Star RTW complete rules
 

Not sure if this has been posted before but here is the rules for RTW tickets. Enjoy

/Kempis

Star Alliance Round the World fare for sale on/after 01OCT01.

Star Alliance Round the World fare application:
These fares apply for First/Business/Economy class service.

Types of transportation
Fares governed by this rule can be used to create Round-the World journeys. These fares apply for Round the World travel to/ from the countries served by the participating carriers in this rule.
Travel must commence from and return to the same country.

Canada and United States are considered as one country.

Scandinavia is considered as one country.

Africa/Asia/Europe/North America/South America/South West Pacific are considered six different continents. For the purpose of this rule Middle East is considered Africa.

Itinerary may reflect travel greater than Round the World provided it is not via the point of origin and still terminates in the country of origin.

Intercontinental travel shall be defined as travel from one continent to another.

Travel between points in Central America and points in South America/North America/Mexico shall not be considered intercontinental travel.

Fares only apply if purchased before departure.

The entire journey is subject to the following maximum mileage per fare:

Maximum miles
Type of fare

29.000
RWSTAR1

34.000
RWSTAR2

39.000
RWSTAR3


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Capacity/
limitations AC/BD/LH/MX/NH/NZ/OS/RG/SQ/TG/UA shall limit the number of passengers carried on any given flight at fares governed by this rule and such fares will not necessarily be available on all flights. The number of seats that each carrier shall make available on any given flight will be determined by the carriers best judgement.

On sectors where First/Business class is not offered available at the time of booking passengers will be accommodated in the next lower class. No refund will apply.

Exception: On sectors within/between USA/Canada where Business class is not offered passengers will be accommodated in First class subject to availability of seats at the time of booking. In the event First class seats are not offered/available no refund will apply.

Other conditions:
Passengers expenses shall not be absorbed by the carriers.

Baggage:
Piece concept shall apply for the entire journey.

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Flight application Fares apply on any AC/BD/LH/MX/NH/NZ/OS/RG/SK/SQ/TG/UA flight.

Exception:
Fares do not apply on
AC flights: 1685-1808/1890-1998/3701-3759/8021-8028/8201-8217/8221-8228/8231-8240/8951-8963/9000-9009/9020-9025/9800-9801/9820-9823.

LH flights: 2000-2344/2450-2479/2932-2971/6346-6369/6804-6853/9160-9177/9330-9333/9400-9449/9850-9861/9970-9999.

MX flights: 1000-1499/1502-1689/1692-1999/4000-4999/7000-7999/8000-8999.

NH flights: 5155-5156/5159-5160/6951-6954.

NZ flights: 4000-4199

OS flights: 7000-8554/8557-9999

RG flights: 7200-7203/7292-7293/7380-7384/7386-7388/7390-7391.

SK flights: 291-294/3100-3149/6000-6199/6200-6349/6700-6999/8000-8299/8329-8350/9500-9639.

SQ flights: 1000-1016/1053-1999/3000-5999/7000-7999/9000-9999

TG flights: 4500-4503/4700-4703/4786-4795/7100-7101/7500-7501

UA flights: 3494-3499/4000-4149/4200-4302/4500-4519/4545-4599/4980-4999/6300-6799/8300-8789/9475-9524/9600-9629

Travel must include one transatlantic crossing and only one transpacific crossing.

Not more than one crossing may be permitted between Area 2 and Area 3 in an entire journey.

Travel on UA991/UA992 constitutes a Pacific crossing.

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Advance reservation/
ticketing For travel originating worldwide except in Canada/Mexico/USA/Europe

- reservations and ticket issuance must be made at any time prior to departure for sectors up to including the first international sector. Other sectors may be booked at any time.

For travel originating in Canada/Mexico/USA

-reservations and ticket issuance must be made at least 7 days prior to departure for sectors up to and including the first international sector. Other sectors may be booked at any time.

