Mar 13, 2019, 3:57 am
Last edit by: pandaperth
Chronological Summary of Changes to the Oneworld Explorer Rule Sheet
(click on the dates to go to the relevant posts in this thread)
2023-Oct-05 Changes to the Premium Economy surcharge table
2023-May-01 Rule 4(e) change, regarding second visit to Asia
2022-Aug-31 Comair removed from the list of BA affiliated Airlines
2022-Apr-21 S7 removed from the list of airlines
2021-Jul-01 Minor change
2021-Apr-01 AS joins the alliance
2020-May-01 LATAM (LA & JJ) leaves the alliance
2020-Apr-01 Royal Air Maroc (AT) joins the alliance
2019-Mar-15 Minor change
2019-Feb-11 Rule 4(j) Wording, in part, changed from:
QF operated services within USA (eg LAX-JFK vv) not permitted unless booked as a through flight segment between Australia & USA (eg SYD-JFK vv)
To:
QF operated services within USA (eg LAX-JFK vv) not permitted unless booked in conjunction with a QF operated and marketed online connection or stopover flight at LAX
Rule 15 Following paragraph removed
When travel originates in a country for which a specific local currency fares is published and the ticket is sold in another country, the fare will be that published for the country of origin converted to the currency of the country of sale at the bank selling rate.
Other, minor, changes
2019-Jan-08 Minor change (to the list of AA-affiliated airlines)
2018-Jun-06 Rule 16 - VOLUNTARY CHANGES / REROUTING / PENALTIES
Highlighted words removed
16(a)2d. If the rerouting results in an increase to the number of continents or extra flight segments previously charged, the ticket shall be recalculated.
2018-Mar-05 Rule 4(j) Words added:
QF operated services within USA (eg LAX-JFK vv) not permitted unless booked as a through flight segment between Australia & USA (eg SYD-JFK vv)
2017-Oct-30 Rule 5 Reservations and Ticketing: changed wording
From:
Reservations for the first overwater flight and all preceding flights must be made prior to departure.
To:
Reservations for the first international flight and all preceding flights must be made prior to departure.
Air berlin removed (it has ceased operating)
2017-Sep-05 No change (see the linked post)
2017-Aug-01 Rule 4(e) Major change regarding second visits to certain continents
Old Version:
New Version:
(e) Only one intercontinental departure and one intercontinental arrival permitted in each continent except as follows:
Two permitted in North America.
Two permitted in Asia when one is for travel between the Southwest Pacific and Europe/Middle East.
Two permitted in Europe/Middle East.
If travel is to/from Europe in both directions, itinerary may not include Mauritius/South Africa. AA Premium Economy booking classes added
2017-Feb-01 Rule 4(f) has the following words added:
No more than 4 international transfers from the one country permitted
2016-Dec-01 Rule 0 Removal of these words
3 Continent Fare is only offered for travel originating in Asia, Europe/Middle East and North America
(because southern hemisphere 3- continent itineraries became possible when JJ commenced its GRU-JNB service)
Rule 4(g) addition of these words:
The first crossing between TC areas must be flown, not surfaced
Rule 4(h) Removal of these words:
*not more than 2 of which may be between the UK and ALBANIA, ALGERIA, BULGARIA, CROATIA, CYPRUS, GREECE, MIDDLE EAST, MOROCCO, ROMANIA, RUSSIA west of the Urals, TUNISIA, TURKEY, UKRAINE.
2016-Aug-04 Rule 4(h) Removal of these words:
*segments between Europe and Middle East are not permitted if travel includes Africa and the itinerary utilises the backtracking provisions in Para 4(e) 3.1.3.or 3.2.3.
(So no more complicated rules regarding second visits to Europe/Middle East)
2016-Apr-22 Rule 4(e) Major change to the 2nd visit to Europe/Middle East rule
New wording is:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...iddle-east.png Rule 8Stopovers.
Removal of the highlighted words:
2. Maximum two stopovers permitted in the continent of origin of which a maximum of one stopover is permitted in each direction in the country of origin.
Rule 15 Sales Restrictions
Removal of the highlighted words:
When travel originates in a country for which a specific local currency fares is published and the ticket is sold in another country, the fare will be that published for the country of origin converted to the currency of the country of sale at the bank selling rate. The resultant fare must not be lower than from the country of sale.
Exception: Not applicable when BOTH travel originates and sales are made within Europe.
