Gardyloo

Maybe not entirely appropriate for this board, but thought I'd mention that due to the ZAR-USD exchange, Oneworld DONE4 RTWs bought and started in South Africa are currently priced starting at ~US$4271++ (four continents, up to 16 flights, good for a year). An itinerary like this illustrates the options. Details on the Oneworld board.

tkelvin69

Thanks for the heads up. A quick glance at the OW forum I don't see the thread you are referring to - care to share a link to that thread?

Gardyloo

There's no one specific thread, but you could start here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...cket-faqs.html or look at the official OW blurb - https://www.oneworld.com/flights/rou...world-explorer

TopGunner

Just a word of caution, be careful about how you handle changes of these tickets. The AA RTW is not what it used to be and you are well served sticking with one office for all your ticketing needs. I got burned by AA switching ticketing currencies twice in their favor and I'm still owed taxes refund that they cannot or will not issue.

Other than that its a great deal if you can avoid the big fuel charges.

caimaster

Do you get all the actual miles flown plus the premium cabin bonus?

Gardyloo

Yes.

2old4coach

Thanks Gardyloo,

Been 5 years since last rtw from JNB. Time to shop there again.
Some of the old crew are still at the DFW rtw desk. Mind pearl is still the agent for AA in CPT. Still the easiest office to deal with.
That looks like a great routing you created. Lots of QR segments. Never done a ONE 4 in business. (F only) but qr business is super. Got 8'segments upcomming on QR business in 787 and 777. Thanks for the heads up.
Happy trails,

2old4coach

Gardyloo

There are a couple of people reporting on the OW board that Mindpearl is being obstinate about requiring a SA credit card all of a sudden, so there might be trouble brewing on the GSA front. Hopefully this is a temporary glitch.

I avoided BA and QF on my imaginary route to reduce fuel fines.

Phileas

I was one of the guys reporting the CC problem with Mindpearl. I am now exploring the possibility of booking with BA. For this purpose, I slighty changed my itinerary in a way where I was expecting the surcharges to skyrocket (2 BA longhaul instead of QR), but to my surprise, I ended up with a quote that is lower than what AA quoted me.

This is likely not a general rule, but the point is that you might still be able to build a reasonably priced RTW even if you have to ticket it through BA. I actually find more of an issue all the bugs in the online booking tool which prevent you from selecting many valid flights. As I have not yet been able to find a similar resource like the AA RTW desk for other OW airlines, this is at the moment what makes the OW explorer out of SA a no go for me.

jose2000

This looks like such a good deal! *missing out again*

purch

The price I'm seeing on my imaginary route is around $5300, so a full $1000 more than OP. But I'm using exclusively BA and QF Could it be that the fuel surcharges just on these could come to that much extra, on only 10 flights? For info, only includes a transfer in LHR so think it should avoid APD.

Gardyloo

A lot depends on the specifics of your route. The online tool seems to work with CX as the first carrier, and YQ on CX routes is less.

If this change with Mindpearl is permanent, it might be worthwhile to seek out a competent travel agent in SA through whom you could book the ticket. The TA would be the purchaser, avoiding FX issues with Mindpearl. Emeco in Egypt, for example, has issued umpteen RTW tickets on behalf of AA.

Gardyloo

The "++" after the base price in my OP means taxes and fees are more. If you're using BA and QF, then frankly $1000 in T&F sounds really good. If this fare was built using the online tool, you can pull the taxes and fees subtotals through a link on the pricing page.

As a note to those wondering why the final fares can't be seen, it's because most countries and the EU now require that advertised airfares be inclusive of taxes and fees. However, because RTW tickets can be built with thousands of alternate routes, airports, airlines and taxing jurisdictions, "inclusive" fares are impossible to show - every ticket is different.

purch

Ah my apologies, I missed the ++ completely. Got so excited when I saw the price that I read what I wanted to read

It's still a really good price considering the amount of premium flying you can do on one of these.

jbalmuth

For newbies wrt around-the-world fares, a cautionary reminder: global marketing schemes (i.e. OneWorld) that sell you tickets on diverse airlines with multiple reservation/ticketing systems that don't communicate well with one another require the purchaser/traveler to be extremely diligent about always retaining (and carrying with them) the most up-to-date e-ticket numbers. Voluntary changes, reroutes or irreg ops almost always cause/require ticket reissues, but unfortunately new e-ticket numbers are routinely NOT automatically sent to all subsequent carriers. Experienced purchasers of these tickets know to expect spending many more hours on the phone or at airline check-in desks while enroute than they would with an itinerary on a single airline. Forewarned is forearmed.