For travel originating in Europe:

-reservations and ticket issuance must be made at any time prior to departure for sectors up to and including the first intercontinental sector. Other sectors may be booked at any time.



RTW booking class by carrier:

Airline
First RTW
Business class
Economy class

AC
F.See note 1
C/S
H

BD
D
D
Q

LH
A
D
B See note 6

MX
D
D
S

NH
F (international)
S (within Japan)
D (international)
Y (within Japan)
B (international)
Y (within Japan)

NZ
A See note 2.
D
B

OS
F/D See note 4.
D
K

RG
A
D
B

SK
A
D
B

SQ
A
D
M

TG
A See note 5
D
C within Thailand
B
M within Thailand

UA
A
D
B


Note 1: If F not offered on AC book C/S.
Note 2: If A not offered on NZ book D.
Note 4: If F not offered on OS book D.
Note 5: If A not offered on TG book D international or C within Thailand.
Note 6: For LH2384-2429/LH6900-6979/LH9000-9159 book Q.
Note 7: If A not offered on SK book D.

Fare must be shown on ticket.

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Minimum stay Travel on the last international sector must commence no earlier than 10 days after commencement of the first international sector.

Exception: For travel originating in Europe - travel on the last intercontinental sector must commence no earlier than 10 days after commencement of the first intercontinental sector.
No minimum stay require for passengers originating in South America or South West Pacific.

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Maximum stay Return travel from last international stopover must commence no later than 12 months after departure.

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Stopovers Minimum 3 stopovers required and maximum 15 stops permitted.

Application of stopovers:
Not more than 5 stopovers permitted within continental USA/Canada.

Exception:
For travel origination in USA/Canada - not more than 3 stopovers permitted within continental USA/Canada and not more than 4 stopovers permitted for continental USA/Canada combined.

Not more than 3 stopovers permitted within Japan.

For travel originating in Europe.-
Not more than 5 stopovers permitted within Europe and not more than three permitted in any one country in Europe.

For travel originating in New Zealand -
Stopovers permitted at New Zealand international gateways only.

Maximum of one stopover permitted in any one city.

The following points/airports shall be considered one city:

· NYC/JFK/LGA/EWR

· BWI/WAS/IAD/DCA

· LAX/ONT/SNA/BUR

· SFO/OAK/SJC

· OSA/KIX/ITM/NGO

· FLL/MIA/PBI

· CPH/MMA

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Transfers Not more than one international departure and not more than one international arrival is permitted in the country of origin except that not more than two international departures and not more than two international arrivals are permitted in USA/Canada when USA/Canada is country of origin. For the purpose of this rule Canada/USA and Denmark/Norway/Sweden are considered separate countries.

Exception: Not applicable for travel originating in Thailand.

For travel originating in Europe except Scandinavia only two transfers outbound and two transfers inbound permitted within any one country in Europe.

For travel originating in Scandinavia only three transfers outbound and three transfers inbound permitted within any one country in Scandinavia.

for travel originating in Japan -
only one transfer outbound and one transfer inbound permitted within Japan to/from the international gateway.

For travel originating in New Zealand -
Only one transfer outbound and one transfer inbound permitted in New Zealand.

Surface sectors
Intermediate surface sectors permitted at passengers expense.

Mileage for surface sectors must be included in the maximum permitted mileage calculation.

The last point of arrival and the first point of departure together count as one stopover.

If a surface sector attracts more than one TPM the lower applies.

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Combinations End-on end not permitted.
Add-ons not permitted.

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Surcharges · SK Business Sleeper surcharge:
SK Business Sleeper is available for passengers paying Business class RTW fares at a surcharges of USD 600 per SK intercontinental sector operated in 767 aircraft.

Exception: the surcharge is JPY 70000 when sold in Japan.

No surcharge applies for passengers paying First class RTW fares.
Children pay the full Business Sleeper surcharge
SK Business Sleeper is booked in A-class.

