No, a Y fare to JNB.
1x

What does that have to do with anything that is being discussed in this thread?

Thread is about cheap places to start a DONE4. If you are pricing it it ex-JNB, your first flight on the ticket must originate at JNB. If you're not already there, you must get yourself there to start flying the DONE4 itinerary. So, when looking at the real cost, you need to add the "positioning" cost of getting to the origin point of your itinerary.

However, if you later want to make a routing change AA ticketing may well notice if you used a US-based credit card, declare the original pricing incorrect and decide to collect the difference. The problem does not arise with date/time changes.

I don't recall anyone ever reporting this
Can you point to an occurrence?

Also, on what basis could AA do this? Is there something in its T&Cs that would allow it to do it (my rudimentary knowledge of contract law says this would not be allowed - a done deal is a done deal)

I would agree with pandaperth. No one has ever reported this happening. And what could be wrong with using a US based credit card in this context. If I am on the ground in JNB purchasing a xonex I can use a US based credit card, if I have a relationship with a travel agent in JNB I can use a US based credit card to purchase an xonex.

It happened to me in 2011. I had a rtw ticket starting in Amman, issued on-line by AA's oneworld booking tool at the ex-Amman price while I was physically in Rio de Janeiro, but using a US credit card. There was no contact with a travel agent or ticket office anywhere. When I wanted to change the routing I initially had no trouble with AA's round the world desk in the US, but a few days later they called me and said I would have to pay several thousand dollars more, but I could change the dates without any trouble. They explicitly mentioned that the on-line ticket was considered US issued because of the credit card. They said that the on-line tool had made an error by giving me the Jordanian price, but since it was, in their view, an AA error they would honor the ticket with the original routing. Perhaps there would have been no problem with a foreign issued ticket with a US credit card if it involved a travel agent or an overseas ticket office. And perhaps it was just an unusual case of bad luck. By the way, I vaguely remember posting about this problem on FT at the time, but I can't locate a reference.

I found this post about your use of the ow rtw tool to purchase your ticket; reporting that it worked perfectly:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/16007928-post2.html

The only way I can conceive that the AA rtw desk would care (or even notice) is if someone tried to change the first flight. In that situation, I could see them saying that they would have to reprice the ticket.

Did you make any change to the first flight?

In 2010, when QF still handled the online ticketing for JL, I booked an exNRT DONE3 using both a +61 phone number and AU based card.

QF Tokyo had issues charging the card (default daily transaction limits the bank had never told me about) and asked QF Sydney to call me. Between public holidays in Japan, work in CBR and some back and fourth between the bank and QF SYD, it took about a week before everything was sorted out and the transaction authority went through.

I was charged the Japan price despite QF knowing full well that I was in CBR at the time. The only cost issue was forex changes between AUD and JPY between the time it was ticketed and QF finally decided to take the money out. (having a QF issued DAS13 in the system at the time as positioning flights may have helped, but I doubt it)
CBR-xSYD-NRT,HND-KIX-NRT-xSIN-xPER-MEL
NRT-SIN-HKG-JFK-DFW-ORD-MCO-xDFW-SEA-xJFK-CDG-HEL-xLHR-xDXB-xLHR-xHKG-NRT

This year, I had a CX issued exICN DONE3. Again I had an AU phone number and credit card in the booking. No issues and was charged the Korean price. Would have done the same last year, but the tool kept falling and had to book via agent in Canada.


In 2009, I booked an LONE4 (my last before starting to use DONEx's ) out of CBR with the online tool. I used an AA codeshare on a QF CBR-SYD flight so AA would ticket. I was also able to book an AS flight LAX-PDX using the QF code.
CBR-xSYD-xLAX-PDX-DFW-DEN-xDFW-BOS-xMIA-ATL-LHR-xSIN-KUL-NRT-KIX-xSIN-xMEL-CBR
I was keeping track of the changes as they happened (such as AA canning the DEN-xORD-BOS direct and rerouting me via DFW and forcing a 17 sector ticket). Technically I shouldn't have been able to book CBR-SYD on the AA code without also booking QF11 on the AA code, and I shouldn't have been able to book the LAX-PDX at all.
A few weeks out, AA BNE called me to go over the changes (which I already knew about). Only then did they notice the AS operated flight. After checking with Dallas, they let me keep it as it had gotten through and the ticket issued.

I never tried to make any changes to the first segment. The segments I was trying to change were in fact the last few, involving HEL and CDG, and the first part of the ticket had already been flown.

The ticket picked out above by jerry a. laska is exactly the one I'm talking about. It was issued by AA with only one small hitch, described explicitly there. The problem arose while trying to reroute the last few segments. As it happens, the AA rtw desk people were on my side, saying the ticket should be reissued without change of the base price. They were overruled by tariffs. I wound up simply changing dates and was charged nothing.