Yeah, I'm incredibly frustrated with the OneWorld site. The only way it'll give me the CX flights I want is to put CX as my preferred airline in the top right. Then when I do that it won't offer me a JL flight MNL-TYO at the tail end, it will only offer CX with a connection via HKG (and 41 varieties of that) but not a single JL flight. If I remove that airline preference it gives me the JL flight MNL-TYO but then can't find my CX flights AKL-HKG-LAX... I'm at 17 segments the way the OW site wants to configure it... :mad: Really didn't want to call because I know CX takes a while to get it done on the phone and I think I've got a forced broken married segment that the OW site is allowing but has D0 as a married segment.

Just as an update, CX does not want to do the booking on the phone either, at least not at the US phone number.

Just finished mine with CX. I made a couple of concessions to get it to work online, I only lose about 8,000 miles but I also saved $6-700 so it's a win I guess.

A couple of good data points for others booking in the future, this would only affect ex-Japan since YQ/YR is relatively low originating from here. There's always a lot of discussion using AA codes vs QF codes with QF's very high fees on TPAC. On the OW site it doesn't give you codeshare options, so I initially had AA43 AKL-DFW. Before paying (the OW site does look like you'll pay directly there, but they actually end up just giving you a PNR and you have to call for a payment link from CX), I got in touch with CX and checked the price difference to use the QF 4396 code. QF was only 2,000 JPY more (about $15) so I changed it, don't want to risk AAdvantage shafting me trying to credit by revenue method (even though if the AA code credits as distance it's 25% more miles. :mad: ) I really wish AAdvantage would give a definitive answer on that.

WhatsApp for CX seems more competent than the phone, but that's only a sample size of 1 so far. The phone agent couldn't do the change to the QF code, said it gave her an error and didn't know how to contact the OneWorld team. WhatsApp agent made the change in 30 seconds and issued a new payment link right away with the very slight price increase.

Overall happy with the ticket I booked but took a lot of fiddling around with the site to get it to work. Also got the very last D availability ex-Japan to AKL on CX for that week I want to leave. :) (married segment issue, otherwise plenty to HKG or even married segments to SYD). A couple of frustrating points I encountered, it'd only give me this CX flight ex-Japan if I select CX as my preferred airline otherwise it insists I have to use QF to SYD, BNE, or MEL to get to AKL, but that also means my very final leg, MNL-TYO, it won't offer any JL flights, only CX wasting a segment that I could have used somewhere else. I could have remedied that on the phone, but didn't really feel like trying, it's a few hours in the Pier at HKG I guess, not the end of the world. It also errors out with EBB-CAI, for some reason it doesn't see the QR flights, I had to enter those separately but it didn't give me the "waitlist" error that it usually does when you break married segments. I suppose the married segment was available just the OW site can't handle those city pairs directly. It had no problems with EBB-AUH on QR however, so was a bit odd since that's the same region. Unfortunately though the UL deal ex-AUH only has 6 months validity and I needed 7, so have to do the RJ one ex-CAI instead since that's a 12 month validity. Again there, I end up saving a bit of money / miles going that route but despise CAI airport so much I'd rather do UL.

Edit: Forgot to include the price for a data point: DONE5 including CX, QF code on AA, AA, and QR. Total 1,020,000 JPY which hit my credit card at about $6800 thanks to the absolutely awful JPY exchange rate at the moment. I wouldn't be surprised to see these eventually get repriced unless the BOJ pulls their head out of the sand and fixes the yen, so enjoy it while it's still this attractive. If you're booking this with CX, on their payment site it offers to let you pay in your most convenient currency... don't do it, it's just another dynamic conversion scam, it quoted me $7100 which is quite a markup.

Good to hear that you succeeded.
So your YQ, YR and taxes etc (above the Base price) was only 124,800 JPY (US$835.54, as I used forex today). That's the lowest I've seen or heard of! Great job. What other airlines do you fly other CX, AA, RJ and QR? No BA or AY? Just curious because of the low YQ+YR+taxes.

