Update: I had to run through the online tool again and get a new PNR, as expected the previous one expired. When I asked about it this morning with BA JNB they said they didn't have the CVV for my credit card (not sure why, I certainly provided it).

Anyway, I told the agent about my previous issues and said I wanted him to process the payment while I was on the phone, rather than just taking my CC info and then telling me it will get processed in 24hrs. It looks like it was successful, I see the charge on my credit card. I don't believe the reservation is ticketed quite yet but the payment is clearly processed.

Update: My reservation (although I can see a PENDING transaction on my credit card), is still NOT ticketed and now several legs have dropped from the reservation when I view it on BA.com. This is exactly what happened to my prior reservation. I do not understand why BA did not ticket this reservation and I'll have to wait until 9am JNB time to call and try to work it out.

I've now been trying to get this itinerary ticketed with BA for several weeks. Very disappointed with BA's service on the RTW product. REALLY missing the AA ex-JNB route.

Someone upthread said he or she was able to obtain the email address of a BA agent in South Africa, who then handled the transaction by email. This might be an option for when you next call.

I may try the route of adding a South African address to my CC as a second billing address, and see if that will let me ticket with AA in S.A.

Update: TICKETED!^

So, while this process did NOT go smoothly, I now have my ticket numbers and the reservation I can view on BA.com or checkmytrip.com have all segments and are accurate.

It took another few phone calls for a combined 90 minutes to get it done. I'm not sure if my experience is an anomaly but it was quite painful to go from itinerary to ticketed. In all, it took about 3 weeks, 3 different PNR, providing credit card info twice, and about a dozen of follow-up calls before I was finally ticketed this morning. Then it took another phone call to get that ticket voided (Sri Lankan had canceled their legs before BA ticketed it); get the Sri Lankan tickets added back, and re-ticketed.

I hope things go smoother in the future if/when I need to make changes that require re-ticketing, but I'm not optimistic. I'll have to prepare myself and try to get any changes made well in advance of travel. I'm just relieved to be ticketed.

Good luck to anyone else working on ex-JNB DONEs.

How much did the price change while you waited all this time? Currency exchange values and base fare varied?

The base fare and taxes/fees stayed the same through the entire process, as the itinerary I was trying to book really did not change at all.

I got lucky to the tune of about 1.5% by favorable move int he USDZAR exchange rate.

So going back to Mindpearl and them not ticketing with payment by non-SA based cards: This thread is 7 pages and I think there is only 1 reliable report of them not ticketing. Has anybody else from outside South Africa tried to ticket with Mindpearl recently?

There are 2 distinct accounts of not ticketing, one from Phileas (early Nov 2015) and one from me (mid/late Nov 2015). I'd be happy to share any more details. I spoke to several people including one who referred to himself as "the RTW guy"; he absolutely knew the exact rules and details and lamented the change in AA's behavior regarding non-SA based credit cards.

It's been reported elsewhere to be easy to add a second billing address to a credit card (e.g., a hotel one stays at). No bills are ever sent.

Does that actually work though?

Also interested in if it worked to add a SA billing address as a second address on a non SA card.

Another option that may work for some is to ask a friendly SA local to pay for you and reimburse them. That clearly requires a fair amount of trust given the sums involved.

In my case, I'd want to pay with own AA-affiliated card so as to earn double miles on the purchase price.

I'm just speculating, but I wonder if Mindpearl's position reflects the fact that transactions with foreign credit cards take longer to clear/settle than those with local cards, thereby exposing Mindpearl and AA to forex risk. With the USD/ZAR exchange rates so volatile, this might be an issue.

I noted this over two years ago. AA had a policy change, maybe they are just starting to enforce it.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/21889027-post297.html

Anyone had any successes booking ex-South Africa explorer tickets?

With Mindpearl out of the question, I am thinking of getting CX to issue my ticket (CX is the first carrier). Any other suggestion (in case I need to do the other way around where CX is not the first carrier - they are a bit stingy about this as it seems like).