I was ticketed on QF JFK-LAX on a First Classs RTW ticket May 2006. I was not allowed to board QF in JFK. BEWARE!

In this case the ticket is not enough to travel. I complained and bargained as much as reasonable in JFK but no luck. AA's RTW rebooked me on AA's glorified economy class via DFW and I caught my original connection to HKG on CX from LAX.

Wow! QF is really tough now! :(

I was able to fly QF108 JFK-LAX back in '01 or '02. I wasn't even aware of this potential problem and had no problem flying that segment. I only learned from FT later that it could be a problem with QF. :p Just like PaulSEA1, I was on AONE4 JFK-QF-LAX-CX-HKG.

Quite a good thread started by PaulSEA1on this here: Caution Qantas JFK-LAX: Denied boarding.

I seem to recall a footnote for the LAX-JFK and JFK-LAX flights in the QANTAS timetable (when they had a printed timetable) that said "International online stopover/connection only" so it has been the rule since the flight commenced but not necessarily enforced. I had it ticketed on a RTW and flew it several years ago but knew that I could have been denied boarding.

Despite the fare rules, I'm pretty sure that flying QF JFK-LAX and then flying another carrier LAX-XYZ violates the rules of cabotage. It *might* be legal if you were booked on a codeshare -- for example, if CX codeshared on the QF flight and then you flew CX onwards -- but I don't think it is.

But absent a codeshare, QF is clearly operating as a domestic feeder flight -- and that's a no-no.

At least, that's my 2.73 cents (inflation, you know?)

Steve

And others say it is not cabotage(see number 6's post here. Of course, if QF won't let us fly it it does not matter.
See also:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=554013

QF simply doesn't want the OWE ticket revenue for JFK-LAX (it isn't enough). So they have this rule that you cannot fly QF107/108 on the US leg unless you fly QF trans-pacific (which earns a lot more revenue). Cabotage has nothing to do with it; being able to fly QF codeshare on AA is a good example, that too would be cabotage if QF107/108 were -- but of course it is not! As it is a commercial decision, it is unlikely to change unless the market cools down and QF has empty seats to fill.