That is great advice thanks. So basically I can start my journey in HKG and perhaps use miles to get my positioning flight there and back. However I only need to fly to Canada to purchase it?

aks120

Others may have fared differently but I had to go to the AA HKG downtown office before they would issue my xCIRCxxxx ticket. That was about 6 months ago. I quizzed the staff if I could have sent a copy of my cc by fax or scanned it - they said for this ticket - "no".

That left me wondering if there was a floor limit that they would accept scan / fax details for ticket issue. But in any case, my only option was to go there first.

Of course, I did not pursue the travel agent issue option - that may have allowed me to do a remote payment.

No issue with a dcir22 about 3 wks ago. Required a signed pdf email with card details but still a card not present txn

Exactly. I like to use the miles earned flying the previous year's RTW to obtain a first class award for the positioning flights :)

Right now my partner and I are planning an ex-HKG DCIR22 for 2013. I managed to snag CX F award seats to get there, will worry about the return when it opens up 330 days out.
That's a great option (and a weekend in Canada can be lots of fun, personally I'm fond of Vancouver).

There is a travel agent in Toronto who will take over tickets set up by AA in SABRE and issue with all needed contact through email. They want you do the the majority of the legwork through AA, then they'll take over, accept payment and issue remotely. Details: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...x-icn-rtw.html

Do you mean I went up to HKG for a day just to buy a ticket when I could have done it by email - damm.. But its kind of fun to say to the office colleagues that I'm just going up to HKG for a day to buy a ticket and I'll see you all in a days time :D But then again, those guys just don't understand FT mentality.

Perfect - thanks for all the replies - I think a quick trip to Vancouver may be in order. Does anyone know what the rough taxes are on a $5k Circle Pacific fare starting in Hong Kong?

aks120

Because Circle Pacifics avoid Europe, you save a lot. Should be under $500 (I priced one a few weeks ago, but the details are at home).

my DCIRC29SA was HKD50480 plus HKD4279 extras. Purchased in September 2011 from AA HKG.

Mine on a DCIR22 was around 425 to 475 USD in taxes...I can't remember as I am on the road and I don't have my ticket info with me....

go & goingbananas

Many thanks for your reply - doing it this way does seem to be a significant savings :D

Now I just need to decide where to go!

Regards

aks120

I had just finalized what I thought was my perfect trip using every last mile, ready to phone the AA RTW desk! One last glance at the rules so that I could be sure of success - and DOH - I have just seen that my planned flight from KUL-BKK will not work as it is on RJ - I didn't realize they were not included in the Circle Pacific Fares :roll eyes:

Now need to start planning again :td:

Thanks for everyones help so far - I have really appreciated it.

aks120

Interesting, despite the logo being on the top of the page (then again so is Mexicana). I would just make it a land segment and book an alternate - enough competition on that route.

I will be honest - I never thought they would be excluded as it is a OneWorld Circle Pacific Fare - but you are right - I think I will try to include the journey if I can!

aks120

Well I am slowly getting there!

I have just had a quote for my Circle Pacific Fare from the AA RTW desk and it is a little higher than I thought and just wanted to check with you guys whether you thought this was correct.

For a trip that starts and ends in HKG but using the Canadian Travel Agent I have been quoted CAD6139.34. He said the base price was 38850 HKD which converted to CAD5299 plus 849CAD in taxes.

My stops are BKK, CBR, SYD and LAS.

It is not a million miles away but the taxes seem a shade higher than I was expecting.

Regards

aks120

Taxes are still between 10 - 20% of the total, which doesn't see unreasonable to me (although it is higher than others were reporting who purchased in HKG). You could get a printout of all the specific charges, the surcharges may have gone up or maybe AA has changed how they collect them.

Wow

Thanks for the super quick reply.

When I asked for an email with all the charges on the agent said that the email would not have the charges, just the itinerary. Iw ould only get the cost after booking - which seemed odd to me!

