oneworld - Tal Aviation @IST

Ok, you guys gave a lot of nice advices for WAW but for known reasons I had to switch to IST, I see many succesfull ex-IST stories with BA, how about AA / Tal these? I had a really good communication with their WAW office, they themselves even offered to send the tickets by courier to me...without asking for it, shame that the price just jumped up on the wrong day...any experience if the courier thing would work with their IST office? Would be nice to be able to just do a turnaround on a weekend and not to spend a friday there...

Cheers

I communicated with Tal in Istanbul some time ago and they said they wouldn't issue RTWs. But by all means try them, and you might mention how cooperative the WAW branch of Tal was. Maybe an email to their home office in TLV might help too.

Anybody know if the BA station in Dubrovnik is BA-staffed or a contract station? Same price as (former) WAW and sure wouldn't be a bad place to hang out while they wrote out your ticket. Or anyone know of a crack Croatian TA?

I communicated with Tal in Istanbul some time ago and they said they wouldn't issue RTWs. But by all means try them, and you might mention how cooperative the WAW branch of Tal was. Maybe an email to their home office in TLV might help too.



OK, so what are my changes then to get an AA booked RTW issued in Turkey in the first place if Tal refuses to de it :)

I am working on ex IST options for easy booking but it will take me a couple of weeks to set up.

If you can hang on that long, I will be in IST sorting this out for the board towards the end of the month.

spottie.

Perfect! I just would like to nail it asap, would BA issue a ticket ex-IST that has no pond crossing on their metal/code (just IST-HEL/HEL-IST) legs?

Cheers

I just ticketed through BA in IST this morning, all by email and using my US credit card. The tickets will be waiting at their CTO; we're spending a couple of days as tourists in Istanbul anyway (mid April), so I figured it would give me an opportunity to drop into the office and thank them personally (I assume I can find a florist somewhere near them.) After phones and faxes and emails to Tal in Warsaw and Istanbul, and the utter aggro of going through the BA N. America RTW desk (where I made the res so IST could see the PNR) dealing with the BA people in Istanbul was a downright pleasure.

When I asked Tal in IST if they could issue xONExs, they said they represent American (uh, yeah...) and that if I had consumer ticketing business with AA I should contact TK, their codeshare partner ex-IST. Well, er...

When I set up our itinerary, I tried to make it somewhat BA-friendly, using BA as the first over-water carrier (IST-LHR-YVR so we could get AA mileage.) Also I made it 16 segs so that the "run screaming" scenario had a lower chance of occuring, esp. if they could have the machine print the tix rather than hand-writing them (don't know.) I knew we're going to be changing things around this spring anyway, so the change fee was already built into our assumptions.

Anyway, a distinctly positive experience with BA in Istanbul. Nice people, rapid service... no complaints.

Also I made it 16 segs so that the "run screaming" scenario had a lower chance of occuring, esp. if they could have the machine print the tix rather than hand-writing them (don't know.) I knew we're going to be changing things around this spring anyway, so the change fee was already built into our assumptions.

Unlike Sabre, Amadues does not have a 16 segment limit.

You may find that BA in IST are not actually in IST. Although they have a CTO in WAW, I think all emails and telephone calls are handled in Slovenia. A bit of drilling down on the "BA Poland" email seemed to suggests this was the case. This may also be the same with IST.

Am I to assume that you mean that 20 segment tickets can be machine printed and not hand written?

Unlike Sabre, Amadues does not have a 16 segment limit.
Oh rats. Okay, live and learn. Thanks.

You may find that BA in IST are not actually in IST. Although they have a CTO in WAW, I think all emails and telephone calls are handled in Slovenia. A bit of drilling down on the "BA Poland" email seemed to suggests this was the case. This may also be the same with IST.
No their office is in a tower block a couple miles west of the central business district. Open 9-1, 1:30-5:30.

Slovenia? Does BA even fly to Slovenia? That would be another cool place to buy RTWs. :)

I have now reached the point with AA (Dublin office) regarding my DONE4 ex-IST that they have quoted the right price for me (allthough they first thought wrongly that my ITN was a 5 continent one, which it is not) and said that their airport ticket counter in IST can issue it. It's not clear yet if they can send the tickets by a courier nor have I got an answer is their ticket counter open also on weekends, which would make my day.

So it seems there is also a chance to issue ex-IST xONEs with AA, I will keep you posted as things hopefully progress within couple of days.

I am working on ex IST options for easy booking but it will take me a couple of weeks to set up.

If you can hang on that long, I will be in IST sorting this out for the board towards the end of the month.

spottie.

Race you :) I'm going to be there on 26th March, picking up a paper ticket from BA. Will be interesting to see if I can go via the transit desk to do it; my guess says safer just to dive through immigration, pay the 20 bucks and get the checkin desk to print it. 1 hour turnaround is pushing it, but possible based on previous IST experience.

