Have a DONE5 that originated in DOH and interested in changing the tix to do a South America side trip from LAX. So, is this legal? DOH MEL HKG LAX GRU LAX LHR DOH All of these cities shown are stopovers -- ie, both times in LAX will be stopovers between the flights to/from GRU. Confirming this "side trip" is OK and doesn't require that LAX be a connection one of the two times I fly through. Recognise that this type of side trip to a different continent (HKG SYD HKG for example) as in that case one of the HKG visits would have to be a transit to a different continent rather than a stopover. Thx.

What you want do is legal
Your current ticket (without the South American side trip) must be a DONE4. Adding the side trip will change it to a DONE5. You will have to pay the fare difference between the two, and your taxes, fees and charges will be recalculated.

When visiting a continent twice (North America in your case), the requirement that one of the visits be a "transfer without stopover" was removed a year ago - see this post in this thread https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28695746-post461.html

Thanks, pandaperth!

This is totally correct, but some agents still don't know about it. If you run into trouble, ask the agent to consult tariffs. I currently have a ticket with two stop-overs in North America, going and coming from South America.

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Gardyloo
Oneworld moderator

I called AA RTW and an agent confirmed that each line can be flown only once, but multiple lines are permitted. Agent confirmed I can fly a triangular route such as SYD-PER-DRW-SYD.

I stand corrected.

Thank you for not believing me. :)

Enjoy your trip.

It's not that I didn't believe you, I just hadn't seen your reply when I called :).

I thought I saw something a few months ago saying that surface sectors and cross city connections no longer used up a sector on the overall 16 sector limit. Is this right?

No, that is not right.
The relevant rule is:The rule has been that way for a long time.

I think what you are misremembering is someone pointing out that in the case of one of the permitted origin-final destination open-jaws then a surface segment was not required to "close the jaw".

Don’t think any oneworld airline is technically capable of honouring etickets that have more than sixteen coupons. And each surface sector is represented by a voided flight coupon.

So I think this limitation will be around for a long time.

You might be thinking of a discussion some time back regarding origin-destination surface segments, which it seems do not count. So, for example, if you were to book JNB-HKG- ... -LHR-NBO, there is an implied surface segment NBO-JNB, but it doesn't count against the 16-segment limit.

equally one can start in HND and finish in NRT or anywhere else in Japan without exceeding the 16 sector rule