youngbru

I have been working with my company's internal travel department for several weeks now trying to get a Biz class *A RTW trip set up. There have been several different incarnations of the itinerary (including one where the travel agent had booked two long haul flights in Y due to lack of D availability - but we were still paying for the full D fare!) and I think I finally have it ironed out but I am confused about why UA said I had an illegal routing on the last go-round. Here is the itinerary they declined:

UA1235F 04NOV SU OMADEN (Outbound domestic transfer)
UA 875D 04NOV SU DENNRT (NRT is stopover 1)
UA 881D 07NOV WE NRTTPE (TPE is stopever 2)
TG 637D 11NOV SU TPEBKK
TG 922D 11NOV SU BKKFRA (overnight transfer - not a stopover)
LO 360D 12NOV MO FRAGDN (GDN is stopover 3)
LO 359D 16NOV FR GDNFRA
UA 941D 16NOV FR FRAORD
UA5811Y 16NOV FR ORDFSD (FSD is stopover 4)
UA6743Y 27NOV TU FSDDEN (Inbound Domestic transfer 1)
UA1490Y 27NOV TU DENTPA (TPA is stopover 5)
UA1451Y 30NOV FR TPAORD (inbound Domestic transfer 2)
UA1103F 30NOV FR ORDOMA

UA had approved the exact same itinerary from TPE on twice before but this time I got back the following message:
WHEN TRAVEL ORIGINATES IN USA /CANADA/THAILAND NOT MORE THAN THREE DOMESTIC TRANSFERS PER DIRECTION PERMITTED IN THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN.
UPON ARRIVAL FROM FRANKFURT 16NOV. CONTINUE TRAVEL ORDFSD FSDDEN DENTPA TPAORD ORDOMA - WOULD HAVE 4 TRANSFERS. FSD/DEN/TPA/ORD. SUGGEST END RTW FARE IN TPA
SEPERATE TKT TPAORD ORDOMA.

So I am confused about what the right answer is. The online Star RTW tool says the itinerary is valid and similar itineraries were approved before. I knew about the 3 transfer rule but didn't think that stopovers counted as transfers (FSD & TPA are stopovers). At this point I just gave up and flew back into OMA right after my return from Europe and will deal with the TPA trip seperately, but I am interested to know what the "right" answer is.

wideman

Both stopovers (>24 hours between arrival and departure) and transits (<24 hours) are considered to be transfers. So, the UA rate desk appears to be right in this case.

It is not that unusual for an itinerary to be booked by a reservation agent or "approved" by the *A RTW tool, only to be rejected by the scrutiny of a rate desk. (Then again, it's also not unheard of for an itinerary to be rejected by one rate desk and approved by another.)

Kiwi Flyer

3 transfers means no more than 3 domestic flights at the start and end of your trip. You have more than this.