CT

I have now reached the point with AA (Dublin office) regarding my DONE4 ex-IST that they have quoted the right price for me (allthough they first thought wrongly that my ITN was a 5 continent one, which it is not) and said that their airport ticket counter in IST can issue it. It's not clear yet if they can send the tickets by a courier nor have I got an answer is their ticket counter open also on weekends, which would make my day.

So it seems there is also a chance to issue ex-IST xONEs with AA, I will keep you posted as things hopefully progress within couple of days.

Hey I called AA RTW desk in NA and when I gave them my itin for a DONE4 ex IST in NOV, they checked with Tal Aviation and said that they will not issue any *one*s from there and I would have to speak with BA. They were extremely helpful and apologized that they could not help me out..
BA RTW desk on the other hand was helpful, but seemed much more "abrupt" than AA.

Hey I called AA RTW desk in NA and when I gave them my itin for a DONE4 ex IST in NOV, they checked with Tal Aviation and said that they will not issue any *one*s from there and I would have to speak with BA. They were extremely helpful and apologized that they could not help me out..
BA RTW desk on the other hand was helpful, but seemed much more "abrupt" than AA.

Yes, I was wrongly informed by AA Dub desk that their airport counter could issue it, they called me back today and said that it has to be done with BA, they were very helpfull and assisted BA to get all the ITN information directly from them. So it seems correct that only BA can issue xONEs ex-IST at the moment.

I'm planning a DONE3 ex-IST on the following itinerary:
IST-LHR Apr 6 BA675
LHR-ORD Apr 6 AA47
ORD-SEA Apr 6 AA1975
SEA-JFK Apr 10 AA198
JFK-HKG Apr 23 CX831
HKG-BKK Apr 24 CX709
BKK-HKG Oct 11 CX712
HKG-DEL Oct 11 CX753
DEL-HKG Oct 19 CX752
HKG-BKK Oct 19 CX701 (extra segment in Asia)
BKK-LHR Nov 4 BA10
LHR-DXB Nov 5 BA107
DXB-LHR Nov 6 BA106
LHR-IST Nov 6 BA676

The plan was to book it through AARTW and ticket through Tal or Spotwelder. Tal is out now, and I will need to pick up the ticket when I pass through IST on March 29, so it may be too soon for Spotwelder to set up. It seems BA IST is my only option. I'm wondering if BA will book/ticket this since the first transoceanic segment is on AA and since I will be posting miles to my AA account.

What do you suggest? I've had one bad experience dealing with BARTW and would prefer dealing with AA. Can I book it through AARTW and then ask them to transfer it to BA for ticketing? If you have a fax and tel number for BA RTWDesk please do post it. Thanks.

The plan was to book it through AARTW and ticket through Tal or Spotwelder. Tal is out now, and I will need to pick up the ticket when I pass through IST on March 29, so it may be too soon for Spotwelder to set up. It seems BA IST is my only option. I'm wondering if BA will book/ticket this since the first transoceanic segment is on AA and since I will be posting miles to my AA account.

What do you suggest? I've had one bad experience dealing with BARTW and would prefer dealing with AA. Can I book it through AARTW and then ask them to transfer it to BA for ticketing? If you have a fax and tel number for BA RTWDesk please do post it. Thanks.

It's nice to trust an airline over the other, but believe me, there are many very good experiences with BA IST, just look OW forum back for few weeks. I ticketed my DONE last week with them without having a single long haul with BA, this seems to be more of an AA issue. Just make sure the ITN is valid before you send it the BA IST and you will have your tickets issued in 3-4 working days without any hassle whatsoever. No need to bother AA RWT allthough they have the expertise, but so does the guys on this board (what comes to validating the ITN)..that is the only reason I would see there's a point using them...for valid route BA is just as good at picking up free seats from D bucket ;)

It's nice to trust an airline over the other, but believe me, there are many very good experiences with BA IST, just look OW forum back for few weeks. I ticketed my DONE last week with them without having a single long haul with BA, this seems to be more of an AA issue. Just make sure the ITN is valid before you send it the BA IST and you will have your tickets issued in 3-4 working days without any hassle whatsoever. No need to bother AA RWT allthough they have the expertise, but so does the guys on this board (what comes to validating the ITN)..that is the only reason I would see there's a point using them...for valid route BA is just as good at picking up free seats from D bucket ;)

NoWindowSeat, I'll PM you with some additional questions. Thanks.

You may find that BA in IST are not actually in IST.

They are, I was there last month! They have new offices on the 11th floor of an office block. It's maybe a twenty minute taxi journey from the centre of town, a lot further out than their old place. I think I may have been the first from this board to go there, not that I'm competitive :)

You will need your passport or another form of photo ID to get into the building, which will be left at the reception desk. Since you'll need the passport for the credit card too, get your thinking hat on for how to get around that.

