I want to book an ex-TLV DONE4. I'm not sure if it's better to ticket with Tal Aviation (AA's agent in TLV) or do it when I'm in Canada at the end of July. Tal says they don't have any service charge for EXPs, but they do have a 2.5% fee for using a credit card. if I purchase at the Montreal airport I can avoid that, but can I put the ticket on hold for almost two months?

Also, in Canada there would be an extra currency conversion (ILS-CAD by AA, CAD-USD by the CC, vs ILS-USD by the CC) which I'm not sure if I should be concerned about -- in theory it should be a wash.

Your question in part was answered on link below
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...fic-fares.html

If you're going to issuing the ticket in Canada, you must tell Tal Aviation so that the pricing can be done in CAD. When issuing the ticket in Canada, then the ticket will be priced and charged in CAD. There will only be one conversion from ILS to CAD. If you use a US cc, then you will be charged your fee or whatever foreign transactions attract.

If she decides to purchase it in CA then she would just go through the AA RTW desk and have it set up for purchase in CA. Tal Aviation would not come into the picture for that purchase scenario. Her other scenario is to set it up for purchase TLV with Tal Aviation and do it via mail/Fax/phone/inet. Check last two pages Current RTW and Circle Pacific Fares thread, on her RTW purchase and previous discussion on hold times. It actually might be good to have those posts moved to this thread since that thread went a bit off topic.

No you shouldn't be concerned about currency conversion as it is at the prevailing exchange rate (with no additional fees) on the day Dublin prices the ticket to the currency of purchase. Prices are good for 7 days. So if your reservation has been on hold for more that 7 days you will want to call AA RTW Desk before heading to Montreal and have them reprice the ticket. They should tell you all about this when you set up the ticket.

Now whether fees are charged by your CC company is another story. If you do any international travel/purchases at all then it would be prudent to get CCs and ATM cards that do not charge FX fees. Since you are from the US some choices include Schwab Visa and Schwab One ATM, Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa, a variety of Capital One cards, most but not all Amex, and others I am sure.

Chase BAEC Visa is another.