Your revised itinerary has:

• five flight segments in Europe/Middle East (CAI-DOH-FRA-MAD and HEL-DOH-DXB)
• maximum allowed is four
• three stopovers in the continent of origin (FRA and MAD at the beginning, and DOH at the end)
• maximum allowed is two

Your suggestion (ending HEL-DOH or HEL-DXB) will take care of both issues.

Sadly, you get no refund for the downgrade from 4 to 3 continents, and I think you still have to pay the $125 change fee :(

Pulling the trigger today on:

CAI-LHR-BER (if AA tickets can I get CAI-DOH-BER?)
BER-HEL
HEL-LAX-SEA-DCA (if I use the AA codeshare on HEL-LAX will AA ticket this? is that a better bet?)
DCA-MIA-SCL
SCL-SYD
SYD-AYQ-SYD
SYD-NLK-SYD
SYD-JNB
JNB-DOH-CAI

16 segments, DONE5, prices out on the tool and moves towards ticketing. Question is: obv I'd rather have CAI-DOH-BER but that won't ticket on the tool...what are my options here? Several segments are D1 so I need to ticket quickly which is why I'm leaning towards sucking up BA. Anything I might be missing?

edited to clarify

Just curious but what's the main reason why nobody is ticketing with JL reservations? Difficulty getting through the phone line? Agent knowledge?

One reason is JL has a ticket service fee on top of any other fees the ticket normally has. I want to say it's about $40. I think another reason is that their overseas phone lines are notoriously difficult to reach and their number in Japan is not toll-free (free dial). If you're actually in Tokyo and can go in person to the Yurakucho service center then it would be ok, but knowing how much time these tickets can take to issue and adjust later, you could rack up quite a charge to call the Tokyo number to get good agents. (Last time I called the US number it was a call center in the Philippines and more in depth knowledge was limited)

Thanks for this. I’m running out of time for a departure in two weeks. Glad to know JL isn’t really and option and four different AA agents shot me down in the last 48 hrs despite having the AY codeshare from HEL-LAX (AA flight number) in the itinerary.

guess I’m about to learn just how horrid trying to ticket via the tool w QF is…

Thanks for the info. This worked perfectly.

Was on the phone for two hours as they repriced it, but the call dropped. Was worried about them being able to reach me to pay the $125 but ended up getting the reissued ticket srraight to my email about 12 hours later.

With the changes, the email said I had a $475 balance in my favor. They took $125 from that and returned the rest to the original payment form.

Pretty happy with the outcome.

Thanks for the update, and I'm glad it worked out for you.

I'm feeling a little foolish though, because when I said "you get no refund for the downgrade from 4 to 3 continents" I was thinking only of the difference between the 4-continent base fare and the 3-continent base fare. And I totally forgot about your entitlement to be refunded the taxes and surcharges for the flights you would no longer be taking. :o

If I stump up for a Skypeout call, can I get an English speaker for oneworld booking with their +81 number?

As far as I know, JAL still retains a US call center that is open at least during US office hours. It is in El Segundo and I once was calling from a coffee shop just a couple of blocks that the agent had been in a couple of hours earlier.

You should but I’ve always used the English language number.

I have used the USA 800 number 3 or 4 times. Hours per the website is 5-16 PST time. I have only called weekdays during that time. Calling as soon as they open is best, otherwise a wait of 20-30 minutes. Generally OK understanding English, some better than others. I had AA book and ticket the ex-TYO ticket, but AA and JL reservations did not always communicate well. Sometimes you have to have AA use the OW liason to have JL cooperate. I used the OW website to get the A class seat ex-TYO (AA never has that available) and then AA ticket. That's where some issues arise, but JL is only the first flight. And anytime JL touches the ticket, there is a 5000 yen ticket fee in addition to any other fees.

Good to know, thanks. If the AA RTW desk is proving to have less booking capability than other OW airlines, then the JL fee may be worthwhile.

Only JL 1st (A) inventory seems to be an issue. No problems with A class on other OW airlines and no problems with business (D) inventory.

Oh, there's nothing at all painful about ticketing with QF via the tool, it's pretty much instantaneous. It's once you go to make changes later you'll feel the pain.

Yes, there is an English language line, just check your Skype per minute fee and make sure you have plenty of credit as it's likely to be a long call. Sadly even inside Japan it's cheaper per minute to call from Skype or Viber than use my domestic mobile line.

so I ticketed. An hour later I got an automated email that they needed my passport data. Then about 48 hours later I got an email that my credit card data didn’t come through and I must call within 24 hours or lose my flight LOL.

Called the general Australia number and took about 25 min but the agent was reasonably decent and got it issued on the spot.

Only segments 15 and 16 likely to need reissuing in April, and that’s just going to be a date swap (QR JNB-DOH-CAI so hope it’s not too painful. Is a date change subject to the change fee?

Date changes do not have a fee, but they may tell you it costs $125 anyway. You might have to remind them and have them check the rules.

I found the phone agents to be pretty useless, you probably lucked out and got one in Australia. I was rarely that lucky, usually it was the Fiji call center and once South Africa, I ended up using their SNS team via Twitter Direct Message who seem competent, though at times slow (like 3 days one time).

I am planning to fly SEA-NRT as one of my segments and I have an option of booking it as a JL code or a AA codeshare. Shouldn't be a big difference in fees between those, right?

