Is this round the world or round trip Business award
 

I have booked the following ticket and issued as a round trip business class ticket (Asia region 2 to US) 120K miles. However, everytime when I called to make some tweak, 90% of the agent including some supervisor would say that it was incorrectly issued and should have been round the world ticket. What's done is done and they will honor it. So what's right? In my opinion, it seems like simple booking through united website would allow award ticket to cross both oceans and still considered a round trip ticket instead of RTW. What frustrates me is that it takes almost 1-2 hours each time I call in to make a change and if this issue comes up, I will have to hang up and call again. Not trying to make anyone bend the rule but wanted to learn the rule here. Thanks!

BKK-NRT (stopover)
NRT-YVR-SFO (destination)
IAD-LHR-BKK

It's a round trip. There are no rules prohibiting Asia-u.s. from going one way pacific, one way Atlantic. You have a stopover, a destination and an open jaw, cut and dried. Most United agents are mouth breathing idiots with sub90 IQ's who don't know the rules of their own program and fight this, despite an inability to articulate why. They also have no response when you note that RTW award allow something like 4 stopovers and THAT's what makes them different.

Thanks for confirming that. I hate it when agent like to quote "crossing both oceans makes it a round the world ticket ". This has cost me hours and hours of time wasted on the phone. Do you or anyone know how many connections are allowed in one direction?

For example, instead of doing
IAD-CDG-BKK, can I do , IAD-CDG-FRA-BKK instead? I assume there is a max number of of connection allowed in one direction but wasn't quite what that is. Trying to book it so that I can tour CDG for less than 24 hours without making it a stopover. The explanation I get for making such change usually is that "the system won't price it out since there might be too many connection".

I think as long as the entire trip is under 12 coupons it's ok.

In the old paradigm, I think this would a be a RTW since you're crossing both major oceans. Now that one can book one ways with rewards, it seems like a valid round trip. But perhaps it must be booked as one ways? That would eliminate the ability to stop over then, I think.

Except that US-Asia via Europe is now limited to four connections (five segments) each way on a round trip.

Doesn't have to be booked as 1-ways. There is no rule stating you have to cross the same ocean to go to/from Asia from the US and VV. I flew a similar itinerary in April: JFK-SFO-HKG-BKK(stopover)-open jaw. HKT-BKK-DPS(destination)-SIN-MUC-DME-IAH-LGA.

I am surprised that they allowed DPS-SIN-MUC-DME-IAH-LGA. I thought backtrack is not allowed? Btw, was it easy for you to get this ticket issued? I took me almost 2 hours to get a ticket issued.

I got the same exact hassle with multiple agents on one ticket and I hated calling when I had to make changes. I would get "did they deduct the right mileage?" Or "I am not changing anything" comments and a few would transfer me to the UA RTW desk, even though it would book on the UA website.

As long as you are in transit, you can go through any city or cross both oceans, you can also layover for more than 17 hrs. in one city coming or going. I did ORD/NRT/KIX (layover)/PEK (overnight) /ULN//ULN/PEK (overnight) /FRA/ORD but at the end of the day it was an ORD-ULN round trip.

I think UA pre merger considered this RTW, but CO didn't, and we are following CO's rules now. I managed to book one of these online and got it charged as round-trip.