We are on a second RTW this year, both ticketed with QR, though used a travel agent.

Always, not often. If they don't require an AA code on an over-water flight, it's because the agent made an error. It's one of AA's requirements.

My last DONE3 was ticketed on UL stock by a TA in CMB.
Minor issues in getting code share flights. Not easy to change with changing fare class availability updates,
Major issues with married segments on AA in the USA (My itinerary choices)
Seemingly low added taxes.
Payment cheaper by funds transfer as airline will not pick up CC charges.
Anything to improve the wandering.
Fred

JL won’t bother trying unless the first flight is on JL … but the phone agents push you towards the online tool. There’s also a fee for ticketing changes with JAL, separate from the $125, not to mention the long hold time to speak with an agent … unless you have top tier JMB status. So, JL is generally a no go here.

CX is fine in doing DONE from my experience, require minimum one sector on CX coded and operating flight but no restriction on sector length so could be anything within Asia or intercontinental one
Only drawback to me, no exclusive line or access to the dedicated oneworld team so often take couple dates to in quoting or even simple flight change request though still work for me.

IME it appears that the requirement from AA is for one intercontinental flight on their own metal, not necessarily TATL or TPAC. I recently had the AA RTW desk book OSL-DOH-SEZ-DOH-AKL-SYD-(AKL)-JFK-GRU-MIA-PHL-EYW-PHL-DFW-SFO-JFK-DOH-OSL. SYD-AKL-JFK is on QF, JFK-DOH is on QR, and JFK-GRU is on AA metal. I got zero pushback about needing a TATL or TPAC AA metal flight on this itinerary. The JFK-GRU segment appears to have satisfied AA's own metal requirements. And yes, I know that JFK-GRU does technically cross the Atlantic, just not in the sense that most people here usually consider when thinking about the RTW rules.

Could I ask if the surcharges are noticeably more on CX plated than say AA or QR plated?

The requirement is technically an AA-marketed flight, not necessarily AA operated flight. But yes, your point about how it can be N.Amer-S.Amer for the required AA flight is clear.

Slightly OT but happy 79th birthday to RTW tickets. Pan Am began selling the first commercial RTW tickets on this day in 1947.

I never understood the business case for these. If the revenue that an airline receives for a flight on an xONEx is ((mileage for this flight) ÷ (total mileage for the ticket)) × (fare for the ticket), the airlines are often nearly giving these flights away. What's in it for them?

They're not giving these flights away.

RTW/xONEx tickets target a different segment of travelers - people who spend more money than the avg customer, mainly business travelers.
The majority of xONEx purchasers are not positioning to Norway or Japan to start their trip; they are purchasing from their home country. Even in economy, that will be thousands of dollars or Euros at a minimum.

Second, the RTW product offers a unique solution to a unique problem .. for travelers who need to go from continent to continent (for example, a sales executive visiting their global customers), there is no convenient way to plan a solution in a seamless fashion. Point to point ticketing would be insane, multiple itineraries to track, and almost certainly across multiple alliances. Having a single, knowledgeable point of contact (eg, AA RTW desk) and a flexible fare product (xONEx) makes things much easier. Look at how easy it is to make changes or even refund -- that is on purpose, not because the airlines are nice.

This fare product is not for the general public. There's no need to make the online tool any better.. who is going to invest the money? Also, this would do nothing for AA except drive ticketing away from them.. likewise for BA. Coincidentally, I'm sure many of these xONEx purchasers are based in US/UK/EU, not Japan or Sri Lanka.

Some years ago I was on a BA flight from YVR to LHR, and my Club World "companion" (who I faced) was on a business trip. It turned out he was on a DONE3, visiting company sites in Canada, the UK, Germany, India and Hong Kong. He said he does 3 or 4 of these circuits annually, always using RTWs.

I don't know if he's an outlier, but my hunch is that he's the rule rather than the exception.

I am trying to get this itinerary to work but having trouble getting the OW tool to see if possible....

OSL/LHR/PER/MEL/SYD/TBU/SYD/SEL/HKG/DAD/NRT/DFW/DAB/CLT/MUC/MAD/OSL

LHR would be under 24hrs so within the 2stopovers over 24hrs in continent of origin....

any and all expert tips appreciated!! TIA

Your itinerary appears valid
A map from the Great Circle Mapper - Great Circle Mapper
16 Segments, 4 Continents
Provided: there are valid flights between all your points
Valid meaning direct flights marketed and operated by Oneworld airlines
Is this true? - thinking particularly of SYD-TBU, SYD-SEL-HKG, in and out of DAB, CLT-MUC
Because you are already using all 16 segments you have no wriggle room if there aren't direct flights.
You can use FlightConnections: All flights worldwide on a map! to check.

