Hello OWA Fans

I will be taking a DONE3 trip next month: NRT-ORD-DFW-JFK-LHR-AMS-HKG-NRT. I will go on AA154 NRT-ORD so as to be on their new 787-8. This arrives late afternoon and I have a meeting early the next morning in the Loop. My plan was to have my meeting in the morning and then go to the airport no later than 15:00 or so for a late afternoon or evening flight to DFW.

Booking the ORD-DFW leg on the OWA site only shows AA direct flights from about 5:00 am to 13:00 the next day, which is too early for me. Clicking "show more flights" on the OWA site only brings up stopover flights going ORD-DFW with stops on other cities on regional airlines, something no one needs to do if there is a better way. I can go to the AA website and see the nonstop flights depart every hour or so all day until about 22:00.

Does anyone know why all these flights do not show up on the OWS website, only those departing in the morning? How would a user of the website access these flights to book them? Clearly this does not mean these flights are not available to me.

In my case, fortunately I have already have my ticket issued (I had scheduled this trip last month but had to cancel) it is merely a matter of giving the AA reservations desk my new flights for each leg, to include one of the many convenient late afternoon ORD-DFW flights, bypassing this limitation. I hope. Would this be correct?

It would seem that if I was booking this with the OWS website I would be out of luck. Or, perhaps I could select one of the inconvenient early morning flights, get the ticket issued, and then change to a more convenient afternoon flight later? Has anyone done this?

When I booked the (cancelled) trip on the OWS site last February for April, there were a few afternoon flights shown from ORD-DFW, but certainly not all of them which are visible when looking at the schedule on the AA website. This time there are none.

I think the simple answer here AA perhaps does not want to make READILY available all its flights folks who book on the OWA website.

Anyone with any thoughts here? :-:

Thanks all

Do the afternoon flights have availability in A class?

Yes, a few of those I looked at those days showed first class approx one half full. I am seeking to make this trip starting from NRT on 8 June. I would add that I am not fussed about having to sit in Econ class for one short (3 hour) leg if this is what it takes to meet my schedule.

Thanks

Two options:

Call AA directly to book this. The AA RTW desk is amazing and can book the exact flights you need. There are plenty of threads here that talk about buying and ticketing in Japan. But basically you can Skype call 1-800-247-3247. Tell them you will purchase in Tokyo and have them put the ticket together with your exact flights. Make sure you ask them to price it in Yen. It takes about a day to be priced. Once priced, call AA in Tokyo (+81-3-4333-7675) and pay for it thru the ticket office.

Two, book the flights via the OW website and pick any ORD-DFW flight (either next day or earlier in the day that isn't as convenient). Once the website tickets it, call the AA RTW desk and have them change the flight to the one you want. Changes are free.

What Jerry was asking was whether the flights have availability in booking class A - not just First Class.

On a business class round-the-world you are allowed to fly in A class on two-class AA flights in the US. But there must be availability in that booking class, not just seats available in first class in any booking class.

However, I have just checked in ExpertFlyer and there is plenty of "A" availability on June 9th ORD-DFW on the afternoon and evening flights. So it does look like it is another of the on-line tool's many bugs.

As AAExpDFW suggested - a phone call to the AA RTW desk should fix it.

Everyone

Thank you, thank you and thank you. Every time I come to this place with a question I am astonished by the degree expertise of the group and more importantly the willingness of folks to make the effort to patiently and completely explain things to the novice. This all very clear now.

1. AAExpDFW, thanks for this tip, but one key fact I did not give is that I live in Hong Kong, and want to purchase the ticket with a Hong Kong issued or US issued credit card. Are you saying that the AA desk in Tokyo cheerfully take my Hong Kong AMEX number and let me do this? See my post earlier this year, where this was shut down by AA ticketing:

RTW from NRT trick over? [URL="http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/oneworld/1751616-rtw-nrt-trick-over.html"]

Fortunately, I have my own solution, my company has employees in Japan who help me around this by purchasing with their Japan issued company credit cards, but it would be better if I could manage this myself from Hong Kong without having to impose upon them.

Thanks in advance.
2. Another question please for the experts. Is there any correlation the airline issuing the ticket and the first flight taken? I have only used RTW starting from HKG and the ticket was issued by CX as I flew HKD-LHR on CX. The next time (based on the advice of kind folks here to buy the ticket in Japan and start from NRT, saving me USD 4,500) I started in NRT and flew AA from NRT-LAX and had to talk to AA ticketing for schedule changes. If I book BA from NRT-LHR, would I be dealing with BA ticketing for all changes to this OTW ticket? Or dealing with JA to start a trip like NRT-LHR or NRT-LAX.