Less actually, breakdown of mine below. But even if I used QF HND-SYD-AKL and JL MNL-HND it's quite similar, that version draws only 74,930 in YR / YQ, taxes would be slightly lower without the HKG transits so prices at 1,036,310. So while Japan may have a slightly higher base price, you don't have the wild swings in YQ / YR that you see on OSL and CAI itineraries. I can even put BA in there some places and it doesn't change significantly.

My itinerary is NRT CX HKG CX AKL QF DFW AA SAL AA DFW QR DOH QR NBO (Surface to EBB) QR DOH QR CAI QR DOH QR DUB QR DOH QR MNL CX HKG CX. (The RJ I mentioned in my earlier post is nested in at CAI, it's the well known ex-CAI RJ deal in the Premium forum. I'll go back to CAI and continue the itinerary next summer) I can use BA CAI-LHR-DUB and it doesn't change it much. When I try SAL-NBO it breaks and won't price with BA or IB, if I broke it it in DFW maybe it would work, I didn't try but why would I fly BA over QR QSuites, :D There's another option DUB-MNL on BA to LHR then CX, that adds 30,000 JPY, but I'm still very happy with QR on that route.

Looking at my eticket now:
Base: 895200 JPY
Total Taxes and Airport Fees alone: 74,130 JPY which is quite a chunk but I have 2 transits in HKG which are extremely high.
YR: 50,490 JPY, no YQ at all.

Last year I had a QF issued DONE5 and was somewhat similar:
Base: 895,200
Taxes and Airport fees: 86,000
YR 25,050, no YQ
Total: 1,006,250 but QF comped some of the airport fees during an involuntary change adjustment, that's when I added CX flights via HKG that show on the eticket, but I actually paid 991,280 JPY on that one at the start.

[MENTION=122860]dvs7310[/MENTION],

Thank you for the added details!

I'm trying to book a DGLOB34 at the moment and am pulling hair out over the definition of a stopover BA's fares team seem to be using.

The itinerary is OSL-HEL-LHR // LHR-DOH-SIN // SIN-SYD-ZQN // AKL-SYD-HNL // HNL-LAX-JFK-LHR // LHR-HEL-OSL where // indicates a stopover over 24h.

I have 14 segments including overland in New Zealand. I have 30,633 miles according to GC Mapper. I know the fare rules permit 2 stopovers in your starting zone, TC2 in this case, and the LHR stopovers account for this. Transfers in Helsinki are under 24h.

BA are saying that a 3h transfer in DOH counts as a stopover, so breaks the 2 stopovers in your starting zone rule, so are blocking this booking and insisting on a direct LHR-SIN routing. This has a net cost of 120 BA tier points, which is frustrating, and will likely mean flying a BA 777 instead of QSuite, as I'm assuming they won't allow QF2 on the QF A380, which is also frustrating.

Does anyone have experience of this? The HEL transfers have longer layovers than the DOH one, so I'm very lost.

Remarkably, I've been told by BA they use the OneWorld website to validate routings for RTW fares, which may be the issue. I suspect the solution is to book with QF or AA, but on previous RTW bookings the BA Newcastle team were superb and as a UK-based BAEC member I have a preference for booking with BA.

Looking to book a DONE5 with the following route: CAI-SHA-DEL-KUL-BKK-AKL-SYD-LAX-MEX-SAO-DOH-CAI.

The first leg (CAI-SHA) is routed as CAI-AMM-DOH-SHA through the oneworld site. Called into the Qantas RTW desk to see if CAI-DOH-SHA is bookable due to CAI-DOH having domestic A class availability on the date requested. Agent said they use the oneworld site to view availability so no luck there.

Anyone have experience booking something similar?

The OneWorld site won't book the first leg on QR, that's why it's pushing you to AMM for your first segment. Travel agents can book the first segment on QR however and believe AA can too.

BTW, what do you mean the Qantas RTW desk? I don't believe they have one anymore and from past experience their call centers are generally pretty useless for these tickets.

Hm good to know. Saw someone previously say that AA wasn't booking ex-CAI tickets anymore, but will try calling their desk. As for Qantas, I called in and asked for their RTW desk. Got transferred to someone who helped with the itinerary, but guess it could've been a regular agent.

