FYI recent experiences booking an ex-CPT DONE5
Feb 25, 2015, 5:49 pm
#31
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
We booked a DONE5 from South Africa early autumn last year and flew to Europe in September.
In November we changed the routing from HEL-LHR-(DXB)-SYD to HEL-HKG-SYD, paid the small taxes and change fee.
Now I changed our flights in Asia (SYD-HKG-... to SYD-NRT-...) and AA wants $2000 + change fee because the ticket was rated as DONE4 instead of DONE5, referring to Cape Town having done the mistake.
The original price was about the same as with the online booking, and I'm 100% sure the base fare was for DONE5. The most logical explanation is that as we had left Africa, it has somehow been changed to DONE4 when we did the change in November.
Any suggestions how to get this solved? I told the AA ATW Desk to send it back to pricing for double checking, hopefully she wrote down my comments, and I'll call Cape Town as soon as they wake up.
Even if they really had made the mistake, the $2000 is more likely the difference between DONE4 and DONE5 in the US as it's only $800 in South Africa.
Also would appricipate if anyone has a memory if the DONE4/5 prices have gone up from ZA since September.
In November we changed the routing from HEL-LHR-(DXB)-SYD to HEL-HKG-SYD, paid the small taxes and change fee.
Now I changed our flights in Asia (SYD-HKG-... to SYD-NRT-...) and AA wants $2000 + change fee because the ticket was rated as DONE4 instead of DONE5, referring to Cape Town having done the mistake.
The original price was about the same as with the online booking, and I'm 100% sure the base fare was for DONE5. The most logical explanation is that as we had left Africa, it has somehow been changed to DONE4 when we did the change in November.
Any suggestions how to get this solved? I told the AA ATW Desk to send it back to pricing for double checking, hopefully she wrote down my comments, and I'll call Cape Town as soon as they wake up.
Even if they really had made the mistake, the $2000 is more likely the difference between DONE4 and DONE5 in the US as it's only $800 in South Africa.
Also would appricipate if anyone has a memory if the DONE4/5 prices have gone up from ZA since September.
No wonder they invented autopricing.
Feb 25, 2015, 9:28 pm
#32
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: PER
Programs: BA Gold, QF Gold, VA Gold, IC Diamond Amb., HH Diamond
Posts: 777
Finished the call, the rating checked it again while I waited and found YQ (740 USD) and YR (421 USD) missing per person. I need to dig to my records from the autumn if I can find anything.
In November when we changed the HEL-LHR-SYD to HEL-HKG-SYD we paid the change fee and some taxes they found missing from the original booking.
Rest of the story was a bit doubtful as there weren't any concrete details, just how she'd like to throw ZA under the bus (although I made the booking the AA desk and it was only ticketed in ZA). They no longer said it was a DONE4 though.. Also still unclear why the total is unreal $4600 (for two).
In November when we changed the HEL-LHR-SYD to HEL-HKG-SYD we paid the change fee and some taxes they found missing from the original booking.
Rest of the story was a bit doubtful as there weren't any concrete details, just how she'd like to throw ZA under the bus (although I made the booking the AA desk and it was only ticketed in ZA). They no longer said it was a DONE4 though.. Also still unclear why the total is unreal $4600 (for two).
The first time I made the change I got a lovely lady at the DFW desk to sort it out for me but with the second change I made she seemed to have less luck.
Basically on both occasions I was told I owed about $1500 AUD.
In the end after several calls to the CPT office I got a great bloke who sorted everything out for me in two hours and got it re-ticketed with the correct YQ. This was after two sectors had been flown.
It definitely sounds like the cost difference is due to the YQ rather than a change in the base fare from DONE4 to DONE5
Last edited by jozdemir; Feb 25, 2015 at 9:45 pm
Feb 25, 2015, 9:41 pm
#33
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Finland
Programs: BA Gold, LH Senator, SPG Gold
Posts: 352
The amount sounds very similar. We have already flow JNB-LHR-HEL-HKG-SYD of the ticket.