2016-Apr-01 Minor change to booking classes
2015-Dec-01 Minor change to list of affiliate airlines and to the cancellation fee
2015-Nov-01 US Airways removed from list of airlines (its merger with AA was complete)
2015-Sep-01Rule 4(k) ATL added to list of east coast cities
Rule 26 Change to group booking codes
2015-Jun-01 Rule 4(k) TPA added to list of east coast cities
2015-Feb-01 Minor change to the list of affiliated carriers
Rule 16 Voluntary Changes
Removal of “Date/Time/Carrier” changes. Phrase now used is “changes to ticketed points”
2014-Nov-01 Rule 4(j) change to the list of affiliated airlines
2014-Oct-01 Rule 5 Highlighted words added
NOTE: For flights where First or Business Class is not offered or available, passengers may travel in a lower Class, in the applicable booking code for that lower Class.
Where the applicable booking class for the lower class is not available,
Passengers travelling on First Class Fares may book Y class
Passengers travelling on DONE* Business Class Fares may book B class
2014-Aug-01 Minor changes only
2014-Jul-01 IONE3 fares added
Other minor changes
2014-May-01 UL joins Oneworld
2014-Apr-01 JJ and US join Oneworld
2013-Dec-01 Allows DONEn travellers to fly in first class on QR’s Middle East flights
2013-Oct-30 QR joins Oneworld
Complicated new rule for 2nd visit to Europe/Middle East in conjunction with travel to/from/via Africa
2013-Oct-01 LAN Colombia joins Oneworld
2013-Jul-01 Minor changes
Removed the ability to purchase extra intra-continent flight segments
2013-Mar-01 Changes subsequently discovered
Continents transited to be counted
Rule 8. The highlighted words dropped
Maximum two stopovers permitted in the continent of origin of which a maximum of one stopover is permitted in each direction in the country of origin.
2013-Jan-31 MH joins Oneworld
2012-Nov Rule 0 The highlighted words added
TRAVEL BETWEEN SOUTH WEST PACIFIC AND EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST ON A SINGLE FLIGHT NUMBER/OR BY SURFACE IS CONSIDERED TRAVELLING SWP-ASIA-EUROPE/ MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THREE CONTINENTS
2011-May-02 Rule 4(l) Change to the list of Australian trans-continental flights allowed
2011-Apr-01 Rule 4(e)(3) Tanzania removed from the list of African countries where 2nd visit to Europe/Middle East allowed
2011-Feb-02 QF codeshare flight on JQ allowed
Albania and Turkey added to the list of countries to/from which only two flights allowed from/to UK
2010-Nov-01 Highlighted words added
TRAVEL BETWEEN SWP AND EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST ON A SINGLE FLIGHT NUMBER/ OR BY SURFACE IS CONSIDERED TRAVELLING SWP-ASIA-EUROPE THROUGH THREE CONTINENTS.
Premium Economy supplements increased
2009-Nov-30 Rule 4(l) Change to the list of Australian trans-continental flights allowed
2009-Aug-04 Rule 4(c) Origin-Destination surface segment allowed between Maldives and Sri Lanka/India
Rule 8. Highlighted words added
Maximum two stopovers permitted in the continent of origin of which a maximum of one stopover is permitted in each direction in the country of origin
(click on the dates to go to the relevant posts in this thread)
2023-Oct-05 Changes to the Premium Economy surcharge table
2023-May-01 Rule 4(e) change, regarding second visit to Asia
2022-Aug-31 Comair removed from the list of BA affiliated Airlines
2022-Apr-21 S7 removed from the list of airlines
2021-Jul-01 Minor change
2021-Apr-01 AS joins the alliance
2020-May-01 LATAM (LA & JJ) leaves the alliance
2020-Apr-01 Royal Air Maroc (AT) joins the alliance
2019-Mar-15 Minor change
2019-Feb-11 Rule 4(j) Wording, in part, changed from:
QF operated services within USA (eg LAX-JFK vv) not permitted unless booked as a through flight segment between Australia & USA (eg SYD-JFK vv)
To:
QF operated services within USA (eg LAX-JFK vv) not permitted unless booked in conjunction with a QF operated and marketed online connection or stopover flight at LAX
Rule 15 Following paragraph removed
When travel originates in a country for which a specific local currency fares is published and the ticket is sold in another country, the fare will be that published for the country of origin converted to the currency of the country of sale at the bank selling rate.
