Currently 40 mins on the phone to QF trying to get them to price an ex-MPM DONE5.

They came back and said that it was over 34,000miles which isn't allowed, so we read the rule sheet for the Oneworld Explorer together and now I'm on hold again.

Hopefully they can manually price it.

My current plan is MPM-xDOH-HKG-HND-BKK-xHKG-PER-SYD-AKL-LAX-JFK-TXL-xLHR-DME-LHR-JNB.

This was quickly thrown together just so I can book it before the fares go up, but if anyone has an interesting way to change it to either visit somewhere cool or avoid BA surcharges, I'd love your input :)

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

Persist. Persist. The price could go up any time. And obviously you know you're right.

Let's get it ticketed first and then we (or probably others, as I'm no expect) can maximise it for you.

Thanks :).

They came back and told me they can't do it through they're system so they're going to get the fares department to manually price it and then get back to me today sometime.

I might just call in the morning and see if there's anything they can do. Coz the fare is going to rise any minute is my feeling

Yes. Definitely call back.

66 minutes into my first call to Qantas, having to force the agent to even put anything together, she went to price it and...we got disconnected! Called back and fortunately, all of my info was in the system. She had a hard time pricing it and says two other people are working on it and they will call me when they price it. She said there needed to be a couple of changes, but they would go over that when they call me.
Fingers crossed...

Looking good SDandi
You are now quite knowledgeable on the Oneworld fare rules, and so can educate them!
I suggest you have a copy of the fare rules to hand so that you quickly read them what's what when they come back to you with the "couple of changes"

:D Thank you! Rules are up! Both agents questioned my not ending in Maputo, so I am guessing that is one of them.

Shucks, that's an easy one for you to handle!

I presume you're still intending to end with your nice flourish ...-DOH-SEZ?

Let's just hope that's the only hang up!

Yes! CDG-DOH-SEZ, which also means I'll get to fly on QR's a380 :)

Update: Just got a call from QF. They are looking at all of the rules and she questioned our segment from JFK to Tucson and brought up the group a and b cities which, when we looked, Tucson was not on the list. We have given the exact same itineraries that AA approved and is holding.

what do you guys think?

Ticket 1: ex-mpm-doh-sin-dps-hkg-mnl-hkg-lax-jfk-tus-lax-lhr-cdg-doh-sez


Ticket 2: ex-mpm-doh-sin-nrt-san-lax-jfk-tus-san-phx-den-phx-san-lhr-cdg-doh-sez

With ticket 1, I originally had mnl-nrt-san instead of mnl-hkg-lax but none of the QF agents were able to find the JL flight.

ExpertFlyer obtains its availability information at either New York or London, depending if you pick US or UK in the drop down. But your QF office is probably in neither place. You cannot expect (in general) the availability information obtained at Sydney to be the same as what it is at London.

That said it is unusual for availability to differ enormously between sales cities on an empty flight many weeks ahead.

Second QR loves married segment logic. You cannot assume that QR 1 followed by QR 1014 will be the same as a separate search for the married sectors QR 1, QR 1014. EF will allow you to do a married segment search though.

Fuel surcharge miscalculation.

A sum of several YY fares, perhaps.

In most countries, yes. They could sell a fare in cows or barrels of oil or gold bars if they wanted, it depends if anyone thinks it's a good deal.

Qantas is saying they can not make the booking because my first flight is on Qatar and will need to call Qatar. On hold for supervisor.

Totally false. That rule doesn't even apply on a normal return ticket, and even when it does an issuer can overrule it. Where do they find these people?

Any suggestions on how to handle? I told her that plenty of people have booked the ex-mpm out of qatar with them.

Still holding for supervisor...

And, she is asking why it is so important for me to book with Qantas??? And has asked for booking references for the people who were able to make a booking. This is so bizarre.

Back on hold for sup...

How can one prove a negative?

The ticket can be issued on any oneworld carrier's paper. That is the whole point of the product.

From the sales restrictions category in the fare rules:

Nothing about first sectors. (The auto pricer may suggest that QR is the preferred ticketing carrier because it's first and no one else has any better claim to print the ticket. But that can be easily overruled. Frankly if the agent doesn't know how to change the ticketing carrier they should stick to issuing SYD-BNE one ways.)