I will keep digging!

aks120

The first part is correct; when AA emails you an itinerary it does not have the price breakdown. The second part is not correct; the AA agent can see the detailed price breakdown, including the amount as "taxes" (which includes fuel surcharges). But some agents don't like digging in to get it and then reading it to you, so you may want to call back. To just learn the cost details, you don't technically need the RTW desk; a regular agent (e.g., EXP desk) can see the record and give you the info; if you explain that you only want information on the locator, not to make changes or ticket, a regular agent should be able to help.

Many thanks

I will try that tomorrow

aks120

Those taxes look about right compared to my DCIR22 that I have bought out of HKG....

Thanks - that makes me feel better :D

aks120

I'm booking an ex-HKG DCIR22 and in an effort to get an idea of the difference in fuel surcharges from booking a flight under one code or another, I've used the on-line tool to price some DONE3s that include the target flight from the DCIR22.

(For example, to compare booking the same SYD-LAX flight as either QF11 or AA7362, I set up a DONE4 that included SYD-LAX and priced it both ways.)

SYD-LAX QF vs AA: $175 less booking AA.
LAX-SYD QF vs AA: $724 less booking QF.
DFW-NRT JL vs AA: $20 less booking JL.
HKG-LAX CX vs AA: $157 less booking AA.
LHR-JNB BA vs AA: $318 less booking AA.
LAX-LHR IB vs AA: $542 less booking AA.

I was really shocked just looking at QF vs AA, it was so $724 more for AA in one direction but $175 more for AA in the other direction.

Edited: Corrected SYD-LAX is cheaper on AA than QF (but LAX-SYD is cheaper on QF)

That is interesting - I will have a look at that as I went for the most miles and did not think that the AA surcharge may be more on the Qantas flight SYD-LAX!

Thanks

aks120

Sorry, my mistake. It's $175 cheaper to book the SYD-LAX flight as AA 7363 than as QF 11, even though it's $724(!) more to book LAX-MEL-SYD using AA 7356 rather than QF 108.

I edited my post to reflect this.

Just booked a Pacific Circle via AA. SFO-HKG-PER-MEL-SYD-DFW (originally included DFW-SEA but that put me over 22K miles and would have added $2000 to the fare. Instead I booked a separate DFW-SEA in coach and upgraded with miles. The cost was about $200 plus 15K miles).

Now to the question. What is the best way to get seat assignments? I was not very impressed with the AA agent, so decided to try later. She said something about CX not assigning seats in advance.

SFO-HKG-PER is on CX with SFO-HKG on AA codeshare.

PER-MEL-SYD-DFW all on QF; SYD-DFW on AA codeshare. Is it possible to manage seat assignments online via the QF and CX websites? I assume the AA record locator will not work.

Thanks for your help.

You can use the QF and CX sites. You'll need to get the Amadeus PNR from AA.

Great. Thanks very much.

If your CX flights are more than 180 days out, then she is correct.

If they did not give you locators for your CX and QF flights, then you should call to get those locators. With those locators you can do seat assignments on the respective airline's web site.

This was the case before the system migration in February, but no longer the case now. However, CX's website still does not support seat selection for FLTs more than 180 days out, but a call to CX will do it.

Thanks for the updated info about being able to get seat assignments more than 180 days out. I guess that's what I get for not hanging around the CX forum more often.

Got the Amadeus PNR and was able to select seats on CX on the HKG-PER segment but not the SFO-HKG (booked as AA code share). Also, got assignments online for PER-MEL and MEL-SYD (both on QF). The SYD-DFW flight (QF booked as an AA code share) did not show on the record. Called AA RTW and they said it was QF's problem. Called QF and they said AA needed to fix it since they booked the ticket. Back to AA RTW and the person got very snippy. She finally offered to change the SYD-DFW to QF7 (rather than AA codeshare) so I asked her to do the same for SFO-HKG (change AA codeshare to CX flight). She did but complained that "we did all the work and now we get no money for it". Very unpleasant.

Now, all flights have seat assignments and I am glad that I don't have any code shares. I can imagine that if a major problem arose, the buck would be passed back and forth.

