I second.
XONEX and many other air tickets (including IATA normal tickets) are valid for one-year from date of issue.
Then, one-year from your first flight.
So, if you don't fly first segment before one-year validity from date of issue, the ticket expires and becomes invalid.

Viajero is correct (as usual). If you have an xonex issued today (April 9) in South Africa you must commence the journey before April 9, 2009. Before you commence the journey you can change dates, times, and carriers but the journey still must be commenced before April 9, 2009. Once you have departed on the journey you can change the routing (for the change fee and additional fees for some carriers) but you must complete the journey within one year of the day you departed.

Is this a way to get around the new xONEx 16 segment rule?
 

I had a lengthy conversation with a very nice Qantas lady at one of their service centres today. We went through some of the rules and she went away and asked a couple of other people and eventually she agreed that the following would be possible (as an example):

1) Book and pay for a 20 segment xONEx on 1 May 2008 for first departure (say, SYD-HKG) on 1 December 2008.

2) Change the whole itinerary such that the first flight (in this case SYD-HKG) is, for example, 25 May 2009.

3) Incur no charges and still be subject to the 20 segment rule provided the only changes are dates and times, not carriers or ports.

The lady's reasoning was that the end of the paper ticket has the words "not valid after 1 December 2009 [in this example, which is one year after the date of departure]". Now, when you change your departure date as in this example to 25 May 2009, a sticker is placed over the validity period to say "not valid after 25 May 2010".

I think this is consistent with the OWE rules that state "Return travel from the last stopover point must commence no later than 12 months after departure [emphasis added]".

Now as mentioed above all this should be possible, without any charges, provided the dates are the only things that change. Note, though, the lady did say even date changes result in a recalculation of the taxes such that if there's a difference you would be required to pay it. But there's no charge for changing per se.

So in theory there's no reason why you couldn't delay the departure, well, indefinitely! And ultimately, it's a fully refundable ticket so, correct me if I'm wrong, but one doesn't have much to lose by trying the above. If worst comes to worst and they want you to stick to a 12 month validity period from the original departure planned departure (1 December 2008 + 12 months in the above example) you either go with it and complete your trip in that time or cancel and get a full refund.

Long-winded and probably time consuming but for those who really want to get the 20 segments and don't want to travel in the next 12 or so months, it's worth a shot.

deleted

I find this very hard to believe.

Why no free carrier changes? The applicable rule seems reasonably clear:

No reissue fee, yes, but I am not entirely sure that taxes are the only thing that is subject to recalculation.

Take, for example, the way CX words its own OWE rules for a change to the first flight:

http://www.christen.demon.co.uk/CXRule/OWE1Dec07.xls

Ok, so maybe CX's version is not the OWE rules bible, but the paranoid in me reads that rule as saying that not only taxes, but also fares and -gasp- conditions(?) are reassessed. In a worst case scenario one could be up for a fare increase and a drop to 16 segments based on the new rules.

Good point, Viajero. There shouldn't be any problem with changing carriers.

As for your reference to CX's rules, hopefully they would only try to enforce those if you booked through CX. And of course, as you said, they are not the OWE rules.

Ultimately, though, even if you do end up having higher taxes calculated and extra fees and charges (like, for example, under CX's rules), you still should have the 20 segments instead of 16.

And finally, if all else fails and they say 'no, it's back to 16 segments for you' - still nothing wasted (other than maybe your time), as far as I can ascertain. There's still the option to cancel before departure for a full refund.

Unless the ticket was issued in TC1, in which case you'd have to pay a 10% penalty.

The skeptic in me says that such a scenerio is risky. On all of my converstions with the AA RTW agents (many long gone) their mantra was, "don't change that 1st flight in anyway, shape, or form if you want to keep the rules in place when you paid for the ticket."

Also, you have lost the use of your money for 6 months or more. There is a cost to that as well.

If this is indeed the case and I want to play it safe, is there any RTW desk that will book a flight 351 days out (even assuming the other segments are open-dated)?

My understanding on tickets that a change to the initial flight ( even a full unrestricted ticket ) will treat as a cancel/rebook in that the fare will be reassessed and if there are any rule changes, they will apply

Dave

My belief from the rules is that before departure any re-issue by default is a cancel/rebook. If you can avoid changing anything but "Date/Time/oneworld carrier" there is no re-issue. It such a re-issue that would cause the xONEx to assume the version of the rules at the time of the re-issue.

Note, this is for TC2/TC3 only, there are different rules for TC1:

This is to be expected given that the vast majority of xONEx's AA ATW staff deal/dealt with start in TC1. It's simply a matter of wrongly assuming the rule regarding the first international flight and preceding flights applies to all xONEx's rather than only those commencing in "the Americas":

jkirsch, if my information is correct than you don't need to book 351 days out. Simply book your departure three or four months down the track then change it to leave three or four months down the track . . . In theory - although I'm sure QF would get their back up - this could go on forever.