apologies if these were addressed previously in this very long thread but some questions and notes:

- on a DONE3 currently booked through AA, tried to fly HEL-MAD and was not able to find any flights over a decent range of dates due to some weird codeshare thing that was explained to me but I still don't understand - seems bizarre given Finnair Helsinki hub and Madrid Iberia hub.

- considering my next rtw as i am wrapping up the current one. it's my first one to have booked via AA RTW and I found it convenient to be able to call someone directly who is familiar with these tickets. is it still the case that RTW tickets are issued and managed by the carrier of the first flight and does that mean any new booking I would need to be on AA metal for the first flight to consider? i saw in the wiki that for the online tool Qatar cannot be used as first flight but are they bookable direct somehow and do they have a direct RTW desk? or in general any experiences with booking RTW with qatar or is that not possible?