In-country Segments at end of LONE4?
 

I recently booked a LONE4 through Qantas for travel in March 2006. My proposed route was LHR-LAX(transit)-HNL-SYD(transit)-MEL-CNS-AYQ-SYD-JNB(transit)-CPT-JNB(transit)-LVI//LUN-LHR-GLA-LHR. My reading of the star files pointed to by this site made me think that (at least from June this year) this should be a valid route. Would the experts here care to comment please?
Maybe I have missed something in the rules.

Qantas did not allow me the final GLA-LHR segment so I am actually finishing in Glasgow. I have talked to a few Qantas agents who gave various reasons for not allowing the GLA-LHR segment. The most recent was that if I passed through my point of origin (transit or stopover) then I could not subsequently return to it. Do you think this rule exists?

This isn't actually a big deal for me as I can get a GLA-LHR flight on British Midland for the princely sum of GBP 2 plus taxes. It's just the principle.

If London is your start point then your RTW will end the next time you hit London. So on your itinerary your ticket would be kaput before you left for Bonnie Scotland. You might think about starting at MAN (or EDI or..) instead.

Well I concede that I wouldn't have been able to do this last year. What I think are the relevant parts of the star file dated 18MAY04 said

149N STOPOVERS
150N ----------
151N .
153N . 2. STOPOVER PERMITTED ANYWHERE.

2N ROUTING
3N --------
4N .
17N . 2. TRAVEL MUST BE IN A CONTINUOUS FORWARD
18N . DIRECTION BETWEEN AREA 1-AREA-2-AREA 3.
19N . BACKTRACK WITHIN A CONTINENT IS PERMITTED
20N . EXCEPT AS FOLLOWS:
21N . -TRAVEL VIA THE ORIGINAL POINT OF ORIGIN NOT
22N . PERMITTED.
23N . - - -BACKTRACK BETWEEN HAWAII AND THE
24N . CONTINENTAL U.S./PR/VI/CANADA NOT PERMITTED.

But now in the version dated 16JUN05 it says instead

68N STOPOVERS
69N ----------
70N .
72N . 2. STOPOVER PERMITTED ANYWHERE, INCLUDING AT
73N . POINT OF ORIGIN.

78N ROUTING
79N --------
80N .
90N . 2. TRAVEL MUST BE IN A CONTINUOUS FORWARD
91N . DIRECTION BETWEEN AREA 1-AREA-2-AREA 3.
92N . BACKTRACK WITHIN A CONTINENT IS PERMITTED EXCEPT
93N . AS FOLLOWS:
94N . -BACKTRACK BETWEEN HAWAII AND THE CONTINENTAL U.S.
95N . /PR/VI/CANADA NOT PERMITTED.

So the somewhat tautological prohibition against travelling via original point of origin has been removed and point of origin is explicitly allowed as a stopover.

Besides that, Qantas was willing to let me stopover at LHR and go on to GLA. It's the returning to LHR that seems to be a problem for them.

Nope, you're right and thanks for the reference. So I don't understand the turndown on GLA-LHR.

It's valid since the rules were changed several months ago. Qantas are out of date and wrong, so keep pushing back (with copies of the rules) until they admit it.

I have just had ticketed HBA-SYD-HNL....HKG-SYD-HBA-MEL with Qantas.

Doesn't appear to have been an issue. I managed to add the HBA-MEL flight on to the end when those rules changed before I ticketed.

Maybe it's a problem with the local Qantas office here in London.

Since telephoning them hasn't been very productive I'm putting my concerns in a letter to them. I hope the prospect of replying in writing will encourage them to see things my way. It may take some time but I'll report their reply.

I have in my possession a BA issued, ticketed and 2/3 travelled RTW which has 4 UK domestic segments at the end (JER & EDI) despite having LHR as the start point. Helps to make the high exUK prices a little easier to bear.