Have OWE Stopover Rules Changed?

[jamesatfish]

Is anyone familiar with the rules for *ONE4 fares, with particular regard to stopovers in the country of origin?

Earlier this year I booked (and flew) an AONE4 (using the OneWorld online booking tool) as follows:

CBR-SYD-LAX-LAS LAS-LAX-SFO SFO-MIA-BOS-LHR LHR-SIN-SYD SYD-PER PER-ADL-CBR

According to the fare rules I can have 2 stopovers (greater than 24 hours) in the country of origin - in this case SYD (stopover for about 2 months) and PER (one week).

I'm now trying to book a very similar AONE4:

CBR-SYD-SIN-LHR LHR-SFO SFO-JFK JFK-LAX-SYD SYD-PER PER-ADL-CBR

Again I'm going for two stopovers on the way back into the country - SYD (for a few months) and PER (for a few days).

This time around the OneWorld booking tool won't let me make the booking, citing the '2 stopovers in country of origin' rule - but I can't see where I'm breaking that rule.

Can anyone shed some light on whether the rules have changed, or if I'm missing something here?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[Dave Noble]

The rules have changed slightly

   FREE STOPOVERS PERMITTED.
          NOTE -
           MAXIMUM TWO STOPOVERS PERMITTED IN THE CONTINENT
           OF ORIGIN OF WHICH A MAXIMUM OF ONE STOPOVER IS
           PERMITTED IN EACH DIRECTION IN THE COUNTRY OF
           ORIGIN .

Dave

It looks like you want 2 stopovers at the end of the trip which I think may fall foul of the rule

 

[jamesatfish]

The rules have changed slightly

   FREE STOPOVERS PERMITTED.
          NOTE -
           MAXIMUM TWO STOPOVERS PERMITTED IN THE CONTINENT
           OF ORIGIN OF WHICH A MAXIMUM OF ONE STOPOVER IS
           PERMITTED IN EACH DIRECTION IN THE COUNTRY OF
           ORIGIN .

Dave

It looks like you want 2 stopovers at the end of the trip which I think may fall foul of the rule

Dave,

Thanks for that (amazingly quick) reply. I'm trying to do exactly what is described - add two stopovers once returning to Australia rather than one before departing and one after arriving back.

Sounds like I'll have to re-jig my plans.

Thanks again for such a prompt and informative response!

James

 

[serfty]

I booked a LONE4 for this morning via the AA ATW desk.

I wanted AKL-LAX- ... -NRT-SYD-MEL-AKL with stopovers at MEL and SYD.

I was informed that I could only have two stopovers in my continent of origin (which I knew) but this rule variance meant I could have one stopover "at the start of the trip" and the one stopover "at the end"; I could not have none "at the start" and two "at the end" or vv. (That was what how it was put to me).

[Edit]
I should have pursued this as the agent was incorrect - the "each direction" rule is COUNTRY of ORIGIN, not CONTINENT of ORIGIN.
[/edit]

It was no real issue in our case; I simply wanted to book most connections as stopovers to avoid later fees and/or re-ticketing should I need to change routing resulting in a transfer (-x) becoming a stopover (-) so I simply booked AKL-LAX- ... -NRT-xSYD-MEL-AKL (i.e. a transit in SYD).

It is not an issue for such Oz flights if you start outside of Australia.

 

[drron]

Similiar with myself.Our DONE4 booked last year was able to have 2 stopovers at the end of it but I noted the change.Therefore next years trip is a DGLOB34 which still just says 2 stopovers in the country of origin in the t&cs.Our TA was a little peturbed that the trip should have been a DONE4 so I threw in an AS sector in LOTFAP and nobodies worried anymore.Also for those who want SC runs in LOTFAP there is only the stopover limit(4) but no sector limit.Costs a little extra.No good for AA mileage runs as you are limited to 34000 miles.

 

[serfty]

...
I wanted AKL-LAX- ... -NRT-SYD-MEL-AKL with stopovers at MEL and SYD.

I was informed that I could only have two stopovers in my continent of origin (which I knew) but this rule variance meant I could have one stopover "at the start of the trip" and the one stopover "at the end"; I could not have none "at the start" and two "at the end" or vv. (That was what how it was put to me). ...

I should have pursued this as the agent was incorrect - the "each direction" rule is for COUNTRY of ORIGIN, not CONTINENT of ORIGIN.

 

[drron]

I should have pursued this as the agent was incorrect - the "each direction" rule is for COUNTRY of ORIGIN, not CONTINENT of ORIGIN.

That is a good pick up serfty.Certainly an extra reason for considering starting a DONEx out of AKL.I guess it may entail a little arguing with quite a few agents though.

 

[jamesatfish]

I should have pursued this as the agent was incorrect - the "each direction" rule is for COUNTRY of ORIGIN, not CONTINENT of ORIGIN.

Well spotted!

I will investigate this option using the online planner - normally I'm not bothered looking at non-CBR *ONE4 departures but as the cost of a positioning flight to NZ is lower than the cost of flying to Perth it might be worth looking into.

Thanks again to all for the great info.