AA RTW desk: 800-247-3247. Usually they require at least one of the intercontinental overwater segments to be on AA metal; AA codeshares on other metal often used to be able to meet this requirement; iirc, some people have reported recently that a codeshare wasn't acceptable while others seemed to be able to book without any AA overwater segments (maybe the atlantic and pacific joint ventures have something to do with this). There have been lots of reports about people booking with AA RTW desks in this thread and the various other sticky threads that people seem to randomly post to in the forum. You might want to read back in those forums for a bit.

We have reports here that AA is more generous booking RTWs for their elites than they are for non-elites, which may influence the need or lack thereof for AA overwater segments.

What do you mean by "more generous"?

I'd assume meaning that some AA elites have gotten away with ticketing with minimal AA segments. That's a huge advantage (no pun intended) for AA members since we take a massive hit on LPs and RDMs earned on AA codes on a RTW.

I do recall one poster not too long ago with a base member getting away with using MIA-SCL as their AA coded flight to get AA tickets, which I would be ok with since the only AA operated codeshare I can find to anywhere in South America is the GRU flights from JFK and DFW (JL codes). So basically anywhere else in South America requires an AA code anyway, it's a necessary evil to go there to / from North America. In the past there were JL codes on GIG too, I flew on JL coded JFK-GIG-JFK in early 2020, but can't find it anymore. (*edit, it is still there, but JFK-GIG only operates in the North American winter season it appears, and JL doesn't put their code on MIA flights which makes sense but also oddly not the DFW-GIG flights which also reappear in winter, only JFK)

Seems to me that whether or not it's an evil depends a lot on the program to which you're crediting your miles. I'm AA PLT, but just booked a DONE3 with the AA RTW desk and am crediting the entire trip to QRPC. In fact, the AA desk doesn't even know that I'm an AAdvantage member.

Same here, but BAEC in my case.

Also having booked AONEn tickets and often flying routes that have no AA metal on ex-USA routes (HKG-SFO, SFO-LHR, IAD-LHR) pre-covid. Now with AA metal not having F, it's less of an issue AND sometimes the routes have no AA codeshare A availability whereas the operating carrier does, so on several occasions I have been booked on the operating carrier's flight number; but this is usually not the case with BA metal flights... so I lose out from a BAEC standpoint as AA flights earn a lot more Avios IF earned using the mileage calculation method than QF or CX flights.

Hello. I wondered if people could very kindly critique this itinerary for me. DONE3 from NRT. I know I could squeeze more miles and tier points out of it but it is where we happen to want to go!

First, will it work? I think it will but I seem to be good at missing things on xONEx flights!

Secondly, will BA ticket it, granted that only only four flights are BA ones - though two of them are intercontinental...

Thanks a lot for any comments and may I recommend flightsfrom.com, which my other half discovered, as a source of ideas...

NRT-HNL-LAX-SJO-CLT-YYZ-LHR-KFL-HEL-AGP-LHR-SIN-KUL-DPS-KUL-BKI-NRT

PS For those who like me don't carry every airport code in their head SJO is San José Costa Rica and KEF is the airport for Reykjavik :-).

Of course! Many thanks. We were planning too long.

ETA: we had another go:


NRT-HNL-LAX-SJO-xCLT-YYZ-LJFK-HR-KFL-HEL-AGP-LHR-xHKG-DPS-xKUL-BKI-NRT

Added some transfers, added a segment to North America and gritted our teeth to undertake a transfer in HKG.

By the way, I knocked up a quick and dirty spreadsheet to keep track of segments and segments per continent (at the moment just for xONE3's) - if anyone wants it...

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4387373978.png

Are there direct or nonstop flights BKI-NRT? Checking random days I only see connecting flights through KUL which takes your Asia segments to five -- one more than you are allowed. KUL-BKI often is not that expensive and could be purchased as separate flights from your DONEx.

