Oneworld booking and pricing experiences
#1696




Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: anywhere and everywhere
Programs: United Nations 193, UA GS, AS MVP 100K, DL Diamond, Marriot Lifetime Titanium, AmEx Centurion
Posts: 6,359
- First segment has to be BA, IB, RJ - and the tool seems to prefer connecting first segments (i.e. CAI-LHR-XXX, CAI-MAD-XXX)
- Anything involving QR in later segments seems to be hit and miss - esp with the availability on EF actually being there
- Same as above with QF segments - especially longer ones
- Alaska routings are hit and miss - they seem to work better as part of a connection pair
- When a segment is only available in Y, often the tool will display a nonsense error like too many segments
- The "too many miles" is almost never actually because of miles, but because it's choking on some other rule violation
#1697


Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA ExPl, BA Gold, DL Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Lifetime Platinum, probably some others
Posts: 4,939
I was able to get to the final screen and price out CAI-DOH-JFK-LAX-DFW-JFK-SYD-DOH-DXB in the tool, but when I tried to pay, the tool sent up a message saying that the CAI-DOH-JFK legs weren't available. Upon closer inspection, QR had availability for those legs in D from most points of sale, but not ex-CAI. The AA codeshare on DOH-JFK was available but didn't show up in the tool. I instead booked a CAI-LHR-JFK start and that ticketed, although I had to call QF to give my credit card info a second time.
#1698




Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: anywhere and everywhere
Programs: United Nations 193, UA GS, AS MVP 100K, DL Diamond, Marriot Lifetime Titanium, AmEx Centurion
Posts: 6,359
Milecalc has that at 36K miles.
I was able to get to the final screen and price out CAI-DOH-JFK-LAX-DFW-JFK-SYD-DOH-DXB in the tool, but when I tried to pay, the tool sent up a message saying that the CAI-DOH-JFK legs weren't available. Upon closer inspection, QR had availability for those legs in D from most points of sale, but not ex-CAI. The AA codeshare on DOH-JFK was available but didn't show up in the tool. I instead booked a CAI-LHR-JFK start and that ticketed, although I had to call QF to give my credit card info a second time.
I was able to get to the final screen and price out CAI-DOH-JFK-LAX-DFW-JFK-SYD-DOH-DXB in the tool, but when I tried to pay, the tool sent up a message saying that the CAI-DOH-JFK legs weren't available. Upon closer inspection, QR had availability for those legs in D from most points of sale, but not ex-CAI. The AA codeshare on DOH-JFK was available but didn't show up in the tool. I instead booked a CAI-LHR-JFK start and that ticketed, although I had to call QF to give my credit card info a second time.
#1699




Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NRT / HND
Programs: AA EXP, A3 Gold, Former UA 1K
Posts: 6,365
Milecalc has that at 36K miles.
I was able to get to the final screen and price out CAI-DOH-JFK-LAX-DFW-JFK-SYD-DOH-DXB in the tool, but when I tried to pay, the tool sent up a message saying that the CAI-DOH-JFK legs weren't available. Upon closer inspection, QR had availability for those legs in D from most points of sale, but not ex-CAI. The AA codeshare on DOH-JFK was available but didn't show up in the tool. I instead booked a CAI-LHR-JFK start and that ticketed, although I had to call QF to give my credit card info a second time.
I was able to get to the final screen and price out CAI-DOH-JFK-LAX-DFW-JFK-SYD-DOH-DXB in the tool, but when I tried to pay, the tool sent up a message saying that the CAI-DOH-JFK legs weren't available. Upon closer inspection, QR had availability for those legs in D from most points of sale, but not ex-CAI. The AA codeshare on DOH-JFK was available but didn't show up in the tool. I instead booked a CAI-LHR-JFK start and that ticketed, although I had to call QF to give my credit card info a second time.
#1700


Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA ExPl, BA Gold, DL Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Lifetime Platinum, probably some others
Posts: 4,939
I didn't, actually. Pricing out CAI-AMM-JFK-etc was actually more expensive than CAI-LHR-JFK-etc.
#1701
FlyerTalk Evangelist


Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,619
I will also say that even if the online booking tool processes your itinerary and accepts payment, resulting in a PNR.. there is NO guarantee that your trip will actually ticket. I just went through that nightmare recently -- online tool "accepted" itinerary, but reservation never ticketed. Despite contacting many QF phone and Facebook agents, I kept getting a range of nonsense excuses ("You can only have 5 stopovers") or "I'll put it in the booking queue" but nothing happened. If the system doesn't automatically ticket your reservation, good luck finding a knowledgeable agent that can diagnose the problem AND fix the problem. If there's any consolation in the online tool route, it's that there is never usually a wait to speak with a QF phone agent. The FB support, although slightly more knowledgeable, was not consistently responsive in a timely manner.
#1702


Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA ExPl, BA Gold, DL Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Lifetime Platinum, probably some others
Posts: 4,939
I will also say that even if the online booking tool processes your itinerary and accepts payment, resulting in a PNR.. there is NO guarantee that your trip will actually ticket. I just went through that nightmare recently -- online tool "accepted" itinerary, but reservation never ticketed. Despite contacting many QF phone and Facebook agents, I kept getting a range of nonsense excuses ("You can only have 5 stopovers") or "I'll put it in the booking queue" but nothing happened. If the system doesn't automatically ticket your reservation, good luck finding a knowledgeable agent that can diagnose the problem AND fix the problem. If there's any consolation in the online tool route, it's that there is never usually a wait to speak with a QF phone agent. The FB support, although slightly more knowledgeable, was not consistently responsive in a timely manner.
#1703




Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: anywhere and everywhere
Programs: United Nations 193, UA GS, AS MVP 100K, DL Diamond, Marriot Lifetime Titanium, AmEx Centurion
Posts: 6,359
My last one QF sent me an email about 48 hrs after booking that my credit card didn't process so please call in. Did that, and ticketed within the hour.
#1704



Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: YVR
Programs: AC SE, AY Gold, Accor Plat, various CC hotel status
Posts: 2,981
I can manage to price DONE3 ex-CAI itins on the online tool at the price shown on EF. But whenever I try a DONE4 (which is what I really need), the price doubles (while it should only be a slight increase according to EF). Any idea what may be going on?
#1705




Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: London, UK
Programs: AY Platinum (BA refugee), AA liftime gold
Posts: 689
Has worked perfectly fine for me with several routings. Maybe a few things to be aware of:
- First segment has to be BA, IB, RJ - and the tool seems to prefer connecting first segments (i.e. CAI-LHR-XXX, CAI-MAD-XXX)
- Anything involving QR in later segments seems to be hit and miss - esp with the availability on EF actually being there
- Same as above with QF segments - especially longer ones
- Alaska routings are hit and miss - they seem to work better as part of a connection pair
- When a segment is only available in Y, often the tool will display a nonsense error like too many segments
- The "too many miles" is almost never actually because of miles, but because it's choking on some other rule violation
What seems to have fixed it is clearing out my cookies, coning back as a guest and selecting QANTAS as the preferred airline before I put any cities in. Not sure which part(s) of that helped but itineraries I couldn't do before are working AOK now.
It threw the mis-labelled 34k distance error with CAI-MAD-DPS...GRU-HEL-DXB where-CAI-MAD-DPS...GRU-DOH worked fine so that's one thing it can't cope with. I may see if I can do a manual reissue later (would be more confident doing that with AA or BA or even JL/CX but I doubt any of them will touch it after QF issue).
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#1706




Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: London, UK
Programs: AY Platinum (BA refugee), AA liftime gold
Posts: 689
It sounds like you're adding in expensive segments in terms of YQ/surcharges. If you post what you're adding in someone might suggest which the culprits are and a possible alternative.
#1708


Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA ExPl, BA Gold, DL Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Lifetime Platinum, probably some others
Posts: 4,939
Which flights and airlines are you booking as part of the DONE4 as opposed to the DONE3? Note the base pricing for the DONE3 on the pricing page (not including the taxes and carrier surcharges) and then get your DONE4 to the pricing page and see if the base pricing goes up dramatically. I would guess that most of the change is taxes/carrier surcharges on the DONE4.
#1709

Join Date: Nov 2023
Posts: 204
I believe they are changing the prices, earlier I had 5.5k AUD, after changing the dates of departure, it become 8k+
#1710




Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: anywhere and everywhere
Programs: United Nations 193, UA GS, AS MVP 100K, DL Diamond, Marriot Lifetime Titanium, AmEx Centurion
Posts: 6,359



