Just spoken with AA RTW desk, and whilst they were mildly concerned with the treatment and process, they were unable to do any thing to resolve the issue.

The supervisor I spoke with was not to worried that I had decided to take my business to Qantas. She was also somewhat unsure of the definition of 'sold in another country' as stated in the rules sheet.

Again I was told that as my credit card has an Australian address, I must pay the Austrlain prices, as per the rules sheet "The resultant fare must not be lower than from the country of sale". Despite my protest that this was incorrect, she held her line. I asked for copies of the rule sheet that made mention of credit card billing address, and she replied "it isnt written down, but it just is". She commented that AA had been 'tightening up' these loopholes for the past two years.

I made a booking through the Qantas NZ office last night, and rang back to pay this morning. Total fare was NZ$14,485.10, which included taxes and fees of NZ$386.