· SQ Business Plus surcharge
SQ Business Plus is available on SIN-CPH v.v. sectors - flight SQ351 and SQ352 or SIN-CPH V. V. Sectors – flight SQ297 and SQ 298 for passengers paying Business class RTW fares at a surcharge of USD 200 per sector.
The surcharge must be reflected as a Q-charge after the SIN-CPH v.v. sector or SIN-CHC v.v sector.
No surcharge applies for passengers paying First class RTW fares.
Children and infants pay the full Business Plus surcharge.
SQ Business Plus is booked in Z-class.

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Sales restrictions Permitted ticket stock of: AC/BD/LH/MX/NH/NZ/OS/RG/SK/SQ/TG/UA only.

Fare basis codes shall apply as follows:

First
Business
Economy

FRWSTAR1
CRWSTAR1
YRWSTAR1

FRWSTAR2
CRWSTAR2
YRWSTAR2

FRWSTAR3
CRWSTAR3
YRWSTAR3


Fares for travel originating in a country for which a specified local currency fare is not shown will be the fare applicable from the USA converted to the currency of the country of origin at the bankers selling rate.

When travel originates in one country and the ticket is sold in another country the fare will be that applicable from the country of origin converted to the currency of the country of sale at the bankers selling rate. The resultant fare must not be lower than the lowest applicable Star Alliance RTW fare from the country of sale.

Exception: Not applicable for sales made and/or travel originating in Canada.

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Penalties Changes before departure:
For travel originating in Canada/Mexico/USA - before ticketing deadline - permitted.

After ticketing deadline:
No changes permitted on outbound sectors up to and including first international sector.

For all other sectors rebooking/revalidation permitted at no charge.

Rerouting/reissue permitted at a charge of USD 75 (child/infant USD 75) per reissue.

For travel originating worldwide except in Canada/Mexico/USA – permitted.

After departure:
For travel originating worldwide except Europe -
No changes permitted on remaining outbound sectors up to and including first international sector.

For all other sectors rebooking/validation permitted at no charge.

Rerouting/reissue permitted at a charge of USD 75 (child/infant USD 75) per reissue.

Exception:
In the event of death of the passenger as evidenced by a certificate, members of the passenger's immediate family or accompanying passengers may reroute the remainder of the journey without charge.

For travel originating in Europe:
No changes permitted on remaining outbound sectors up to and including first intercontinental sector.

For all other sectors rebooking/revalidation permitted at no charge.

Rebooking/reissue permitted at a charge of USD 75 (child/infant USD 75) per reissue.

Exception:
In the event of death of the passenger as evidenced by a certificate, members of the passenger's immediate family or accompanying passengers may reroute the remainder of the journey without charge.

· Rerouting guidelines

TPM´s must be recalculated for the new routing from the point of origin.

If new routing results in miles greater than original Maximum permitted miles – ticket may be upgraded to a higher Star alliance RTW fare upon payment of the difference in fare recalculated from the point of origin plus a rerouting/reissue charge of USD75 (child/infant Usd 75) per reissue.

If a new routing results in fewer miles than original maximum permitted miles- the original fare still applies plus a rerouting/reissue charge of USD 75(child/infant USD 75) per reissue. No refund will apply.

Exception:
In the event of death of the passenger as evidenced by a certificate, members of the passenger's immediate family or accompanying passengers may reroute the remainder of the journey without charge.

If new routing is no longer Round the World travel – collect the difference if any between the fare paid and the applicable fare for the new journey calculated from the point of origin plus a rerouting/reissue charge of USD 75 (child/infant USD 75) per reissue. No refund applies if the recalculated fare for the new journey is lower than the Round the World Star Alliance fare paid.

For upgrading see credit toward further transaction.

· Revalidation/reissue guidelines involving SK Business sleeper:

If SK Business Sleeper not used due to rerouting – refund SK Business sleeper surcharge of USD 600 less a rerouting/reissue charge of USD 75 (child/infant USD 75)

Cancellations before departure.