Feb 26, 2015, 7:17 am
#34
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Finland
Programs: BA Gold, LH Senator, SPG Gold
Posts: 352
I did a dummy booking on oneworld.com for a similar routing and got 68020 ZAR + 20015 ZAR for the ticket now, which is in the same ballpark as our original ticket in September (the basic fare has increased a bit). Does this sound about right for such a ticket, with all the surcharged included?
Feb 26, 2015, 9:09 am
#35
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SAN
Programs: Lots of faux metal
Posts: 6,425
CPT is now looking into it, should hear back in 24 hours.
I did a dummy booking on oneworld.com for a similar routing and got 68020 ZAR + 20015 ZAR for the ticket now, which is in the same ballpark as our original ticket in September (the basic fare has increased a bit). Does this sound about right for such a ticket, with all the surcharged included?
I did a dummy booking on oneworld.com for a similar routing and got 68020 ZAR + 20015 ZAR for the ticket now, which is in the same ballpark as our original ticket in September (the basic fare has increased a bit). Does this sound about right for such a ticket, with all the surcharged included?
Feb 26, 2015, 11:33 am
#36
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: NYC
Programs: AS MVP Gold, BA Silver, AA Gold, Marriott Titanium, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 1,619
If for any reason the folks in CPT agree that there's some huge amount that needs to be collected for this routing change, do keep in mind that BKK and RGN are really quite close to one another. I recall booking an AirAsia flight between them for very few dollars, with flight time being only about an hour. IIRC the one-way flight cost slightly less than the $50 charged for the online Myanmar evisa...
Feb 27, 2015, 1:24 am
#37
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Finland
Programs: BA Gold, LH Senator, SPG Gold
Posts: 352
Got a voice mail from CPT that the "YQ problem has been fixed in the ticket" and I should call them to pay the ~10000 ZAR (including the change fee) per ticket to have the ticket re-issued.
It's still high but 1/3 of what it was yesterday, so I took the hit and paid (plus the other lady I got when calling CPT didn't sound like she was going to do much help). AA ATW desk said yesterday that both YQ and YR were not paid so perhaps the YQ was fixed but I still paid YR twice. Thank you for jozdemir for his experience, it was the key get this issue on a right track.
That was the idea behind dropping RGN in favour of BKK, we'll get to our real destinations from HKG and BKK easily.
It's still high but 1/3 of what it was yesterday, so I took the hit and paid (plus the other lady I got when calling CPT didn't sound like she was going to do much help). AA ATW desk said yesterday that both YQ and YR were not paid so perhaps the YQ was fixed but I still paid YR twice. Thank you for jozdemir for his experience, it was the key get this issue on a right track.
That was the idea behind dropping RGN in favour of BKK, we'll get to our real destinations from HKG and BKK easily.
Mar 1, 2015, 12:02 am
#38
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: LAX
Posts: 3,639
Got a voice mail from CPT that the "YQ problem has been fixed in the ticket" and I should call them to pay the ~10000 ZAR (including the change fee) per ticket to have the ticket re-issued.
It's still high but 1/3 of what it was yesterday, so I took the hit and paid (plus the other lady I got when calling CPT didn't sound like she was going to do much help). AA ATW desk said yesterday that both YQ and YR were not paid so perhaps the YQ was fixed but I still paid YR twice. Thank you for jozdemir for his experience, it was the key get this issue on a right track.
That was the idea behind dropping RGN in favour of BKK, we'll get to our real destinations from HKG and BKK easily.
It's still high but 1/3 of what it was yesterday, so I took the hit and paid (plus the other lady I got when calling CPT didn't sound like she was going to do much help). AA ATW desk said yesterday that both YQ and YR were not paid so perhaps the YQ was fixed but I still paid YR twice. Thank you for jozdemir for his experience, it was the key get this issue on a right track.
That was the idea behind dropping RGN in favour of BKK, we'll get to our real destinations from HKG and BKK easily.
The problem seems to be the rate desk (who may themselves be stuck with antiquated computers/software/procedures) but all but a few of the ATW desk agents themselves don't recognize a ridiculous pricing error (or have an 'it's not our problem' mentality).
And when a passenger points it out and asks them to double-check with the rate desk, the reply from the rate desk (days later) is "what we said is correct, if you don't like it, stuff it." The whole thing seems extremely unprofessional.
