I'm in the final throws of booking an xONE4 itinerary but have had my route rejected by the BA ticket desk. They say that I have exceeded the permitted number of stopovers in my continent of origin. The relevant bits of my route are as follows.

1. GIB-LGW
2. LHR-NRT
...more segments...
17. SFO-LHR
18. LHR-DXB
19. DXB-LHR
20. LGW-GIB

I am currently trying to book segments 1 & 2 as a transit without stopover. I.e. segment 2 commences within 24 hours of the arrival of segment 1. Segments 18 and 19 are currently open. Segment 20 has a specific date.

I see this as being valid in that I have one transit without stopover (1-2) and two stopovers (17-18 and 19-20).

Can anyone shed some light on who's right and who's wrong?

The problem possibly lies with segments 18-19. An open segment can be open as a connection ('x') or open as a stopover ('o'). If you did not specifically ask for DXB to be coded as a connection (albeit open) then the airlines usually code it as a stopover.

I concur - it is perfectly possible to have coupons issued as open-dated but with a transit specified between them. In your case, if I understand correctly you need the transit between segments 18 & 19.

Sorry, I don't think I explained fully...

I would like to:

- transit between segments 1 & 2.
- stopover between segments 17 & 18.
- stopover between segments 19 & 20.

So I would want the open segments to be specified with a stopover.

Yes, that was clear. Forget for a minute the numbered segments. The problem is, I think, that DXB has been taken by BA to be a stopover, not a transit. Fix that and the problem will go away.

Aha. Thanks for bearing with me while my brain slowly works through the rules.

I now see where I've gone wrong. I'd forgotten that if I wanted to stopover in DXB then that would count towards the limit of two in the continent of origin. Thus I was expecting to be able to have those two stopovers in London and one in DXB. Duh.

So if I want to stopover in DXB then I need to make an additional transit in London, either 17-18 or 19-20.

Thanks christep and Viajero for your help.