One World RTW open ticket
 

Hi Guys,

I am looking at booking RTW trip starting in Durban South Africa and going on to Hong Kong, Sydney and Honolulu then on to orlando. I want to stay in Orlando (thats where i live) and would like to know if it would be possible to only depart from Orlando 9 months later back to South Africa?

Thanks!

Sure. The ticket is good for a year.

Yes, that's exactly what I've been doing for several years, now.

Valid 1 year after the first flight (which needs to be less than 1 year after you buy the ticket). So the max. validity could be almost 2 years after purchase.

You can either book certain flights at certain days (not possible if you buy the ticket more than around 330 days before the flights).
You can also leave the ticket open. Advantage of open is: nobody not knowing the rules at checkin will hassle you when you check in at a (otherwise) different day. Disadvantage: If nobody flies that sector any more you need to reroute the ticket and pay. Otherwise the change is free.

Remember, also, (if it matters to you) that open segments usually preclude the use of e-tickets, thus requiring a paper ticket. Check other threads on FT for hassles people sometimes experience when using paper tix. Personally, I prefer them.

Interesting point you raise here - I also start and end a OW RTW at least once a year from Cape Town. I started my latest in May and traveled from Cape Town via Asia to New York. My next 6 sectors were all booked when I ticketed. However, since getting back to NYC I needed more flexibility so contacted the AA RTW desk in Dallas and they made all my US sectors open sectors - and the next firm sector is JFK - MXP - and I have an e-ticket. Hope I don't end up having any problems when I want to firm up dates of the now "open" sectors.

Interesting, this is the first I've heard of open segments on an e-ticket. Do let us know how it goes. Thanks.

Thanks for all your help!!

The posts on (AA) award from Durban to London have been moved here.

Open dated e-ticket
 

I have an AONE5 issued as an e-ticket by BA as 15 out of its 16 segments are so far in the future that the flights cannot be booked. My first leg is 11 months away, and the remainder 16+ months away. The first leg is fixed, CPT-LHR, then all others are open dated.