Another DONEx originating CPT query
 

I'd like to do another RTW starting in CPT. I've gone over the threads, did not understand AT ALL rule 3.2.1. I googled it and, lo and behold, was referred to a FT thread from 2 years ago. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...e-sheet-6.html around page 6-9 (thanks Pandaperth)
That really helped and I felt better regarding my inability to wrap my mind around what they meant--was it Moomba who said "I'm totally confused"? As I understand it,the rule is similar to the one transcon rule for NA; Heaven forbid you should rack up too many miles. I also searched Gardyloos other posts and the one in the Premium Fares thread (MR forum) was quite helpful. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premi...us-4271-a.html

Another concern is the Mindpearl situation. Any recent good news there? Is it still realistic to count on being able to purchase at CPT fare? :confused:

I am going to a meeting in CPT in April, probably on an award ticket and returning on the RTW ticket. Could I purchase the RTW when I arrive from a travel agent there? Has anyone done this? That would be nerve wracking as I envision myself stuck in Capetown (I am employed full time) so I'd like to have ticket in hand before leaving US (or available for pickup in CPT as I did with my first RTW from WAW). Are there travel agents (non airline) in the US who are skilled with obtaining the city of departure fares?

My main goal is to see the world, and, secondarily, to maximize miles and qualify for EXP. Looks like this will still be doable even though EQP are history. I am doing the PLT challenge so will be PLT for 2016 if no more snafus on my flights. And I should be less than 50 K miles from lifetime PLT by year's end. So this trip should clinch it, if the lifetime program is not axed in the meantime. I have waaay too many banked miles, and plan to break up my trip so I'm not gone from work for one extended period. Are there any award booker types that handle mixed award/revenue travel? Or, although it seems more reasonable to travel west, I've thought of going CPT-*-NRT and starting a second RTW from there to facilitate the work burden. I'm sure I'll seek specific advice re optimization once I learn whether originating in another continent is still doable.

Update: I've played around with the oneworld booking tool. it didn't like using QR as initial flight. However, it was pretty easy to change to CPT-LHR and I have a price of $US5771,56. I see in the oneworld how-tos that you have to contact Qatar directly to book if they are the initial carrier. Would this likely result in significant savings? I'm pretty happy with the price now, but wouldn't mind saving. I also hear QR is a "5 star" airline and I wanted to spend some time flying it.
Has anyone booked directly with QR? Is it truly a superior experience?
And, most importantly, if I proceed to booking, will I be able to purchase this fare? If I leave it for,say, 24 hours, will it time out?

CPT-LHR-BUD-LHR-LAX-DFW-ANC-DFW-SJU-JFK-HKG-CMB-NRT-CGK-HKG-DOH-CPT

Booking South Africa / Mindpearl Situation
 

What's the deal? Can we no longer ticket in South Africa????

From personal experience and reading other threads in this forum, it appears that AA in South Africa / Mindpearl will no longer allow booking originating in South Africa at the South Africa rate unless you have a South African based credit card to pay.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...-anyone-3.html

Any knowledge of their "walk-up" policies? VISA/MC/AMEX might have something to say if their cards were actually presented and refused...

Given the "ordinary" fares exJNB are quite reasonable, it might be worth a full visit to set up the xONEx. At least from Australia/SE Asia.

Happy wandering

Fred

South Africa Ticket Agent
 

Shame we can't find a South African travel agent to ticket it.

Why is this invalid, if it is?
 

I doubt they'd refuse your card, but sounds like they'd price it from your home country. I also recall in one of the several threads that someone did show up and couldn't get past the first desk.
I'm kinda stymied for now. Gardyloo posted over on the Premium Fares thread (Mileage running forum) about pricing a DONE4 out of JNB, avoiding BA and their fees. How that was accomplished, I know not, and I don't think it was actually purchased. It's a nice trip, and I'd go that way, but want to meet friends in Budapest after my meeting. I finally called Qatar today since they don't play on the oneworld tool. They told me to submit my route to [email protected]. He spelled it out phonetically, oscar, november, echo, whiskey....Still, didn't work, returned undelivered. I have another addy, and if it doesn't work, I guess I'll call again and read it off over the phone.

I'm planning to submit this:
CPT-DOH-BUD-LHR-DOH-LAX-JFK-DFW-ANC-DFW-JFK-HGK-KTM-KUL-MLE-HKG-JNB
But Mileage Monkey says it's invalid. :confused: Probably something obvious. I need to take up a simpler hobby, like quantum physics.