Other, minor, changes
2019-Jan-08 Minor change (to the list of AA-affiliated airlines)
2018-Jun-06 Rule 16 - VOLUNTARY CHANGES / REROUTING / PENALTIES
Highlighted words removed
16(a)2d. If the rerouting results in an increase to the number of continents or extra flight segments previously charged, the ticket shall be recalculated.
2018-Mar-05 Rule 4(j) Words added:
QF operated services within USA (eg LAX-JFK vv) not permitted unless booked as a through flight segment between Australia & USA (eg SYD-JFK vv)
2017-Oct-30 Rule 5 Reservations and Ticketing: changed wording
From:
Reservations for the first overwater flight and all preceding flights must be made prior to departure.
To:
Reservations for the first international flight and all preceding flights must be made prior to departure.
Air berlin removed (it has ceased operating)
2017-Sep-05 No change (see the linked post)
2017-Aug-01 Rule 4(e) Major change regarding second visits to certain continents
Old Version:
New Version:
(e) Only one intercontinental departure and one intercontinental arrival permitted in each continent except as follows:
Two permitted in North America.
Two permitted in Asia when one is for travel between the Southwest Pacific and Europe/Middle East.
Two permitted in Europe/Middle East.
If travel is to/from Europe in both directions, itinerary may not include Mauritius/South Africa. AA Premium Economy booking classes added
2017-Feb-01 Rule 4(f) has the following words added:
No more than 4 international transfers from the one country permitted
2016-Dec-01 Rule 0 Removal of these words
3 Continent Fare is only offered for travel originating in Asia, Europe/Middle East and North America
(because southern hemisphere 3- continent itineraries became possible when JJ commenced its GRU-JNB service)
Rule 4(g) addition of these words:
The first crossing between TC areas must be flown, not surfaced
Rule 4(h) Removal of these words:
*not more than 2 of which may be between the UK and ALBANIA, ALGERIA, BULGARIA, CROATIA, CYPRUS, GREECE, MIDDLE EAST, MOROCCO, ROMANIA, RUSSIA west of the Urals, TUNISIA, TURKEY, UKRAINE.
2016-Aug-04 Rule 4(h) Removal of these words:
*segments between Europe and Middle East are not permitted if travel includes Africa and the itinerary utilises the backtracking provisions in Para 4(e) 3.1.3.or 3.2.3.
(So no more complicated rules regarding second visits to Europe/Middle East)
2016-Apr-22 Rule 4(e) Major change to the 2nd visit to Europe/Middle East rule
New wording is:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...iddle-east.png Rule 8Stopovers.
Removal of the highlighted words:
2. Maximum two stopovers permitted in the continent of origin of which a maximum of one stopover is permitted in each direction in the country of origin.
Rule 15 Sales Restrictions
Removal of the highlighted words:
When travel originates in a country for which a specific local currency fares is published and the ticket is sold in another country, the fare will be that published for the country of origin converted to the currency of the country of sale at the bank selling rate. The resultant fare must not be lower than from the country of sale.
Exception: Not applicable when BOTH travel originates and sales are made within Europe.
2016-Apr-01 Minor change to booking classes
2015-Dec-01 Minor change to list of affiliate airlines and to the cancellation fee
2015-Nov-01 US Airways removed from list of airlines (its merger with AA was complete)
2015-Sep-01Rule 4(k) ATL added to list of east coast cities
Rule 26 Change to group booking codes
2015-Jun-01 Rule 4(k) TPA added to list of east coast cities
2015-Feb-01 Minor change to the list of affiliated carriers
Rule 16 Voluntary Changes
Removal of “Date/Time/Carrier” changes. Phrase now used is “changes to ticketed points”
2014-Nov-01 Rule 4(j) change to the list of affiliated airlines
2014-Oct-01 Rule 5 Highlighted words added
NOTE: For flights where First or Business Class is not offered or available, passengers may travel in a lower Class, in the applicable booking code for that lower Class.
Where the applicable booking class for the lower class is not available,
Passengers travelling on First Class Fares may book Y class
Passengers travelling on DONE* Business Class Fares may book B class
2014-Aug-01 Minor changes only
2014-Jul-01 IONE3 fares added
Other minor changes
2014-May-01 UL joins Oneworld
2014-Apr-01 JJ and US join Oneworld
2013-Dec-01 Allows DONEn travellers to fly in first class on QR’s Middle East flights
2013-Oct-30 QR joins Oneworld
Complicated new rule for 2nd visit to Europe/Middle East in conjunction with travel to/from/via Africa
2013-Oct-01 LAN Colombia joins Oneworld
2013-Jul-01 Minor changes
Removed the ability to purchase extra intra-continent flight segments
2013-Mar-01 Changes subsequently discovered
Continents transited to be counted
Rule 8. The highlighted words dropped
Maximum two stopovers permitted in the continent of origin of which a maximum of one stopover is permitted in each direction in the country of origin.