I have a DONE5 ex-CAI issued by QF that's supposed to depart in a couple days...and unfortunately due to a medical situation can't get to CAI in time. If I understand correctly, one option is to cancel which it says is 5% of the fare of EGP 145,000 or around US$235.

Change fee is only $125...and I plan to keep the routing the same so maybe there's no charge for that as long as I have all my dates sorted? What's my best option for getting through to QF in time to do this? Thanks!

Just phone QF and hope for the best. Some (new) QF phone agents are poorly trained. IIRC the only QF in agents physically in Australia are in Hobart and answer queries from QF top their status holders. Unlikely you will get those.

My understanding changing the first segment is different from changing later segments. May be a full re-ticket ~ re calculation.

Good luck!

that’s how most fares work, so probably the same here. At this point might as well cancel and rebook when I know my dates better. Frustrating because already paid AY for a seat too but I guess those are the breaks.

Last week I changed the dates on all 16 segments prior to the first flight. Moved the trip up a month. I did not change any of the ticketed points. Cost me $26. I was expecting $0 because the exchange rate moved in my favor after the original issue date. The ticket was issued by the always fabulous AA RTW desk.

awesome - where are you starting? From what I see AA won’t issue ex-CAI tickets

Tokyo. Both Oceanic segments on AA coded flights

Unless the rules changed the 5% cancel fee should be waived in case of medical situation. I've had to cancel one before when my kid got hospitalized; I got a full refund once I provided a doctor's note. Just make sure you cancel before the flight.

Hi Guys, been a long time between drinks for me on the xONEx's but about to chance my hand with the AA RTW desk to see if i can get them to book and price the following itin in May and would appreciate the wise heads here just logic testing it for me to make sure it is within rules, before I start discussing with agents:

NRT-xDFW-YYZ
YYZ-xDFW-IAH
IAH-xMIA-GIG
/SCL-xMAD-LHR
LHR-xDOH-PER
PER-MEL
MEL-xADL-PER
PER-xHKG-NRT

Does this look like something AA will be prepared to ticket for me? I'll be using them for first 6 sectors. All advice gratefully accepted

I can't help with the AA ticketing, but would suggest your MEL-xADL-PER is a waste. It will be on narrow bodies to begin with. If you don't need to visit (i.e. stay) in Perth twice, I would suggest DOH-MEL-PER-HKG-___-NRT.

Note CX is flying 777s PER-HKG at the moment. You may get yourself an F seat.

Thanks Danger! PER is home so 2 visits is important - narrow body QF is unavoidable I believe

Fair enough. What about ADL-xSYD-PER? Would that fit in the mileage?

never used to be able to do 2 transcons in Australia has that changed?

Oh, no it hasn't. I'm rusty.

I would be very surprised if AA declined to ticket an itinerary with 6 AA flights, including 2 inter-continental flights!
I'm intrigued by all the transits.
Did you consider the non-stop BA flight SCL-LHR, and QF's non-stop LHR-PER? Or maybe even SCL-xJFK-LHR - to make AA very happy :D

ETA
If you take one of those non-stops, then you could have an extra segment in Australia - perhaps PER-MEL-BNE-DRW-PER
(BNE-DRW and DRW-PER do not count as trans-cons)

I dont see a SCL LHR on EF? Is it still operating?
The LHR PER on QF is D0 on my dates but I'll watch it.
Most transits are because its work trip and no direct ow links to the required work stops. Eg yyz, iah, bog

Dates became clear, so I risked a call to QF. Thought I'd share the experience as a datapoint.

In the end, only needed to change the first two segments, but wanted to change the first three.
CAI-xLHR-BER
BER-HEL
HEL-xLAX-SEA

Unfortunately the morning CAI-LHR wasn't available on my new date, so wanted to change to CAI-LHR and next day LCY-BER

First agent was garbled and not able to be understood, so thanked her for her time and said I'd call back. Second agent worked on it for nearly an hour, said support team was working on pricing and she would call me back in a further 30-60 minutes...4 hours later she never did.

Third agent was very pleasant, also worked on it an hour, before I once again got the "call you back in 1-2 hours, ok?" True to her word, she called back in about 30 minutes and found the issue: going LHR to LCY adds a segment even though they're co-terminals, so would put me at 17. We put it back to LHR, and it priced right away and tickets were issued about an hour later.

No change fee - I thought I might get about A$60 back since the EGP/AUD had moved in my favor but nope.

Ironically, the second agent called me back 14 times this morning while I was out, and left two garbled messages I couldn't understand at all...but the words "we did reissue" came through, so assume everything is fine. My takeaway from the whole thing: leave plenty of time (a few hours) when you. need to make changes - try to make legal changes and the experience can be ok... #mytwocents - thanks to all who helped...now off to Cairo!

The concept of co-terminals for xonex tickets went away with the advent of e-tickets.
From the rules:

Right, and I knew surface segments counted...but didn't know co-terminals counted as a surface segment. Shared in case anyone else didn't know!

Yes it's still operating, but only 3 days per week.

I think it is currently 4 days/week (T,Th,F,Su).

correct according to ExpertFlyer

My bad. Sorry

Yes it's currently 4 per week
Dropping to 3 per week at the end of March

FYI I do see rtw fares ex-CAI for BA.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...94d551a3e5.png

A lot can happen in a month.