Capetown seems to be able to price correctly, but for many of us the time zone difference makes contacting them a bit more trouble.
If you're traveling on an expense account, don't worry about it. If it's your money and not insignificant, it doesn't take a great deal of effort to price your ticket (assuming that you trust ITA for taxes-and-fees data and e.g. ExpertFlyer for the base fares.)
Mar 1, 2015, 4:47 am
#40
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
I have been bleating on this forum till people are sick of hearing my song, but my recent experience is that AA is now perhaps the most incompetent place to price a OneWorld RTW product.
The problem seems to be the rate desk (who may themselves be stuck with antiquated computers/software/procedures) but all but a few of the ATW desk agents themselves don't recognize a ridiculous pricing error (or have an 'it's not our problem' mentality).
And when a passenger points it out and asks them to double-check with the rate desk, the reply from the rate desk (days later) is "what we said is correct, if you don't like it, stuff it." The whole thing seems extremely unprofessional.
Capetown seems to be able to price correctly, but for many of us the time zone difference makes contacting them a bit more trouble.
If you're traveling on an expense account, don't worry about it. If it's your money and not insignificant, it doesn't take a great deal of effort to price your ticket (assuming that you trust ITA for taxes-and-fees data and e.g. ExpertFlyer for the base fares.)
The problem seems to be the rate desk (who may themselves be stuck with antiquated computers/software/procedures) but all but a few of the ATW desk agents themselves don't recognize a ridiculous pricing error (or have an 'it's not our problem' mentality).
And when a passenger points it out and asks them to double-check with the rate desk, the reply from the rate desk (days later) is "what we said is correct, if you don't like it, stuff it." The whole thing seems extremely unprofessional.
Capetown seems to be able to price correctly, but for many of us the time zone difference makes contacting them a bit more trouble.
If you're traveling on an expense account, don't worry about it. If it's your money and not insignificant, it doesn't take a great deal of effort to price your ticket (assuming that you trust ITA for taxes-and-fees data and e.g. ExpertFlyer for the base fares.)
Whom do you advise for oneworld ticket purchasing?
Mar 2, 2015, 11:48 pm
#41
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Finland
Programs: BA Gold, LH Senator, SPG Gold
Posts: 352
I have been bleating on this forum till people are sick of hearing my song, but my recent experience is that AA is now perhaps the most incompetent place to price a OneWorld RTW product.
...
Capetown seems to be able to price correctly, but for many of us the time zone difference makes contacting them a bit more trouble.
...
Capetown seems to be able to price correctly, but for many of us the time zone difference makes contacting them a bit more trouble.
I have to agree with your point of view, it took three times with AA to get a person that didn't think the $2300 fee was correct. She didn't provide a fix but at least was kind enough to figure out why they thought so and said that the fee we paid for a route change in November was more what it should be.
Last edited by ojala; Mar 4, 2015 at 7:34 pm
Mar 17, 2015, 5:13 pm
#42
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Cayman, San Diego, London
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold, AA 4MM Lifetime Platinum, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Amb, Bonvoy Lifetime Gold
Posts: 1,054
It might be of interest that BA of all airlines have made the process of booking RTWs ex-CPT a relatively simple process. Rather than using AA/Mindpearl, etc I decided to see if phoning the BA Gold line would produce better results.
The answer is a definite "yes". I was told that they are closing the South African BA desk and that Newcastle or Manchester are dealing with RTW requests. Since the first and last legs of my next AONE4 are on BA I decided to give them a try. I phoned the US BA Gold desk and was automatically re-routed to the UK BA Gold desk. The agent was located in Newcastle and explained that they could handle everything as if I was speaking to BA in Cape Town.
They did just this. Rather than waste time on the phone, I sent a pdf file of a dummy booking I'd made on the OW site, and, since it doesn't appear possible to choose code shares on OW, I annotated the booking with the code shares I wished to use (e.g. BA SAN-ORD on AA; AA ORD-HKG on CX). Bingo. The reservation was priced within 24 hours and confirmed in writing.
