Maybe I'm losing it but thought I saw somewhere on this forum that where there are only two class aircraft (First and Coach) for US internal travel this get regarded as Business for ticketing purposes if part of a broader trip from Aus, can anyone confirm or deny. Have been unable to relocate the post!
I.e.
SYD - ICN J
ICN - LAX J
LAX - EWR First
JFK - ICN J
ICN - SYD J
would be treated as a business ticket.
This is correct. but ONLY if the aircraft in question is two class... which most of them except AA/UA flagship transcons are (and UA for not much longer anyway).
The same principle does NOT apply for other domestic flights... for example in china if you connect from business you can only fly economy. If you choose first for the domestic sector then the wholee ticket is charged in First.
Regarding way out itineraries... US has some record in tightening the rules in response to complex itineraries which might technically be within the rules but are realy outside what might be deemed 'fair and ause'.
New rules introduced/now enforced over the last couple of years include the 'no travel from South Pacific to Europe via USA' and stopovers only on most direct routes, and now US using the star alliance booking tool to determine most direct routing (and this affects transits which might be considered stopovers if not on most direct route).
I am sure agents talk about the calls they have had... most people talk about work. These things come up. And it seems the rule makers listen to that.
What might we expect from this? higher award levels ex Southwest pacific? Increase in phone booking fees? Further restrictions on routings (even more direct).
Why does this matter? because there are times when avalibility simply means you have to take an indirect route rather than the most direct. In the long term, this potentially has the ability to mean that we can no longer route home from europe via ICN or tokyo when a more direct 'via BKK' is full. (for example there could be a restriction that you can only transit one zone other than origin and destination.
I'd hate to see that happen.
I dont even mind new members coming on... that is what AFF is about. And one of those new members one day will be the first to discover some great new deal that we will all benefit from. Thankfully we don't have the problem here, but it was posted over on FT that a new member didn't get the attention they wanted and said they would post the US deal on an Australian bargain webstie as pay-back.