Originally Posted by
Brianek
Quick question on booking a Oneworld RTW, Given the errors that the tool brings up, I'm struggling to get the precise itinerary I want ticketed. The early flights in the itinerary are okay, but some of the later ones - 3-4 months down the road don't seem to want to work.
Wondering what people's thoughts are about going with an itinerary that the tool will allow me to ticket and then modifying it over the phone once it's booked and in the system. Any experiences with doing this? I'm looking at a DONE4 originating from NRT at present. First flight to KUL on Japan Airlines, but it could also be on Malaysian Airlines.
Am I likely to end up being ticketed with Qantas? If so (and this is problematic), any way to avoid it? ******For the love of God don't ticket with QF unless you'll credit to AAdvantage and don't want to use a travel agent
Impossible to say with 100% certainty, but most likely if the first flight is JL then it'll be ticketed by JL. In that case you should be able to manage the future of the reservation without too many headaches vs. QF. Frankly if you end up with a QF ticket from that itinerary I'd cancel it immediate and charge back the 5% because it shouldn't happen. In the chargeback dispute, copy in the threads from here.
Just be aware that JL has their own ticketing fee and a separate change fee on all changes that are separate from the OW rules. It's not overly costly but would add up if you're making tons of changes over the course of the ticket.
Personally if you're going for the OW tool ex-TYO I'd aim for a CX issued ticket, if you have an available segment for the HKG transit. If you start seeing prices in AUD then abandon it immediately because that means it'll be QF issued.
BTW, I know that NRT-KUL flight fairly well, personally I'd prefer it on MH metal vs. JL metal. It's recently gone back to the (inferior) A330 on MH vs. the A350, but still I prefer MH crews. To each their own on that, but if you book via the tool your hand will likely be forced since it's the first segment. Either JL flight and issued, or MH flight and (hopefully) issued. No one has really talked about MH issued RTWs, so have no idea how decent or awful they are.
Also, if you end up going the CX route with transit in HKG, then it will not auto-ticket in the OW tool. You'll have to call in for a payment link and can make necessary modifications then, before ticketing, so no $125 charge.