I don't know what she's complaining about. You paid AA for the ticket. The money sits in their accounts earning interest until each sector is flown, at which point AA pays out that sector to the operating carrier. True, they don't get as much money out of it as they would with the codeshares, but they still get money out of it.:rolleyes: Next thing you know, they'll be complaining about using the AA code "now we have to pay for your seat on other airline. We're getting hardly anything out of this" ;)

I wondered if her comment was correct. Also, I planned the trip and called AA knowing exactly the flights and dates. THe process took less than 5 min. I called back a couple of days later for the price and then paid for the ticket. Another call to get the Amadeus number and this last call. AA spent less than 20 min on the phone with me. In general, the RTW agents I dealt with were not very friendly, always rushing me and in the latter case, quite rude. The last agent caused me to ask that the SFO-HKG segment be changed from AA codeshare to a CX flight. If any problems, arise I would rather deal with CX and QF than AA RTW.

When you say the SYD-DFW flight did not show on the record, do you mean QF couldn't see it? That is typical for QF flights booked as AA codes, but AA should be able to assign seats for them.

I had a problem with a recently-booked Circle Pacific with a QF SYD-LAX flight booked as an AA code, where the first AA agent said she couldn't assign seats, that when she tried she got an error. So I called QF and the QF agent said she couldn't see the flight in my QF locator, then she added it as a QF code (as confirmed space), which several AA agents advised was a problem. One of the AA agents cancelled the QF sector and assigned me the same seats on the AA code, so all is well.

When the AA RTW desk switched your flights from the AA code to the QF and CX codes, did you have to pay additional fuel surcharges (or "taxes" as they like to call them)? Because as I reported above, when I used the on-line booking tool to price some DONEx trips, I saw cost increases in many cases for doing this.

Also, as a note, if you want seat assignments and that sort of thing, any AA agent can help you, you don't need the RTW desk.

I'm sorry to hear you had unpleasant experiences with the AA RTW desk. I haven't experienced rudeness or impatience (and I recently booked a trip and called just before they closed, optimistically thinking it would only take a few minutes, but ended up keeping the agent well past normal closing time).

As I recall, I could not see the QF flight SYD-DFW on my reservation at aa.com. The QF agent could not see it either but determined that it had been ticketed. When it was changed from AA code share to QF7, it was visible. When I asked that she do the same for the SFO-HKG flight (change AA codeshare to CX), she grumbled about not getting any money.

Perhaps I was a bit strong in my comments about the staff at RTW. One agent did help me by suggesting I terminate the Pacific Circle in DFW (to avoid jumping to the 24K miles level) and book DFW-SEA separately. The new level would have added $2000 to the fare. I booked DFW-SEA with a one-way upgrade for just over $200 (including the co-pay). I guess the last agent just left a bad taste in my mouth.

There have been a number of discussions over the years about AA's (and other OW airlines) desire to have the overwater/intercontinental segments. Apparently the way it has been explained is that the majority of the revenue from a OW xonex or cirpac (or whatever flavor rtw you want) ticket is in those overwater/intercontinental segments. Hence why the airline doing all the work (in this case AA) would like some of that revenue by wanting at least one of the overwater segments as an AA flight number.

Without exception, I have always found the AA rtw desk to be most helpful in setting up and booking rtw tickets.

That is certainly reasonable. However, I was put off by being told by AA and by QF that I needed to deal with the other airline to get the problem fixed. Consequently, I was concerned that the same issue would arise in the event of a bigger problem (flight cancellation, missed connection, etc).

Another question for the experts here. Is it possible to upgrade segments of a Circle Pacific business class ticket to F with AA miles or additional cost? I would be especially interested in the SFO-HKG on CX and the SYD-DFW on QF segments.

Booking is SFO-HKG-PER-MEL-SYD-DFW

Thanks

No, you can't use AA miles or upgrade instruments to upgrade on other airlines (other than IB and BA with certain limitations). If those segments were marketed and operated by AA, people have reported using AA SWU's to upgrade on xonex's.

Thanks. I thought that was probably the answer.