Good luck with getting it issued by Qatar (have you read the first post in this thread? - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...cpt-done5.html)

Mileage Monkey only flags one error - your DOH-LAX flight; that is fair enough because that flight has not yet commenced
CPT-DOH-BUD-LHR-DOH-LAX-JFK-DFW-ANC-DFW-JFK-HGK-KTM-KUL-MLE-HKG-JNB
(tick the "Ignore Errors" box to get error information in Mileage Monkey)

Have you tried pricing your itinerary in the on-line tool with CPT-LHR as the first flight? This will give you a benchmark against which to measure the price QR (or AA) comes up with

Yes!! I did read it months ago, and have been searching for that post. All I could remember was there was some trouble with QR. I bet I used 20 search terms on FT and on Google to no avail. It's worse even than I recall, and my experience so far parallels yours. My second attempt has apparently been delivered at least.

I did use the oneworld interactive tool through to pricing: CPT-LHR-xxx-CPT About US$5770. I obviously didn't book it, and wonder if they'll just let me pay or if there will be a problem with the country of sale issue should I decide to just cough up the extra grand it will likely cost to use BA as ticketing airline. Still a fantastic deal, imho.

Maybe I'll head over to the forums on Tripadvisor or Fodor's and see if I can get a recommendation for a good travel agent in Capetown. That sounds like an idea worth pursuing.

Thanks for the MM tip--I wondered what got their panties in a wad. QR does show that flight on their route map already.

Since I'm going to a meeting in Capetown, I contacted the event company and asked for the name of the agency doing the travel and tour arrangements. I haven't heard back yet. If I do, I'll contact the agency about ticketing the RTW. If I don't, I'll keep trying to find an agent, or add CPT-JNB and call BA. I feel a case of expatitis coming on. Airbnb Capetown?

I did hear back from Qatar, fascinating in the way totally left field responses can be. It's posted in the second thread below, #108, page 8.

For those interested, here are some recent threads on the subject:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...-question.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...cpt-done5.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...ct-anyone.html

Curiouser and curiouser
 

In the thread re recent mindpearl contact, cphurley hasn't said whether he ever got ticketed. I had a valid trip with QR as initial carrier, but you have to contact them to ticket. When I did, they told me you absolutely cannot touch a continent twice, ever. I sent them the rules and the valid trip per ow. I am still waiting to hear from Qatar's reconsideration agent after their saying they'd get back to me in 24-48 hours. Somehow I doubt it's the Thanksgiving holiday slowing them down; I get the feeling they just don't want to ticket any of these fares.
So I went back to the online tool, and as suggested, changed my first flight to CPT-JNB to see if BA would ticket. I got an error message, not "call the local office to ticket", no PNR, just "choose new flights or new fare". So I did change up a little thinking maybe MLE-HKG was the problem (no direct flight). Same message from the oneworld tool.

So today I hear from, of all places, Award Wallet that I have a new itinerary. (No word from Tripit). There is a pnr attached. I searched my email and have no correspondence from BA or QR. The itin has all flight numbers removed but is the original itinerary I tried to price with the ow tool on Nov 25 with CPT-DOH as first flight. I suppose it's expired? Anyone have an idea where this came from, how Award Wallet got the news?
My plan is to email QR with PNR and ask to pay. Will report.....

Payment processed by BA JNB office, not ticketed just yet but expecting it should be shortly. See Mindpearl thread for more detail.

Shocker!
 

Congratulations! Glad to hear this.

Well, I emailed the second QR agent I'd dealt with back on the 25th, and almost instantly got a response from a new person. She said they had sent me an email on the 26th. I have again searched my inbox, trash, spam and can't locate it. But the fact that Award Wallet has it means they must have sent it. Anyway, they want specific flights and dates! Of course, not so simple since I want to change cities (not go to LHR). The original itinerary was CPT-DOH-Europe-NA-Asia-HKG-CPT. They didn't want to ticket it because backtracking is never permitted. Now I DO want to "backtrack" as allowed in rule 3.2.2. (HKG-DOH-CPT) I did tell them if they felt they couldn't ticket the new itinerary without further ado, to just go ahead and process the one they did approve. They wanted to know if I wanted my HKG stop to be on the inbound or outbound leg. :confused:
I still don't know why I couldn't ticket with BA, and I don't have a price from QR yet.
Anyway, fingers crossed that I will soon be joining cphurley as a ticketed pax.