There were anecdotal reports of AA stopping ex-CAI tickets, but then a few people came back later and said they've had some issued recently. So YMMV but it's worth a try and perhaps even a HUCA.

From personal experience and others who have dealt with QF, just don't do it for a RTW. Changes are painful as it's really hard to find an agent who has any clue what they're doing. Most calls get routed to Fiji which seems to be their most incompetent call center. I did have a lovely representative in South Africa once who was pretty awesome, she knew nothing about the ticket but took the time to learn and got everything done in a few hours. If you get lucky enough for Hobart (which seems rare) they are also suppose to be fairly good, but when I would call I'd get Fiji like 90% of the time. In the end the only way I could get anything done was using QF's social media team (I used Twitter, but another poster mentioned FB Messenger too). They actually have a clue and get things to the right people to get them done but it may take a day or two.

BTW, if you go via the OW tool online and your first carrier is RJ to Amman, my understanding is that QF is the ticketing airline, so definitely find a travel agent or try AA.

I just ticketed my most recent one with CX and have heard mostly great things about their ability to service the ticket later as well. I have only had the one experience making a minor change to a codeshare before ticketing, so can't say firsthand yet. But whether you can get CX to ticket or not depends on your itinerary, they like to be the first carrier on the ticket but have also heard at least one person say they've gotten CX to do their even without being the first carrier.

Thanks to this board for the help with trying to book my DGLOB34. They were able to get it to ticket in the end, however I declined to proceed.

Ex-OSL fares are approx. £4330 on BA right now. BA quoted £6.7k, adding £2.4kpp of YQ. Almost all is fuel surcharges. As they were adamant they couldn't book codeshares, meaning I needed a few long QF legs, there was no alternative but to give up.

I'm now trying via AA.

Might want to look at booking ex-TYO instead and doing a positioning flight with miles or just another cheapish deal. You'd be in the range of 900,000 - 1,000,000 JPY which is ~£5000-5500. Ex-TYO has much lower fuel surcharges than other points of origin.

If you go to AA to ticket what you have currently, get rid of any BA segments and have them on AA or QR codes, neither of which draw as high of YQ / YR. BA and QF are likely to be the highest on both, assuming you stick with ex-OSL, but QF doesn't have YQ out of TYO, only YR which is small.

I've been trying to use the online tool to book an ex-HND itinerary. I keep getting errors stating "There is an unexpected issue when requesting a price for this itinerary. Please try changing a flight, date, cabin or city/destination."

If I pare down the itinerary I can get it to price, but I have yet to be able to generate a 16 segment RTW without that error.

Any experience or suggestions on getting it to work better?

You can try the new AI enabled site, if still no good post the itinerary here if you aren't sure it's valid then you can probably get 90% of the way there using ITA Matrix to calculate the taxes

Just curious, do you have any BA or IB long haul segments? That's always caused it to not price for me for some odd reason on built itineraries ex-Japan. Doesn't mean the segments are invalid, just seems it can't price them on what would be a CX or QF issued ticket and you'd have to call in to get it priced. I haven't found any other airlines that cause the error so far but have never attempted to have any AT, AY, or RJ long haul segments on the itinerary to test.

ITA will give you accurate taxes but not YQ / YR. From my experience there is no YQ on ex-Japan xONEx, only some YR. Though I've never been able to get a price from the OW tool when it included BA or IB long haul, which could be why.

Just JL/CX/AA/QR/AS. I thought it might be the AS segments causing the issue, but I removed them and it is still not pricing. I know I can just call AA to do it, but then I need to use AA intercontinental which I don't want to do for a variety of reaasons. I'd call CX or JL to have them try to issue it, but it sounds like they are all just using the oneWorld tool now - which isn't working for the itinerary.

I stripped out a lot of segments, and even this isn't pricing: HND(JL)-SIN(CX)-HKG(CX)-LAX(QR)-DOH(QR)-CPH(QR)-DOH(QR)-HND

CX has a OW desk, just not one you can call yourself. You still have to talk to a regular person, many of who have no idea how to put it together nor where to send it for pricing once they have it assembled. HUCA is necessary from what I've heard from others. On the one I just ticketed with them, I at least got it to price on the OW tool the had their Whatsapp team make one change before I ticketed it. You could try sending them an itinerary on Whatsapp and ask them to send it to the OW desk for pricing as a OneWorld Explorer DONEx ticket. They seemed to know what they were doing in my single interaction with them, and with other airlines as well I find the SNS teams are better equipped for some reason.

