Ah, the infamous Booking Tool! My first encounter has me running to the 'bugs' thread, although I can't tell a bug from an inexperienced user at this point. Either way, I did read this thread, apologize if I missed key answers, and offer thanks for hints.

I'm planning ex-JNB AONE4 starting mid-July and will be happy entering a straw-man trip that I can amend for $125 after flying a couple of segments.

So I selected JNB-LAX-HKG-LHR-JNB, expected to pick AA codeshares JNB-LHR-LAX to get AA pricing, but was offered only BA flight numbers to LHR, followed by only BA non-stops to LAX. The tool did offer LHR-LAX via DFW, MIA, or ORD that included AA segments.

ITA offers AA codeshares JNB-LHR-LAX, and the date I was using showed A7 on EF.

What say the wise ones?

Secondary user training: my understanding is that if I can cajole the online tool into accepting my input, it'll personally collect my payment at the proper ex-JNB price and inform AA to please issue an e-ticket, after which all I'll need to do is watch my email anxiously. Correct?

Tertiary: anything special I need to know about doing business with Mindspring, if it comes to that? (I haven't searched...)

Oh, and finally (for now): I foolishly entered JNB-LHR-LAX to start, and HKG-LHR-JNB to end, and the tool slapped me around about the 'one entry' rule rather than politely reminding me to make sure one was a transit. But suppose I wanted the transit to be the second time, but wanted to route via LHR for whatever reason? Is there a way to get the tool to let me schedule the transit?