I have paid the 315.88 in extra fees per ticket. They could not break out all fees but they did say YR went from 256 to 403.

Yes, Lesson learned about using a TA; I had seen that advice but always thought the fee changes would be so minor as not to compensate for any TA costs.

I found this thread very interesting too. Seems that AA desk may be fairly easy to use but it may cost your in YQ. Thanks.

What's an efficient way to estimate YQ/YR for RTW?

I asked a question in the NewBie Lounge about Propellor Travel and just wanted to follow up.

On the Matt's Planet video, he stated that they were more of a booking agent than a travel agent, I think by virtue of the fact that agents commission has gone the way of the dodo.

I know they operate via a fee and it may be either partially or fully non-refundable - fine. In the trip I have in mind, for example, I have 2 legs on CX and 2 on QR. I don't see a codeshare for the CX legs but I do for the QR legs, the CX legs are relatively short so if it has to be CX that's OK but the QR legs are lengthy and to not get them as a BA codeshare would be a problem.

I want to get a sense of how much Propellor Travel will 'push' to help achieve my goals.

I do have the feeling that if/when this trip is booked and travelled, I will be a Propellor evangelist, just need some reassurance at the outset?

As long as the codeshare is allowed (not all are unless tied to another segment), there's no reason for an agent to push you to one or the other. Should be your preference based on earning opportunity, etc. This is the benefit of an agent vs. an airline as the agent has no skin in the game per-se, they should be quite neutral vs. the airline which makes more money for themselves by using their own codes.

Some airlines have (or used to have) bonus programs based on the dollar value of tickets plated (issued) on that airline's number. Don't know if that still exists.

If you're too young to know what "plating" is, back when tickets issued by travel agents were paper with red carbon, the agencies had metal plates which they would imprint on the tickets to indicate which was the issuing carrier. Here's an example:

OMG, the good old days.

Just curious: Was it really necessary to quote the entire post, including the image, that was immediately before your post?

Learned a lot from the oneworld explorer guide as well as this forum. Getting my feet wet in the world of RTW tickets and made this itinerary on rtw.oneworld.com which came back as valid and priced at around $6500 per ticket as Global explorer fare. Would love to hear opinion/ suggestions from the seasoned travelers/experts here and thank you in advance.

Mods, please move this to the right forum if I am mistaken and apologize in advance.

OSL- HEL stopover on Finnair
HEL-YUL stopover on Finnair
YUL-DFW stopover on AA
DFW-GRU stopover on AA
GRU-DFW stopover on AA
DFW-TYO stopover on JAL
TYO-HKG stopover on Cathay
HKG-KUL stopover on MH
KUL-OSL on QR

Will be split into three trips, first will be Oslo, Helsinki, Toronto in April 2026. Second will be to South America in July or August- planning to visit Buenos Aires and possibly Asuncion and third will be to Japan, HKG, KL in October or November.

Any suggestions on itinerary, changes- tried to keep it Non stop as much as possible.

I am assuming if my initial travel date is set, I can do booking with dummy dates and change dates later as ticketing opens up without any penalty?

With above itinerary, can I book with AA?

Where best to allocate miles? Home airport is IAH and do fly QR in business once or twice a year. Do have AA FF account as well

Two thoughts:
1. if you are really just visiting YYZ, and not YUL for an extended period, you could change the YUL-DFW to YYZ-DFW with no need to return to YUL.
2. If/when you call AA, they may request use of an AA codeshare for long flights like DFW-TYO, but with your use of AA for DFW-GRU return I suspect AA will be willing to use your itinerary as posted. You can always call AA again if you want to tweak the itinerary after getting a price on the first draft,

Seeking kind advice if this is a legal DONE4:
OSL-DOH-DFW-GRU
GRU-DFW-ANC-LAX
LAX-JFK-HND-SIN
SIN-NRT
NRT-BLR
BLR-NRT-DOH-CMN
CMN-DOH-OSL

Also wanted to ask, about half of the segments I intend to fly only more than a year out from now i.e. if I booked now I would need them to be open dated first and then booked later, do the members here who help book DONEx help with booking the open dated segments later, or would I need to go to Propellor Travel or some high service TA?

Thanks in advance!