Further developments trying to book CPT DONE4
 

Still no joy from Qatar. They responded with a suggested itinerary, complete with flights and dates, (they had changed from my specified route by replacing a third HKG transit with CMB). I agreed and asked for fare and payment instructions. They said (several times now) they're working on getting it priced and booked. They say the latest road block is the DFW-ANC-DFW flight number which is the same both ways. This makes it seem to violate the rule that you can't fly the same city pair the same way more than once. Haven't heard anything now for two days.

As suggested by pandaperth, I changed my booking tool entry slightly with first flight CPT-JNB:
(CPT-JNB-DOH-BUD-DOH-LAX-DFW-ANC-DFW-JFK-HKG-KTM-KUL-ICN-HKG-DOH-CPT)
After getting the "itinerary complete, proceed to book flights" message, and booking all flights in the booking tool, I was met with an error message that I needed to pick different flight or fare. They did not specify the problem. So, again as suggested, I tried it in L and A. Got same message. I tried deleting the DFW-ANC-DFW to see if they had the same issue as Qatar, but still didn't work. I tried several permutations of the Asia flights to no avail. However, when I replaced the CPT-JNB-DOH with CPT-LHR, I did get an ok and instructions to call BA in JNB to book. IIRC, they priced it at 78KZAR about 24 hours ago.
Any thoughts as to what the problem might be with the initial itinerary?
My plan is to contact Qatar once more to see what they say next. If no luck, guess I'll go with the flights through London.

It's obviously going in different directions!

BA systems definitely have a similar issue although it didn't keep me from booking. My itinerary includes ORD-EGE-ORD which are both flight AA 2185. Every email I have received from BA, including my initial confirmation with ticket numbers incorrectly states that I am going ORD-EGE, ORD-EGE.

When I pull the itinerary up on BA.com, the correct direction shows... so the same flight number probably messes things up here and there for various partner airlines.

I've encountered the same AA flight number for 2 flight segments on the same day problem in the past. IIRC AA's GDS was fine with it so the ticketing airline changed one of the flights to a different flight number on the same route to force the validation. Fortunately the route was one with multiple flights on the same day.

Feel slightly funny asking such a n00b question since, at least in principal-- I'm no OneWorld explorer n00b, have done quite a few of them in the past.

However, I've really, really fallen out with the various rules, I'm very much in catch-up mode.

One question is this; I see many people struggling getting ticketed ex-JNB/CPT, seemingly-- and I'm reading up all the latest posts on who's succeeded an how. Is trying to use Qatar for the first flight the biggest issue? Or just as problematic using BA?

And, the main question; when i used to do these, we'd go in with a routing and dates, but, almost always completely remake same one back in the U.S. using AA's ATW desk-- so all but the first flights were little more than placeholders, in essence (with the direction of travel established, needless to say.)

Is this no longer possible with these ex-JNB/CPT itins? I see people having huge struggles getting certain transits and routings approved, so, I tend to assume it's, for some reason(s) not as easy as it used to be in this context?

Thanks in advance!

Based upon a few reports here, AA is currently restricting payment for ex-South Africa xonex tickets to credit cards with a South Africa billing address. The AA RTW desk also seems to be enforcing (by leaving notes in bookings) this new AA imposed restriction. Hence, some are now using BA to issue these tickets.

The xonex rules now also include special restrictions for travel including Africa. Individual airlines seem to be interpreting these rules differently. Have a look at Rule 4(e):
https://www.oneworld.com/documents/1...9-d346ec820edf

The online tool is buggy and some are able to make it work and others cannot. If you keep the routing simple (and you do not try to start with QR) it may be possible to book online. You can still amend the ticket later.

Sad to say that the days of the ~$3000 AONE6s with 30+ segments that you used to purchase are long gone.

Thanks, thanks and thanks! That was actually gonna be my 3rd question; -is- one can get the on-line tool to book-- and keep it super simple whist doing so-- -it- it actually possible to ticket in that way at the current ex-JNB/CPT exchange-rate-impacted prices? I'd certainly -prefer- to fly QR than BA, but, if it's the difference between a ton of aggravation vs. not, can easily make the adjustment.

Is it the case that the ticket can then easily be entirely reworked by AA ATW desk as it used to be-- or is there some limitation and/or difficulty now in doing that. (Aside from Sara Mills not being there any more!)

Is that to say that if one -did- have a South African friend that was more than happy to use their credit card for payment, problem is instantly solved and one could us AA ATW desk?