BTW, I had no problem at all getting the OW tool to price the above itinerary. You didn't specify where you wanted stopovers vs. transit. But I put stopovers everywhere except between CPH-HND (transit DOH), got 733,330.00 JPY on the tool. I do not use the AI function, that's a disaster in my opinion. Post up your full itinerary what you're trying to achieve and I'll see if I can't get it to price somehow, I've had a good bit of practice manipulating that tool to make it work now. Make sure to indicate where you want a stopover vs. transit. Also if you have a free segment I'd recommend CX TYO-HKG-SIN to get the tool to send it to CX instead of JL. JL has both a ticketing fee and service fee for any changes, even if they'd be free in the fare rules.

Thanks for the advice on this thread. Unfortunately, positioning to TYO to start a RTW ticket is not affordable for us in terms of time or cost. I'm happy to report a good booking experience with AA for our ex-OSL paying in GBP.

It did take 5 calls - from the UK the number is free via Skype without credit. The initial booking took over an hour, I was given a week for rating and ticketing and I called on the 6th day when my rating was confirmed and price given in USD. I asked for a conversion to GBP, and was advised to call back the next day. I did this and paid - about 8h before the ticket expiry.

The next day I saw some segments missing so called once more, and turns out some of the partner airline segments had not tickets and had dropped due to time expiry. The agent was able to re-add these while I held, and get the rating and payment processed in around 50 minutes this time. The price did drop from what I was told the day before, all YQ, so I'll take that.

Overall a fare of £4324 and YQ of £1041. I reduced this by £1.6k per passenger compared to BA's version, this was done by using AA for SYD-HNL on a codeshare instead of prime QF, and unfortunately switching to BA15 from SIN-SYD instead of QF2 - noisy 777 over the A380 is a shame but worth it for the saving.

As a BAEC member the booking is a mess in my BA app as Sabre and Amadeus do their awkward dance, but it's all valid in the AA app and reserving seats via Royal Jordanian seems to have worked.

Wow - just spent a few hours reading this thread and LOTS of great info in here. I'm looking to book a DONE5 on very short notice (within the next week) and had wanted to start from CAI, but given the limited options out of BA and RJ may just start it from OSL. Priorities are:

• get the QF nonstops SCL-SYD-JNB....because yes, I'm a nerd and want those lines on my map
• squeeze in a DCA-EYW-DCA trip since buying that in business is ridiculous on its own
• maybe a sidetrip on QF to NLK or AYQ?

Advice how to improve (and quickly ticket? I assume OW website is quickest - is there any way to guarantee AA tickets it?) this:

OSL-HEL
HEL-JFK-DCA
DCA-EYW-DCA
DCA-XXX-DCA (not sure where yet)
DCA-MIA-SCL
SCL-SYD
SYD-NLK-SYD
SYD-JNB
JNB-DOH-OSL

...looks like 15 segments so pretty much optimized, but would love advice...

Couple of questions, do you 'need' the HEL stopover right after leaving OSL? You're not optimizing mileage that way, better to go OSL-DOH-JFK, it's a lot more miles and a much nicer ride across the Atlantic. Then continuing on your planned route and tag HEL to the end, JNB-DOH-HEL, then HEL-OSL (or for that matter just throw that segment away if you don't need to go back to OSL otherwise). Other option if you indeed need that HEL stopover right at the beginning, OSL-HEL, HEL-DOH-JFK. The HEL-DOH is unfortunately on the AY plane, but you'd get QR metal for the trans-Atlantic at least, that would be right at 16 segments and that version would ticket with AY on the OW tool.

The OW tool won't ticket on AA unless they're your first segment. It also won't ticket the recommended amendment I posted above because QR cant' be the first carrier. For AA to ticket you'll have to call them, but likely could get it all done in less than a day.

I guess DCA is home? LOL.