There used to be one on MH, but I can't find it anymore either. It was a 737 flight too, so not really a premium business class experience. So agree on hsmal's itinerary they need to do the stopover in KUL and buy their own tickets to BKI. Even that's a long domestic flight, they are still typically dirt cheap within Malaysia, especially if you can handle Firefly or Air Asia, but even MH doesn't charge offensive prices for domestic business if that's what you want. I personally wouldn't buy MH domestic economy over Firefly (owned by MH) unless the price is nearly the same and you get status benefits since most MH economy fares won't credit to anywhere except Enrich. I had LGK-KUL not too long ago and MH economy was $22 one way, so that was a no-brainer, but for a large differential Firefly is perfectly fine.

Thank you both very much. On further investigation it seems that there are only occasional direct flights about two days in the month for the next couple of months. Then they vanish. Back to the drawing board as we cannot make a side trip without putting in a stopover rather than a transfer at KUL, which in our case we have not got!

What's preventing you from having the stopover at KUL vs. BKI? MH flies DPS-KUL and both MH and JL fly KUL-NRT, within an hour of each other actually. I'd actually strongly prefer the A350 on MH vs. 767 on JL but I have to take JL on that route because the difference in earnings in AAdvantage.

Is the issue because you'd be wasting a segment? I don't think that's a big deal if you are otherwise getting what you want on the itinerary. I have no problem with a 14 or 15 segment DONEx when there's no longer a practical use for the 'wasted' segments. If you want the segment that badly you could do LHR-HKG-KUL-DPS.

Just found something interesting, I got the idea from the Premium Fares thread where they were discussing the various ex-Egypt fares after the currency drop. Someone mentioned there are some very old OW RTW fares still flied from secondary Egyptian cities. None of them are relevant because no OW airline flies to any of them.... except one, which was not mentioned in that thread.. Alexandria. The generic city code ALY still has a fare filed, but not the actual airport code HBE. Only QR flies there, so I can't test it in the OW tool This could potentially open up a few more opportunities for those who didn't book in time but wish they did.

I don't know if it works because of the ALY vs. HBE IATA code, first segment must be QR, and it's not daily. RJ is supposedly going back after June 4th but it's not on the schedule yet.

Very tempting to keep this quiet until RJ puts the HBE schedule on the board and see if it works in the OW tool or not, but with it being in the Premium Fares thread, I think I'm not the only person who knows that QR flies there currently and it'll either work or not and likely get pulled if it does.

The ALY idea does not seem to work. Only AA has a cheap fare filed for ALY (and an expensive one from HEB), and even when trying to price it and forcing an AA fare, the expensive one is used.

Where did you attempt to price this?

Sabre

That's too bad but thanks for giving it a try. Too bad RJ doesn't start new routes to Hurghada or Marsa Alam. :(

Yes it was the segment. In fact we managed to kill BKI for this trip and use another segment in North America where we were a bit short. (And we might be desperate for tier points next year...)

Thanks to everyone for their help. This is the final version....NRT-HNL-SFO-xDFW-SJO-xCLT-YYZ-JFK-LHR-HEL-LPA-CMN-LHR-xHKG-DPS-KUL-NRT

Fair enough, seems like you came up with one you are happy with now. But no reason to nix BKI if that's where you really want to go. I wouldn't spend more than a full day in Kuala Lumpur myself (but I've been there a number of times). I hated Penang (God awful traffic and serious lack of Grab drivers), loved Langkawi and haven't been to Kota Kinabalu yet. LGK can be $100 each way in domestic business, BKI closer to $200 each way, so they're both worth it, especially if scrounging for a few more TPs. Trip.com often discounts MH business class, but I'm not sure if it's only international or not.

BTW, you might save yourself on UK APD by subbing out the LHR stopovers with DUB or somewhere else cheap and easy to get to, like BRU. I can't remember where else in Europe CX flies to, but LON has high APD on premium fares, especially long haul, and CDG isn't much friendlier. Not sure if AMS, Spain, Germany, or Italy would make sense in the end or not, you'd have to test them. I personally just find the UK APD offensive and do as much as I can to avoid it. We're flying into LHR on my next trip and out of DUB for that exact reason, but that's not a RTW where we are considering segment count. ABZ-DUB was $100 each on Loganair (BA code), far less than the UK APD on premium. Besides it was an easy way to visit Glendalough which I missed the last time I was in Ireland.