3. And a last question, some of which was talked about in my thread referenced above. Are different ticketing airlines more or less strict on enforcing the "rule" that I must have a Japan credit card to purchase OTW originating in Japan. Comments given by others seem to say that this is AA's own policy and not a rule, which may contravene OTW or other airline ticketing rules. This relates to my question above, will I have a similar problem with my non-Japan credit card if the ticket is issued by BA or JA?? Has anyone had a similar experience ?

pandaperth,

Thanks.

Where can I look up the number of A class seats available on the AA flights. Is this something found in expert flyer?

Yes. Do an Availability Search in Expert Flyer
Departing ORD
Arriving DFW
on your date
and choose American Airlines

I have not had the NRT problem yet. I call ticketing in Tokyo and they have always ticketed without an issue, regardless of my address.

Technically there is NOTHING in the tariff rules about this billing address nonsense. It's an AA thing. But even if you have your TYO friends ticket for you with their credit card, once it's ticketed you can do whatever you want with the ticket. Including calling and changing the flights.

It depends. If you use the online tool to issue the ticket (if you can get it to work...) the ticket is (usually) issued by the airline marketing the first flight, though there may be exceptions (e.g., AA used to issue online tickets for JL, though I'm not sure if that is still true). With the online tool, you cannot control/change the ticketing carrier.

If you don't use the online tool, then theoretically any (oneworld) carrier can issue the ticket -- though they may be reluctant (or refuse) to do so if you don't have any long-haul flights with them (... can't really blame them for that).

The conventional wisdom is to get AA to issue the ticket if you can. Their dedicated RTW desk (1-800-247-3247) works well and it's easy to call them to make changes. Also, AA generally does not go out of its way to add fuel surcharges etc. etc. - BA is often the worst offender for that and most people probably try to avoid having them issue the ticket if possible. Generally, you'll have to call whoever issued the ticket to make changes so much better to have it issued by AA if you can.

As to your original question, I took a look yesterday .... and the online tool is again behaving bizarrely. The only direct flight ORD-DFW on June 9 that it would give me was the 5 am flight. Looking at ExpertFlyer, all the afternoon flights were A7 (with one exception) so no issues with availability; the optimum flight appeared to be at 5.35 pm, as it's scheduled to be a 777 (vs. a 737 or S80 for all the others). It's sold as 2 class, so if you can snag a seat in the pointy end (F cabin) that's a bonus ... and if not, a J cabin seat on a 777 is a lot better than an F seat on a 737/S80.

As has already been said, if the online tool won't show you the flight(s) you want, just pick whatever it will give you and then, after ticketing, call and have it changed to the flight you want (again, having AA issue the ticket makes this easier). Obviously, if you don't use the online tool, just have them put you on whatever flight you want when they set up the ticket. One issue to watch out for is whether you have a stopover (more than 24 hours) versus a connection (less than 24 hours). If you change from one to the other, that may require the ticket to be re-issued and may change the taxes etc. As your NRT-ORD flight arrives at 4.05 pm and you're looking to leave the following afternoon/evening, you may have a connection (if you leave before 4.05 pm on June 9) or a stopover (after 4.05 pm). If you decide the 5.35 pm flight is the flight to go on (which would result in a stopover/more than 24 hours in ORD), then make sure whatever you ticket initially is also a stopover (and not a connection). Others may know more on this topic, but I think the issue of a stopover vs. a connection (and changing from one to the other) is still out there so better avoided if you can.

There is nothing in the rules staying that the first marketing carrier must ticket. There are some limits on ticketing carriers in the rules for some oneworld products, but they don't apply in this case.
The reason the online booking tool (if it gets through to the ticketing stage) sends to the first carrier to ticket is a simple technical limitation. It is easier to code if it grabs the first carrier used rather then allow the user to select which carrier they want.
However, some agents have been known to think this limit with the online tool is a rule.
As for making changes to the ticket, after ticket issue, and before departure, only the ticketing agent can make changes. After departure, any oneworld carrier can make changes. There is no rule preventing BA changing an MH sector on a CX issued ticket, provided the trip has started.
(JL doesn't issue tickets via the online tool. If JL is the first carrier used, the ticket is sent to AA to issue.)

There is no rule about this. The recent reports about agents refusing to allow cards with non local billing addresses is something AA made up.
I do wonder what AA would say if I asked them to issue an ex-JP DONE3 using my AU card.