The rule description is not 100% clear. However, I have in my experience it has always been interpreted that the "transfer without stopover" applies only to routing between Europe and SWP. The routing such as LAX-HKG-MEL is always seen as being your Asia continent no matter whether it is a transfer or stopover.
To accommodate that interpretation, I always do my Asia segments between North America and SWP, and use my SWP-Asia-Europe routing as my "transfer without stopover".
I have read about people claiming they have convinced the airlines to issue tickets with the stopover between SWP and Europe and the transfer between North America and SWP, but I would not risk that just in case I needed to have it re-issued later as the re-issuing airline is likely to take the more common interpretation I described above.
Its all about where a comma should be placed in the sentence. Does the "Transfer without stopover" apply to the "between SWP and Europe" or does it stand alone and the "between SWP and Europe" only apply to the "Direct single plane service". I believe the only correct way to interpret this rule is to understand the context and the reason for its inclusion, and I believe that is to permit the following continent ordering to be valid:
- SWP-Asia-NA-Europe-(Asia)-SWP
- SWP-(Asia)-Europe-NA-Asia-SWP[/quote]
With the Asia transit-only touch being valid only between SWP and Europe since that is the ONLY way to get between Europe and SWP. There are plenty of options (all operated by QF) for travel between NA and SWP that do not require transit through Asia, so there is no need to include an exception for that routing in the rules.