According to individual airlines' sites I could see that QF flies SYD/TBU direct and SYD/SEL. CX fly direct SEL/HKG and HKG/DAD and AA showing that they do CLT/MUC but could easily change that to DFW/MUC also....

Thanks for checking... let's see what the RTW desk comes up with...

appreciate it!!

SYD-ICN is probably the issue. QF suspended that route. There are SYD-TBU, ICN-HKG, and DAB-CLT-MUC.

JQ Jetstar fly BNE-ICN & SYD-ICN [JQ47 QF5507] from wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incheo...tional_Airport

OW 3015
JQ business class on the B787 is more like PE. JQ47/QF5507 11:40 - 20:15, so a day flight. PE will be OK
https://www.jetstar.com/au/en/flights/business-class

Righto... thanks for dbl checking.. will tweak the itinerary in that case!

Tweak to avoid a JQ B787 PE SYD-ICN flight?
I would fly as a day JQ PE flight. However as operator is not oneworld could only credit to QF ffp.

Difference between CX and OR plated ticket on my previous DONE4 is around EUR250 i am correct, on paper CX is bit more pricy but i did make multiple date/flight change along the way which CX don't change any handling fee as per the oneworld rule. In one case i even get EUR50 refund in tax/surcharge
Finding a decent travel agent who knows and willing to book such type of ticket is kind of difficult and since I am based in Asia so work with CX don't have to worry about time zone or so.

all in all, book with CX works fairly decent to me so might consider to book with them in coming year's if the travel agent not work out.

JQ SYD-ICN under the QF Codeshare number works in theory provided D Class is ever sold. I see J as the only Business Class selling bucket under the QF5507 number - however this may be a GDS limitation.

Just to give an update, unfortunately this didn't work. Each time the agents could see wide open D availability but the flight always comes back unconfirmed... and we're now within 30 days of departure. The agent I talked to yesterday tried to book it in I and J and as you'd expect J came back confirmed immediately so JL must be holding inventory back for some reason. She even tried calling JL and they've apparently refused to help.

SIN is a ticketed stopover and HND is the final destination. Weirdly enough the flight is available when booked as part of HKG-xSIN-HND so this must be some kind of (un)married segment control?

Does changing LL to NN make any difference?

Ah, good catch, totally forgot about that!

Sorry to hear that. Married segment can go both ways indeed.

My understanding is that the NN command has a bigger risk getting UC returned than the LL command, especially in cases where there may be an availability display issue, but yeah if the agent is willing, either can be tried.

[QUOTE=Hennebou;36757225]Here you go, updated list including DONE, removing duplicates (only showing one airport by country -- all the airports within a country have the same base fare), and with improved formatting (showing ranking). Oslo wins for DONEx it seems.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a88033afc1.png

Is this still valid or have things shifted considerably since then?

I am thinking that you priced the xONEx fares based on AA.
The prices listed in EF for QR are sometimes quite a bit less expensive.
In particular, for India and South Africa.
I know who I would be choosing if I were to consider more wandering
Fred

Has the collapse of the Iranian currency opened up any opportunities? QR does fly from IKA.

Looks like USD
Not to mention VWPs burn ESTA access

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...9e623ad21b.png
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...58f0466807.png

What are the experts' recommwndations for getting a DONE4 issued by QR? Is there a specialist desk for RTW for them... ?

According to ExpertFlyer, the underlying base fares for Oneworld Explorers are quoted in the GDS in USD
So no opportunities to take advantage of the Iranian currency's collapse.
(Unlike when the Egyptian Pound was severely devalued back in early 2024 (that led to a feeding-frenzy - which I was part of :D)

A TA can plate to QR. You can't book direct with QR though.

Which my Perth TA did for me twice. (2018/19ish)
One included an upgrade from LONE5 to DONE5 after the third flight
Ah times when I was wandering
Fred

I cannot find different prices in EF for AA vs QR for India or South Africa.
Am I missing something?

Right, that's the example I was thinking of. But no dice here!

Quick check... these routes dont work for a DONE4 do they?

NRT-HEL-RVN-HEL-FRA-LHR-PER-MEL-SYD-TBU-SYD-LAX-DFW-NRT

NRT-CDG-MAD-MUC-LHR-JNB-SYD-AKL-MEL-PPP-MEL-LAX-MIA-CUN-DFW-ICN-NRT

A question or a statement?
All flights exist?
PPP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitsunday_Coast_Airport
MEL-PPP is flown by Jetstar JQ and not QF. So the JQ operated ~ QF codeshare exemption as post 3217 above needed.

Route 1 A map from the Great Circle Mapper - Great Circle Mapper
Route 2 A map from the Great Circle Mapper - Great Circle Mapper

Neither itinerary is a valid RTW
They violate these two rules:

thank you... thats helpful...
really appreciate the help!

thank you... thats helpful. Planning these is often half the fun!

Totally agree re the planning phase. :D
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