On ex JP taxes & surcharges. I was curious and priced equivalent route (same airlines on each segment, AY, CX and QF) DONE4s online but one ex OSL and one ex CTS:
* SPK-HKG-SYD-AKL-JFK-xHEL-OSL-xHEL-TYO taxes & surcharges ~$1000
* OSL-xHEL-TYO,SPK-HKG-SYD-AKL-JFK-x-HEL-OSL taxes & surcharges ~$1700




I then did the DONE3 (AY, CX only) version which was just confusing as ex OSL was cheaper (I have the pricing PDF to refer to so pretty sure I didn't make a mistake, maybe the online tool did):
* SPK-HKG-JFK-xHEL-OSL-xHEL-TYO taxes & surcharges ~$800
* OSL-xHEL-TYO,SPK-HKG-JFK-xHEL-OSL taxes & surcharges ~$575




(I also priced out an itinerary I'm actually flying ex Japan which is exclusively CX and QR except 3 domestic AA segments, and ex Japan is a slim saving of $1050 in taxes & surcharges vs $1250 if flown ex USA)

I recall AY has high transatlantic surcharges (thanks to IAG I assume) but low surcharges going to Asia. I wonder if using AY EU-Asia before NA-EU results in the non transatlantic surcharges vs flying NA-EU before EU-Asia. .... ... Just reversed the DONE3 above to OSL-xHEL-JFK-HKG-SPK,TYO-OSL and it's insisting on QF for the "shortest" JFK-HKG even if I set CX as the preferred airline. Tried changing the JFK-HKG to BOS/ORD/YYZ-HKG given QF doesn't fly direct to those cities but the tool then just says there's no availability. FWIW the taxes and surcharges jumped to $1850 if transiting via SYD.

BA & QR have increased their fares as well (apparently yesterday), leaving only CX and MH on the previous fare level.

Think it's safe to assume that these two will adjust there fares shortly as well, so better get moving quickly 😉

I have no idea how to book an MH one, so that likely only leaves CX in practicality. But then again I do recall in the ex-CAI frenzy that MH was one of the last ones existing and other OW airlines could book on it vs. their own. It's not quite the same price difference this time around but likely someone with a travel agent or booking via AA could still pull that off?

AA rtw ticketed with the MH fare if starting CAI-MAD-LHR-KUL (most lilkely you would want transits in one or both) but that was when there was no AA fare filed. Wouldn't take long to see if they would ticket with the MH dare if starting TYO-KUL

AI assisted oneworld RTW bookings https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/oneworld-rtw

I've tried this. Not really much better than the booking tool. In particular, once you give it cities, it decides on the most efficient routing, and, in my case, even how long I was going to stay in some of the cities. I couldn't override its assigned length of stay. And since it's looking for efficient routings, it's useless if you use part of RTWs for MRs as I do.

Seems like a poorly thought out idea designed by someone who management told “get us something with AI”.

i’d rather they fix the .... system they already have, before chucking some useless AI out.

Recent data point for ex-HND DONE3 Pricing
 

Sorry, this post has been removed by me due to sensitive data that may actually hurt FT oneworld flyers!
My apologize.

Hi there! I'm wondering if its possible to use different FFN's for different segments on a single itinerary. I've seen people mention that you can have your FFN changed segment by segment at the gate or at check in for accrual purposes, but I would like to know if this is something that can be done beforehand, primarily for seat selection. Example would be MIA - LHR operated by AA and LHR - FCO operated by BA. I'm gold on AA and sapphire on AT, so I want to be able to choose MCE (at 24 hours) on the AA segment, and then choose preferred seats on BA. Thank you!

Quick question on booking a Oneworld RTW, Given the errors that the tool brings up, I'm struggling to get the precise itinerary I want ticketed. The early flights in the itinerary are okay, but some of the later ones - 3-4 months down the road don't seem to want to work.

Wondering what people's thoughts are about going with an itinerary that the tool will allow me to ticket and then modifying it over the phone once it's booked and in the system. Any experiences with doing this? I'm looking at a DONE4 originating from NRT at present. First flight to KUL on Japan Airlines, but it could also be on Malaysian Airlines.

Am I likely to end up being ticketed with Qantas? If so (and this is problematic), any way to avoid it?

Impossible to say with 100% certainty, but most likely if the first flight is JL then it'll be ticketed by JL. In that case you should be able to manage the future of the reservation without too many headaches vs. QF. Frankly if you end up with a QF ticket from that itinerary I'd cancel it immediate and charge back the 5% because it shouldn't happen. In the chargeback dispute, copy in the threads from here. :D

Just be aware that JL has their own ticketing fee and a separate change fee on all changes that are separate from the OW rules. It's not overly costly but would add up if you're making tons of changes over the course of the ticket.

Personally if you're going for the OW tool ex-TYO I'd aim for a CX issued ticket, if you have an available segment for the HKG transit. If you start seeing prices in AUD then abandon it immediately because that means it'll be QF issued.

BTW, I know that NRT-KUL flight fairly well, personally I'd prefer it on MH metal vs. JL metal. It's recently gone back to the (inferior) A330 on MH vs. the A350, but still I prefer MH crews. To each their own on that, but if you book via the tool your hand will likely be forced since it's the first segment. Either JL flight and issued, or MH flight and (hopefully) issued. No one has really talked about MH issued RTWs, so have no idea how decent or awful they are.

Also, if you end up going the CX route with transit in HKG, then it will not auto-ticket in the OW tool. You'll have to call in for a payment link and can make necessary modifications then, before ticketing, so no $125 charge.

I'm sure you realize that Oneworld sapphire will let you choose MCE on AA... so I'm guessing that you want the miles credited to AA for MIA-LHR ?

Separately, you can try to do the FFN switcheroo on day of travel but be warned that it's a royal hassle to undo points crediting with BA.
AA also frowns on using their status to get status-related perks, only to then switch to a non-AA status for accrual.

From https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...abin-extra.jsp - AT sapphire doesn't get MCE

Who gets complimentary Main Cabin Extra seats?

• AAdvantage Executive Platinum®, AAdvantage Platinum Pro® and AAdvantage Platinum® members
• oneworld® Sapphire and Emerald members with elite status on Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, Qatar Airways or Japan Airlines

I don't care about accrual, so the FFN switcheroo isn't what I'm looking for. Just wondering if people have been able to assign different FFNs to different segments at booking/far out for seat selection purposes.

Okay thanks that's very helpful. However, I tried to get it issued with MH by using them as the first carrier via the online tool and it issued a ticket with QF!

I'll cancel that - payment is not taken and they should not be able to charge me without further authorization on my card.

I'm assuming the reason for aiming to ticket with CX is that they are much better at dealing with these tickets?