I'm going to bed before I get any more grumpy :D

Get some sleep!

Sup is quoting one world tool where it says you must call qatar if first flight is on them and saying they cant do it because if there are disruptions in my flights it would be difficult for them to handle.

She keeps asking me why I am so insistent on booking with them.

Has anyone heard of this??

oneworld tool?

Is she booking this on RTW.oneworld.com ??

Can she not price it as a normal itinerary on her Amadeus terminal using the DONEx fare basis ...?


To be honest, if she doesn't want your money, it's probably not worth it. Forgive me as I don't quite remember who posted what, but have you already tried JL, AA, CX and BA?

That was her response when I read her the actual rule you posted (thank you!). I told her that was not in the rules but on the tool and that other airlines have no problem with it.

I have. There is talk that QF hasn't raised their fare yet so I was trying to lock that in.

If I am correct, I can make changes to my booking through AA RTW travel desk even though I book on QF?

QF has come back and said they are still trying to figure out if they can ticket out of that region, but spoke to the fare department and the ticket will cost $11,300 USD.

I am very curious to here what they come back with for tombilske...

deleted

good luck.

jl aa cx ba ib have adjusted the fare. the rest have not. i would imagine qf.is the best qualified to deal with rtw among the remaining airlines as australians like to travel.

ab have also adjusted the fare. it is interesting to see how long it takes for different airlines to adjust the fare for future reference

Well you have been busy while I've been sleeping

Sorry you're having so much trouble with QF. Being Aussie, I feel guilty by association!

Stick at it. And good luck!

Qantas has raised its fares.

are u able.to book at the old fare?

So Qantas came back to me this morning and quoted me a price of $5,500 AUD, but with some incorrect flight dates for the first flights.

So I worked with an agent this morning to change the flights, and they went and repriced the ticket but came back and told me that it had gone up and they couldn't ticket it at that price anymore.

The lady on the phone I was dealing with was super helpful, probably the best customer service agent I have ever dealt with from an airline, and what ended up happening was they agreed to honour the original fair because they had quoted it to me this morning.

So with the new recruiting, I got a DONE5 ex-MPM for a final cost of $5,400AUD.

Taught me a lesson in ticket first, change later. But those dates really wouldn't have worked, specifically for the first flight.

I gave them my credit card details but I haven't yet been charged. Still fingers crossed until an eticket arrives in my inbox.

you are quite lucky, glad that it works out for you. i booked my second ticket
on july 20 mpm doh hkg jfk gru jnb . i m sure i wont fly that. and i did the booking in one hour, the fare was gone on cx the next day.

Yes. Qantas honoured their commitment to hold the AUD4,500 fare for me until midnight tonight. This is in contrast to American who upped the price while the itinerary was on hold.

Quality Qantas. Well done.

^ ^ ^

Called AY and they have raised the price also. Is there place anymore where i can get this today?

ay is not up according to ef. ab is up, however. i doubt if u can book it from the remaining carriers!

I called travel agent here in Finland and also AY and both said that base fare from MPM is in the line for rest of the SA?

sa? i have no idea.

Sorry, i ment south africa even if MPM is not technically in south africa. I wish i could have seen this fare couple days earlier, damn. If someone somehow knows how to help me book this hit me with the PM and i`am more than happy to pay travel agency fees :D

I made 1 last attemp with the USA QF phone number last night. Actually it was a call center in South Africa. Denied the routing saying no backtracking in Europe/ME, must end in same origin country, cannot change fare class ie no D class with an A class fare. Regardless, the fare today matches the other OW airlines. I'll just keep my DONE4 JNB-GRU...JNB trip.

the money is too hard to earn. last friday, i set up a pnr with cx, the agent said to me that if i didnt ticket it on Saturday, she would kill me.

Looks like you are too late to the party

The premium fares ex-Mozambique have more than doubled since last week
and they are now very similar to the fares out of South Africa and out of Namibia, which are still not bad by world standards (still significantly cheaper than fares out of Australia for example)