:) Mine were more like $4000 a piece-- now I feel ripped off :D

Following up on JonNYC's question, why not book a simple DONEx using CX as the 1st carrier using the online tool? Fly the 1st segment, then redo the itinerary as you want it. Or is there a problem with CX and the online tool?
If one only wants AFRICA-ASIA-USA-EUROPE-AFRICA routing, then all of those restrictions related to travel between Europe and Middle East do not apply. Except the 2 flights ex-UK. Correct?

I don't think there's any new reason this is more difficult than it used to be. The the one time I had a RTW fare booked by someone else and reworked by the AA RTW desk, the only problem was that the Sabre PNR didn't have all the flights (since the original booking agent didn't use Sabre), so the AA agent had to long sell them based on what was in the ticket coupons, and one of the AA RTW supervisors objected to that.

Yes, although the friend might have to call AA S.A. on your behalf. Personally, I was going to try having my credit card company add my usual South African hotel as a second billing address, and see if that works.


I never got any at even that price.

Would be curious as to the answer to both of these questions as well.

I gather a large part of this is people-- quite understandably-- very much wanting to fly QR out of Africa as opposed to BA or CX?

This is definitely my main question-- and thanks very much for your input-- is there anything I'm "missing" in this in terms of, using headinclouds' example; fly Africa-Asia-N.america, land in US, have AA RTW completely rework the remainder of the ticket? I -feel- like there's some trepidation in the threads I've been reading through, or maybe it's simply a desire to not deal with re-issues down the line. But I always found them kind of "fun" believe it or not. :)

That would be very easy as well. Although noting strikes me as quite as easy as using the on-line tool-- even given all it's limitations, etc.

The Sabre PNR still might not have all the post-AA flights, and it could potentially be an issue with AA not being able to see the original PNR. But none of that is new, and in my experience the AA RTW desk has been very helpful in reworking partly-flown RTWs. So, I don't see any reason not to try it. In the absolute worst case, the AA RTW desk is unable/unwilling to help, so you fall back on Plan B and have the original ticketing carrier make the changes.


For sure.

The perception has been that using the tool with BA as the first carrier, versus having Mindpearl do the ticketing on AA's behalf, resulted in significantly higher YQ on the overall ticket. AA passes through BA YQ on the BA segments, but BA adds YQ to non-BA segments more than AA does. QR is perceived as also having lower YQ than BA.

We don't, however have any real accounting on the total difference in cost brought on by these variables, i.e. does the use of Mindpearl/AA vs. the online tool/BA vs AA RTW queuing the PNR to Mindpearl, etc. etc... really make a giant difference, especially considering the pain and suffering involved at present.

On dummy itineraries using the tool that start with CX JNB-HKG i.e. west-to-east RTWs, the YQ difference with, say, DONE4s that start with JNB/CPT-LHR (i.e. east-to-west) seems to be a couple hundred bucks if you keep the BA segments to a minimum. But not everyone wants to start with JNB-HKG, or even go to Asia at all (I prefer JNB-SYD or v.v.) so using CX isn't always an option.

A big problem is that the AA RTW desk is a lot more hit-or-miss than before. Sara left a huge gap, sad to say. Then add Mindpearl's apparent reluctance to process non-SA credit cards and AA is less reliable for SA-originating tickets overall.

I suspect that Mindpearl would still accept wire transfers and don't know if anyone has tried that. I've also tried to find a TA in Joburg or Cape Town who could do the ticketing, but so far haven't located anybody.

Ha! Nicely put!

Yeah, well, that part of it (the additional YQ) if we're talking a few hundred $$ one way or the other, I'd just assume not pull my hair out with someone that genuinely doesn't want to sell me a ticket or 2.

Yeah, I've all but ruled out using Mindpearl for this, for my $$, not worth the hassle. And the Sara thing, yeah, my memories of AA ATW are undoubtedly influenced by her amazingness.

I'm frantically burning down my list of CPT travel contacts in hopes of same myself!

BTW, you mention the good point of QF's JNB-SYD service (a flight I've taken many times.) Any known reason that flight can't be the first using the on-line tool or otherwise?

There are several agents who know their stuff. If you're talking to one who doesn't (and there are definitely one or two like that), just politely hang up, call back, and ask for one of them.

I mentioned my plan which is to add a S.A. hotel as a second billing address to my credit card. No one mentioned it, so I'm not sure if people think this won't work, don't want to try, or didn't notice it.