I just priced out your version in the OW tool, it's 103,682 NOK (~$9400) with a whopping 37,497 of that in taxes and surcharges. (~$3390). Of course that would be ticketed on AY so don't know how much you might trim off by ticketing with AA (if any, I suspect a lot of the surcharge is coming from the 2 long QF segments and the AY one, and pretty sure AA charges those too unless you're going ex-TYO).

Here's something to ponder. (Too much time on my hands tonight) I tried to build something ex-TYO but you can't get both the SCL-SYD and SYD-JNB flights if you originate in Asia. So I built one ex-CAI that is pricing between US$6500-6900 all in. Currently this is ticketing with QF because it starts on AT and apparently they don't ticket from the OW tool. The final 2 flights can easily be switched to QR but I can't do it in the tool, you have to call and get AA to issue. I had to drop your DCA-xxx-DCA because this itinerary uses all of your segments but for a potential $3000 savings, you can certainly add in whatever you want nested in on a separate ticket.

(line breaks are stopovers)
CAI-CMN (AT)
CMN-JFK-DCA (AT AA)
DCA-EYW (AA)
EYW-DCA (AA)
DCA-DFW-SCL (AA) (MIA would also work fine here, just I was finding DFW connections easier on the placeholder dates I used)
SCL-SYD (QF)
SYD-NLK (QF)
NLK-SYD (QF)
SYD-JNB (QF)
JNB-LHR-HEL (BA AY) - this can be changed to JNB-DOH-HEL but the OW tool can't do it with the QR code DOH-HEL, have to call, with AY code it adds $300 over the LHR connection)
HEL-LHR-CAI (AY BA) - this can also be changed to HEL-DOH-CAI but the OW tool can't do it with the QR code HEL-DOH, have to call, with AY code it adds $300 over the LHR connection)

In the OW tool you're at AU$10,345 or AU$10,957 (US$6531 or US$6918). That LHR connections to HEL vs. DOH. However once you call and get the codes changed to QR then it might actually be less than the LHR connections. BA LHR-CAI is an A321 with Eurobiz so would avoid that even if DOH is still higher with QR codes. And you'd get the Al Safwa lounge on your HEL-DOH-CAI transit, so that also adds value to going that way if you build in a sufficient layover to enjoy it.

Unable to purchase CAI origen from AA
 

Reckon the underlining of the entire post was an accident, I've corrected that in the quote box here. :D Quite interesting though that they're limiting ex-CAI only to EXP and CK. Too many people I guess using them to book when not enough segments are on AA to justify it.

But the RJ part doesn't surprise me, when I was messing around and building that sample itinerary I posted above yesterday, the OW tool also would absolutely not allow RJ for the first segment. I got it to work only with AT as the first carrier, so you may want to look at that. I tried every non-QR OW carrier that flies to CAI (which isn't many, IB once a week but that didn't work either despite them publishing a fare still), and the one and only I could make work was AT. Who knows, that may not even last long (so grab it while you can if it works for you) but you'd think if so many OW carriers were getting fed up with the CAI fares then OW would just change the ex-CAI price... that's "de facto" what appears to be happening with several OW carriers pulling ex-CAI fares only and leaving literally every other market alone and AA now specifying that they'll only book ex-CAI for EXP and CK.

What we really need is a good independent travel agent on here who's willing to issue on QR stock. ernestnywang, who posts in here a lot and very generously helps people figure out places to cut / trim YQ / YR said that an agent with Sabre could plate on QR stock and could avoid most of the fuel surcharges from the ex-OSL and ex-CAI fares. (Could also plate with QR as the first carrier on the ticket which OW won't do). Problem is, so far no one been identified who can do it (or at least no one is coming forward). For ex-OSL tickets alone, that could quite easily save people $1000-2000+ so even a set, livable, commission to manage the ticket would be justifiable. Ex-OSL tickets regularly have well over $3000 in YQ / YR, compared to ex-TYO with ~$200-400.

I will also mention that ex-CAI and ex-TYO DONE5 are almost exactly the same price after YQ / YR are figured in. It's 40,000 AA miles one way from CAI to TYO on QR or EY in business. (ok, actually both QR and EY availability to TYO is quite tight but ICN is usually available and it's a 2 hour flight that costs nothing to get from ICN / GMP to TYO.)