2013-Jan-31 MH joins Oneworld
2012-Nov Rule 0 The highlighted words added
TRAVEL BETWEEN SOUTH WEST PACIFIC AND EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST ON A SINGLE FLIGHT NUMBER/OR BY SURFACE IS CONSIDERED TRAVELLING SWP-ASIA-EUROPE/ MIDDLE EAST THROUGH THREE CONTINENTS
2011-May-02 Rule 4(l) Change to the list of Australian trans-continental flights allowed
2011-Apr-01 Rule 4(e)(3) Tanzania removed from the list of African countries where 2nd visit to Europe/Middle East allowed
2011-Feb-02 QF codeshare flight on JQ allowed
Albania and Turkey added to the list of countries to/from which only two flights allowed from/to UK
2010-Nov-01 Highlighted words added
TRAVEL BETWEEN SWP AND EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST ON A SINGLE FLIGHT NUMBER/ OR BY SURFACE IS CONSIDERED TRAVELLING SWP-ASIA-EUROPE THROUGH THREE CONTINENTS.
Premium Economy supplements increased
2009-Nov-30 Rule 4(l) Change to the list of Australian trans-continental flights allowed
2009-Aug-04 Rule 4(c) Origin-Destination surface segment allowed between Maldives and Sri Lanka/India
Rule 8. Highlighted words added
Maximum two stopovers permitted in the continent of origin of which a maximum of one stopover is permitted in each direction in the country of origin
Changes to xONEx Rule Sheet
Oct 13, 2019, 7:50 am
#663
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
Do they? That's news to me. I recall reading about a recent court case that turned on the interpretation of a law, which was decided based on a lack of commas changing the application of a clause.
My recollection of the old handwritten paper tickets was that they were physically formatted so that each page was one coupon and contained a source and destination, and the layout was such that the destination of each coupon was the source for the subsequent coupon, and as a result, one coupon had to be "wasted" for ground transport between any two points. Although the fare calculation would use non-terminal-specific codes, such as "NYC" rather than "EWR", so perhaps my recollection is off, and maybe the old paper tickets would also use non-terminal-specific codes?
My recollection of the old handwritten paper tickets was that they were physically formatted so that each page was one coupon and contained a source and destination, and the layout was such that the destination of each coupon was the source for the subsequent coupon, and as a result, one coupon had to be "wasted" for ground transport between any two points. Although the fare calculation would use non-terminal-specific codes, such as "NYC" rather than "EWR", so perhaps my recollection is off, and maybe the old paper tickets would also use non-terminal-specific codes?
Oct 13, 2019, 7:52 am
#664
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
Oct 13, 2019, 7:54 am
#665
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: None any more
Posts: 11,017
Your recollection is off. I many times used open-dated paper ticket coupons with city codes in conjunction with a valid reservation from an airport corresponding to those codes. LON-NYC-SFO (which, if I remember correctly, used to allow SJC and OAK as well) would be valid on many different airport routes and there was no problem flying into, say, EWR, and out of LGA.
Oct 13, 2019, 7:56 am
#666
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
Personally, I thought this was a far more interesting change than the observation of the clumsy wording on the segment rule:
If we can now have three or more stopovers in the continent of origin, that's good news.
My recollection is that there was a restriction within the continent of origin regarding stopovers: originally it allowed two, only one per direction, later relaxed to only allowing two, but regardless of direction. In the version I just accessed via EF, there is no restriction on stopovers in the continent of origin, although the rule wording seems to me to be a bit confusing:
STOPOVERS: 2 STOPOVERS REQUIRED AND UNLIMITED FREE STOPOVERS
PERMITTED ON THE PRICING UNIT
UNLIMITED IN SOUTHWEST PACIFIC
2 IN AREA 3
UNLIMITED AT ANY POINT.
I'm not clear what "2 in area 3" means. Is area 3 the same as TC3, meaning Asia/South West Pacific? Surely one is permitted more than two stopovers within Asia and South West Pacific? I routinely have three stopovers in Australia and one or two in Asia.
STOPOVERS: 2 STOPOVERS REQUIRED AND UNLIMITED FREE STOPOVERS
PERMITTED ON THE PRICING UNIT
UNLIMITED IN SOUTHWEST PACIFIC
2 IN AREA 3
UNLIMITED AT ANY POINT.