This has been my first flight the last few ex-JNB DONEx trips. Only downside is that it's QF old J, which isn't especially nice.

Just call and say that you are the friend (but make sure that you have all of the credit card info). IME they no longer require a scan/fax of the credit card and passport.

and high YQ if ticketing through QF.

Affecting only that first segment or impacting the entire itinerary?

And, if one has a person with a S.African credit card willing to do the transaction does that solve some/most of the issues being experienced, generally speaking?

Thanks again for all the helpful replies! Really appreciate it!

I wouldn't be surprised if QRs fees weren't as exhorbitant as BA's. I wonder if we will ever know. On Dec 8 I got this message from QR,probably the 5th or so in a series:
As soon as we obtain clear information from AA oneworld helpdesk we shall revert to you.
Thank you for your patience in the interim.
Best regards,

Having had no response in the ensuing week, I emailed last night that in the interest of "Going Places Together" (their new brand)I'd love to get ticketed.


Anabolism, I missed you on the multiquote, but regarding the billing address question, do you think that when you fill in the billing address at payment time, if it's a SA address on a NA or Aus, etc bank, it would be allowed? If you pay online, and especially if you're enrolled in paperless statements, your billing address shouldn't matter. And, of course, you'd change back once completed

Yeah, speaking for myself, personally, that's the kind of situation I'd definitely be willing to pay more to avoid-- endless back-and-forth emails with someone(s) who don't decidedly know how to just get it done. Appreciate the detail on that!

1 data point regarding the online booking engine that uses CX as the 1st flight.
 

Routing: Johannesburg - Hong Kong - Los Angeles - New York - London - Cape Town

September 11th Security Fee 162.00 ZAR
South Africa Passenger Safety Charge 18.72 ZAR
UK Air Passenger Duty 3,089.00 ZAR
Hong Kong Air Passenger Departure Tax 223.00 ZAR
UK Passenger Service Charge 906.00 ZAR
UMSE 24.00 ZAR
U.S. International Transportation Tax - Departure 255.00 ZAR
International Arrival Transportation Tax (USA) 255.00 ZAR
Air Passenger Tax for South Africa 190.00 ZAR
U.S. Animal and Plant Inspection Service Fee 72.00 ZAR
Passenger Facility Charges 65.00 ZAR
Immigration and Naturalization Service Fee 101.00 ZAR
U.S. Customs Fee 79.00 ZAR
Airline Insurance Surcharge 6,102.00 ZAR
Multiple Carrier Surcharges/Fees 414.00 ZAR
Passenger Service Charge for South Africa 346.00 ZAR

Total Taxes and Carrier Surcharges/Fees: 12,301.72 ZAR
_________________________________________________
Johannesburg - Hong Kong - Los Angeles - New York - London - Doha - Paris
Doha - London - Cape Town

September 11th Security Fee 162.00 ZAR
South Africa Passenger Safety Charge 18.72 ZAR
Aviation Civile Tax 124.00 ZAR
French Airport Tax 199.00 ZAR
UK Air Passenger Duty 3,089.00 ZAR
Hong Kong Air Passenger Departure Tax 223.00 ZAR
French Airport Solidarity Tax 704.00 ZAR
PZSE 124.00 ZAR
QAAP 316.00 ZAR
Passenger Service Charge for France 455.00 ZAR
UK Passenger Service Charge 1,588.00 ZAR
UMSE 24.00 ZAR
U.S. International Transportation Tax - Departure255.00 ZAR
International Arrival Transportation Tax (USA) 255.00 ZAR
Air Passenger Tax for South Africa 190.00 ZAR
U.S. Animal and Plant Inspection Service Fee 72.00 ZAR
Passenger Facility Charges 65.00 ZAR
Immigration and Naturalization Service Fee 101.00 ZAR
U.S. Customs Fee 79.00 ZAR
Carrier Surcharge/Fee 5,756.00 ZAR
Airline Insurance Surcharge 6,102.00 ZAR
Multiple Carrier Surcharges/Fees 414.00 ZAR
Multiple Carrier Surcharges/Fees 116.00 ZAR
Passenger Service Charge for South Africa 346.00 ZAR

Total Taxes and Carrier Surcharges/Fees: 20,777.72 ZAR

Differences are bolded. Base fare stayed the same, 98K ZAR's AONE4.

