This forum always has such timely information. Thanks for the help, everyone.

I can deal with substituting KIH for CMB since I haven't been to Pakistan yet, and I'll get Sri Lanka while visiting the Maldives through *A later.

The other change with GB Airways is more difficult. I really wish I had started my OneWorld plans before the overland segment rule came into effect, because a lot of my travel is naturally overland from country to country.

Anyway, it looks like I can still make it work thanks to Royal Jordanian. I can either switch my arrival in Europe to LHR and then go straight to TIP, flying out to AMM after some venturing around the region, or I can proceed as planned and go ALG through MAD or LGW, using an overland segment to get to TIP and then AMM.

Or avoid London altogether with something like this - NRT-HKG-JFK-LAX-SJO-LAX-BNA-LAX-SCL-IPC-SCL-EZE-xORD-AMM-TUN-AMM-FCO-HKG-KIH-HKG-NRT for significantly more miles, too.

A couple of comments about the nonstop version of this flight:

1. It is seasonal.
2. May I suggest you do not leave these two coupons open dated. The nonstop tends to get changed to a 2-segment flight, and when that happens you definitely want the protection of a dated coupon.

That is a really great idea. I didn't think about that at all, in part because I'm not too familiar with the transit rules. As long as it is acceptable to transit via ORD after leaving the U.S., that sounds like a significant improvement.

Thanks as well to Viajero about the LAX-SJO tip. I am planning to have all of the segments dated, but we'll see how that goes when I actually go to reserve it in a few days.

Hi guys,

Just a short note to say I ended up booking the trip as follows:

NRT-HKG-LAX-SJO-LAX-ORD-SEA-JFK-SCL-IPC-SCL-EZE-xORD-AMM-TUN-AMM-FCO-HKG-KHI-HKG-NRT

For a couple of reasons, I was planning to go from South America to AMM via Europe, but the flights didn't work well (no availability on the BA option; bad timing with Iberia), so I told the agent about the ORD transit option. He said he would never have thought of that, and obviously I wouldn't have either.

I ticketed the reservation through AA Japan directly, after getting some advice from Gardyloo. It took a while to reach them, but they were efficient when I did.

I'll pick up this ticket and begin the journey on March 26, after trekking through India and Bangladesh for a couple weeks beforehand.

I'm really excited and I appreciate everyone's help here! Thanks again.