The IST team deserve a visit and generous thanks, they must be getting bored of RTWs by now...

They are, I was there last month! They have new offices on the 11th floor of an office block. It's maybe a twenty minute taxi journey from the centre of town, a lot further out than their old place. I think I may have been the first from this board to go there, not that I'm competitive :)

You will need your passport or another form of photo ID to get into the building, which will be left at the reception desk. Since you'll need the passport for the credit card too, get your thinking hat on for how to get around that.

The IST team deserve a visit and generous thanks, they must be getting bored of RTWs by now...
We will be bringing flowers to them next month. Unless somebody who knows more about Turkish customs has a better idea?

I picked up my new DONE4 from the BA ticket desk at IST airport yesterday, and it was a quick and painless process. I had communicated with BA sales staff by e-mail (not sure who – they never signed a name to their messages other than “BA Teleales”) once I had my reservation established with BA’s RTW desk. I sent them a scanned image of my credit card and passport, and they had the ticket issued and waiting for me at the airport.

I had flown in late the night before and crashed in an airport hotel, but a same day turn around wouldn’t have been a problem, as there was no paper work to do – just a short queue to get to the BA ticket window, show my passport and get handed a fat envelope with my ticket. Walk 30 feet to the Club World check in, and less than 30 min after arriving at the airport I was in the queue for security, and 20 min after than seated in the BA lounge having the first coffee for the day.

The only hiccup – I didn’t study the later flights on the ticket until I was in the lounge, but I discovered my 18 segment DONE4 had grown to 20, with 8 North American segments. What happened is I had e-mailed BA IST to change the dates on the first two flights of a TPA-DFW-LAX-SJU-TPA weekend mileage run. For some reason they have issued tickets for TPA-DFW-LAX on two consecutive days. I figure I will need to get it fixed, but will wait until I have flown a couple more segments and can get the ticket reissued as an E-ticket.

Final price was EUR 4150 base fare plus EUR 470 in taxes – the latter seems high, but not unduly so, and there doesn’t seem to be any real way to tell.

Walk 30 feet to the Club World check in, and less than 30 min after arriving at the airport I was in the queue for security, and 20 min after than seated in the BA lounge having the first coffee for the day.

Were the electronic birds chirping for you? I thought it was a nice touch.

It's amazing how BA can have such Jekyll and Hyde personas - I had another call with the Toronto BA RTW desk yesterday regarding a reissue that once again was a study in customer anti-service, but when I think of the IST people I get all warm and fuzzy. Go figure.

(No, honey, not that way.)

The only hiccup – I didn’t study the later flights on the ticket until I was in the lounge, but I discovered my 18 segment DONE4 had grown to 20, with 8 North American segments. What happened is I had e-mailed BA IST to change the dates on the first two flights of a TPA-DFW-LAX-SJU-TPA weekend mileage run. For some reason they have issued tickets for TPA-DFW-LAX on two consecutive days. I figure I will need to get it fixed, but will wait until I have flown a couple more segments and can get the ticket reissued as an E-ticket.

Final price was EUR 4150 base fare plus EUR 470 in taxes – the latter seems high, but not unduly so, and there doesn’t seem to be any real way to tell.Those extra segements cost USD 300 apiece if I remember right so you may be in for a hefty refund (though it seems that they have forgotten to charge you for it). The taxes include fuel surcharges which on some airlines can be quite high, depends a lot on your routing and choice of airline.

Final price was EUR 4150 base fare plus EUR 470 in taxes – the latter seems high, but not unduly so, and there doesn’t seem to be any real way to tell.

I wonder why they charged you in Euro's? Turkey is not a member. I would have thought GBP or USD would have been more likely.

EUR470 in taxes and charges does not surprise me. BA are one of the worst airlines for adding additional costs as taxes and charges when most airlines include them in the base fare. The difference between BA and AA in pricing my ex-WAW DONE4 (excluding the base fare discrepancy) was significant.

I wonder why they charged you in Euro's? Turkey is not a member. I would have thought GBP or USD would have been more likely.
The change was very recent, from USD 4999 base to EUR 4150 base - a change that cost me almost exactly USD 350 extra at the time of ticketing.

But at least they didn't go the way of Yugoslavia, where the fare went in one jump from USD 5000 to EUR 5000 in line with the fares offered from EU countries.

BA and some other airlines swapped from $ ot Eur over the last several months in Istanbul. As for what to get these people, while flowers are nice, I personally know everyone in that office and most of them would more prefer chocolates than flowers (and for that matter not local stuff, but imported but simple stuff such as Cadbury's etc.).

Personally one of them is a little bt angry at me for having been responsible for starting the RTW avalanche awhile ago!!!

Personally one of them is a little bt angry at me for having been responsible for starting the RTW avalanche awhile ago!!!
I probably owe them more apologies than you. I didn't even bring chocolates, either. Plenty of thanks were given, but no candy. Sheesh.