New to this so have a few (possible) numpty questions.


I have an Evoucher from BA and would like to use it for this RTW trip.
Q1 I assume I have to start the trip with a BA ticket (though not necessarily from UK) ?
Q1a I would have to ring BA to book.


I get several errors on certain routings saying "cannot find a flight on this date" when there are clearly flights.
Q2 Is this because there is a special ticket bucket fare that is truly not available or is the tool wrong?

Example KEF-Lon in Jan 2023-No economy fare but there is Business-Then looking at the detail it says this flight has no Business seats so you are in Economy!
Example 2 DUB-Lon-No flights!


Odd behaviour?
I get an error:-
There is an unexpected issue when requesting a price for this itinerary. Please try changing a flight, date, cabin or city/destination.

When I change the carrier (from IB to BA in this case) it all works fine.
Anyone know why?

Thanks

Both L and D classes are available most days in mid- and late Jan. Something is wrong. Just call BA I guess.

I had to google "numpty":)
My 2c worth below.

Thank you both for the quick replies and the fare bucket codes.

Last Q.
Q2b
As I will have to phone to book to use my eVoucher I assume I would ignore any blatant tool errors and relay my route to the BA operative.
I could figure out the taxes using ITA Matrix., though not sure about the base cost?

I'll look at the bug thread :)

Assuming you're thinking of the Oneworld Explorer ticket (and not the less popular Global Explorer ticket), it may be worth your while reading the Oneworld Explorer Guide wiki

"...and relay my route to the BA operative.."
Absolutely, just have everything ready.
In the past I have simply fed the agent:
Date From-To Flight Number
for each flight I want
The agent takes all that and passes it to the airline's Fares Team who verify compliance with the rules and price it.

As for the Base Fare, what's your starting point and cabin class?

Thanks I have read the Wiki today :)

Starting point is what I'm experimenting with.

From the posts here I'm trying
KEF No Flights error until just now!
OSL Seems to be the cheapest
JNB No flghts errors so far.

Sticking to L class at the moment until I get a route that suites.

May even try to have two or three holidays out of the one trip, having read the tricks.

I'm trying to do Central America and the Cook Islands
Central America is Jan-March whilst I think Cook Islands should be September!

So far have got as a basic template.

OSL-MAD-PTY-MEX-MEl-AKl-RAR-SYD-OSL

Thoughts?

Route-->A map from Great Circle Mapper
That route fly's over Asia, so you need to pay for Asia, even if not stopping/transiting

For a start
No oneworld airline fly to/from RAR-->https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raroto...tional_Airport
RAR is best a separate return from AKL.

No oneworld airline flys SYD-OSL direct. So needs to be SYD-XXX-OSL (2 segments). You need to determine that XXX airport. The OW RTW tool will not do that. Same with phoning. Will be many options, so you need to tell the phone agent where you want to go.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_Airport,_Gardermoen

Some of your other routes will need 1 (or 2?) transit airport. Example MEX-YYY-MEL. These are counted as a segments.

Thanks.

Noted re Asia, I will possibly add extra to the SYD-OSL or re route. This is my basic plan at the mo.

AKL-RAR-SYD
Tool comes back as is QANTAS or is this the code share with Jetstar that makes it as a no go?

Ta

You can't use Jetstar on a Oneworld Explorer ticket.
https://assets.ctfassets.net/m9ph4qv...d-explorer.pdf
You can use Jetstar on a Global Explorer rtw (mileage based).

Confused
From the linked pdf which is the Oneworld Explorer rules

"Other codeshare services not permitted with the exception of QF Codeshare services operated by Jetstar (JQ)."

So it seems Qantas AKL-RAR-SYD is ok?

Tool says so, prices up as a Oneworld Explorer ticket, though I know that's not definitive.

If you can find a QF codeshare on Jetstar then that is OK. I only saw AirNewZealand and Jetstar prime operated flights when I checked; did not see QF codes.

There's a QF3801 AKL-RAR operated by JQ on T, Th, and S.

AKL-RAR JQ129 is code shared with QF3801 from https://www.auckland-airport.net/akl...eparture/JQ129
https://www.trip.com/flights/status-qf3801/
https://www.trip.com/flights/status-jq129/
But needs more checking. Can be hard to find code shares

JQ does not fly RAR-SYD direct. The JQ web site comes up as RAR-AKL-SYD (so 2 segments). But schedule/routes change

Hi

Thanks for all the responses.

This is the part of the trip I'm trying to shoehorn into my Central American route so I did a bit more experimenting as I seem to have found a valid router.

