I've been working on our first RTW using the *A RTWMC program - way cool - as are the folks on this site.

Our trip is developing as MCO-clt-fra-MRS-fra-DXB-x-CAI-dxb-SIN-lax-MCO. Stopovers in upper case - transfers in lower case. I'm paying for flight "x" as *A flight (4:00a) not acceptable - so it's a surface sector. Flights must match specific ground events so transfers are fluid but sequence of stopovers is not.

Questions:
Is the MRS-DXB-CAI backtracking?

How many stopovers and transfers are allowed each city? I didn't see any other posts of recent vintage for this.

Is the Jan 1 2005 edition of the RTWMC fairly reliable? If it says my route is valid can I pretty much bank on it? (ignoring confusion re: SQ EWR-SIN and similar flights)

With the itinerary from the MC, any advantage to using a travel agent w/booking fees rather than direct with airline? If my travel agent has never done a RTW, would they add much value?

Is there a place with all the detailed current RTW rules?

Thanks in advance, Cheers

Welcome to the community MacQ.

No. All three are located in IATA2 and there is no such thing as "backtracking" per se on a :-: RTW except for IATA2 to IATA3 and the two oceanic crossings for the most part that you have to be mindful of when thinking backtracking.

You are allowed 3 transfers per city (incl multiple airport cities like NYC) of which only 1 may be a stopover of more than 24 hours if you want one.

Couple of minor glitches but okay for the most part from what I've seen on it so far.
For your itinerary you have the three minimum stopovers, so as long as you meet the minimum stay away for ex NthAm RTW's seems good to me. Someone else may pick up on something I've missed.

You are, however, only *just* a smidgeon over the 26,000 mile mark putting you into a :-: 1 rather than a :-: lite fare bracket.
Swapping FRA for MUC on the MRS-DXB portion will cut 203 miles off and routing MCO-PHL-FRA gets you another 50 odd miles saving from the current routing. If you play around a bit with the routings, you are bound to find something to get the handful of miles left. Is MIA-FRA to start the trip an option ??

The only things an agent can make easy over an airline is allocating/requesting seats on each carrier as well as meal requests etc. If it's an agent that deals in consolidator fares they may also be able to pro-rate the journey getting a slightly cheaper fare.

Try the following link. Not sure if it's been updated with the most recent rules release a few weeks ago but it has been accurate in the past. It's maintained by one of our stalwarts here in the forums.
http://members.shaw.ca/deercroft/StarRTWrules2004.doc

Thanks Al,

FWIW - the StarRTWrules2004.doc at deercroft had a date on that web site as June 2004.

Ah, a "lite" fare? Where can I find the limits and, presumably, further restrictions, for this fare category. Is it offerred for Bus and 1st class? Thanks for the tip.

Lastly (perhaps), IATA territories, where can I find these defined? I had no luck at their web site. Just for future reference.

This is a followup for anyone searching this later (or even me).

There are 3 IATA regions. In general, IATA1 is North and South America; IATA2 is Europe, Middle East, and Africa; and IATA3 is Asia and Pacific. I could not find any place that defined each country and their IATA area - for those countries that aren't obvious.

As Al B said, you can travel in any direction within an IATA area. But, once you cross into a new area, you can not go back. I don't know if a transfer through a different area would count as going into a new area or whether it would have to be a stopover.

As for the "lite" fare, the RTW rules doc referred to in Al B's comments lists info about a "special" fare which is the same thing. It is available only for coach class. That said, both Lufthansa and Singapore said there was no such thing as a "lite" fare. I even asked about a fare for less than 26k miles and still nothing. Perhaps if I had asked for the "special coach 26k mile" fare that would have gotten a positive response. Hmmm.

Cheers, Mike

Sorry - that's my fault. The "Star Alliance Special Economy Class Round The World" (as it's known ) fare was marketed down here under the terminology of "Starlite".
From what I understand it was never really known as that anywhere else, although most in this forum do know what it is. Forgot you were a "newbie" and I should have made myself clearer.
If you're going for the Biz/First fares, then do what all good FF'ers do. Your original itinerary is only just over the 26,000 mile mark - so you have another almost 3,000 to use up !! Get creative with the itinerary and use every spare mile up you can
Cheers.