For travel originating in Canada/Mexico/USA - before ticketing deadline – full refund.

After ticketing deadline –
Charge 10 percent of the fare paid for cancel /no-show/refund. Waived for death of passenger, family member or accompanying passengers.

The non-refundable amount may be used as a credit towards payment of an equivalent or higher applicable fare. The original non-refundable amount remains non-refundable.

For travel originating worldwide except in Canada/Mexico/USA – no penalties applies.

After departure - applicable to all countries:
Refund if any will be the difference between the fare paid and the applicable fare for the journey travelled.

No refund applies when downgrading from a higher RWSTAR fare to a lower RWSTAR fare..

Credit towards further transaction:

Ticket may be upgraded to a higher RWSTAR fare upon payment of the difference in fare, recalculated from the point of origin plus a rerouting/reissue charge of USD 75 (child/infant USD 75)

HIP/Mileage exceptions

Higher intermediate pointes rule does not apply.

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Ticket endorsement The original and the reissued ticket must be annotated –

Valid AC/BD/LH/MX/NH/NZ/OS/RG/SK/SQ/TG/UA. ONLY / NONREF – in the endorsement box.

Endorsement is not required between AC/BD/LH/MX/NH/NZ/OS/RG/SK/SQ/TG/UA

Tickets must show by the use of an insert or sticker that travel is at a special fare and subject to special conditions.

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Children discounts Accompanied child 2-11 and infant(s) under 2 occupying a seat:
Charge 75 percent of the fare

Exception:
For travel originating in Japan charge 67 percent of the fare

First infant under 2 without a seat:
Charge 10 percent of the adult fare.

If infants turns 2 during the journey applicable child fare must be applied.

Exception:
Not applicable for sales made in Thailand/Japan.

Unaccompanied child 2-11 not accepted.

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Tour conductor discounts Tour conductor discounts not permitted

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Agents discounts Agent discounts not permitted.

THANKS kempis

Danke!

kempis, Thanks for posting this.

Thanks.

Our revenue business class RTW ticket issued by AC, which includes Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, and AC codeshare on a 2 class North American United Airlines plane, was issued as "C" class in all airlines - the agent is used to C being discount business class, for AC, and so the same letter code was used for the flight segments in all airlines.

For RTW business class tickets, one issue a seat in the first class cabin on a 2 cabin plane of UA - realizing that one can only book D class on UA - but non-discounted first class on such a plane is coded as "F" - then is a "D" seat a "discounted first class", or "discounted business class" seat, by UA's definition?

I have never heard of a "S" code on AC flights.

[This message has been edited by FlyerGoldII (edited 03-15-2002).]

Tack!

If you have easy access to them, could you post also the rules for Star Lite?

THANKS, kempis.

The exception list is very important for me. I lways had to ask in the travel agency.

Thanks Kempis.

I have used these postings and posted a printable version (all 3 rule sets in one file) at http://members.shaw.ca/deercroft/StarRTWrules.doc

[This message has been edited by BlondeBomber (edited 03-16-2002).]

Is this a loophole for us Canadians, or am I reading this wrong?

"When travel originates in one country and the ticket is sold in another country the fare will be that applicable from the country of origin converted to the currency of the country of sale at the bankers selling rate. The resultant fare must not be lower than the lowest applicable Star Alliance RTW fare from the country of sale. Exception: Not applicable for sales made and/or travel originating in Canada"

It means that you can purchase and ticket a RTW in Canada for a trip originating in (for example) Joburg. You then pay the Rand price converted to C$. It doesn't mean you can pay the Rand price in C$ and start your journey in Canada, unfortunately. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

BlondeBomber, Thanks for reformatting these *A RTW rules and making them available on your site.

What exactly does this mean? Is "lowest applicable" meant to mean something different from "corresponding"?

