Any specifics that would help to remove those huge charges from xONEx tickets (or any other) would be greatly appreciated. There's a secret society operating in another forum dedicated to finding routings that'll make those charges magically disappear, but they purposely speak in tongues lest the airlines catch on and fix their loopholes. If you're willing to share any of their secrets openly or by PM, I'm all (electronic) ears.

The only 'exploit' I'm aware of is that the carrier that issues the xONEx ticket appears to be free to apply their own surcharge rules to the entire thing - a weird bit of book-keeping if I ever saw one - so people used to prefer to use AA because they were still not playing the YQ/YR game. That's changed somewhat since they've officially partnered with BA/IB.

Hi all
Just wondered which airline did the poster used for his AOnEX

Not exactly sure what secret society you are talking about, but what one can do is to check the routing on different OW carrier's TKTs and see which one generates the least YR / YQ. Usually, it is best to travel the least on the airline whose plate your TKT is on.

For all of us hoping BA would integrate (and continue) the BD flight LHR-KRT, a message on BA's website is sad to read:

The secret society is at Mileage Run Discussion/Trick it... Enjoy.

Your advice to travel least on the ticketing carrier is interesting and the first time I've seen it said. Afaik, ticketing with BA and never flying them would still yield a full slate of YQ's, while ticketing with AA and flying AA (used to) yield a low-cost trip. But times do change. Does a formal element of the pricing process yield the "don't fly the ticketing carrier" savings, or are you looking for agent errors?

An airline charges YR / YQ on its own FLT. However, whether an airline charges YR / YQ for other airlines is at their own discretion (and perhaps depends on bilateral agreements).

Had CX price out my first ex JNB RTW several RTW ago, the taxes were 35% more than AA ex. JNB. I think you offered a very clear explanation JohnAx!

I had 4 CX segments, and I guess CX charged full taxes and AA did not. I also booked the CX segments as AA code share where I could...
"Magic key strokes of the secret society?"

Cheers!
WOW these KRT AoneX's has me looking at RTW tickets again.
$861. Sudan stamp may explain why the taxes ex KRT are higher than CAI or JMB

What I do is use the one-line tool to price an itinerary and see the effect of changing the selling carrier for a flight as well as itinerary changes, trying if possible to make only one change at a time. For example, fly LHR-JNB or LAX-SYD and price it as the operating carrier (BA or QF) and as an AA code share, and as other codes if possible. Sometimes a routing change is needed in order to book a different code, e.g., connecting to/from another flight with that airline's code.

Some examples I've found this way:

• SYD-LAX on QF metal: $175 less on AA than QF
• LAX-MEL on QF metal: $724 less on QF than on AA
• DFW-NRT on AA metal: $20 less on JL than on AA
• HKG-LAX on CX metal: $157 less on AA than CX
• LHR-JNB on BA metal: $318 more on BA (lost my note as to if the comparison was to AA or IB)

Is this true? Conventional wisdom here on FT is that it's best to pick the ticketing carrier; BA is considered one of the worst, while AA is considered one of the best. Then, pick the selling carrier for flights where code shares are possible, e.g., to avoid BA codes.

Please see my reason per post 201. Of course, routing and carrier matters and what is the best can vary a lot. Also, I am not denying that AA is in many cases the best choice.

Tried to use the OW online tool to plan a sample itinerary ex-KRT and it prices to more than 12K USD. Is there a way to set the currency/billing location to get a better idea of the cost if purchased in Canada, for example? Or do I need to call AA RTW desk?

No. The tool will do that based upon your starting point.

If I look at AONE4 ex-KRT fare in ExpertFlyer, it shows the base fare to be 4621 USD. I just created a simple itinerary in OW tool, KRT-AMM-LHR-JFK-SFO-xLAX-SYD-HKG-xBKK-AMM, and it shows this:



What am I missing?

I don't know expertflyer still shows the fare as $4621.

I (British National) am looking to arrive in Khartoum at 01:00 from Istanbul and leave for Amman at 05:25.

Some of the posts talk about no visa being required if transiting within 6 hours. According to http://www.worldtravelguide.net/sudan/passport-visa

"Visas for Sudan are required by all nationals referred to in the chart above, except transit passengers continuing there journey from Sudan within 24 hours."

Can anyone say for sure whether I need to get a visa beforehand. The London Embassy offers a Transit Visa for 1-7 days stay but I have no idea how long it takes to get it.