could you clarify? I�m not following this?

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Hi all.

Just a quick question on our DONE5 RTW later in the year.

I’m currently booked on BA 127 LHR>DOH, (as the BA agent said she could see no availability on QR at all when I booked it?), but I am thinking of changing to QR8 the same day so we can experience Q Suites (not sure they will be on any of the other QR flights we have).

My understand based on the fare rules is I can make this change at no cost (in theory anyway?), is this correct?

Oh, and well done to anyone who got on the exCAI fares. I did think of changing ours to an AONE4 ex CAI, but we were travelling (so hard to manage the process with limited connectivity) and by the time we got home they had gone, next time maybe.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. You can check it on ExpertFlyer. Often the cross carrier married segments have lower availability than same carrier, but sometimes it does indeed break it.

Switching carriers fuel-surcharges will probably be different but please report how BA change it in practice...If I were to guess, they would add your flights and come back with price change in several days. If you don't like the price, I guess you can keep the original booking. I had a test date change (same flight #), and they confirmed there'd be no charge, but came back 2 weeks later with 150$pp charge for whatever reason. After pushing back they relented to 25$ phone fee which is waived for Golds, so it was 0$ in the end, confirmation date changes for same flights are free and the re-issuance of tickets. However, there was a lot of back-forth between their internal departments.

Will do.

Hello guys,
It took me some time this last month to rush ticketing a RTW Done4 ticket, in case OW adjusts the base price overnight. I only found this thread today and was surprised to see so many itineraries with great prices. Now I am not sure if mine is still a good deal, and need your advice on the surcharge breakdown.

My itinerary (see below) is eastbound, generated by online tool and ticketed by QF. The base fare is normal, AUD 4368, but the Taxes and Carrier Surcharges is AUD 3600, of which Airline Insurance Surcharge is 980AUD, Multiple Carrier Surcharges/Fees is 380AUD, and Carrier Surcharge/Fee is 1540 AUD. I was aware that YQ of QR is high, but I am not sure if this ridiculous YQ is only contributed by QR. And what is Airline insurance surcharge? Is that because I book some trips with married segments or transits? Your opinion would be really appreciated.

Itinerary
​​​​Cairo - Asia on QR (first carrier is RJ)
(Some flights within Asia on CX and MH)
Asia - North America on JL
(One transcontinental flight within North America on AA)
North America - South America on AA
(One fifth freedom flight within South America on BA)
South America - Europe on IB
Europe - Cairo on QR​​

DONE4 base fare today is AUD 12178, so your ticket is a good deal if you want and need to fly it without scrutinizing various surcharges, taxes and carriers involved.

It does sound quite high. My DONE5 has base fare of 145,000 EGP (Converted to 4680 AUD). Total YQ AUD 1839.60, Total YR AUD 146.4 and Total taxes AUD 603. Your YQ sounds similar, but that Insurance surcharge really makes a difference.

Mine is all QR and JL codes on long segments with one domestic AA and AS. I don't know where this perception is coming from that QR's YQ is high, this is my 3rd itinerary that is heavy on QR segments but two of those are ex-Japan without YQ. But while building this one I didn't get the impression QR is high. It seems to be that BA and QF are the worst offenders and I think CX is a bit on the high side for long hauls as well.

I do remember when playing around with itineraries, MH and CX jacked it up quite a bit and having the initial RJ segment was more than just QR to DOH (but don't recall exactly how much more since you can't test that in the tool, want to say around AUD 100 or 150).

I'm curious about your Airline Insurance Surcharge mentioned, that's steep and my only guess is that it's coming from IB since that's your only long segment you have that I don't, but guess it could be any of BA, IB, CX, or MH. It's the first time I've heard of it on a QF issued ticket, the only other mention I recall was on a JL issued one.

Pull your itinerary on the Finnair site and download the eticket (it's under passenger information on the left side). It gives you a full breakdown of the fees on the ticket (though it doesn't break down which airline YQ and YR is assigned to, which I'd love to know).

Egypt is responsible for a huge number of the taxes and fees, but they don't add up to a whole lot, maybe AUD 50-60 total. Qatar's sting @ AUD174 since I transit there so many times and the US is pretty high (AUD139) having 2 international arrivals and departures.

Hi again.

Plans have changed again before I got to contact BA, as Trip CEO has decided she does not like the even later arrival time of the QR flight and wants to stick with BA!

So apologies, and thanks for the advice even if I cannot now try and implement it!

I believe QR charges a hefty fee for the first qr segment on the itin but no more for further segments. So your approach of in for a penny in for a pound is optimal, charge per qr segment will be modest.

Ah, that's a bit different. Pre EGP devaluation QR's fare was higher than most other OW carriers. That could be where that perception came from. QR and AA had their ex-CAI fares in USD so they didn't fluctuate when the EGP dropped against USD. But if you ticketed on RJ as the first segment, you paid the slightly higher than QR YQ, but then if you pay the $125 change fee to change it to QR on the first segment you get that difference back. I don't think there was ever a situation where QR had an outsized YQ, just the QR base fare was much higher. Post EGP devaluation, the difference was over US$2000 in the base fare between the RJ and QR base fare, hence the perception that QR fees were high.

I recall a year or so ago, one of the travel agents in this forum explained how QR applies their YQ / YR if it's a QR ticket. They said QR has a base surcharge for having their segment on the ticket, I forget how much but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary... nothing like BA or QF, then a much smaller add-on for each additional segment. I do also recall that was for a ticket issued on Sabre, and may or may not be applicable in Amadeus or Travelport.

I just tried to plan this route with BA with a very competent agent and they said that they counted the LHR-Bahrain as a back-track and they wouldn't approve it (even after checking with a supervisor)? Should I just remove the LHR-MAN segments to fix (easy to replace with a train if needed). I am booking via BA as using GUVs, so I can put all the BA segments into First class rather than business. I could drop BAH if really needed, or switch it to an alternative destination, I was just trying to get another two F segments in and to get to the Middle East for a nested, separate, return to HKG). Note, was unable to find any SYD-SIN,SIN-LHR segments in BA with A availability, hence not using those routes.

Route (// = stopover):
NRT-HKG //
HKG-LHR-MAN //
MAN-LHR //
LHR-BAH //
BAH-LHR-LAX //
LAX-HKG //
HKG-MEL-HBA //
HBA-SYD-HND

The tool has ticks for the route, but I am unable to recreate as it isn't showing CX/QF availability that I can see in ExpertFlyer.

TIA!

Have you downloaded the rules?
OW https://www.oneworld.com/world-travel
FAQ
Read on for Round The World rules and conditions [Note: Links open PDF in browser]:
one World Explorer
Global Explorer
Circle Pacific

You only have 12 segments, and some of those are short (MAN, HBA). Not the most efficient for a DONE4. Or a AONE4?
A map from the Great Circle Mapper - Great Circle Mapper

Are you sure the agent is "very competent"?
Nothing improper about doing a flight from XXX-YYY and YYY-XXX within a continent (other than restrictions within the continent of origin). ME and EUR are in the same continent for this purpose.
The only somewhat relevant rule that they might be confusing your itinerary with is the prohibition on flying the same city pairs in the same direction more than once.
But if you are booking an AONE3 and are looking for A segments in the ME, I would try to work in QR F LHR (or CDG) - DOH for a much nicer F experience.

As is often asked, is there some particular reason you don't want to book using the AA rtw desk whose agents are a little more deserving of the "very competent" characterization?