Anyone willing to help me figure something out? I'm currently holding an AONE4 ex-South Africa, and I haven't started flying it yet. First flight is next month. Paid something like USD$7,000. Figure it's worth USD$6,500 because of continued erosion of the value of ZAR. xONEx Rule Sheet says that there is a 5% charge for refunds. I've been buying my tix ex-SA for a while now, and am currently holding the tail end of my last one, which I would use to get me to SA to start the next itinerary. I go to Africa only to buy the tix, so I don't have to hit that continent otherwise, my real destinations being Europe and S.E. Asia.

AONE3 ex-South Korea is currently at USD$5,152. So, might it not make sense to cancel and refund my unused ex-South Africa ticket and buy a new one ex-South Korea instead, even net of the refund fee? Yes, that leaves me with having to get to ICN, but I can do that for 125,000 AA miles in F using an AAdvantage All Partner Award RT ticket and just keep the return for a future OW ICN-US.

Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

If you buy in Asia you will be limted to 2 stop overs in Asia, but you do save a continent (AONE4 to AONE3)

Unless S. Korea is one of your travel destinations, the 2-stopover limit in the continent of origin is pretty limiting....

Also worth checking the sometimes very,very onerous fuel surcharge add-ons if you're tempted to book with anyone but AA. I'm in the process of booking a AONE5 with the on-line tool, and the differences in price between AA and others can be truly stunning.....

Actually, two stopovers should work just fine. I need PEK and BKK. Since I prefer to travel eastbound on the major flights, my first few segments will be ICN-xHKG-oBKK-xHKG-oPEK-xHKG-JFK... And, yes, since MRU was replaced by South Africa as the least expensive place to purchase, I've always used the AA RTW desk.

Oh no they won't - that's 5 segments in Asia and you're only allowed 4 (notwithstanding that I don't think OW has any intercontinental flights to ICN so you'd need another intra-Asia to get back at the end).

AY goes HEL-ICN and v.v.

If I understand correctly, you'll end your current RTW in South Africa, so you might consider an AA Oneworld award JNB CX HKG CX PEK JL NRT JL ICN, (90K miles in J) using the award ticket for your stop in PEK, and maybe doing a side trip HKG-BKK-HKG while you're in the neighborhood, thereby fitting in your stopover needs without burning revenue segments on the RTW.

FWIW I believe there's no F service into ICN, so you might save miles on any award by just going in J.

I was in a similar situation regarding an "addiction" to South Africa-originating RTWs, imposing lots of travel to SA just to begin and exit RTWs. (Not that it's a hardship - we really, really like South Africa, but admittedly it's a bit inconvenient if your travel plans don't include SA.) However current USD-equivalent pricing in places like Korea, and even some European points like Sweden or Poland, combined with the 16-segment limit, has led to me taking a break from SA origins and looking at closer-to-home start points. If you're committed to F, then most of the European origin points are not price competitive with ICN or South Africa, but for DONExs they'll be competitive, factoring in some nominal value for award miles to access the start point.

Right you are, Chris, thanks for pointing that out. I didn't even think of it, because it has never been an issue before. I suppose that I can find a cheap HKG-BKK-HKG round trip for that segment. I'll go check EF and TG now. I'm still waiting to hear back from Mindpearl about how much I would get back on the refund.


Gardy, I believe that there is RT F service from HKG a few times/week, sometimes on 744 and sometimes on 77A.