Thank you SO much for all the input - it's validating what I've more or less found. The two long QF segments are the only "real" non-negotiable - basically I've wanted those two segments for so long that it makes sense to buy an ex-CAI just for those - everything else is gravy.

If I want to ticket ex-CAI with the tool it seems it's going to be a QF ticket - which also tells me I'd better get my dates and everything right the first time since changing it would likely be an absolute nightmare!

Yup, bolding in your text where needed! :D I've personally just finished a QF RTW and it was a nightmare right up until I figured it out.

QF is absolutely horrible to deal with on a RTW, hands down, that's the end of the story. But if you must do changes with them it seems it's completely useless to do with their call center. I finally found out their social media team can make things happen. I used Twitter DMs, the other poster who brought it up used FB Messenger, seems it's the same team. If you end up ticketing with QF, Godspeed but go that route, and any changes to direct to the SNS teams, don't even pull your hair out with the call center.

Thanks a million for this feedback - if I can get what I "want" on the tool I'll probably just suck it up. My first segments will be RJ from CAI-AMM-CDG so I'm resigned to the QF ticket. I'll try and guess my dates right, but for the second "half" of the 16 segments my guess is dates will change...at least routing is firm now. I'll be relying on the Twitter team...and will of course report back.

Anyone know how fast it is from entering credit card on the tool to getting a ticket issued?

[QUOTE=ironmanjt;35680768]Wow - just spent a few hours reading this thread and LOTS of great info in here. I'm looking to book a DONE5 on very short notice (within the next week) and had wanted to start from CAI, but given the limited options out of BA and RJ may just start it from OSL. Priorities are:

• get the QF nonstops SCL-SYD-JNB....because yes, I'm a nerd and want those lines on my map
• squeeze in a DCA-EYW-DCA trip since buying that in business is ridiculous on its own
• maybe a sidetrip on QF to NLK or AYQ?

Advice how to improve (and quickly ticket? I assume OW website is quickest - is there any way to guarantee AA tickets it?) this:

OSL-HEL
HEL-JFK-DCA
DCA-EYW-DCA
DCA-XXX-DCA (not sure where yet)
DCA-MIA-SCL
SCL-SYD
SYD-NLK-SYD
SYD-JNB
JNB-DOH-OSL

...looks like 15 segments so pretty much optimized, but would love advice...[/QUOTE

dup info

QF is instant ticketing, or at least within a minute or two. Are you actually getting CAI-AMM to work? I couldn't get it on any date the other day, but I didn't try CAI-AMM-Europe, I was trying to get CAI-AMM-DOH, it wouldn't give it to many on any date I checked even with a stopover in AMM.

Yup, not having a problem unless I enter CAI-AMM as a segment - that chokes as a supposed violation of segments in ME/Europe. Doing CAI-Europe (as long as there's a same day via AMM) prices just fine.

Thanks folks for the instant ticketing...looks like it'll work online!

Hi again.

A quick question?

I am getting ready to try and book our RTW in about a month (once all the sectors are loaded and I can book the flights next Oct/Nov). The original plan was to keep back a few segments for a separate LHR>DOH>OSL trip to use up most of the segments but for a number of reasons this can’t happen now and we will have to put this into a single trip.

I am thinking of actually booking LHR>DOH>LHR>OSL and not flying the last segment to save me having to fly back from OSL and in doing so only using 15 segments.

The end of the trip would be HKG>CPT(via transit in DOH)>LHR>DOH>LHR>OSL. The tool does not like this as it says I’m making more than 2 stopovers in Europe/Middle East, but the intention is to have less than 24 hours in LHR between CPT and DOH and I make it I’ve only in theory got 2 stopovers in Europe anyway. Tool has no problem if I finish LHR>DOH>OSL.

Is this just a glitch?

TIA.

I was wondering what would happen if you do not use the last segment(s), should you cancel? I guess you are strictly breaching the terms and conditions of the ticket?

