Purchasing LONE4 in the UK
 

I'm looking to buy a LONE4 in the UK to take the family round the world next year. We spoke to Trailfinders initially, but they mentioned today that they charge 125GBP fee per ticket. That's 500GBP for the whole family. Gulp.

First stop was the online tool, but I've had some issues with it. The planning mode tells me there are the flights I want AKL-SCL, but in the booking mode it won't show them. Could this be because it is for Aug 2010?

If the online tool lets me down, what's the best way to book this? Should I phone one of the airlines to book it? If so which one? My itinerary includes AY, JL, CX, QF, LA, BA if that makes any difference.

Thanks!

I would phone AA's ATW desk in the USA to arrange the flights and then pay through AA UK . The number for the ATW desk is +1 800 247 3247 . The UK office number to pay is +44 207 365 0777

A reason why the booking tool is not showing the flight could be that there is no availbility in L class on the day you wish to fly. Even so, by booking with the AA desk you are likely to save on fuel fines

Dave

Welcome to FT!

Looking at the week of 7-13 August 2010 (don't know your dates) there is "L" class availability for 4 pax on LA 800 on 3 of those 7 days, so it's just a case of picking your dates. Don't tarry, though - that's a tough "L" class seat to score much of the time. Also don't forget that Qantas flies SYD-EZE so with some minor rearranging of your itinerary (what is it?) you ought to be able to get over the Pacific easily enough.

Gardyloo, yes you are absolutely right. When it didn't show up for a particular day I didn't try days either side. Doh! So it looks like I can book this online after all.

FWIW Our itinerary is LHR-HEL-KIX-HKG-BNE-CNS-ASP-BNE-ZQN--AKL-SCL-GIG--GRU-LHR departing around 12 Jun and back around 31 Aug (for the kids to go back to school!). We will probably have to buy a couple of additional flights as we'd like to go to Salvador in Brazil too. When I first looked at this it seemed like an internal flight within Brazil would be a possibility on this ticket but they seem to have been dropped over the last few months.

Thanks for the help!

Depending on which carrier the online tool wants to use, you may well still be better off booking over the phone with AA since the fuel surcharges are likely to be lower than most carriers

Dave

+1 for using the AA RTW helpdesk. If you're calling from outside the UK then you may want to use Skype as it's still free then.