RWSTAR issuers
 

Hi All,

I'm curious. If one books any sort of Y/C/F RWSTAR 1/2/3 via *A's innosked tool, what airline issues the itinerary and ticket number? Based on some if the accounts I've read here on FT it looks like LH is the de-facto issuer. It also looks like innosked is interfacing with Amadeus to check buckets and availability.

But I've also seen accounts where either the first flight/originating country/or majority airline might trump LH and issue the ticket.

In other words, if I book a CRWSTAR2 ticket from ICN, asiana might end up being the issuer. It's not a huge issue, just something I'm curious about.

Thanks all!!

I have never heard of them being issued by anyone other than LH from the online tool.

For the last FRWSTAR tickets I've got the option to book with every carrier involved into the PNR.
However, it clearly makes a difference with whom to book because LH has been granted some exceptions from IATA rules. The most helpful relates to changing the first segment of that PNR which is possible on LH issued tix. It saved me tons of money once when my feeder flight to ICN on a seperate PNR caused a serious delay.

Oh this is really interesting. Thanks for the tip. Would you mind elaborating?

In other words, if I booked a CRWSTAR ticket via the innosked tool ex ICN, then booked an ORD-SFO-ICN return ticket separately (this would most probably be UA issued), could I "merge" the two itineraries into one?

What are other advantages (IATA or otherwise) for having LH issue the RTW ticket?

Thanks again!

That has nothing to do with the issuing airline, it's simply a a condition of a *A RTW ticket:

Change of plans -Prior to Departure
Changing travel dates/carriers/flights leading to rebooking/revalidation of any sector is free of charge.

It has nothing to do with a change fee rather than enforcement of revalidation if the first leg of an RTW gets rebooked. A FRWSTAR2 ex ICN was available in 2009 for 5700€++. It is now about 10 000€++. Do the math.

I guess I'm missing your point... why is a comparison between the 2009 rate and the 2012 rate significant? RTW tickets are not valid for 3 years?
And do you see anything in the RTW terms that when you change the date of your first (or subsequent) legs that the ticket needs to be revalidated?

I know that occasional SQ has made the statement that changing the first leg requires a revalidation of the whole RTW ticket. But that's just their misunderstanding. When changing the starting point for the first leg, they probably need to revalidate. But LH probably would need to do that as well.

A simple date change of the first leg should never lead to a revalidation or repricing.

In my experience (around 10 RTW's over the years), if the first segment is changed, including a date change, the ticket needs to be repriced.

Thanks for all the info!

I might have been confused about red star's post. I was under the impression that, if you booked and ticketed a RTW--say ex ICN--and then booked a completely separate itinerary (if I were to do this then for me I might book a OZ ORD-ICN return) to get me to and from the RTW I might be able to merge them. After the OZ return is ticketed (paid separately with its own ticket and rules) I could ask OZ or LH to "merge" the PNR so I'd have all the flights under the same itinerary? That way, if the OZ flight for some reason was seriously delayed or cancelled, OZ could work with the RTW itinerary to help keep things straight. Does that make sense?

When DL used to offer award trips on SQ they would do this. But I don't know if this is possible with *A RTWs. Is this what you were talking about red star? Or am I mistaken?


EDIT: I think I figured out the answer to this. Even if I tell Innosked that my residence is US, but still start my trip from ICN, it looks like I get the ICN rates, which is nice (in F it can be as much as $10,000 cheaper! That's crazy).
[[Also for anyone: sorry if this question has been asked before, but since my credit card is US-based, if I try to get the Korean fare by going ex ICN and the book/fly tool sees that I'm from the US will an error come up? Or will I be allowed to book?]]

Thanks again!

No, you can't merge PNR's. But if something goes wrong with your feeder flight (which it did in my case once in 2010) you need to change the first international segment of the RTW. For doing that the issuer usually needs to revalidate (and reprice) the whole ticket. I bought the above mentioned ticket in spring 2009 for 5700€++. At the time of flying (spring 2010) the same ticket would have been 8500€++ due to a price increase and different exchange rates.
With LH as ticket issuer it was possible to change the date of the first international segment without any cost involved. Not because of a grace exception but according to the rules which are different to the rules of other possible RTW ticket issuers at this time.

Can't talk about US cards but with a German MC/VISA it has never been a problem to book RTWs ex ICN,NRT or Central-/SouthAfrica.