Purchasing a DONE4 out of India
 

I am looking at purchasing a DONE4 out of Mumbai. The prices there are fairly low, although I understand that there is a luxury tax on top.

A couple of questions:

Does anybody know how much the luxury tax is?

Is it possible to have AA ticket it? I think that they have an office in New Dehli, so was wondering if it could be purchased over the phone instead. Has anybody had any experience of dealing with the AA reservations there?

Thanks

Search reveals these threads among others:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/airli...sed-india.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...one-india.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...ight=india+tax

Yes, I saw those threads. But I am actually more interested in the 2nd question - whether anybody has had any good experiences getting AA to ticket out of India

Well, the amount of the tax is listed in those threads, something like 10.3 percent.
I can't remember anyone reporting that they actually purchased from India. The service tax that is imposed has always been considered a deal breaker, and the "good" fare from India, when the service tax and all the other taxes are added, ends up being not so good compared with other starting points.

If you're planning to start the itinerary with AA's DEL-ORD flight, then you can buy it using the on-line tool, and it will be ticketed by AA

Best to get a good travel agent
 

If you are buying business or first class fares a number of fares with AA in combination with EK and Etihad are considerably cheaper than buying a AONE or DONE. You can avoid the luxury tax by originatig in CMB where such fares are even lower by 30%. Foer some reason RTW fares are quite high from CMB.
I am flying on a FULLY FLEXIBLE F class fare out of CMB: CMB-DXB-LHR (EK) ORD -MCO -JFK-LHR (AA) DXB-CMB (EK) for around $4800 including Tax at current exchnge rates.

The passenger is already in India, so I just thought it might be a better-value way of getting out.

The itinerary is probably going to start at:
BOM-BKK(stop)-HKG-PVG(stop)-LHR

No time for online - the first flight needs to be this Saturday or Sunday. On-line tool needs a clear 8 days advance purchase.

Just rang the ticketing office in Dehli. Bad connection, and was eventually hung up on...... thinking this may not work out, at least with AA

I guess CX could ticket, although it would be more expensive..... okay, just got off the phone to CX Mumbai, and they seemed more helpful. Said that they could process by credit card over phone.

Dhaka?
 

Could you avoid the Indian tax by starting from Dhaka, Bangladesh?
Currently a DONE4 from DAC is about US$300 less than from DEL, which would offset the cost of positioning to DAC.
(I think this makes Bangladesh one of the best places to start an RTW now?)

Does anybody know of a ticketing agent in Dhaka who would ticket an xONEx on AA stock?
I may be starting another RTW from India next year, so any info on ticketing from DAC would be useful. Thanks.

Happy Travels.

Adding the Indian service tax to the normal taxes and fees for an xonex will probably add anywhere from 20 - 30 percent to the cost(Indian 10.3 percent service tax + the normal 10 - 20 percent for taxes and fees). Flying to another starting point and commencing the rtw there would probably be beneficial.

A Done4 starting from BOM will be 360,350 Indian Rupees(~US$7750) + the 20 - 30 percent for taxes (lean more toward the high side depending upon what you do when you hit LHR). From Pakistan: done4 PKR633,270(~US$7389) + 10 - 20 percent taxes. From Bangladesh: US$7367 + taxes and fees as above. From Sri Lanka: LKR870,900 (~US$7734) + taxes and fees. If your friend makes their way to Yemen to start an Aone4 will be about US$8421 + tax and fees (a DONE4 from Yemen will be about US$6050 +). Jordan: done4 JOD5100(~US$7256) +.

Before the prices went up Sri Lanka was a popular starting point for xonex, contact information for purchases possibly might still be found by searching in this forum. IIRC, at least one person has reported that they purchased and started in Pakistan in the last few years. Don't remember any reports of persons starting from India or Bangladesh.

Of course, if your friend doesn't want to do a positioning flight then the extra cost from India(provided you can get CX to ticket) doesn't really matter.

As of today (for a DONE4) Bangladesh, at $7367, is the cheapest in Asia (OW definition), but only 20th in the world. The cheapest is Yemen ($6055.51, based on yesterday's exchange rates). The others are, in order, Sudan, Namibia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia ($6826.25), Tunisia, Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria ($7,100), Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Libya, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan ($7257.24).

ROTFL !

Agents will only use first outbound carrier or first over the water carrier to ask to price ticket.

GB: I think you can get up off the floor. Being aware of your experience in this forum, I think somehow you just mis-interpreted my question.

Many of us have used local agents (such as Mindpearl in Cape Town and Daejoo Air in Seoul) to ticket on AA stock, an xONEx that has already been validated and priced by AA in local currency. AA does not need to be first outbound or over-the-water carrier.
As Bangladesh is now one of the cheapest places in Asia to start an RTW, I was wondering if anybody knows of an agency in Dhaka that can do this.

Happy Travels.