Just to let you know the RIO-SAO flights you've got listed can't be booked, as LAN and BA have no rights to fly passengers on this segment - it's only allowed for through passengers.

But it is GIG-GRU-LHR on the same ticket, so it should be allowed on BA? Normally this is allowed, but Brasil has some special (and strange) rules, so it bears investigation.

The AY flights to places like the Canary Islands are not 'charter' as such (where one tour operator hires the whole plane), rather 'Leisure' flights - where AY generally sell blocks of seats to tour operators, but it is possible to buy an individual seat on the flight direct from AY. IIRC, they can be used as part of an xONEx. They certainly appear in the OW pdf timetable.

It is the EZE-GRU-LHR BA flight where one can book the non-UK segment. Tried the LAN web site and the only flights allowed between GRU-GIG were LAN codeshares on TAM.

There's a difference between booking GRU-GIG "naked" and as part of a larger international itinerary. This usually comes up here in the context of QF flights LAX-JFK which perhaps ought to be allowed as part of a OWE but are not in practice unless connecting directly to/from QF over the Pacific.

The question is are the GRU-GIG flights on BA and LA allowed, not on their own, but as part of a OWE and if so under what circumstances? Has anyone booked them or tried to?

Michael

Not quite correct recollection there, these AY flights have always been prohibited by the OWE rules (specified as an excluded range of flight numbers). Maybe they were allowed on the GE product (but I doubt that). As these are one class "low comfort" flights, they were never of much interest for actually booking and I don't recall anyone posting about taking them on any kind of OW ticket.

Ok, folks. I'm frustrated. BA refers me to Fin Air, Fin Air refers me BA. BA refers me to Qantas, Qantas refers me to BA. They are trying to decide who should book the ticket. One person says it's the airline that does the first flight over an ocean, another person says it's the airline that does the first flight from one OW region (i.e. Europe-MiddleEast) to another. Another person says it's the airline that does the first international flight.

I'm starting to wonder if I should just wait until I fly to London and then try to book it in person. If I do that would I have to wait 7 days before departing? But I wanted to have my itenerary officially validated (by booking it) before I actually start the trip! :-(

The rule is that any OW airline is allowed to ticket any Oneworld product but the airline flying the first international sector must ticket it (if requested). The others can decline (and pass it to that airline).

Now, from a passenger standpoint, you might prefer one airline to do the ticketing over another. Most would prefer AA to issue the ticket (costs less), and QF is probably the last choice. Having it validated in advance is fairly important, look at how many problems there are with reissues much less with new tickets, and how long it takes to resolve them sometimes.