I've pored over the rules and this forum and still am not sure I am counting total segments and continental flights correctly.

My understanding is:
- You get 20 sectors total (transfers do not count double)
- You get four "flights" in a continent (once again transfers would only count as one "flight)
- Intercontinent overland travel is counted as one sector but is NOT counted towards the intercontinenal 4 flights
- Intracontinental flights count in the 20 sector limit but not the 4 continental "flights"

So for the following itinerary I get the following counts (totalsectors/continenal flights):

exit SFO
UIO (1)
EZE (2/1)
GRU (3/2)
overland (there do not seem to be any connecting flights) to
GIG (4)
CDG (5)
CAS (6/1)
TLV (7/2)
overland to
IST (8)
BUD (9/3)
DBV (10/4)
overland to
CDG (11)
BKK (12)
DPS (13/1)
DEL (14/2)
HKK (15/3)
PER (16)
SYD (17/1)
AKL (18/2)
PPT (19/3)
SFO (20)

I have completely ignored transfers and any flights "via". I hope this is correct as it differs from the Star Alliance plan with which I am more familiar.

So, is my sector / flight count correct? Is this a valid itinerary?

Just on a first glance, the final segments to/from PPT are clearly not permitted, since codeshares on Air Tahiti Nui aren't allowed on a OneWorld Explorer fare. The Global Explorer fare permits those, although the rules differ in other respects (particularly in terms of the mileage cap). On a OW Explorer fare, you are permitted to fly from AKL back to the U.S.

From my quick look, you have a lot of problems:

xit SFO No direct Flights to UIO
UIO (1)
EZE (2/1)
GRU (3/2)
overland (there do not seem to be any connecting flights) to
GIG (4) No Direct Flights to CDG
CDG (5) No Direct Flights to CAS
CAS (6/1) No Direct flights to TLV
TLV (7/2)
overland to
IST (8)
BUD (9/3)
DBV (10/4)
overland to
CDG (11) No Direct Flight to BKK
BKK (12) No Direct Flight to DPS
DPS (13/1) No Direct Flight to DPS
DEL (14/2)
HKK (15/3) I assume you meant HKG.
PER (16)
SYD (17/1)
AKL (18/2)
PPT (19/3) You cannot get to PPT on a *ONE* Ticket
SFO (20)

Okay....
All those places where I said "No Direct Flight" means you have to have a connection, which means TWO segments to reach the next city. That puts you several segments over your limit of 20. You may be looking at some codeshare flights for the end of your trip, like PPT. If you want to fly American Eagle, as part of American Airlines, you can do that. However, the PPT routes you probably saw are Qantas codeshare with Air Tahiti Nui. Those flights are not included/allowed on a *ONE* ticket. Have you gone to www.oneworld.com and clicked on the "Interactive Map" on the right. Only flight paths in Blue or Grey are allowed on a *ONE* ticket. You'll notice LAN flies to PPT via IPC and SCL. The problem is that PPT to either IPC or SCL is a transoceanic flight, and you're only allowed one of those. So, once you get to PPT from IPC or SCL, you have to keep going westward, but you would be breaking the rules (two transpacific flight) to then go back to IPC or SCL in an attempt to catch a continuing westward connection. The only way to reach PPT as part of a *ONE* is to buy a separate ticket.

I'll add some more thoughts on PPT:

Look for a round-trip to PPT from SYD or AKL or somewhere around there. That's one way to reach it, and then you end back up in AKL and finish off your trip to SFO.

Another way is to reconfigure the front end of your trip when you're in south america. take a trip to SCL and then IPC. From IPC, purchase a separate round-trip ticket on LAN from IPC-PPT-IPC. Then, from IPC you return on your *ONE* ticket to SCL and then continue on to Europe.

The second option may be cheaper. I've heard an IPC-PPT-IPC ticket is a lot cheaper than AKL-PPT-AKL; but, you end up wasting a lot of yoru 4 segments allowed in south america to do that, and it also really adds a lot toward your limit of 20.

If you're looking just for some general beach-type destination, consider the Cook Islands (Rarotonga [RAR]). Virgin Blue can get you AKL-RAR-AKL for a little over $500 NZD.

Woops, you guys are right. It was not showing in red earlier and I wasn't paying attention. I was thinking of doing a virgin blue to Tonga instead of the PPT leg anyways. So take PPT out of the equation.

I still have confusion on the counting. Most specifically:
- tranfers and the 20 sector limit
- continental "flights" and transfers
- overlands counting towards continenatal flight restrictions



I head that tranfers don't count as sectors But CS19 clearly thinks otherwise. And I am still confused on this issue.

So take for example CMN/TLV. (I accidentally put CAS insteand of CMN). The itinerary planner routes this through BCN on IB7706/ IB6992.

- So is this one or two sectors counting towards the total of 20?

- And is this one or two flights counting towards the four "flights" for Europe?

What counts as a segment is the flight number. One segment = One flight number. So, CMN-TLV counts as 2 segments, becase there is a connection in Barcelona, and therefore a change of flight number. For the same reason CMN-TLV counts as 2 segments for the total count of 20 and also 2 segments for the continent limit of 4.

On the subject of surface sectors, they do not count towards the continent limit, but they do count towards the 20 limit. Any surface sector, even those between same-city ariports, count as segments.

With mandatory connections counted, you've got too many European and too many Asian segments. You'd need to set priorities as to which tickets to include in the RTW and which to purchase separately outside the RTW. You might have a look on the Oneworld site at the various "Visit XXX" programs - http://www.oneworld.com/ow/air-travel-options - that might be useful for short hops that would otherwise consume valuable RTW coupons, often at fares competitive with low cost carriers.

Well that clarifies "flights" and other issues.

And changes things quite a bit.

Sill not clear on whether overland sectors count as a continental "flight" or not.

I'd obviously have to change things quite a bit.

How about

SFO
xMIA (1)
UIO (2)
EXE (3/1)
GRU (4/2)
surface to
GIG (5/3?)
BCN (6)
TLV (7/1)
surface
BCN (8/2?)
xLHR (9/3)
BUD (10/4)
BKK (11/1)
HGK(11/2)
DEL (12/3)
xSIN (13/4)
PER (14/1)
SYD (15/2)
AKL (16/3)
xLAX (17)
SFO (18)

Surface segments count against the 20 but not against the in-continent max.

DEL-SIN is on Jet Airways and is not eligible. However you can go BKK-HKG-DEL-HKG-SIN-PER and still be okay in Asia.

That would make your itinerary SFO-MIA-UIO-EZE-GRU-GIG-BCN-TLV-BCN-LHR-BUD-BKK-HKG-DEL-HKG-SIN-PER-SYD-AKL-LAX-SFO which is kosher, 20 segments. You should also use the Mileage Monkey - http://slfft.allhyper.com/0.95/award.htm - to double check, although MM doesn't seem to know there's a direct GIG-BCN flight no. on IB some days (stops in MAD but doesn't change nos.)

Because the OP said "xSIN" I assume they were just making sure to count it toward the 20, but had no interest in stopping there. If that's the case then you can go BKK-HKG-DEL-HKG-PER. That gives you room for an extra segment.