One option might be to call your credit card company and add a South Africa hotel (e.g., the one you will stay at) as a second billing address. As a second address, bills won't be sent there, but it can make the card seem to be a S.A. based one.

Yes, I tried
- nearly a year ago now
- it was a total failure
- see the first post in this thread - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...cpt-done5.html

Phileas (or others with recent experience) can you confirm the number you called? The last time I booked a DONE4 I called the number listed on AA's website here:

http://www.aa.com/i18n/aboutUs/where...outhAfrica.jsp

At that time (January 2014) the above link had the number (+27 21 4406440) and clearly indicated that it was Mindpearl. When I called, they answered "American Airlines".

Now, that same link has a different number (+27 011-844-6067) and it does not say anything about Mindpearl; it simply says "Reservations". I just called now and it answers with a recording "American Airlines"; unfortunately it's after business hours so I didn't get a chance to talk to anyone today.

Finally, when I go to Mindpearl's website (https://www.mindpearl.com/contact-us/) I see the number for their CPT office as (+27 21 440 6735).

Unfortunately, I am away from home, so I cannot give you the exact number I called, but I am pretty sure that I used the new number displayed on AA website and not the one on Mindpearl website. Furthermore, and this might actually explain the situation, now that you mention it, none of the agents I talked to ever mentioned Mindpearl, they always identified themselves as the local AA representatives. I only assumed they were working for Mindpearl because of what I read on FT.

This being said, I completed my DONE4 booking this morning with BA in JNB and I must say that they have been very helpful. The only issue I had was the delay to get an updated price whenever I changed part of the itinerary (typically 2 days) during the preparation phase. But at some point, a SA BA agent took charge of my booking and he called me at different places where I was travelling every time he got new information and was also in touch by email, so that I did not have to start all over again with a new agent every time.

Can you post the BA JNB information you have? Contact numbers and/or names of the most helpful agents? Also, do you happen to know their hours? Standard 9-5pm JNB time?

Is there an agent in Jo'burg that will do CX based xONEx tickets?

Thanks for wandering


Fred

What country for billing address on CC you paid with? Can you provide any BA phone numbers and/or specific agents you found helpful?

My experience with AA and Mindpearl went the same as yours. I first tried "Reservations: +27 011-844-6067" as listed on AA's website and was quoted the rule that payment billing address MUST match country of origin or re-pricing was required. I then tried Mindpearl as listed on their website (+27 21 440 6735)... I was transferred twice in order to get to the right person. Although I don't KNOW for sure, I'm guessing it was actually routed back to the exact same office as the first number. I got a person who referred to himself as "the RTW guy" and he mentioned the frustration with the change in the rule/intepretation. He re-priced my ticket from $11,056 DONE4 for 2 people to $11,824 DONE4 for EACH person. Obviously I canceled.

I'm going to try to re-start with BA. Hopefully a smooth-ish experience like Phileas has mentioned. I'll report back.

Phileas - just be aware that posting individual's names, phone numbers and the like is against FlyerTalk rules:cphurley - you can find the BA JNB phone number on the ba.com web site, just change your country to Sth Africa and then go the Contacts page

FYI - in January I paid for my DONE5 through the BA JNB office using my Australian C/C

And this was all over the phone?

I paid using my Australian mobile phone, I used the online tool to set up the itinerary - see the first post in this thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...cpt-done5.html

Thank you. I wasn't actually sure it was ok, but TBH, I was in touch with several agents at the JNB office and all seemed quite familiar with booking RTW itineraries. cphurley, I will PM you the information.

I proceeded in the following way to put the itinerary together:

- I started with the online tool in order to build a sequence as close as possible to what I wanted to fly given the limitations of the online booking tool. For instance, I selected SYD-AKL-SYD segments on LAN, even though my destination was CHC, as the trans-Tasman QF flights do now show up. The number to call appeared on BA website with the itinerary details.

- This provided me with a record locator; then, I called the BA US number to make the changes I was not able to make online. This was pretty straightforward even though the agents were not familiar with RTW bookings. They just typed in what I told them to and validated the itinerary. I asked them to send it for pricing.

- Last, I called in JNB to make minor changes and get it repriced. Once I was happy with the itinerary, I emailed the agent who took charge of my booking to agree on a time for him to call me, which he did to get my CC information.

Depending on your time zone, you can probably skip the second step and call directly in SA.

Thanks everybody for the quick feedback, I'll proceed accordingly. For some reason, I get an error when I click through on the tool, so I never got as far as having the BA locator, which would save me having to run through each sector again on the phone. Other than not having QR on first flight and the lack of Australia/NZ flights showing up, are any of the segments below generally a problem with the online tool?

JNB-CPT-LHR-ZRH-NYC-ORD-EGE-ORD-MIA-ORD-PEK-CMB-KUL-REP-HKG-JNB

JNB-CPT-LHR-ZRH on BA (British)
ZRH-NYC-ORD-EGE-ORD-MIA-ORD-PEK on AA (American)
PEK-CMB-KUL on UL (Sri Lankan)
CMB-KUL-REP on MH (Malaysia)
REP-HKG on KA (Dragonair)
HKG-JNB on CX (Cathay)

Your itinerary looks fine to me - except that you're using only 15 of the allowed 16 segments!

I have been using the tool to play with an itinerary I'm thinking of for next year (starting with CPT-LHR on BA)

I'm finding that if I specify business class then I get an error when pricing it. But if I change to either First or Economy then it prices OK
If the same happens for you, then I guess you could go through to getting the BA record locator with either First or Economy and when you phone BA get it changed to Business

However, in my experience of setting up an itinerary on the phone (both times it was with the AA RTW desk) it only took 10mins or so to get it done.

I called and setup my itinerary with BA US desk yesterday; I'm awaiting pricing but my agent was reasonably knowledgeable on the around the world ticket. The ticket is only on hold for 2 days so I'm hoping to get pricing back and purchase today.

Has anyone setup and booked with BA.com but then changed FF number to AA for either the entire RTW itinerary OR individual flights?

Not with an xONEx ticket but I've certainly booked other tickets on BA.com and had no issues setting / changing the FF details. I can't see it being an issue.