I believe Pandaperth pointed out this Qantas link that's a phone number specifically for RTW booking support. Who knows where it routes you or if they're any more helpful, but it might let you circumvent the phone system.

This is just the standard Qantas phone number. Perhaps there used to be a special number but no longer.

As I posted in another thread, contacting them through social media may lead to better support.

I'm a glutton for punishment. After (finally) getting ahold of the lovely Auckland center who managed to make my date change (finally) so I can end in CAI when I want...I decided to risk another Global Explorer out of CAI:

CAI-xLHR-BER
BER-HEL
HEL-xSEA-DCA
DCA-xSFO-ANC
ANC-HNL
HNL-CXI
CXI-xNAN-MEL
MEL-ADL
ADL-xKUL-BKK
BKK-xDOH-CAI

...I mean what could go wrong, right?

Is this ticketed? I read SEA-DCA-SFO as violating the rule on US/Canada transcon flights.

Not yet…but isn’t that only for OneWorld explorer? I don’t think that’s a rule in Global Explorer.

​​​​Right. Looks okay to me.

Good luck getting it ticketed.

Correct ironmanjt , The Global Explorer has no restriction on the number of transcontinental flights - it has an overall mileage limit (34,000 miles for business/first class).
Instead the Global Explorer limits the number of stopovers per continent to four.

Not for a GE, no. I missed that in your post.

Depends on your starting point. Ex-Japan then it doesn't matter, the it's YR only and they're nearly identical. Ex-OSL it seems AA code is definitely cheaper and I'm not entirely sure ex-CAI.

You can test it pretty easily in the tool though by subbing LAX in just for testing and see what the difference is using the the AA or QF flight.

[QUOTE=ironmanj
HNL-CXI
[/QUOTE]
maybe it's just me but Kiribati makes any punishment worth it!

In playing around with another RTW today, I noticed a *massive* spike in starting CAI-AMM-DOH-BOS as opposed to CAI-LHR-BOS. Price jumped by $3000 AUD.

Very odd. I'm building the following routing:

CAI-AMM
AMM-LHR-BOS (or AMM-DOH-BOS)
BOS-LAX-LAS
LAS-PHL-BOS
BOS-JFK-AKL
AKL-DOH

If there's only one QR longhaul flight (DOH-BOS or AKL-DOH), the final price is $6545 AUD ($4467 AUD base and $2078 AUD taxes). That's with AMM-LHR-BOS.
If I switch so there's two QR longhaul flights (AMM-DOH-BOS and AKL-DOH), the final price jumps to $10268 AUD ($7906 AUD base and $2362 AUD taxes)

Adding a DOH-CAI flight on the end reduces the fare by about $700 AUD.

Well the EGP to other currencies did crash ~40% in recent times. To be expected that OW would reset the base fare ex CAI
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-rate-to-27-25
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/06/egyp...ecord-low.html
https://www.google.com/finance/quote...EBAo&window=1M

Sorry, I edited after you replied promptly. To be clear, the price is only spiking when I incorporate two longhaul QR flights as opposed to one.

So, is AA definitely not pricing out ex CAI itineraries? Even ones without AA flights over the Atlantic? I don't see why anyone would continue to subject themselves to the lunacy of QF agents if AA is willing to price it out using BA or RJ fares

As far as I can tell, base fares have not (yet) been adjusted due to the fall in the Egyptian pound.
I just ran my already booked and paid for DONE5 itinerary through the on-line booking tool.
And it still prices up OK, showing the base fare as AUD4,585 (=EGP145,000, as before).

To visit 5 continents in business class (possibly including some of the worlds' best) for $4000 and/or to get OW Emerald from scratch? I'm not saying it's definitely worth the lunacy, but I ended up keeping mine.

They have not...I had one ticket an hour ago which was booked yesterday ;)

Exactly...and while it's painful...I now know not to waste my time with Fiji-based agents....I'll take 20 calls at 2 min each as opposed to one painful 60 min Fiji call that goes nowhere.

edited to multiquote

Here, let me rephrase my original post. The original point was assuming that we have a choice in ticketing.

​​​​​​So, is AA definitely not pricing out ex CAI itineraries?
I don't see why anyone would continue to subject themselves to the lunacy of QF agents if AA is willing to price it out using BA or RJ fares.

They pricing just fine. QR fuel surcharges make these trips really expensive.

I don't believe they are. As I noted, the *base fare* when I add a second QR longhaul leg is increasing by $3K, not the taxes.

I'm guessing that's a bug then - there's no RTW fare on OW out of CAI that's $3,000 greater than the other...unless it's taking the QR A segment and calling it an AONE suddenly?

DONE3 to AONE3 is roughly $2,700 and DONE4 to AONE4 is roughly $3,300 so I'm betting this is what's happening.

You are talking about Qantas developped web tool which adjust the price when you select various flights; the base fare does not vary unless you add a continent etc. American prices exactly what QF app shows, and you can get a breakdown if you email your itinerary from web app.

Because the first overwater segment is on QR, you’re getting ticketed on the QR DONEx fare, all of which are at least 3000 AUD higher than equivalent other oneworld airline DONEx fares. It’s been that way for the past week.

interesting - but I thought the tool couldn’t handle QR fares? Or can it handle them as long as QF tickets them?