"Not more than one crossing may be permitted between Area 2 and Area 3 in an entire journey."

What does this mean?
goodo

D is Deep discount Biz; no changes, cancellation fee, etc.
C is Biz with a few restirictions and J is no resterictions, except for the size of your wallet after buying the ticket!

UA domestic first would be ticketed as 'A' on a *A RTW; even if it is a CRWSTARx award.

Regards,
Alex

Thank you very much for this. Great post !!

Is anybody aware of a *timetable or website where I can get an overview of all the *schedules combined to plan an RTW?

[b]dampflok[Ib] - you can download a StarAlliance (direct flights of all carriers, no code-shares) from here http://www.star-alliance.com/cgi-bin...serTemplate/39

Kempis, first of all thank you for the posting.

I have several questions concering the rules of RTW, If you or other fellow flyers could clarify them for me, I will be appreciated (I am a newbie to the RTW and thus clueless).

If I start from AKL, can I do the following w/o violating the rules? Since my initial departure is not a transfer but the point of origin, can I do the transfer at point of origin?

AKL(pt of origin)->NAN->AKL(transfer)-SIN->

Second quesstion,

If I move from one airport to others w/in "one city" by a surface transportation, the surface miles will be counted toward overall mileage limitation? Notably, If I arrive at DCA and leave from IAD, the surface miles between DCA to IAD counted toward the maximum permitted miles?

Thank you in advance for your expert advices!

If I move from one airport to others w/in "one city" by a surface transportation, the surface miles will be counted toward overall mileage limitation? Notably, If I arrive at DCA and leave from IAD, the surface miles between DCA to IAD counted toward the maximum permitted miles?

This depends on 'with which airline' you will ticket (and calculate the miles) for your rtw.

UA calculates 'real' flight miles to individual airports (example: different distances calculated for NYC-airports: EWR, JFK, LGA) and UA will 'count' (make you 'pay') these 'local' surface miles.

LH calculates (and credits) miles to 'towns' (all LH flights to the 3 NYC airports list and are 'calculated' with the same mileage distance) and surface miles between these airports will not be added.

Thank you Rudi!

As for the ticketing, If I get ticket out of AKL, my original issue should be w/ NZ.
Just curious, if I arrive w/ UA to one of these city and leave w/ LH, then do I need to think about surface mile? and vice versa?

the ticketing airline, at ticketing time, is important for the mileage calculation and the surface question, not what you afterwards fly or with whom you connect.

Thank you Rudi for your prompt response!
I finally understood now. It is so nice to have an expert like you who could guide a novice http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

BTW, as for the transfer rules, is my assumption correct? Could I use AKL as a transfer point w/o violating the rules?
AKL(starting)->NAN(stop over)->AKL(transfer)->SIN.

I was originally thinking of going to LAX from NAN but since the *promotion UA requires intercontinental round trip, I wanted to know if back taracking to original departure point to be used as a transfer point is feasible.

Thank you again for your expert advices.

I would be surprised if they counted NAN-AKL as intercontinental?

Hi Leroy, I do not think AKL-NAN is intercontinental either. I need to go to Japan and then to Fiji in May so I thought I may combine this to qualify for the * promotion...

What I really want to do are:

DCA-NRT on UA (H)
NRT-SIN-AKL on SQ (Y) I can get cheap 180 days RT ticket out of Japan on SQ
AKL-NAN-AKL on NZ(RTW) hopefully RTW as M class ticket I can find costs US$500+
AKL-SIN on SQ (RTW)
SIN-BKK on TG (RTW)
BKK-SIN on SK (RTW)
SIN-ORD on UA (RTW)
ORD-YYZ-DCA on AC (RTW) Again, part of RTW as I can not do this w/ afformentioned UA (H)

And at around OCT/NOV this year, I would like to complete the RTW and get back to the US w/ left over SQ (Y-180days) and UA (H-180 days) tickets. As the costs of NZ flights from AKL to NAN is quite high, I tought it is better buy to get RTW from AKL.