Booking/Ticketing advice sought
 

I'm trying to book this: PDX-ORD-LHR-NBO-LHR-MAD-DOH-BKK-TYO-HNL-PDX
Initial flight and transatlantic segment are on AA and the HNL-PDX segment could be AA or codeshare on AS. The LHR-NBO-LHR-MAD-DOH segments are all on BA/IB. I'm also trying to accumulate enough tier points and flights to get to gold on BA (I have 385 TP currently).

The oneworld tool was accepting it all the way through entering passenger information. The LHR-NBO-LHR segments were direct on BA and there were no complaints about exceeding allowable number of arrivals/departures between the middle east/africa (I know the tool has some kind of bug here). A few hours later I went back to the tool to adjust a date and the BA flights to/from NBO disappeared and it only offered me a connection via DOH which triggered the middle east/africa issue. I moved dates around and still couldn't see the BA flights. Of course expertflyer shows full D availability and oddly doesn't show the DOH connections.

#1. Assuming the tool works again tomorrow, I could change the initial flight and transatlantic segment to BA. If I go to book, will it go to BA or will it default to QF even though there are no QF flights? I want to avoid ticketing through QF.

#2. Was the tool mistaken in allowing the LHR-NBO-LHR in the first place and I don't fully grasp the africa/europe restrictions?

#3. Do I have enough flights on AA metal to be able to call the AA RTW desk and skip the tool? Or should I try through BA since at the moment, most of the flights are with BA/IB?

Thanks for any advice!

defualt to QF

Call A

I don’t see how you exceeds eu departure/arrival

Hi and welcome to FT!

I think you can easily get AA to ticket the trip with ORD-LHR being on AA metal.

The first thing that struck me, however, was starting and ending in the USA. You don't say if you plan to fly in economy or business class, but if business class, starting in Canada will save you a LOT of money. The base fare for a DONE4 starting in the US is $11,071 while the base starting in Canada is US$7946, a difference of US$3125 or 28%. In economy the difference is $1474, or 27%. A $60 train ride from Portland to Vancouver could well save you thousands of dollars. You could end in Portland if you want (the rules allow ending in the US if starting in Canada) so the revised itinerary would be YVR-PDX-ORD-LHR-NBO-LHR-MAD-DOH-BKK-TYO-HNL-PDX. Don't forget you're only allowed two stopovers in the continent of origin, so you'd need to choose where those would be.

I actually called AA and built a RTW from HBE. Base fare was 333314 EGP, so over $7000 USD.

Certainly seems like they could just fly YVR-ORD and avoid the PDX stop if they were planning on leaving from PDX. (Or YVR-LHR on BA for that matter.)

Is there a YVR-ORD on AA or AS that doesn’t include a connection somewhere else?
Edited to add: AA1717 is back on the schedule for the summer cruise season, so that would work for the OP (it appears to start up in early June).

If PDX is OP’s home base, Gardyloo’s suggestion would allow the OP to travel lightly on the trip up to YVR and then regroup and reequip with the rest of the luggage for the rest of their trip.

AA's YVR-ORD nonstop is seasonal; it wasn't clear when the trip would start.

Starting with BA YVR-LHR would expose the traveler to big BA YQ fees and ​would probably kibosh AA booking the ticket.

Starting in YVR is a great idea. My home base is PDX but I worked out the savings to be 2500USD, which makes a one way ticket up to YVR and an extra half day of travel well worth it. The booking tool doesn't complain that my last flight ends in PDX and assumes that the last segment is PDX-YVR via ground, which I won't do obviously.

This trip is tentatively 9/1/2024 and I see the BA flight as an AA codeshare. AA might be willing to ticket because the first segment is an AA codeshare. If not, I'll make it work as an AA metal connection through ORD or DFW. I could also make the last segment from HNL on AA metal to make them happier. I'm willing to add an extra day and a flight or two just to avoid having QF do the booking. Besides, each extra flight gives me more TPs towards the gold level on BA.

The ORD was only in there to force the tool to let me book a longer connection time on AA. It was giving me a limited number of AA PDX-LHR flights with absurdly short international connection times in ORD and DFW. If I'm headed home, I'll take the risk of a missed connection but on these itineraries, a missed connection can make a big mess with future flights.

