Originally Posted by
clansey1973
TYO JL JKT QF X/SYD QF BNE AA X/DFW AA MIA AA LON RJ X/AMM RJ MED//JED RJ X/AMM RJ LON BA KUL MH TYO.
Yes Medina to Jeddah would be a surface segment.
Presumably a OW Explorer is a lower fare than a RTW fare?
What booking class is a OW Explorer (Business) booked in please?
Any tips on a resource for booking?
Your itinerary is a OW Explorer, which is one of two OneWorld RTW products. The other is xGLOBx which isn't really cheaper in most cases but allows some non-OW carriers that might be desirable for some, but your itinerary is too many miles (has a 34k mile cap).
I think AA's RTW desk is your best booking source for this itinerary, you can find the phone number in some of the dedicated RTW threads. (Edit: Found the number: +1-800-247-3247, free call from Skype)
I think you're doing yourself a huge disservice taking RJ to / from the middle east vs. QR. Not sure your experience in business on either airline in the past but RJ is not even close to the level of QR by any stretch of the imagination. The 787 to / from LHR is 2-2-2 config, quite outdated style, food is passable but not great, AMM lounge leaves much to be desired. QR on the other hand has 4x 77W flights per day that are most likely QSuites, and the other two are A380, older style seat but still much much better than RJ's 787. The middle east flights to / from JED and MED are treated as First Class on QR meaning you get access to the Al Safwa First Class lounge both directions, it's quite a nice experience in itself.
If you were stopping over in AMM that would be understandable but transiting really doesn't make a lot of sense with QR's hub so near to your destinations.
On an ex-TYO itinerary YQ doesn't come into play, but if you continue to build these in the future from other departure points, QR also has lower fees than RJ. On ex-TYO I doubt it would make much of a difference since you only pay YR from there.
Similarly on that LHR-KUL, I'd strongly recommend MH over BA. Unless you get the new Club Suite, BA's seat is god awful (It's a 789 on that route and I think they're all still the old seat). MH is on the A359, and food and service is easily better than BA's. Added bonus, MH departs T4 and the QR lounge would be open during both departures.
I think on the KUL-NRT it's a toss up. JL and MH depart within an hour of each other, MH's A350 seat is nicer than JL's 767 seat but some people like the JL service. With AA I earn a lot more more miles on JL so I end up taking that flight but nothing wrong with MH on that route.