20,778 - 12,302 = 8,476
French taxes 1,922
Extra LHR stop 682
Unknown Carrier surcharges 5,872
70% of increase due to additional carrier surcharges. Only extra flights were 4 QR flights in Europe, 2 on the A380. I did not minimize the use of LHR for this exercise.
Perhaps QR is not as surcharge friendly as we think. :(

I just did three DONE4 bare-bones dummy bookings to see the impact of first/ticketing carrier choices. I tried a fourth, with JNB-DOH as the first flight but the tool balked as usual.

JNB-SYD-LAX-JFK-LHR-JNB (QF as first/issuer) - ZAR 76,279 (USD 5034) of which ZAR 7196 ($475) was carrier-imposed fees.

JNB-HKG-LAX-JFK-LHR-JNB (CX) - ZAR 68,536 (USD 4523) of which ZAR 3396 ($234) was carrier-imposed fees.

JNB-LHR-LAX-JFK-HKG-JNB (BA) - ZAR 71,782 (USD 4738) of which ZAR 3580 ($236) was carrier-imposed fees.

Note I used AA metal on SYD-LAX, JFK-LHR and LHR-LAX in these scenarios.

Curiously, the base fare was the same - ZAR 58,940 - in the first two runs, but was ZAR 59,020 in the BA run. Huh?

Anyway, bottom line, CX was the cheapest but not by much. Presumably if one populated the QF and BA itineraries with more flights a greater disparity would appear, but it's hard to say how big a deal it would be. Certainly $240 or so of spread on a $5000 ticket isn't a deal breaker in my mind.

Agreed and amazing research ^

It's due to the addition of HKG to the BA run. Hong Kong has some little nuisance tax, but which the authorities there say must be added to the base fare, rather than be separately identified.

Edited to Add:
Hang on - that nuisance tax should have been added to the base fare of the CX run too, because that of course also has HKG in the itinerary; now I'm confused:confused:

I've not purchased a ticket with the online tool, but reports here are that if you can get it to agree to ticket you, then it doesn't care where your credit card is from. Adding an additional billing address would be only for those who want AA to set it up and ticket in South Africa (using AA's GSA, Mindpearl).

These look legitimate to me, aside of course from the "Carrier Surcharge/Fee" which comes out at $381 at today's exchange rate (per Google).

That is correct, and in fact at one stage the online tool warns you

Agreed. I might have that in phone bills by the time (if and when) I get ticketed.
First the bad news: another response to my effort to go places together on Qatar from yet another lead agent saying the same thing: they'll get back to me.
And the good news? I used the online tool through the whole process last night using CPT-LHR-***-HKG-JNB-CPT. I called at midnight my time, spoke with an agent who seemed a little nonplussed and told me he'd have to do some checking and get back to me within 48 hours. He asked me why I hadn't paid online. I just received the following:
Hello Skippy,
This is with reference to your One World Round the World booking ref. no. *******.
I request you to kindly call us back and proceed with the payment for the same in order to issue the tickets.
Thank you and Kind Regards,

BA Dude
Core Sales Team.

I haven't called yet, just enjoying the anticipation and waiting for 0830 in JNB. Which brings up this point: when I consulted the BA website for the phone number in JNB, there was an international desk with a number and hours were 8-5. The domestic desk is open longer, not 24 h. The city code of one was 10, the other 11. I was not able to get through to the international desk, even with operator assistance. I tried the domestic number and it was answered and I was transferred to sales. Just fyi in case you're going this route, use the domestic number.

Curiosities of Qatar
 

Update: Ticketed! Took an hour at $3/min with BA. They said I first had to cancel a res I already had. When I looked on AAdvantage "my trips" there were two PNRs, I presume from Qatar. They had said they were working with AA's oneworld help desk. I had to call to cancel, could not do online. I wonder if I could have called the RTW desk with those PNRs and actually ticketed with QR as first airline. Anyway, I wish I had noticed them first and given it a try, but I didn't want to abort what was seemingly a good chance at finalizing a ticket.
Somehow, my domestic AA segments were cancelled from the PNR from BA. I'm assuming when those flights were cancelled from Qatar's itin, it carried over to BA's. So that was some of the interminable hold time. There were a couple scary moments, but he finally took my CC# and said I'd be getting a confirming email in 10 minutes or so. That has yet to show up, and when I went to BA's web site I had no trips listed. There was a button to enter trips, I plugged in my PNR, and the whole journey populated. Whew! Then later I got an email detailing changes to my trip (it was just contact info that I had entered). And there's a pending charge on my CC. I do NOT have a ticket number, just an itin (14 pages!) with status: confirmed. :D ^