point of origin. You will get caught out by Routing Rule 2:

"... backtrack within a continent is permitted except as follows: - travel via the original point of origin not permitted"

Therefore, I would suggest that you fall foul of this rule with the SYD to LAX sector effectively terminating your travels. You could route back via HKG with no stopover to SFO, buy a domestic SFO to LAX return outside the AONE4, then SFO to NYC to LAX remembering to change once on one of the legs, ORD or DFW for example.

You have to determine the priority of the 2 day stop in LAX over the free flight internally to NYC and the extra time of routing back via HKG. Alternatively you could go up to NRT and across on AA from there but whatever you do, you will have to buy the extra ticket to avoid Route Rule 2, IMHO.

Spotwelder

You could also start your journey by getting a cheap ticket out of LAX to PHX or SFO, and starting your RTW there. That would keep the rest of your trip route intact, except for the double transcontinental. You'll still need to break that up into two segments.

How about finishing SYD-JFK-LAX?? In know that SYD-JFK transits LAX, but the routing would not show LAX as transit so should be permitted by the rules. However, it all comes down to interpretation and I am sure some will interpret that as invalid .

Yes LAX-JFK-DFW-LAX would have to be it - can't do direct service LAX-JFk both ways.

ANother suggestion may be to have the starting point of the routing in SAN - you can either fly down to SAN (on a separate ticket) or drive down in a couple of hours (well at least the way I drive ) and start from there, thus:

SAN-->LAX
LAX --> JFK
JFK-->DFW-->LAX
LAX-->LHR
LHR --> BOM
Bom --> BKK
BKK --> SYD
SYD --> MEL
MEL --> SYD
SYD --> LAX

This would avoid any problem of going back to your point of origin (SAN start is similar to a SYD start if living in MEL.) And the SAN-LAX segment can be done at any time (maybe on a weekend) and not necessarily on the same day as LAX-JFK.

Good suggestions for the offset starting point of origin. Remember that you may have to book the first international sector and all flights up to that point as confirmed flights and not "open". Remember that if you book 7 days before you start on A/DONEx then you have to confirm there and then, however, if it is less than 7 days then it is up to the last hour for ticketing.

For an AONE4, the ticket price off Canada is about US$250 cheaper.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=330537

If you could find a ticket ex-LAX to Canada single (or even throw away a return) for less than this price then you might even save money. However, if you cannot be bothered, fair enough. Sometimes it is worth it if you need to go so try and originate somewhere that is useful to you or cheaper.

Interesting idea, with the added benefit of allowing two transcons LAX<->JFK.

The only 'but' I see is the OP's wish of a two day stopover in LAX at the end of the business trip. Would this be allowed on a SYD-JFK coupon?

However, be aware of stopver rule about the continent of origin.

154N . 3. MAXIMUM 2 STOPOVERS PERMITTED IN THE CONTINENT
155N . OF ORIGIN

If you stopover at 1st LAX after SAN-LAX,
You can stopver either of 'JFK' or '2nd LAX after JFK-DFW-LAX'.

If you were to start the ticket in SFO and route up during lunchtime from LAX on a separate ticket then you would have no starting LAX stopover and you would not have the point of origin issue.

The only stopover that is requested is JFK at the end of the trip, all the rest would appear to be mileage run stuff. Therefore, you could come in from Australia to LAX and take this as stop one for two days, as requested. Then to JFK as stop two (as requested), back to LAX with onward connection to SFO on another coupon and throw it away. That would ensure that you start and finish in the same place (if necessary for North America starting/finishing with no open sector but I cannot see this in the rules) . Just watch the trans-continental rule.

I do not think that the SYD to JFK sector will work as the purchaser wants to get off at LAX for a couple of days.

Quick!, put you hand in your pockets, because I see a rap on the knuckles coming your way for that bit of wisdom.

Can one really route back through HKG from SYD to LAX? I thought that was against the 'backtrack between continents' rule...

It seems to depend on who does the ticket. The consensus seems to be no but it seems to be liberally allowed. The question, like most things, is pendantic and is over the placement (or non-existence) of a comma and the interpretation of it.

"2 permitted in Asia, 1 must be a transit without stopover OR on direct single plane service between the southwest pacific and Europe"

This means that (i) the comma is a known punctuation mark in the rules, (ii) the OR is the only link between the two statements. Therefore, the SWP and Europe only applies to the direct single plane service.

Does anyone need a good aviation lawyer...

No need to have LAX-SFO for your last segment, and have to throw it away as you suggest, because in the continent of origin (and in some other areas like the middle east) origin-destination by surface is allowed.