I'm sure you know all this but:-
AKL-RAR is QF3801 and my random date for the template was Thursday 2nd March.
This prices up as a OneExplorer ticket. If I change to the other flight option (Jetstar JQ129) the price of the total trip increases by 50% and is priced as a GlobalExplorer. Still a valid fare though.

RAR-SYD is QF3800/QF146 and involves a stop over in AKL.Saturday Random date was Saturday 29th April

Pre Covid there was a SYD-RAR direct flight on Fridays IIRC, but that was possibly Jetstar

Thanks for the replies I have a lot to learn!

Well I just found another ood thing.

I loaded my proven route I had yesterday from the BA Oneworld site-and it failed to find flights for AKL-RAR-SYD.
With some fiddling of dates I finally got it to find flights-but it could not price up the itin. It had found Jetstar flights for both RAR flights (I changed it to AKL-RAR return.

Then I remembered I used the following QANTAS web-site to start the search.
https://rtw.oneworld.com/rtw/?Origin=QF

Using this site the itin I had yesterday worked as it selected QANTAS flights for the RAR trip

Another journey on the learning curve

Dealing with Qatar Airways was painful
 

I wanted the first flight of my next RTW ticket to be a QR flight

This meant I could not use the online tool, so I decided to try getting QR to ticket it

HOPELESS, REALLY HOPELESS!

Some months ago, I asked QR’s twitter team if they had a specialist RTW desk. While never explicitly answering ‘No’, it was pretty clear to me that the answer was ‘no’ and the team’s final message to me was “…our customer care will be happy to resolve it for you…”

Last month I messaged the twitter team again, wanting to check if in fact QR has published RTW fares originating in Pakistan (according to ExpertFlyer they do not). I never received a response.

So earlier this month I phoned QR. After some confusion (the agent knew nothing about RTW fares and kept insisting I must mean a return ticket) she agreed to take my itinerary and “pass it to the right people”. I have never heard anything back.

So I telephoned again. There was no record of my earlier interaction. Surprise, surprise! This agent gave me an email address to contact, which I did. I have never heard anything back.

By this time I regarded this whole episode as a challenge to see if I could get anywhere at all.:mad:

So I googled and found the CEO’s email address. My email to him immediately bounced with message “Message bounced by administrator”. So I found the email address of a VP. That email did not bounce, but (you’ve guessed it already) I have never heard back from him.

I joined QR’s frequent flyer programme, because then you can online chat to an agent. Again hopeless. But I after it I was prompted to provide feedback, which I did, of course I did. And I got an email! Asking for more information (I picked up on this in the email: ”We always aim to
offer you world-class service, whether in the skies or on the ground.” 😊) And you guessed it again – I have heard no more from then.

So I admitted defeat, and went to Plan B, which was to try to get American Airlines to ticket

/ Next Post

Dealing with American Airlines was painless
 

Back in March I tried to get American Airlines to ticket the itinerary I am just finishing (see post #935)

Back then AA refused to ticket my itinerary, because it was neither the first carrier nor the first “over water” carrier.

This time there was no mention of its being the first overwater carrier, the agent merely stipulated that AA must have an over water segment (if it’s not the first carrier that is)

The ticket I want is the Global Explorer. I had expected the agent to not be as knowledgeable of its fare rules as the (more common I imagine) Oneworld Explorer. But she knew all about it (and with my itinerary the important rules were a maximum of 34,000 miles and a maximum of four stopovers per continent.) But she surprised me in not knowing that AT (Royal Air Maroc) is a member of the alliance (it joined in 2020) and that the rules define Morocco (and the other North African countries) to be part of the continent of Europe/Middle East.

All went smoothly – the itinerary was set up by the agent, priced by the fares team, paid by me and then the ticket issued.

And my first flights are next Saturday (KHI-xDOH-NBO…)



So all’s well that ends well.

I am 0% surprised by this. All the ME3 are useless when something goes wrong or is outside of the mainstream. Compensation is terrible too.
have a look at all the downgrades/reroutes and general bad press for Qatar on the travel forums lately.

Some years ago, I called QR's main US number and reached an agent named Cheryl (in New York I think) who was extremely knowledgable and skilled; she told me she used to work BA's RTW rate desk. Other times, I had great luck getting QR to make changes to RTWs booked by others by calling their Malaysia office, which was answered by their China office (which also handles HKG). I was charged a 120 HKD service fee ($15) each ticket. The agent was named Henry; he's a supervisor and was knowledgable and helpful. But none of this was recent, and the odds of any of these people still being around are probably quite small.

Just out of curiosity, did you happen to catch the agent's name? (I'm wondering if I've dealt with the agent.)