Now, in order to make this itn possible, I have to make sure that a backtrack to AKL for transit purpose is possible and if I could make Intercontinental roundtrip w/ different tickets (RTW and others).

Originally, I thought I could just go back to the US by AKL-NAN-LAX route but w/ inter-continental rt w/ same airline rule forbid me to do that http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I and other fellow flyers have posted the question about "Round trip w/ different tickets" in the UA forum but no one has answered yet http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

[This message has been edited by Atuchan (edited 04-21-2002).]

Is this information officially published anywhere? It would be nice to be able to have published info to show an agent if I encounter problems.

Last year, before being *G, I was charged for extra baggage (20kg in Y class for routes that aren't to/from US), because I had two pieces. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif I wish I knew this rule back then..

Example when "lowest" is not equal to "corresponding" may be with the special 26,000 mile YRWSPCL. This fare is not offered in the US. So if you try to purchase YRWSPCL in the US for a trip originating in Australia, you will be charged YRWSTAR1, which is the lowest applicable in the US.

[This message has been edited by AntonS (edited 05-20-2002).]

This is a very useful loophole, and not only for Canadians! Last week I purchased RTW originating in Vancouver, B.C. Thanks to this exception I was able to issue my ticket in Seattle and still pay cheaper Canadian price.

One agent told me that they are going eliminate the loophole. Any ideas why it was added in the first place?

AntonS, where did you buy the ticket (in Canada or in the US)? Also, who did you buy the ticket from?

I bought the ticket in the US, directly from United.

kempis: To clarify: Not more than five stopovers permitted within continental USA/Canada means in USA and in Canada together max. five stopovers.

'S' class on AC exists betwen GLA/YYZ, MAN/YYZ, these flights have no business class, economy only.

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"No minimum stay require for passengers originating in South America or South West Pacific."


Is Australia considered South West Pacific region for this purpose?

Also, I read that 3 stop overs are required for the RTW. Does that mean three stops of more than 24 hours? How strict are these rules as I thought about using this fare but only wanted to stop twice.

The last question is for the Mileage Run experts. On these RTW fares is it possible to do a few short return flights on let's say UA in the US? I don't know whether that counts as backtracking and whether that is allowed at all, but I'm sure there are lots of people who have tried that out in the past.

Yes a stopover is considered "more thanb 24 hours". Australia IS considered SWP for the Star RTW

and yes, you can backtrack on any continent (except special rules for the starting/ffinishin one).

and yes, many of us have done multiple short UA segments (myself: DEN-COS and LAX-SNA) ... as long as you find a ticketing agent willing to work hours for you http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Bumping this up again as I'd like to know as well.

The number of crossing between TC2 (Europe/Africa) and TC3 (Asia) has been restricted for RWSTAR tickets to only one. This means that it is not eligible to go CPT/JNB-SIN...SIN-JNB/CPT. Maybe this restriction does not hurt that much, because SQ stops offering F-Class service to/from South Africa beginning January 2003 onwards.

I read in the rules that:
"8.SINGLE/DOUBLE OPEN JAWS/ROUND TRIPS/CIRCLE TRIPS NOT PERMITTED."

I don't quite understand what that means, but I thought this means that you can't do any trips such as DEN-COS and back. Can anybody clarify that, please?

I just did that routing on my way to DFW. Apparently, it seems to be ok to do a DEN-COS-DEN.

Does anyone have an update to this?

Are the excluded flights still the same--numbering has been changed on LH bus in February so these may have caught that--just want to be sure.

With regards to DEN-COS-DEN, please correct me if I'm wrong, I think it means you can't stopover on something like this, i.e. you could do DEN-COS-DEN-COS-DEN-COS, as long as you don't stop over, which is 4hrs or Next available flight within North America.

goodo