Originally Posted by
pye1201
I had intended to book through JAL as they are our first flight - would you have any idea (without going to the bother of working it out) if they would have similarly low taxes? They are one of the lowest for taxes I think.
I booked an AONE5 through JL, using their U.S. call center. Their agents are fine, but they have exceedingly long hold times when calling the U.S. call center. The way to get through quickly is to call the instant they open at 8am Pacific Time. My routing is HND-JFK-LAX-YVR-LAX-LHR-LIS-LHR-DOH-LHR-SYD-PER-ADL-SYD-SIN-KUL-NRT. The LAX-YVR-LAX flights are AS codes operated by AA (when crediting to AA, AA-coded RTW flights earn a pitifully small amount, as it's based on the pro-rated fare of the flight); the LAX-LHR is an AY code operated by BA (trying to avoid BA's notoriously high YQ/YR).
Converted to USD, my base fare is $8,026.81 and my calculations put the base fare plus YQ/YR (total price excluding actual taxes) at $9,250.00. Here's the JL calculations:
JL AONE5 fare calculation
I told JL my AA number when booking. After flying HND-JFK, I called JL and switched the FF number to my QR account, as the AA JFK-LAX in A will earn more Avios credited to QR than to BA, and wouldn't earn much in AA miles. Before flying LAX-YVR, I'll call JL and switch back to AA.