What if I'm going to skip a segment or two completely, do I need to reroute or can I just hop on the next bird after that? Let's say I have booked
...NRT-HKG-SIN-HKG-SYD...
But then I don't have time to use the SIN -flights, could I just go NRT-HKG-SYD and forget the SIN without penalty?

No, as the subsequent segments are automatically cancelled when you no-show for a flight (this is done by the computer in many airline systems). If you want to keep your subsequent reservations you have to phone and rebook the skipped segments. Which means either fly them or pay a reissue fee. On rare occasions it is possible to get an airline to pull multiple flight coupons, but usually that is just for combined routings (you fly A-C and they pull the coupons for A-B-C without requiring a reissue). You should plan on having to do a reissue if you want to skip a flight.

Or alternatively, keep your ticketing and reservations completely separate. Just book all the tcket coupons as open and then make the reservations individually through the airlines or TAs. Then, yes, particularly with paper tickets, you can throw away two segments if necessary.

Just make sure that the city where you intend to board from doesn't have a 'no-stop allowed' rule... ie SYD-HKG-NRT-HKG-SIN-x/HKG-LHR and you decide to forgo the HKG-SIN-HKG sector... .. CX might ask where you came from at HKG when they see the x/ next to HKG.

Let me see if I understand the procedures/options completely (for a paper *ONE* ticket with flights/dates assigned to all segments when the ticket was first issued) -- please let me know if any of this is incorrect:

A) For changing a date or OW carrier only (between the same pair of cities for the segment, without changing sequence of segments and without changing a transit into a stopover):

1) call a OW carrier or any travel agent and have them change the reservation before the flight
2) no-show for the flight and at a later time reserve a seat on a flight a later date
3) have a OW carrier or any travel agent make a new reservation for the desired flight/date (would I need to give the ticket number when doing this?) and at a later time cancel the original reservation for that flight (or just no-show)

B) For rerouting, first:

1) call a OW carrier or any travel agent and have them change the reservation, or
2) have a OW carrier or any travel agent make a new reservation for the desired flight/date (would I need to give the ticket number when doing this?) and at a later time cancel the original reservation for that flight

and then visit a OW ticketing office (or any travel agent that can issue tickets on a OW carrier's stock) to reissue (obviously I may want to use a specific OW carrier to minimize fuel surcharges, reissue fees, etc.).

A1: For some airlines (e.g. AA) ordinary agents won't know the rules and will usually insist that you speak with their (part-time) ATW desk. Other airlines have trained everyone (e.g. Cathay) and still others have trained no one (e.g. LAN, I hear - no personal experience.)

The TA you bought the tickets from should be able to help you. It's unlikely that most others will know what you're talking about, nor be willing to give you their time for free.

Some airlines will insist that your paper ticket be re-issued to show the correct carrier and flight, and may charge you for this. AA once insisted that changing LAX-LHR from BA to AA would incur such a fee ($75, at the time the same as if I had rerouted). I should have said "fine, I'll just stay on the BA flight" but since I've become a mileage junkie... Fortunately, BA was in the next terminal and gave me away to AA for free.

Others will sticker the coupon. Others will accept it as is.

A2 is just like A1 except there's some chance that the no-show will cause following bookings to be canceled. Hasn't happened to me yet, although I don't make a habit of no-showing.

A3 - hardly any point in not canceling and it will probably happen anyway. Yes, they would prefer to know the ticket number, but often will hold the space for a while without it.

B: First arrange your new booking - call the carrier who issued your ticket, or the carrier operating the flight you want. Theoretically you can call any OW carrier, but you probably will get a little resistance unless you're at a station where the primary choices don't have an office. As above, they will be happiest if you tell them the ticket number.

The second step, re-issuing the tickets, is usually pretty painful. Call the carrier who originally ticketed you (speaking with their atw/rtw desk if they have one) and tell them what you want to change the tickets to. In a couple of days they will have priced them, and you can then drive to the nearest ticketing location and with some luck, have new tickets in hand, usually after a couple of hours hanging around. If you're in a hurry, you can theoretically show up a couple of hours before your flight and they *probably* will have you ticketed in time, but I wouldn't bet on it - it depends mostly on the airline/station where you make the request. There are lots of carriers/stations where that will work fine, but lots more where it will cause a great deal of consternation.

Here, if you originally ticketed with a great TA (i.e. one who knows the ONE rules at least half as well as the half-dozen wizards who hang out here) you just let him do the reissue for you.

OK, thanks for the clarifications. I think I'm starting to understand the process now...

Two more questions:

1) if I call AA RTW to revise the itinerary with a reroute and to price it, do I then need to go to AA (e.g. the AA GSA in Beijing) to reissue, or can I have CX do it at the airport?

2) has anyone had a reissue done in Beijing?

Well, OK, I'm still trying to understand this. If you keep ticketing and reservations separate, how are the ticket details transmitted to the RTW desk for pricing? Is a PNR created with origins and destinations but no flight information and a separate PNR (or PNRs) for the reservations?

And once a ticket is issued, can you at a later date separate ticketing from the reservations?

No, the sinlge PNR is created with a set of hidden, dummy, flights.

Just got off the phone with AA's RTW desk, having changed my routing somewhat and changed the dates of just about every flight. They said that they can't "see the ticket" and so they can't reprice it or do anything further -- that I now need to take it into the local ticketing office (a GSA here in PEK) and have them recalculate the price and reissue it (these were paper tickets). Is this a correct procedure (for some reason I thought AA would be able to reprice it and I would just go to the GSA to reissue the tickets)?

Will the GSA be able to reprice and reissue it tomorrow? If they need assistance, is the rate desk available 24-hours (since we're 12 hours off from EST, the GSA is only open when the RTW desk I called is closed). Do I have anything to worry about?

Well....I can only say that whenever AA RTW desk have re-routed a ticket issued by another carrier for me they have also done all the work over the phone and then stated that they "can't see the ticket" and I have to take it to the airport (this has always happened in the US).

I then stand for 2 hours with a check-in agent who will phone the ticketing desk and constantly tell me these three things "you can't speak to him/her - I have to relay the conversation" " Gee I don't know anything about these tickets" "Gee you're incredibly patient".

In brief, for me, with AA, it has always been long and it's painful - so be prepared

If you're in luck the GSA in PEK is a RTW expert - it does happen....

But if not, then be prepared to visit the airline office of another carrier - obviously CX in HK are usually the best and can be phoned on the same time-line.

The rate desk is open 24 hours, but if your paper ticket does not show the complete or correct tax calculation then it may take several days to reissue your ticket. Generally the tax calculation does not fit in the box on the ticket (limited to 100 chars) and the issuer probably attached a printout (on plain white paper) -- make sure you take that printout to the reissue. Now that paper tickets are becoming scarce, you will find fewer agents able to deal with them. Being in China might be an advantage, they may be more familiar with paper tickets than e-tickets. It will take 3 hours best case and maybe more than 24 hours (the latter only if your taxes aren't shown correctly; about half of the paper OWE tickets that I have bought had at least 1 error in the displayed tax calculation).

It seems this was the first *ONE* reissue the office (or at least the two staff who can issue AA tickets) had done. They knew what the ticket was and that it would take a long time, but needed to FAX/call others (not sure if it was their other offices in Hong Kong or Shanghai or AA) for lots of guidance. Anyway, it took about 4.5 hours, but we have reissued tickets that will hopefully get us through our remaining 18 segments. And I will try my best to not have to reissue again.

Thanks all for your help and guidance...