Marie

Had two RTW (2017 and 18) tickets issued by QR through a Perth travel agent. Her dealing with QR in Melbourne indicated someone there knew the correct rules.
There are times to use a TA (if you are willing to pay the 3%) when wandering
Fred

Using a TA was my Plan D
Plan C was to ask Sri Lankan to ticket it, the final two flights on the ticket are with them, and I was happy with them having ticketed my current RTW

For interest, where did your two QR ticketed RTWs commence?

I've had mixed luck using American Express Platinum Travel. They've been waiving their fee since the pandemic. Sometimes agents there are excellent (although nowhere near as amazing as the travel agent I used to use for work trips). Some agents I just feed them the flight numbers, dates, inventory, cities, and boom, w're ready to go. Others insist on finding each flight through a painful process of searching. I asked an agent there about issuing xONEx tickets and she said it comes up as bookable no problem, and it gave her base fares that matches EF.

The infamous exCAI fares. With the second being relocated exMCT at no extra cost.
which helped immensely with my wandering
Fred

open-dated segments
 

The xONEx rules still say

5. RESERVATIONS AND TICKETING

1. (a) Reservations and Ticketing
   Reservations for the first international flight and all preceding flights must be made prior to departure.
   Subsequent segments may be open-dated.
   

I've never tried this (on about 7-8 RTWs) and I'm wondering if it's as easy as it looks. Do the airlines (I'm particularly curious about the AA RTW desk) accept such bookings without argument, or is there pushback (or flat-out refusal)? We know that some carriers add additional hurdles that are not in the xONEx rules and, indeed, may even be counter to the spirit if not the letter of those rules -- e.g., own-metal requirements. So, I wouldn't be surprised to hear something like 'Nah, that's a legacy from the days of paper tix. Nowadays on the computer everything has to be specified from the beginning.'

Insights appreciated.

Open-dated segments can't be e-ticketed, they can only be issued on paper tickets, which is pretty rare. I'd be surprised if it was easy, you might need to find an airline/agent that can still do it. (I did have a situation a few years before COVID where I asked an overseas AA office to make a change to an RTW, and to my surprise they issued paper tickets that were mailed to my house; as I recall an AA RTW agent was able to get it reissued as an eticket.)

BA and other OneWorld airlines issue open-dated e-tickets? Thanks for the info, I wasn't aware of it.

Thanks for the info!

According to this AA shouldn't have an issue issuing me a DONE4 originating from OSL as long as I include a transatlantic or transpacific flight on their metal?

Why not?

Back when paper tickets and e-tickets were coexisting if you had open dated segments, AA and others would issue a paper ticket. After paper tickets went away, I had some long discussions with the AA and BA rtw desks about open dated segments on xonex e-tickets and both refused to even consider booking with open dated segments (CX also refused open dating for xonex tickets). I finally gave up. I would be quite interested if anyone has successfully obtained an xonex e-ticket with open dated segments recently.

Edited to add: I know that Amadeus allows open dated segments (although finding an agent to do it can be difficult) but, iirc, making these open dated segments work across one GDS to another (specifically, Sabre) was the reason OW members seemed to reject booking open dated segments.

Is it possible to date flights far enough in the future and use those bookings when ready to move on to the next destination? Much like how I used those paper rtw tickets many years ago.

Sure. Time, date, carrier changes are free under the rules, although it isn't as easy as paper tickets were.

This is exactly what I've done with my just-started RTW
The dates I wanted for the last three flights on the itinerary are too far in the future for the GDS that AA uses (sabre?). So dummy dates have been entered for them.
I will change those dates, for free, closer to the time I want to fly (October 2023)

That is what the AA RTW Agent told me.

The RTW ticket I have just started (and which I purchased from AA) has an AA transatlantic flight (AA codeshare on Royal Air Maroc flight) and that was all I needed to have for AA to agree to ticket.

The AAgents have always talked about the requirement being for an "over water flight". I have always assumed that to mean either a transatlantic or a transpacific flight. I don't know if other inter-continental flights would be acceptable, for example North to South America.

Thank-you jerry a. laska and pandaperth. With that, the last question. If my e-ticket has me flying out of an airport and there are no seats available with the airline it is booked for, can I switch to another OneWorld airline that has available seats(like the good ole days)?

On my recently booked DONE4 purchased through AA Dallas the agent waived the requirement for an over the water sector on AA as a code share…..surprised but that’s what happened and subsequently ticked and reticketed as future sectors came into date range.

Just to clarify, I believe AA insists that there be a trans-ocean flight on their code. I don't think they care whose metal (and I'm sure they would refuse to book another carrier's code on their metal).