Can anyone add weight to this suggestion about LAN? It would be news (welcome news) to me!

In that case I wonder if they would hit you up with the local sales tax (19% in Peru).

Ha ha, don't worry, it's "she".

Looks like in my case the tickets will be cheaper with LAN using the online booking tool. Just got off the phone with AA and they quoted $5059 USD pp for the ex-Ecuador LONE5, whereas the online booking tool (which should ticket me with LAN) quoted me at $4750 USD pp.

The online tool definitely shows Ecuador sales tax, 12%, but I have no idea what AA is charging because they won't give me a breakdown of the taxes/fees.

startpacking - sorry to hijack your thread! Any updates?

Has anyone got an ex-S America ticket priced up for purchase in Canada? Since Canada is the point of sale I don't see how it could be liable to the sales tax in the S American country so presumably this would save quite a bit of money in many cases.

(The same would apply for the "luxury tax" on non-economy tickets ex-India if that still exists.)

Easy, there, Jerry. What you said was:

Doesn't the Canada Exception allow pax to purchase the ticket in Ecuador or Canada (at the ex-Ecuador price concerted to CAD)? Use of the Canada Exception does not require the online tool, -- I have purchased tix for rezzies made with the AA RTW desk this way.

Thanks for the additional comments. I haven't tried the online tool again. I will try the tool to see if I can get a price online for my itinerary.

I did speak to AA again today. They have now adjusted the base price to JO 4400, but now I'm being charged a little more (CAD~$150) in taxes. Not sure why. I'd be interested to know what the online quote for taxes are. I will tackle the online tool later today, and report back, in case some of you are interested.

alonna, no need to apoligize. I do hope you are able to get your ticket worked out. Why don't you ask AA what the base fare is? From that you can determine the price/cost of the taxes and fees. If you don't get a helpful agent call back and ask again. The agent I spoke to today was terrible, he couldn't answer alot of my questions and told me to call back on Monday.

There is a staffing problem at the rtw desk, a few agents are fantastic and know the rules/ins and outs of the product. Sadly, some of the agents aren't familiar with the product. I do wonder if the agent gets some commission to ticket a rtw ticket. The last two agents I have spoken to have been too eager to issue the ticket but niether could answer my questions properly.

The RTW desk aagents are regular AA employees, and not commissioned. However, aagents who don't know all the rules can only help you. If they make a mistake which works against you, just quote them the section and exact wording of the rule (which you can find here) which allows you to do what you're trying to do. If they make a mistake which helps you, then just keep quiet and hope that Dublin doesn't catch the mistake. It happens more often than you'd think.

When the on-line tool first became available, I played around with it. One thing I tried was xONEx's starting in AKL - with either QF or LA as the first carrier (first segment being either AKL-SCL or AKL-SYD).

With LA as the first carrier, there was NO YQ (whereas with QF there was lots and lots of YQ!).

I never went as far as ticketing, since I was only playing with the new toy:)

IIRC, the Indian luxury is applied to all tickets that originate in India, no matter where purchased.

Maybe it's the same rule in Ecuador?

I'd said earlier I'd post back once I have a chance to check the fare on ow.com. I did check the fare, but the website is quoting me in USD. The price AA is quoting me is in CAD. It is impossible to know which quote is better, since there are quoted in two different currencies. When I check exchange rates on www.xe.com I get the a difference of ~$40 (CAD), so there isn't a significant difference between the two prices.

.....

My understanding is that these ticket taxes eg Peru,Argentina,Colombia and Ecuador are levied regardless of where the ticket is issued. The tax is on any ticket that originates from these countries. Chile and Brasil do not levy a ticket tax and have the same pricing as the other South American countries.

so the OW tool is giving you almost the same price as AA? strange given the price difference ex-AMM, even with YQs (unless you're travelling a lot on longhauls with BA, RJ, QF, IB, MX).

[QUOTE=startpacking;13099898] I did check the fare, but the website is quoting me in USD. QUOTE]

The online tool provides a detailed listing of every tax, airport charge, fuel surcharge (YQ), etc.. For some tickets It's worth studying this breakdown closely, because excessive YQ can be moderated, depending on which airline issues the ticket. However, if you like the all-in price that the online tool is showing, I can't fathom a reason to not purchase the ticket there.....

[QUOTE=jbalmuth;13101792]Aren't I better off buying the ticket from AA only because I will be paying in CAD. If I buy the ticket online it will be priced in USD, and every time I have used AA.com to buy tickets in USD AA has changed the currency and billed my cc in CAD. Would OW.com also do the same thing and bill me in CAD? Or, is there some way to change the currency to CAD on OW.com?