v0.95040 (2012/03/25):

• Flight updates - added Air Berlin. Lots of new destinations; e.g. HRG, LXR in Egypt (mostly Y only), new ways to AMM & TLV, a direct Europe-HKT service and VRA (Cuba). For getting to these, use the "OWE Planner" section with a "From" of "de" (Germany) - it can be a great help working out how to get places (or where you can get from a place) etc. DUS, MUC, FRA, STR, VIE, ZRH, SZG etc. have benefited from much increased frequencies.
• Much improved cabin predictions for many airlines (based on aircraft type)
• Moved PMO from US to Italy, it was duplicating PMD which is in US
• Updated BA earned tier point mapping (it's an approximation based on 2000, 6000, 10500 distances - better ideas welcome!)

MM marks the following itinerary as valid, but doesn't it violate the stopover rule by having three stopovers in London?

1: CAI-LHR: 1st of 4 (Europe)
2: LHR-ARN: 2nd of 4 (Europe)
3: ARN-LHR: 3rd of 4 (Europe)
4: LHR-MIA: 1st of 1 (intercontinental entry to North America without immediate transit & departure)
5: MIA-GCM: 1st of 6 (North America)
6: GCM-MIA: 2nd of 6 (North America)
7: MIA-LAX: 1st of 1 (North America Transcon)
*7: MIA-LAX: 3rd of 6 (North America)
8: LAX-SAN: 4th of 6 (North America)
9: SAN-LAX: 5th of 6 (North America)
10: LAX-HKG: 1st of 1 (intercontinental entry to Asia without immediate transit & departure)
11: HKG-SIN: 1st of 4 (Asia)
12: SIN-HKG: 2nd of 4 (Asia)
13: HKG-HND: 3rd of 4 (Asia)
14: HND-HKG: 4th of 4 (Asia)
15: HKG-LHR: intercontinental
16: LHR-DOH: 4th of 4 (Europe)

IIRC, you can go though LHR three times (one stopover and two transits). Without actual flights I don't think that any tool can validate stopovers vs. transits

I'm not aware of any stopover limit with the Oneworld Explorer. The one stop/two transit rule applies, IIRC, to AA's "Oneworld" award (now called the "Explorer" award, to make matters less/more confusing.) The only restriction that applies in the case of the OWE is that you can't fly the same segment twice, and also the rules regarding transiting the point of origin, etc.

Thank you, I think that you are right and I got confused with the award routing rules .

From the rules:
Maximum two stopovers permitted in the continent of origin of which a maximum of one stopover is permitted in each direction in the country of origin.

In my example, CAI, my starting point, is in the same continent as LHR. Therefore aren't three stops in London disallowed?

That's correct; two stopovers (24h+) in the continent of origin. However there are no rules regarding where one can lay over or connect within that continent, nor any rule that you couldn't stop over twice in the same city.

The key to understanding this is that for the purposes of the xONEx rules, a "stopover" means a gap of >24 hours between flights. In your routing, if you are just transiting LHR, I.e. connecting to the next flight within 24hours of arriving at LHR, then this constitutes a "transit" and not a "stopover".

As MM does not hande dates/times of your flights, it does not know if you are intending transit or stopover at each location.

MM will help you determine the optimal routing, but it has some limitations - e.g. this stopover/transit one, no checking if seats are available on any specific flights, no checking whether a service operates on the days/seasons you are planning. All of these are better done in the next stage of your planning, I.e.by selecting flights and dates in the online OW tool.

lol
I am not sure did I do the right thing or not
What I was trying is to arrive in LHR and want a LCY flight to JFK
since it yield me 70 TP extra, however the validator count my inter-London transit as a segment. I would want to know whether it really does count or not in the itinerary. Same thing happened to me in the NRT-HND transits.
please advice

Sadly (unless the rules have changed back), surface transits in cities with multiple airports are counted as additional sectors on a xONEx ticket

I'm considering starting an xONEx at RUH, getting there through LHR on BA 263, then turning immediately and starting the xONEx on 262 returning to LHR. Not technically a transit, I know. Has anyone here ever done this? What was it like? Easy? Any problems?

I've done this twice, but never again. Unlike DOH, DXB and BAH, RUH isn't equipped to deal easily with in transit passengers. They insist that you enter the country via the immigration desk which, of course, is not possible without an entry visa.

Both times I alighted the BA flight and was marched off to an office to speak to an immigration officer. The first time it happened, I explained that I didn't want to enter the country and therefore didn't have a visa, but wished to turn right round to depart on the same aircraft on which I'd arrived. Half an hour later I was in the BA departure lounge.

However, the second time I tried it I was travelling with Mrs Full Score. This was completely different. FIVE army officers got involved, all wielding automatic rifles. My wife was treated as if she came from another planet - they wouldn't recognize her existence. For two hours I pleaded with them - only one spoke English - the BA staff were impotent to do anything, and the immigration officials simply shrugged their shoulders even though I['d explained the reason for starting my RTW at RUH. Eventually, we made the departure lounge with ten minutes to spare. But it was SCARY. I envisaged that we might be held in custody overnight since we had no entry visas and the BA flight is the only one each day.

DON'T DO IT. At the very least, have the proper entry visas - there's just enough time to enter the country and then check-in for the return BA flight - with luck, you can print your boarding pass online before leaving LHR. Or spend a night at the airport hotel. Since RUH is the cheapest AONEx starting point, the extra cost would be negligible and you'll have peace of mind.

See discussion here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...-arabia-2.html

Anyone ever start one in SAH?

I considered starting my AONE5 in SAH as pricing was pretty much the same as RUH, but decided against it due to the security situation. While I bet the airport is safe, I wouldn't want to risk getting stuck in a country with a significant Al Qaeda presence that is actively targeting American citizens. Additionally, I was worried about possible future immigration headaches with a Yemeni stamp in my passport