I just got off the phone with a conference call with an AA agent at the RTW desk who insists, no matter what, you can only have one entry and one exit from the U.S. She was unwilling to look at the star file, even when I quoted it to her and stated there was no supervisor on weekends. I need to ticket urgently to make the deadline.

My itinerary is
BNA-MIA-EZE
stop
EZE-SCL
stop
SCL-GRU
stop
GRU-MIA-LAX-HKG-SYD
stop
SYD-PER
stop
PER-HKG-LON
stop
LON-ORD
stop

They are insisting that I can not transit the U.S. from South America. I have done this several times, granted GRU-JFK-HKG, but that is not available.

Has something changed? Any recommendations? I am planing on trying to get BA to ticket it, but they are not open until Monday as well.

Thanks..

Two comments -

First, there are some new people at the RTW desk, so I would phone back and ask for a supervisor. I just talked to one yesterday (very nice person) who needed to check if a NA-Asia-SWP-Europe route wasn't "backtracking" between Asia and SWP.

But second, I'm not sure that I don't agree with them on your itinerary. Originating in NA, it would seem to me that the "second entry" exception, which limits one of the two entries to transit-without-stopover, is moot, given your proposed multi-segment plan once you return. The interpretation of the transit-without-stopover rule now appears to be firm in that only one NA touchdown is allowed; i.e. GRU-xJFK-HKG might be okay, but the 2-sector NA passage isn't.

If you get clarification on this through a phone-back, please post the results.

The agent is correct -- but for a different reason. Once you re-enter the country of origin, you cannot exit again (the RTW is over). You would have to originate in MEX or NAU etc. for this to be a valid itin (I think Canada/US are considered to be one country for purpose of routing, but not sure about that).

The easiest fix if you must originate in the US is to go east (BA flies GRU-LHR without touching US).

Oops, number_6 is right. Must distinguish between country of origin and continent of origin.

I'm still pretty certain that a two-segment "transit without stopover" is now verboten, however.

Actually, I think number_6 is wrong. The OP's origin is USA and AFAIK OWEs starting in the US allow for two international departure/arrivals from/to the country of origin, as long as one of them is a transit without stopover.

Sheesh, I'm going to go take a nap. Viajero's right.

49N . 7. 1 INTERNATIONAL DEPARTURE AND 1 INTERNATIONAL
50N . ARRIVAL
51N . FROM/TO THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN PERMITTED.
52N . --------------------------------------------------
53N . -----
54N .
55N . EXCEPTION
56N . ORIGINATING USA - 2 PERMITTED WHEN 1 ARRIVAL-
57N . DEPARTURE
58N . IS A TRANSIT WITHOUT STOPOVER.

I am thinking about trying to get CX or BA to ticket it. I have done this multiple times with the one transit. The whole transit (with travel is less than 24 hours)- not that this matters. But I am still really upset that the person refused to refer to any rules, just wanted to discuss this off the top of her head. I am going to try for a supervisor in the A.M. (but who knows if there will be one on New Years eve).

Another thread mentions similar issues in Asia. I will let you know what happens.

Thanks for all your help and discussion...

Just as a reference, here are the rules for international departures and intercontinental departures:

AA RTW now enforces the transit w/o stopover as entry/exit to the continent must be same city. Adding in a segment to get a better connection was permitted in the past, but no more. From one of the very experineced agents on that desk.

That makes sense and is in the spirit of the rule as well as in the letter (a transit is defined as a single city, so AA is 100% right on this one); the OP would have to route ...SCL-LAX-HKG instead of GRU-MIA-LAX and AA will be happy. Still salvagable. OWE has always had rules that are inscrutable and at times annoying.

The SCL-AKL-SYD flight ended up being available. I realized I could change to a circle pacific and save $3k over an AONE5, so I avoided the confrontation. I hope Miami gets a flight to somewhere in Asia soon, so I can avoid this mess when the GRU-JFK flights are sold out.

Thanks for all your help..

MIA already has MIA-ORD-NRT (or has AA discontinued that?). I hate the way AA does tag ends for international flights (usually with a change of aircraft at the real gateway, so you don't get a 777 for MIA-ORD). So MIA already offers flights to 3 continents on AA (and to 4 continents if you count non-AA); just like JFK, fwiw.

Don't forget to explore the JAL option if desireing to route GRU-JFK-Another Continent. Sure, you get screwed on the bonus mileage if you are an AA elite, but it is another option. Personally, FWIW, I'd chose AA over JL on this route.

Highly unlikely.

I'm not sure if I'm misreading this. Are you saying that that if I begin my RTW at JFK, then fly down to South America, and then want to connect to Asia (via the U.S.), I have to connect through JFK? But I thought that under the new ONE rules, I can't pass my point of origin. Does that mean I can never leave the U.S. for South America on the initial leg of an RTW, but instead have to begin in, say, BOS, and then connect to JFK?