Thank you jrobin , much appreciated. Will look into changing the YUL-DFW segment. I guess fares are fluctuating since this is a Global explorer fare and not a xDONEx fare- now pricing at $7100.

Hi Selpol
Welcome to the wonderful world of RTW planning, one of my favourite pastimes
I assume you are thinking of a business class ticket (based on the ticket you priced up being ~$6500)

Some comments:

HEL-YUL stopover on Finnair
...first will be Oslo, Helsinki, Toronto...
If you want to go to Toronto (YYZ) why are you flying to Montreal (YUL)?
Finnair does not fly to either airport currently, so you are changing planes somewhere (It commences HEL-YYZ non-stop flights on May 4th)
(I plugged your itinerary into the tool, and it offered flights via London)

DFW-GRU stopover on AA
GRU-DFW
...planning to visit Buenos Aires and possibly Asuncion...
Again, if you want to go to Buenos Aires, why are you flying to Sao Paolo?
AA used to fly direct DFW-EZE, but you can easily fly DFW-MIA-EZE (and of course stopover in Maimi if you want to), also DFW-JFK-EZE
As an aside, if you travelling between Buenos Aires and Asuncion, you really must visit the Iguassu Falls
As a further aside, I have no idea how the winter weather is down there in August

KUL-OSL on QR will of course by via DOH
So your current itinerary is: OSL-HEL-xLHR-YUL-DFW-GRU-DFW-TYO-HKG-KUL-xDOH-OSL
You could stopover in either London or Doha but not both (maximum of two stopovers in your continent of origin, and you're already stopping over in Helsinki)

Your itinerary is only using 11 of the allowed 16 segments
Can't leave 5 segments on the table, right?
One way to use them-
- assuming you are based in the Dallas area
- lots of AA non-stop flights from DFW
- to Anchorage, Vancouver, Calgary, even Quebec City
- to Mexico and Central America
- to the Caribbean
- and to all over the lower 48 states
So
- a return trip over the Memorial Day weekend (ie after Europe and before Sth America)
- another return trip over the Labor Day weekend (ie after Sth America and before Asia)
- and finally, a stopover in Honolulu on your way to Japan,
Something like: OSL-HEL-LHR-YYZ-DFW-ANC-DFW-GRU-DFW-AUA-DFW-HNL-TYO-HKG-KUL-DOH-OSL

The above itinerary exceeds the 34,000 miles allowed on a business class Global Explorer, but it is a valid 4-continent Oneworld Explorer, and starting from Norway they are the same price.

Happy planning Selpol

Thank you pandaperth for your detailed explanation and advice, will review your suggested itinerary and agree about maximizing segments and stopovers. Agree on Iguazu falls, amazing experience, visited while in Peru and Brazil in 2023. IAH is my closest airport, about 75 min but DFW is only 3 hours away and AUS is 2 hours away.

Thanks again

Selpol, I agree with Panda use up those extra segments in North America. Our home airport is DFW and we are on our second RTW. One of the tricks is to be sure that you go some where that the lodging and transport is plentiful and affordable.

We really enjoyed SAN i.e San Diego we stayed on Coronado Island - lodging is a bit pricey. But we really enjoyed the walk to the beach, the bus rides, affordable taxi to airport the view from the bridge over to the island are great, and the ferry ride. We did it Thanksgiving week all and all a good trip at a reasonable price.

We just changed a trip for this Christmas from PBI to SJO because the lodging prices look really good and will not need to rent a car (just makes for a bit more relaxing holiday trip).

Just a couple of examples. I am sure you can find something even more interesting to you, go for it!

I had an easy time with date changes on AA RTW desk with no extra cost. I changed 2/3 of the dates: I waited until after the flying the first segment to be sure the date change would be no charge. Late I changed the actural routing and go hit with a bit of YR/YQ cost but that seems to be normal for adding QR vs some of the other carriers.

Curious about your routing through LAX and JFK, is that for mileage? else you could maybe change and get a trip to Mexico, Belize, or Costa Rica. Enjoy!

Thank you flyhurl , Great advice and suggestions. Closest airport for us is IAH and I see Alaska flying non stop to Seattle, we may add that. Thanks again!