JonNYC

Very, very valuable input-- much appreciated!

skba1

Just to further comment on skipaway's experience. I was on the phone with BA reservations earlier today regarding some other booking not possible online, and asked a few questions in regards to this. Appears they are happy to ticket at the UK office with a POS in SA, but would have to go via rate desk [no ....!] and may take some time to ticket.

SNA_Flyer

My strong preference in cases like this is to book online anyway with a basic itinerary (as long as the first flight/carrier is supported by the online booking tool), get it ticketed, then make changes later. The reissue fee, plus potential higher surcharges is a drop in the bucket in the whole scheme of things.

MiamiPrep

I did ticket a BA DONE05 ex-JNB last year that I booked with the online tool & got a confirmation #. I just called BA/USA 800, no surcharges, not sure where you're calling from. But it took several days & call backs from BA to accomplish, well over 1-2 hours on the phone in total

JonNYC

Any updated tips/hints on getting one of these ticketed as painless as possible ex-CPT using the on-line tool and then following up as necessary? Last I played with it, was able to get most of the way through the process if using CX and flying east first, but I'd strongly prefer to fly -> Europe-> Americas instead.

And, assume that starting with/ticketing through QR is still an even bigger challenge?

Any newer hints/tips most appreciated!

Gardyloo

Apparently booking online with the tool with BA as the first carrier is working, but you need to phone (or Skype) the BA office in SA to provide credit card information. See this thread starting around post no. 90 - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...-anyone-6.html

JonNYC

Thanks very much for the reply, wasn't sure if there had ben any movement since then-- thanks!

JonNYC

So, hopefully my final n00b-caliber question , then, with luck, I'll be able to "give back" a bit (like I did-- in spades -- with the ex-CAI ones any years ago!)

I have been put in contact with a JNB-based travel agent who deals exclusively with flight bookings. They seem quite anxious to help but, at first blush, anyway, don't seem to know anything about these tickets-- but, again, seem very anxious to have the business. And, they are referred to me (and vice-versa) by a very solid connection who has vouched for me etc.

SO, I've asked them a series of introductory questions. If all those pan out, and if they are 100% game, could I then set the ticket up via AA RTW desk? Or would I still be better off fumbling/struggling through with the on-line tool in order to get a PNR for them? Obviously, given the choice, I'd love to have the first segments on QR, again, given the choice.

So, any thoughts most appreciated!

wandering_fred

It will be interesting to see what AA's reaction to another TA in JNB. What will the TA be told about CC acceptance? I'll be in JNB shortly... But the price of "regular" tickets on CX is the attraction.

Happy wandering

Fred

JonNYC

Well, in this case, if CC billing was the only issue, I can wire funds (since the TA is a known quantity to me) or even ask my friend to borrow his credit card and reimburse via wire, etc.

As far as if just some random travel agent can ticket one of these, I guess that's a big part of the question.

Gardyloo

I've tried communicating with several South African TAs in the past and have met with silence. One is a multinational TA firm, Flight Centre, that advertises RTW expertise in other countries where they're present, e.g. Canada - http://www.flightcentre.ca/flights/round-the-world - so maybe they would have some means of developing the itinerary and communicating with a South African branch for processing.

The Oneworld Explorer rules have the usual "not valid for autopricing" lines, which seems logical since most xONEx tickets will have both Sabre and Amadeus airlines present, so I expect that whatever agent sells the ticket will themselves have to interact with some airline's tariff department, with unknown outcomes.

I know SAA pays commissions to South African travel agents on *A RTWs (5% I believe) so it could well be a good line of business for some local TA to master. So good luck with your pursuit.

Oh, one thought. Has anybody tried using the online tool to book a ticket with CPT-JNB-DOH (or JNB-CPT-DOH) as the first segments, thereby having BA issue the ticket (which we know is doable) but using QR for the first longhaul flight? It might be burning a segment with low yield, but could be a work-around.

Off topic, but FWIW I've been helping a friend plan a family RTW, and because of their schedules and positioning costs, flying to SA or Egypt for ticket origination was out.

So I priced out DONE4s and *A RTWs ex-Japan for him using the tool, and then on a hunch did the same but originating in YVR (he's on the west coast.) The results were a little surprising; the final cost ex-YVR for a DONE4 was around $1200 more than ex-NRT. Not peanuts, but if one applies even a basic cost metric for FF miles to get to Japan, never mind a purchased ticket, it's not a terrible deal. His itinerary had a lot of Asia targets, so starting in Canada also gets around the two-stopover restriction in Asia. Just a data point, but thought I'd mention it.

skunker

While the bolded section is true, Sabre introduced autopricing of RTW and Circle fares last year for Sky Team and added Star shortly afterwards. Sabre has a designator for oneworld, but for some reason they haven't been able to add autopricing.

For the underline section, I have gone all the way through to purchase and it works fine.

Final thought: You don't need autopricing for a TA to ticket. In theory AA could price and save the fare quote and another TA take it over to issue the ticket.

JonNYC

I'm most definitely interested in doing that-- glad you mentioned it! Any chance you can post or link to the itin doing that that you were successfully able to ticket on-line? In any case thanks for that idea.

And big thanks, gardyloo, for the detailed answers.

So, fair to say, far's we know, no reason the process couldn't be started with AA RTW desk?

skipaway

Yes, it's speculation, but any theories as to why QR refuses to ticket these? Do they just not want to do it? I hung in there for a couple weeks and was put off again and again, although I was never blatantly refused ticketing. Going through BA is OK, but somewhere you're likely going to have to "waste" a segment. And it's not that they're not "on it" at QR--within a couple hours of being ticketed by BA I got an email saying they were giving up since I'd been ticketed. It would be nice if AA or BA would ticket for them as AA does for RJ. Or maybe QR will eventually get around to it if one persists. I've half a notion to try to book a DONE* with QR again beginning when I get back to CPT to complete the current one. That would give them 10-11 months to get all the details sorted.

I googled "opening a bank account in SA" and my first result (so, no, I did NOT research extensively) returned this:
http://answersafrica.com/how-to-open...th-africa.html
Go to the non-resident section. It looks doable. You'll notice you get a debit card and a credit card. That card should work for Mindpearl (unfortunately, drat, without any, let alone double, miles). It doesn't fix the local address problem, and theoretically, you could do this with a current card, but I wonder if having a SA bank account would add weight to one's creds. Maybe there's a SA Flyertalker that would "loan" his address--I'd think that would be a very low risk thing to do. Or rent an AirBnB for the time it takes to ticket. Maybe a Couchsurfer host?
If one person, maybe me, did open an account, would there be a way to buy for others on this board that wouldn't be a financial risk to either party?
Any other thoughts? I'll be in CPT in April and am willing to do some local research if any brilliant ideas. I think JonNYC has the best solution, though; have your friend buy the ticket and reimburse.

skunker

Have you tried starting in WDH? I just priced WDH-JNB-DOH-LAX-JFK-HKG-LHR-DOH-CPT at 74155 NAD ($4,458).