allset2travel

Sorry to hike jack the conversation. My BOLD.
When I asked a QF booking agent whether the clock starts from date of ticket or date of first flight, she said date of ticket.
When I checked the rules, it says the following:
"Duration
* You can stay from a minimum of 10 days and you have up to 12 months to complete your trip."
I think you imply it is from the date of FIRST FLIGHT, right? Thanks.

DownUnderFlyer

Its actually sort of both. You have to take the first flight within 12 months of the ticket being issued. And then you must finish your trip within 12 months of the first flight. So between ticketing and the last flight you have two years max.

raphaeld

Hi there,

Thanks for the answers! We did some further research and added all the prices of one-way tickets to our chosen destinations. We also have altered our itinerary a bit. (NOU has been removed other destinations have been added).

-LAX to Brisbane (in March)
- from Brisbane to Perth, where we stay for about one week;
- from Perth to Bali, where we would stay about 10 days;
- from Bali to Indonesia, where we would stay about 3 weeks;
- from Indonesia to Malaysia, where we would stay about 3 weeks;
- from Malaysia to Philippines, where we would stay about 3 weeks;
- from Philippines to Solomon Islands (and not Tahiti since the Solomons are closers to S-E Asia, and maybe less expensive to fly to?) (probably with stopover somwhere in AUS I guess?), where would stay about 10 days;
- from Solomon Islands to Vanuatu, where we would also stay about 10 days;
- from Vanuatu to Sri Lanka (probably also with stopover?), where we would stay till beginning of July (10 to 15 July at the latest).
- Sri Lanka to Belgium

We found out that the sum of all oneway tickets would be almost equal than a OW RTW ticket (ONEX 4 Continents). So it's very tempting to just book as we go. Another reason is is that we mostly fly in Economy, and when reading the forums I have the impression that a RTW ticket is more advantageous for Business flyers.

I would like to add another newbie question related to the above: I have researched the Visa requirements in most of the countries (still some to do). In most of the countries all passengers must hold a return/onward ticket to a country to which they have a right of entry.
A RTW-ticket obviously solves this problem, but in case you're booking as you go this would become an issue if you haven't booked a return/onward ticket.

Any insights on this?

Thanks and once again: this is a great forum!

Raphaël

allset2travel

Good to get a confirmation from you ^. Thanks.

Kiwi Flyer

There is a further factor. With e-tickets you cannot have open segments. Thus any travel beyond about 11 months (dates vary by operating and ticketing airline) from date of booking need to either be booked with a dummy date within 11(ish) months, or not booked and change the routing later once the dates become bookable.

Leumas

I've formed a route for my DONE4 ticket, it's been successfully validated by the OW site (it's been priced). The route starts and ends in JNB. Now, I want to get it ticketed at the lowest price. I'll be paying with a NZ credit card.

What are my options?

a) Online with the OW site - I suspect this will be ticketed by QF and therefore includes a lot of fuel surcharges...

b) Ring through to the AA RTW Desk. I've been trying to read up on the experience, but am I correct in saying sometimes their agents aren't clear and want to convert the price to NZD first, even though they shouldn't? In addition, they sometimes want to insist of having the first inter-continent flight or at least one inter-continent flight to on AA? (I don't have any inter-continent flight on AA.)

c) Get Mindpearl to do it - But I need help in how to contact them and the process of doing this. I also assume they ticket on AA and not QF?

d) I've a friend who will be in SA (but not JNB), and I may be able to ask her to help out and buy it through a local travel agent, but there's no guarantee that it won't be ticketed by QF (and therefore subject to more fuel surcharges). Plus, I won't know if the agent she uses knows anything about these tickets.

e) Any others?

Which option do you recommend?

Thanks.

DownUnderFlyer

It will ticket with the first airline. So if this is QF, then yes, it will be expensive.

The RTW desk can make the reservation but they could only sell you the ticket at the US price. So you can just call them to put everything in place and get the ticket issued in SA. Also, many Trans Pac and TATL flights on BA/CX/JL etc. also have AA codeshares. I would strongly advice to use them since (depending on your program) you might get more miles. And AA is happy as you have an intercontinental AA segment.

Mindpearl is the AA GSA in South Africa. They would be able to ticket something which has been reserved by the AA RTW desk.

AA office Cape town [email protected]
Mindpearl
Mindpearl House
West Quay Road
V&A Waterfront
Cape Town 8001
South Africa
Phone 002721-440 6440 Monday - Friday
8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
(Except Public Holidays)


If she is in CPT she could go to Mindpearl.

Using the Canada exception. You could get the ticket issued in Canada at the South African price. If you know a TA in Canada that is.

Unless you have a good TA, I would to AA RTW desk with Mindpearl ticketing.

Also, if your last segment is LHR-JNB, consider LHR-CPT as it is longer and falls into a new Status Credit bracket for QFF purposes.

Leumas

Thanks, DUF. I'll fine tune the route a bit more to include an AA intercontinental flight as well as switching the last flight to CPT.

P.S. I'll be crediting to QFF.

DownUnderFlyer

Sorry, I don't have much insight here. Technically you often need an onward ticket. But I guess how this rule is enforced depends on the country and of course the type of visa. For example if you enter Australia on a working holiday visa you don't need an onward booking as the visa is good for a year. But you would need to check the immigration rules of each country.

One other thing: A stopover on Tahiti isn't that difficult to do. Air Tahiti Nui flies LAX-PPT-AKL-SYD and offers decent fares and easy stopover options. So you could do it on the way. And if you do, I would strongly advise to think about one other option: Since you are in the area (sort of), why don't you also do IPC on the way as a side trip? Yes, its expensive but it is a once in a lifetime thing to do.

DownUnderFlyer

You don't have to include AA metal flights but I would try to book the codeshares. This way you will get the bonus points for the AA flights rather than just "normal" points if you have a CX/JL/IB flight number.

Dr. HFH

You can also use the Canada exception by ticketing at an AA airport counter in Canada. I've done this at YYZ. Just be prepared for a bit of a wait while they figure out how to do it, it's a fairly unusual request for them.

BrewerSEA

This is a great, relatively easy way to invoke the Canada exception, and I did it at YVR for my AONE5 ex-RUH, but of course you (or someone you know) must be physically present at the Canadian airport to do this, they won't process these purchases over the phone. If you find someone willing to do this, have the AA RTW desk put together the itinerary and then send it to the rate desk, specifying that it is for purchase in Canada. You will pay the SAR fare converted into CAD by AA and then to NZD by your CC company if you use a New Zealand credit card.

raphaeld

Thanks a lot for your feedback DUF.
I'm mailing with Australian customs to know more about the onward ticket.
There are also a lot of forums (lonelyplanet, etc..) where this question has been asked. But the answers are ambiguous.

I'll think about including IPC.

Jennifer Strbac

Hi and thanks in advance. I want to book a circle pacific trip this week from lax for travel in July with the stipulation that I MUST be on a specific QF flight for the homeward leg from syd to lax. The qantas website doesn't seem to offer much a variety of stops. Is there another way?

BrewerSEA

I don't understand your question. If you want to know if a specific flight has availability you can use Expert Flyer or KVS to see if there is L, D or A inventory available (L=economy, D=business, A=first). If you want to know if a specific flight has this inventory available, I can check for you, just give me the day/flight number.

What do you mean by "much a variety of stops?"