Quick questions about an LONE5
 

I'm planning the following Oneworld itinerary and wanted to ensure that it met the LONE5 rules. Segments in (xxx-xxx) indicate flights purchased separately, while commas indicate overland segments.

(IAD-)EZE-SCL-IPC-SCL-GRU-NRT-PEK(-,HKG-DEL,BOM-BKK(-RGN-BKK),
SIN-SYD-CNS-AYQ-PER-JNB-(MRU-SEZ-MRU-RRG-)MRU-JNB(-VFA,)
DAR-LHR-THR,(DXB-)CAI-BUD,MAD-EZE(-IAD).
(note: IPC is the only stopover in S. America for now, but I might take a few days in Santiago if it's legal on the fare, which I believe it is).

I believe this is a legal fare, but my three main worries are:
1) Is SA-Asia-OZ-AFR-EUR-SA a legal "continuous direction" flight, or would they say OZ is East of Asia, not "even" as is the case with Africa/Europe?
2) Can I do the JAL flight from GRU-NRT without adding a sixth continent? The flight is listed as a direct from GRU-NRT, but goes via LaGuardia. The whole flight is JL048, I believe. I'm pretty sure this is the only SA-Asia direct on oneworld (maybe on any airline!) - is this right?
3) Is it legal to return to JNB after visiting MRU? I'm planning on the Comair flight starting in July (this ticket wouldn't begin until September).

As far as this itinerary is concerned, it seems to me that starting in EZE is cheaper than starting in the US, even with the RT to EZE added in. Would you assume this is the cheapest way to do a routing such as this? I'm not tied into Oneworld (actually haven't flown them in some time - I took CX, AC and NW on my last three intl. flights) so I'm glad to use non-oneworld segments. Also, is the rate from ARG still in the ballpark of 3500 for this fare (+tax)?

Thanks for the help.

You need an LONE6 due to the transit in North America. Also JL is not yet a OW member and hasn't been added to the OWE fares (at least as of yesterday). JL has been added to the Global Explorer fares, but you aren't interested in using those. In general L fares are cheapest from Australia, so you might want to originate there. You can also fly SCL-AKL...-Asia to stay on an LONE5. Asia/Australia can be in any sequence. Your routing looks ok but I didn't examine it too closely. In the current rules there aren't any restrictions on MRU-JNB (but there were also no flights, so they might add a new rule, however I don't see the reason to add a restriction).

Welcome to FT, and no, it's not a legal xONEx route. By a longshot.

Remove all JAL flights (not yet a oneworld member) and any Malev or other non-OW carriers that have been included. JAL and MA can be counted for Global Explorer RTWs as of recently, but your mileage would way exceed the GlobEx limits.

You can only get to Asia from South America via Europe, North America, or SWP (via SCL-AKL/SYD).

THR is, I believe, Asia, which can't be re-entered after you get to Europe.

Asia/SWP - it doesn't matter which one you do first from N. America. If you go NA - Asia - SWP and then want to go on to Europe, you can't stop over in Asia en route from Oz to Europe. If you come from SA to SWP you can't transit through Oz/NZ to Asia and then come back to Oz/NZ before going on to Europe or Africa.

Any continent on which the airplane's wheels roll is a counted continent. Period.

Only two stopovers allowed in the continent of origin.

Look over the sticky threads and refer to the links to the OWE rules.

Thanks, guys.

I am pretty sure THR is in EUR - it is on the latest oneworld brochure I've seen, at least. Honestly, it would be much easier if I could go through THR and DXB when in Asia, but what can you do.

I would prefer to do SA-Asia-Oz-Afr-Eur-home, but as that routing looks a bit tough, how about (leaving off fares I'll buy myself)

SYD-AYQ-PER-NRT-PEK,HKG-DEL,BOM-BKK,SIN-HKG-JNB-MRU-JNB-VFA,
DAR-LHR-THR,DXB...MAD-CCS,EZE-SCL-IPC-SCL-SYD

The only troublesome bit is getting out of the Mideast. Optimally, I'd like to get to Cairo then Istanbul, then overland to Madrid. As for getting to Aus, it's too bad that the Qantas Airpass has a 21-day restriction - I could add in 2 extra flights if not! - so it looks like I'll have to do the Webfare specials they have all the time, which run ballpark 1000. From there, the LONE5 shouldn't be over 3000, I'd imagine (not sure how common the spreadsheet currency conversion is).

Does this far look good, and can anyone suggest a way out of the DXB/IST/CAI problem?

You can't do NRT-PEK on a LONEx until JAL joins... before that it is NRT-HKG-PEK which means you would have to buy the fifth segment in Asia. The Middle East will be much easier when Jordanian joins. Can you wait until the second half of next year?

To solve your Middle East problem you'll have to buy some extra flights, probably the cheapest way would be to buy an RJ ticket DXB-AMM-CAI (the scheduling looks nice for this too); this makes your LONE5 look like:

SYD-AYQ-PER-NRT-HKG-PEK,HKG-DEL,BOM-BKK,SIN-HKG-JNB-MRU-JNB-VFA,DAR-LHR-THR,CAI-BCN-IST-MAD-CCS,EZE-SCL-IPC-SCL-SYD

However, bear in mind:

• This LONE5 has 22 segments so it is clearly not valid, you would need to remove a couple (eg. start ex-PER and buy the Australian sectors)
• There are five segments in Asia, if you keep all five you will have to pay the extra AUD200

Another idea that occurs (depending on the order you need to travel to your destinations in) is to visit the Middle East straight after Asia, although that still has some issues:

SYD-AYQ-PER-NRT-HKG-PEK,HKG-DEL,BOM-BKK,SIN-HKG-DXB,THR-LHR-CAI-BCN-IST,MAD-JNB-MRU-JNB-VFA,NBO-LHR-EZE-SCL-IPC-SCL-SYD

Again, this has 23 segments as well as the Asia caveat, so fine-tuning is required. You would also only be able to transit LHR on the way from NBO to EZE. No extra Middle East flights are needed though.

Thanks for the suggestions. I thought I'd done NRT-PEK a couple years ago on AA, but it must not have been as that route no longer exists. It's not that important to go via PEK vs. HKG; I'm planning to catch a flight (on my own) to Kashgar and take the train back east then south, and the flights from Guangzhou and Beijing are quite similar (esp. at the 60% discounts common on that route).

I'm going overland IST to MAD, so I don't need that segment either, which should get me in at 20 with an LONE5 to
SYD-AYQ-PER-NRT-HKG,HKG-DEL,BOM-BKK,SIN-HKG-JNB-MRU-JNB-VFA,
DAR-LHR-THR,CAI-BCN-IST,MAD-CCS,EZE-SCL-IPC-SCL-SYD

(buying the segments DXB-CAI, BKK-RNG-BKK, Indian Ocean, SFO-SYD-SFO, China on my own).

Going to the Mideast after Asia is a bit rough simply because of timing. I'm leaving at the start of September, want to be in China after National Day but before the cold sets in up in Xinjiang, in India December-ish and Europe/Iran in the spring. The Indian Ocean maybe a bit wet in February, but I think the timing works out for the majority of the route (returning home in June 07).

If Malev is added into the network by next Spring, I assume I can get reticketed for the small route change fee, going DXB-AMM and CAI-BUD, then only buying the AMM-CAI ticket, which ought to be quite a bit cheaper.

Looks okay - be aware that JNB-MRU is apparently not loaded in the system yet so this can't be ticketed as of now.

Yup. I don't plan on buying until July or so, which should be after the MRU flight begins running.