I'm not clear what "2 in area 3" means. Is area 3 the same as TC3, meaning Asia/South West Pacific? Surely one is permitted more than two stopovers within Asia and South West Pacific? I routinely have three stopovers in Australia and one or two in Asia.
Oct 13, 2019, 8:08 am
#668
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
Your recollection is off. I many times used open-dated paper ticket coupons with city codes in conjunction with a valid reservation from an airport corresponding to those codes. LON-NYC-SFO (which, if I remember correctly, used to allow SJC and OAK as well) would be valid on many different airport routes and there was no problem flying into, say, EWR, and out of LGA.
Oct 13, 2019, 8:09 am
#669
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
I pulled it from an EF fare search and I thought in error that it was a generic xONEx ruleset, but in playing with it I see that the "2 in Area x" does get updated for the fare origin. Thanks.
Oct 13, 2019, 8:21 am
#670
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: None any more
Posts: 11,017
That's interesting, becuase "2 in the [TC]Area of origin" (of which there are 3) is much more restrictive than "2 in the Continent of origin" (of which there are 6) which is what I thought the rule was.
Oct 13, 2019, 12:40 pm
#671
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
Edit: I just checked the rules currently on the OneWorld web site and they appear the same as the 1 April 2019 ones.
Oct 13, 2019, 2:09 pm
#672
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Juneau, Alaska.
Programs: AS 75K;BA Silver;AA G;HH Dia;HY Glob
Posts: 15,815
You can either choose to interpret the missing commas as oneworld decided to make a change to this rule so that it is gobbledygook and meaningless and obsess over it or you can choose to interpret that oneworld's use of the same language (minus the commas) still means the same thing that it did before (especially when this is how it is being applied).
Oct 13, 2019, 3:13 pm
#673
Join Date: Sep 2008
Programs: A3 *G, AA exePlat, AS MVP 75k Gold, JL sapphire, UA silver
Posts: 4,035
My recollection is that there was a restriction that within the continent of origin regarding stopovers, originally it allowed two, only one per direction, later relaxed to only allowing two, regardless of direction. In the version I just accessed via EF, there is no restriction on stopovers in the continent of origin, although the rule wording is a bit confusing:
STOPOVERS: 2 STOPOVERS REQUIRED AND UNLIMITED FREE STOPOVERS
PERMITTED ON THE PRICING UNIT
UNLIMITED IN SOUTHWEST PACIFIC
2 IN AREA 3
UNLIMITED AT ANY POINT.
I'm not clear what "2 in area 3" means. Is area 3 the same as TC3, meaning Asia/South West Pacific? Surely one is permitted more than two stopovers within Asia and South West Pacific? I routinely have three stopovers in Australia and one or two in Asia.
STOPOVERS: 2 STOPOVERS REQUIRED AND UNLIMITED FREE STOPOVERS
PERMITTED ON THE PRICING UNIT
UNLIMITED IN SOUTHWEST PACIFIC
2 IN AREA 3
UNLIMITED AT ANY POINT.
I'm not clear what "2 in area 3" means. Is area 3 the same as TC3, meaning Asia/South West Pacific? Surely one is permitted more than two stopovers within Asia and South West Pacific? I routinely have three stopovers in Australia and one or two in Asia.
QR RTW just ignore the request and QR china cant re-route the ticket.
Oct 13, 2019, 5:25 pm
#674
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
That is unfortunate, since the rules both in the GDS and the OneWorld PDF allow two without regard to direction. If your ticket has not yet been issued, perhaps a travel agent could book it? If you are trying to do a re-route, I'm not sure what to suggest. Perhaps a different QR office, or perhaps another airline (whose flights you are using) might agree to take it over? You could try AA, but I've heard they no longer take over RTWs issued by other airlines, which I hope isn't true.
Oct 13, 2019, 6:22 pm
#675
Join Date: Sep 2008
Programs: A3 *G, AA exePlat, AS MVP 75k Gold, JL sapphire, UA silver
Posts: 4,035
That is unfortunate, since the rules both in the GDS and the OneWorld PDF allow two without regard to direction. If your ticket has not yet been issued, perhaps a travel agent could book it? If you are trying to do a re-route, I'm not sure what to suggest. Perhaps a different QR office, or perhaps another airline (whose flights you are using) might agree to take it over? You could try AA, but I've heard they no longer take over RTWs issued by other airlines, which I hope isn't true.