All very painless. I could probably have saved a few pennies on fuel fines by using the RTW AA desk + Mindpearl, but, since the Canadian exception which I'd always previously used is no longer a possibility, it seemed like a good compromise AND convenient.
The answer is a definite "yes". I was told that they are closing the South African BA desk and that Newcastle or Manchester are dealing with RTW requests. Since the first and last legs of my next AONE4 are on BA I decided to give them a try. I phoned the US BA Gold desk and was automatically re-routed to the UK BA Gold desk. The agent was located in Newcastle and explained that they could handle everything as if I was speaking to BA in Cape Town.
They did just this. Rather than waste time on the phone, I sent a pdf file of a dummy booking I'd made on the OW site, and, since it doesn't appear possible to choose code shares on OW, I annotated the booking with the code shares I wished to use (e.g. BA SAN-ORD on AA; AA ORD-HKG on CX). Bingo. The reservation was priced within 24 hours and confirmed in writing.
All very painless. I could probably have saved a few pennies on fuel fines by using the RTW AA desk + Mindpearl, but, since the Canadian exception which I'd always previously used is no longer a possibility, it seemed like a good compromise AND convenient.
Mar 17, 2015, 5:46 pm
#43
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: AA (EP), Hilton (Diamond), Marriott Bonvoy (Titanium)
Posts: 8,937
Glad to hear it was so easy. I suspect the fuel fines BA charged that AA wouldn't have charged would be more like a few thousand dollars, but I could see how someone with ample resources could consider that "pennies."
Mar 18, 2015, 9:34 am
#44
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
It might be of interest that BA of all airlines have made the process of booking RTWs ex-CPT a relatively simple process. Rather than using AA/Mindpearl, etc I decided to see if phoning the BA Gold line would produce better results.
The answer is a definite "yes". I was told that they are closing the South African BA desk and that Newcastle or Manchester are dealing with RTW requests. Since the first and last legs of my next AONE4 are on BA I decided to give them a try. I phoned the US BA Gold desk and was automatically re-routed to the UK BA Gold desk. The agent was located in Newcastle and explained that they could handle everything as if I was speaking to BA in Cape Town.
They did just this. Rather than waste time on the phone, I sent a pdf file of a dummy booking I'd made on the OW site, and, since it doesn't appear possible to choose code shares on OW, I annotated the booking with the code shares I wished to use (e.g. BA SAN-ORD on AA; AA ORD-HKG on CX). Bingo. The reservation was priced within 24 hours and confirmed in writing.
All very painless. I could probably have saved a few pennies on fuel fines by using the RTW AA desk + Mindpearl, but, since the Canadian exception which I'd always previously used is no longer a possibility, it seemed like a good compromise AND convenient.
The answer is a definite "yes". I was told that they are closing the South African BA desk and that Newcastle or Manchester are dealing with RTW requests. Since the first and last legs of my next AONE4 are on BA I decided to give them a try. I phoned the US BA Gold desk and was automatically re-routed to the UK BA Gold desk. The agent was located in Newcastle and explained that they could handle everything as if I was speaking to BA in Cape Town.
They did just this. Rather than waste time on the phone, I sent a pdf file of a dummy booking I'd made on the OW site, and, since it doesn't appear possible to choose code shares on OW, I annotated the booking with the code shares I wished to use (e.g. BA SAN-ORD on AA; AA ORD-HKG on CX). Bingo. The reservation was priced within 24 hours and confirmed in writing.
All very painless. I could probably have saved a few pennies on fuel fines by using the RTW AA desk + Mindpearl, but, since the Canadian exception which I'd always previously used is no longer a possibility, it seemed like a good compromise AND convenient.
But is that the case? Does Full Score have a true breakdown of the taxes and fees?
Mar 19, 2015, 7:57 am
#45
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: LAX
Posts: 3,639
I don't do rtw's as much as I used to so am a fairly unreliable source, but it does seem to me that a lot of 'fact' has become 'urban legend'. No one admits to doing the comparison but readily agrees that BA is especially guilty of abusing the YQ fee, but I believe you'll find most major OW carriers charge either YQ or YR on long-haul international routes.