I'm looking at the base fare change on the RTW web tool. The only thing I'm changing is the routing from one QR longhaul flight to two. I'm well aware that the base fare is not supposed to change unless you add a continent, but I'm saying in practice that is not actually happening.

Ok I’m new to RTW fares. I need some help just to make sure I understand something. The first to ticketed carrier manages the whole itinerary so if I need to make changes there who I call? If that’s the case how’s RJ support agents etc. Never flown them and I just want to make sure I’m not going to be unhappy with needing to talk to them and their call centers.

curious who do people think have the bast agents?

Not sure that's it. When I start building the itinerary, the default for the first overwater segment is AMM-LHR-BOS on BA, which is priced on the bottom section as $6545. When I switch that to QR, the price jumps north of $10000, which would align with what you're saying.

If I continue on with that fare where the the first overwater section is DOH and switch the final leg from AKL-DOH on QR to AKL-MEL-SIN-DOH with AKL-MEL-SIN on QF and SIN-DOH on QR, though, the price drops back down to $7398 AUD.

I'm sorry for miscommunication. American Airlines are pricing itineraries ex-CAI just fine. That's what I meant by "they". Whether RTW base fares change when including QR segments I don't know: all I know that if you create a valid itinerary using the web-tool and don't ticket on QF but on AA, they will price it correctly.

RTW base fares don’t change. Period. That’s the fare rules.

I’m not sure how you “know” that AA will ticket any itinerary when there’s been plenty of conflicted reports here about their willingness. Can we please stick to facts and not one-off speculation? That will be most beneficial to the community.

I was trying to add Australia onto my itinerary to make it a DONE5, but couldn't get it to work without the fare jumping to over 11,000 AUD as you're saying. That's using QR to SYD (or anywhere else in OZ) or using your mentioned trick of QR to SIN and QF to SYD. I don't however think this is QR's YQ / YR because I have a ton of QR segments in my itinerary, 2 of those long haul (DOH-CGK and SEA-DOH), and that's pricing normally.

The problem I'm having is that it seems to be saying the base fare for DONE5 is 8,133.00 AUD if Australia is included vs. 4,458.00 AUD for DONE4 (Without Australia). That's not what EF shows but something in the tool is triggering that much higher base fare. Oddly if I used South America instead of Australia it correctly prices a DONE5 at 4,585.00 AUD but that likely doesn't benefit me much mileage wise since I'd have to use AA to go to South America and they'd likely credit the flights as Revenue instead of Distance (in AAdvantage).

Hopefully the following will help the current discussion, rather than confuse.

If you have got an itinerary to price using the tool, then at the bottom of the third page (“Review Flights”) it will show the base fare (In its own currency), all the taxes and charges (in AUD), and the grand total (in AUD). So from that you should be able to tell the fare basis (DONE5 vs DONE5 for example) and which airline fare is being used - BA, IB and RJ fares are quoted in EGP, QR fares are now quoted in USD (and are much higher)

And

Back in February I reported a new bug in the tool ( see FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - xONEx online tool bugs thread). The tool was incorrectly pricing a 5-continent itinerary as a 3-continent itinerary. And making just a small change triggered a reprice which resulting it being priced, correctly, as a 5-continent itinerary. Perhaps this bug is playing up again. Again, this can be checked be viewing the base fare on the Review Flights screen.

Hope this helps.

Thanks. Will try that out.

Yes. My prior post noting this issue is quoting the change in the *base fare*, which, if anything, should be more expensive flying AKL-SYD-SIN-DOH (making it a DONE4 with US, Europe, Pacific, Asia) vs AKL-DOH (DONE3 with US, Europe, Pacific). And yet, if there's a longhaul flight from DOH to the US early in the itinerary, switching to that routing it is bringing the price *down* dramatically.

3015 Rule 0.

As Mwenenzi has pointed out, there is a specific rule dealing with non-stop flights between South West Pacific and Europe/Middle East - which is that the continent of Asia must be included.
So both of your itineraries are DONE4s.

But, as you said, maybe one of them was being mispriced by the tool.

Will the web tool ticket a DONEx, CAI-LHR-USA-... with the 1st 3 segments on BA using the lower EGP price BA's stock, which means dealing with BA? If not, will AA ticket it if there is a USA-ASIA AA seggment/codeshare later in the itinerary? I don't mind slightly higer YQ/YR if AA will ticket the RTW since I would book a simple route, then change after flying the 1st segment.

No. BA out of CAI results in a QF ticket. As does RJ and IB.

My just purchased DONE5 starts with two BA flights: CAI-LHR and LHR-BNA.
Base fare EGP145,000.
Ticketed by Qantas.
Hefty taxes and charges, but I have four BA long haul flights so that was expected. No QR flights.

I didn't know that rule about those longhaul fares (thanks Mwenenzi!), but as you said, there's still something off. If AKL-DOH and AKL-SYD-SIN-DOH are both DONE4's, they should have the same base fare. And the tool is pricing the base fare with a difference of several thousand dollars (*unless* I have CAI-LHR-BOS as opposed to CAI-AMM-DOH-BOS at the beginning of the ticket, in which case it prices the tickets ending AKL-DOH and AKL-SYD-SIN-DOH the same.) Looks like a bug with the RTW builder to me.

I’ll take the opportunity to point out what I said above: given the difference in BASE fare I suspect it might (incorrectly) changing from a DONE to an AONE. Is there a QR A segment in either itinerary?