Originally Posted by
Zeffer
OP here. I have heard that anecdotally. But I've also heard that AA won't ticket a RTW that begins with a BA flight, and I've had no problem there. (I'd rather book by phone, as the online tool has consistently yielded weird fares.) I asked a GSA about the surcharge implications of starting on BA. He didn't know, but the quote I got from my original dummy booking wasn't outrageous: about a grand.
The mileage difference is 4,188 miles or 6,282 EQPs (CAI-LHR-LAX-JFK vs CAI-AMM-ORD - and I was kinda looking forward to my first AA 777-300 flight in J!) RJ's AMM-JFK flight doesn't operate on the day I need to fly, so the only option is CAI-AMM-ORD plus an add-on to NYC. If it saved me $800 I'd consider it but I don't know how to get a reliable fee comparison: I used the online tool to test a bunch of very different dummy bookings, and it yielded similar taxes and fees. The simplest tactic might be to make several similar bookings in different names by phone, and pick whichever one is cheapest. Can I change the name on a booking after it's on hold?
AA has in the past issued xonex's for me (and others) with the first segment on BA or another airline. The traditional hangup with AA issuance has been at times their insistance on having at least one of the intercontinental (transoceanic) segments on AA. The AA rtw desk has arranged and priced, and the AA GSA in Cairo, has issued aonex's for me with BA as the first segment. In any event, if you choose to use the AA GSA in CAI (as others have) the ticket will be issued by AA.