I booked the following FRTWSTAR1 May 31 to avoid the price increase:

ORD-NRT-JNB-IST-MAD-ZRH-ORD

I have enough miles left and would like to insert a JNB-CPT-JNB on SA. SA was added to *A RTWs after I purchased the ticket. Can I add the two SA flights without additional cost or will I have to pay the difference between old and new RTW fares? I though I would ask the experts before I went back to UA as I often get wrong info depending on the person asked.

As long as the ticket has to be reissued there is a fee.

As long as you change the routing after having started the RTW - there will only be a change fee of somewhere in the region of US$ 125 - can be $ 150 now - as well as any additional taxes etc - but the fare basis will remain the same.

Cheers

Thomas

I tried to add a JNB-CPT-JNB on SA to an existing RTW that I had booked before SA was allowed to participate in *A RTWs.
The United Premier Exec. Reservations desk said it would cost only $125 + taxes. They passed it on to the Rate Desk who would not allow the addition unless I paid the difference between the RTW rate when I purchased and when SA was added. ($700 more).
There is obviously a lot of confusion at UA about RTW rules and regulations, as it took almost 2 weeks for the Rate Desk to get back to me.

as a former travel agent my understanding is as follows :

SA were not permitted on the ticket and fare you bought - you are entitled to reroute it - but only within the rules of the ticket you bought ie no SA .

you may be able to have it reissued by 'upgrading' to the higher fare level which permits SA flights , however , I have found from experience that this will depend on who is reissuing the ticket .


UA is not alone in sometimes doing odd things with re-issues of Star fares - my partner a number of years ago managed to get his Star RTW illegally reissued by LH to a non RTW routing ( he didn't even ask them to do an illegal routing - he just asked them to get him home to AKL in time for my birthday ) he had already flown AKL LAX FRA MUC SJJ and was ticketed to carry on via a number of points in Europe and Asia before returning to AKL - LH illegally re-routed him FRA x/LAX AKL ( not that he was complaining ) - I just shook my head and tried to work out how big the ADM would have been from the airline if I had re-issued the ticket that way