Download the rules from oneworld.com RTW FAQ

So YVR start and PDX end is within the rules.

So is any other US/Canada destination, so if OP has an extra leg, they could build in a PDX-XXX flight as their final leg and have that be the first half of a future trip!

That's what I did years ago with an ex AU *ONE*. 8 month stopover in my home city MEL (not the departure city SYD) and them flights to an expensive to buy destination in AU. Basically a free trip. Finished 1 day before the 1 year time limit.

Great ideas about YVR and adding the last segment as long as it's not another transcon. The booking tool is letting me do YVR-LHR-NBO-LHR-BKK(via DOH)-HND-JFK-PDX for $2500 less than originating in PDX. The ticket to YVR is cheap The JFK-PDX segment is highly inefficient but I need that last 140 TPs to get BA gold.
The LHR-NBO-LHR segments are now working, possibly because I refrained from putting down DOH as a stopover. It might seem like an odd routing but I want to have a break in LHR in the middle of my trip. The booking tool complains the instant I try to connect through DOH instead of doing NBO-LHR direct.

The AA rtw desk should be happy with HND-JFK on AA metal and they can also have the BA segments as code shares since I get credit for the "operated by BA" flights.

I learned to be careful with putting destinations down as stopovers when all I wanted was a better connecting point. The online tool is also mysterious in the limited connections it offers when I know through expertflyer there are considerably more. I still think there's a bug in the tool complaining valid transfer connections between Europe and Africa.

For HND-JFK, it's about 8,000 fewer Avios earned but you might consider JL. JL 6 is already the A350-1000 daily with the new cabin and the second JFK flight (JL 4) should be A351 daily soon-ish. I certainly don't mind AA and think the seats are pretty decent, but.... :D Since you're able to do YVR-LHR as an AA codeshare that 'should' satisfy the RTW desk.

It also appears you have plenty of remaining segments, so you might consider AA JFK to LAX or SFO and AS from there to PDX on the end. The A321 with Flagship business is a lot nicer than anything AS has.

As it stands, you have only one North America segment out of six permitted (one transcon) so if you wanted to pad the TP and redeemable balance a little, you could treat your PDX stop (after JFK) as the first of two allowed stopovers in the continent of origin, then sometime before the end of the RTW validity, do a weekend something like (...JFK-) PDX-xLAX-ANC-PDX for another 220 TP or so.

How does OW handle for example flight QF4, JFK-SYD with a stop in AKL. Does this count as 1 or 2 segments? EF gives it aas a 0 connection flight.

As a single flight number, without 24hr stop over, is treated as 1 segment. AKL is just an airside transit (not a stop)
Just as BA LHR-(SIN)-SYD is 1 segment. Are others. Based on flight number.

Any recent experiences booking through AA RTW desk with AA-coded but not operated TATL flight? (Also have a few AA metal within NA).

No status on AA (soon will be OWE through BA status match).

No issues.. why?

The only time I've seen anything reported was ex-CAI when someone said an agent told them they were only issuing ex-CAI for EXPs and CKs. Any other point of origin should be fine, and even ex-CAI, there were many non-status members ticketing with AA before the price increase.

where to credit
 

I booked my first RWT so I am seeking some advice as a newbie. I booked a ticket with QF all in D class with IB, BA (mostly short hauls), AA (between South America to US only), JL, CX. I am not sure where to deposit the miles. I would like to earn as many miles as possible and hopefully oneworld sapphire status. Currently I have AA gold (which should give me 40% bonus) but I can try to get the status trial (do they allow for exp trials for current gold members? I used to be plat every year before covid, then just moved out of the whole status thing since then). If I understand the new rule correctly, all of my IB, BA, and AA miles will be earned by revenue, not distance, is that correct?

Alternative seems AS because it has massive bonus for D classes, almost as good as AA Gold 40% but I haven't utilized my AS miles for years now, so not sure if I should bank my miles on AS. 0BA and QR seem to be good to get a status but I can easily get those miles via bank transfer so not very thrilled about them. Any advice?