I can't remember the specifics right now but there are special rules for South Africa as well. I suspect that's the actual issue since you can do it without ZA in the itinerary. Since you're going via DOH anyway, test it with some of their other Southern Africa destinations that isn't South Africa. I'm pretty sure Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique remain, but Namibia is going away sadly. It's not exactly cheap to buy a separate ticket in the region but depending on what miles / points you have at your fingertips might still be ok. SA miles actually are useful for short haul flights but unless you've built some up before I don't know that helps you, they aren't a Marriott partner anymore sadly. It REALLY stings losing that BA franchise in JNB since that was the only OW option in southern Africa. HRE-JNB isn't terribly priced in economy with UA miles, but CPT isn't close enough to get the discounted rate. If you have G6 (GOL) miles then actually intra-Africa on ET is pretty cheap too, even in business class. I know these aren't exactly mainstream programs but might be a future strategy if you want some cheap mileage flights in the region. QR Avios are also great near Rwanda, but not so much as far flung as South Africa. (Also QR doesn't fly to KGL anymore, they turned the DOH route over to their close partner WB (Rwandair) on a 737 at that).

Thanks for the reply.

It doesn’t throw up any issues when I route HKG>CPT(transit in DOH)> LHR>DOH>OSL, so if I can’t book the last leg as DOH> LHR, I’ll just stick with that and book an Avios reward flight back to LHR, for the flexibility if anything goes wrong. We are having to cram the whole thing into 5.5 weeks so the end is a bit hectic! Basically lots of time in the air, not much relatively on the ground, to rack up theTPs to re-qualify as Emerald and use up the maximum segments,

Strictly, yes. In reality, it would not matter.

Am finding the oneworld tool frustrating, I have posted my latest issue in the xONEx online tool bugs thread. I am not able to fly from JFK-DOH directly (with a final flight of DOH-LHR). I am going to try American Airlines, who I understand are expert at booking RTW. I assume that I will be able to include my BA Exec card if I book through BA?

If calling from the UK, what is the best number to call AA for RTW bookings? The UK number is 0207-660-2300, will they be able to help or is there another number I should use? Thanks in advance...

Use Skype and call the US toll free number for the AA RTW Desk: +1.800.247.3247 which is free using Skype

Indeed the tool is super frustrating - definitely recommend the AA RTW desk. Their number is +118002473247. I recommend calling through Skype so it's free. No worries booking from the UK/playing in GBP/attaching any FF number, done so myself!

Hope that helps :)

Thanks newEUer and aaupgrade , will call AA directly. Even travel agents who advertise RTW don't seem to be able to book anything other than straightforward oneworld Explorer tickets, I wonder if they use the oneworld tool!

My last two DONE5 were booked with a TA who is/was a member here. My last one was the ex-SEZ deals and those caused A LOT of headaches for TAs who booked them because BA (who had the fare filed) decided they didn't want to honor them and threatened debit memos. That said, oneworld RTW tickets have been able to be autopriced in Sabre for many years and because of that Sabre gives a guarantee to TAs who use it; therefore, BA's debit memos would have been paid by Sabre. Sabre of course balked at having to pay $4,000-$5,000 per ticket, so it caused some serious headaches to the travelers and the TAs. I personally had zero problems with my ticket, but I know of several others that did. From my understanding the TA I had used lost/was going to lose the ability to issue BA tickets because of it.

So, yes, TAs can use a GDS to issue RTW tickets, but might have switched to using the website to avoid airlines deciding the price is too low post-purchase.

Hi ernestnywang , thanks for your help last time with the taxes calculations. I have flown the first 2 segments of the itinerary and am now finalizing the rest. Currently I am looking at this:

...-JFK-(AA)-MEX-(AA)-xDFW-(AA)-SEA-(AS)-HNL-(AS)-SFO-(AA)-JFK-(JL)-HND-(JL)-SYD-(QF)-AKL-(CX)-HKG-(CX)-BKK-(JL)-NRT-(QR)-xDOH-(QR)-OSL

These segments seem to be available as codeshares:

JFK-HND: JL5 or AA8402
SYD-AKL: QF145 or AA7337
BKK-NRT: JL708 or AA8412
NRT-DOH: QR807 or JL7995

Could you check what the difference in taxes would be if I managed to book these codeshares?