I was unable to price this itinerary even if I specified DONE4, but changing the last sectors to BA via LHR, I was able to get Sabre autoprice for DGLOB34. QF definitely represents the big chunk of YQ (1145EUR) if you ticket through AA.
Yes, if you change SYD-HNL to AA code, this 1145EUR YQ would be dropped, when plated on AA.

A more effective way to reduce YR/YQ would be to plate this itinerary on QR, in which case only QR (and BA if used)'s YR/YQ will be charged. I believe if you actually call QR, they will calculate YR/YQ segment by segment, rendering the calculation a lot higher. You probably need to find a Sabre agent that can do this on Sabre autoprice (but then it won't autoprice unless you change the last 2 sectors to BA).

Now, there is an even better way, though I don't know if possible - plate the itinerary on AS (use AS flight for HNL-LAX). The only YQ/YR charged are the ones from BA (again, if used).

I have finally had our DONE5 tickets issued by the AA desk in Austin after some teething problems:

oNRT(JAL)-oHNL(AS)-oSEA(AS)-oCUN(AA)-oJFK(AA)-oGRU(AA)-oJFK(QR)-oDOH(QR)-oLHR(BA)-oATH(QR)-xDOH(QR)-oSYD(QF)-oAKL(CX)-oHKG(CX)-oBKK(JAL)-overland to SGN-NRT

Mileage is 52,477.

The total final price was $AUD11,214.70 each. The breakdown of the fees and taxes is difficult as AA have yet to send me (after repeated requests) any full breakdown and logging on to the AAdvantage website under fees/receipts for the trip gives me no clarification either. I was verbally advised during booking that the taxes/fees would amount to $AUD1855 of that. Should I have received an email containing a detailed breakdown?

As I’m chasing status with AA, I’m hoping (based on Pandaperth’s recent experience) that they calculate the CUN-JFK-GRU-JFK AA miles on miles covered, not spend but I guess I won’t know until we fly in 2024.

Thanks so much to all of you on this forum (particularly Pandaperth who stepped up yet again) over the past month who answered my sometimes stupid questions – we wouldn’t be seeing anywhere near as much of our kids in US and UK if not for the info I have gained here!

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Hehe, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who uses DOH as a transit point for Europe. :p Certainly one of the better loopholes in xONEx routing at the moment. Kinda like routing via DEL to get from HKG to TYO.

If you happen to remember it would be awesome if you come back and post your findings after you fly. This seems to be quite hit or miss, but I suspect if you're AA ticketed then you're going to get a revenue calculation on the AA coded flights, which will be miniscule compared to what you'd have gotten on a distance calculation (175% + status bonus). I had DFW-GRU-JFK on my last ticket AA coded and got a distance calculation for them, but that was on QF ticket stock. I've been in contact with AAdvantage customer service about this and they flat out refuse to give a definitive answer to when it counts as a special fare and when it doesn't. So more data points spread around FT would be nice. I'm going to have AKL-DFW on my next one, but not going to risk AA calculating as revenue, so will ticket it on the QF code despite it only being 150% vs. 175% (if AA credits as distance).

Just looking at your price above, you're definitely getting pinched for more YQ / YR than a QF or CX issued ticket. QF ex-TYO seems to be the cheapest but I'm not going through that mess again that they've created with their customer service. CX is about $200 more (than QF), though a good chunk of that is actually HKG airport fees more so than CX YQ/YR itself. I can live with that to have competent agents to call for changes.

Now, there is an even better way, though I don't know if possible - plate the itinerary on AS (use AS flight for HNL-LAX). The only YQ/YR charged are the ones from BA (again, if used).


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Thanks for info. AA never got back but found the reservation at $8270. Before I could "tweak" the flights and dates the "boss lady" said if we were going to spend $8K lets do 2 trips to MLE & CMB 1st class on AA/QR. Booked the flights last week. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/prem...qr-f-3-6k.html

But thanks for your insight and info. I have left this to refer back as still think it would be fun.

This is interesting. On another thread, the OP posted a PDF of the fare breakdown was sent by the Oneworld robot for a proposed DONE4 trip originating at OSL. It had a huge number for YQ, not traceable to carriers or flights, but on the fare sheet it said the trip was a DGLOB34, not a DONE4. Based on this and your failed attempt to price a DONEx but getting autopricing for a DGLOB34, it sounds like the Oneworld robots are doing the same thing - defaulting to the Global Explorer. I wonder what would happen if the proposed itinerary were to exceed 34K flown miles. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35398652-post8.html

I haven't used Sabre since the bad old days of EasySabre (ha ha, what a joke) and I'm wondering how one would go about finding a TA that is expert enough with the current platform to book an xONEx using it. Maybe this is a possible line of business for a travel consultant of some sort, charging an hourly fee for the service. Being able to plate on AA or AS (or QR, whatever) as opposed to relying on the lousy Oneworld online tool might be a godsend; hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars/pounds/Euros might be on the line.

I have provided the breakdown at https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35413929-post13.html. Let me know if you have difficulties understanding the tax breakdown generated.

I must confess I did not know what Eaasy Sabre is and had to search on Google. It was great to learn such thing existed. I believe we have a couple of US- and Canada-based TAs on FT before the pandemic?　Not sure if they are still around. https://nexion.com/ seems to be another option if someone in the US or Canada wants to have Sabre access themselves.

Hi,

Could I get some feedback on this DONE3? This is only my second one, so I'm still a bit new -- learned a couple (small) things the hard way first time, so figured it'd be good to ask here before this one.

Looking to earn BA points and ticket through AA RTW.

TYO-HNL on JL
HNL(LAX)CUN on AA/AS
CUN-SFO on AS
SFO-BOS on AS
BOS-MAD on IB
MAD(DOH)MXP on QR
MXP-LHR on BA
LHR(DOH)MLE on QR
MLE(CMB)BKK on UL
BKK-TYO on JL

Can I get AA desk to convert the IB flight to an AA code share? That would save fees (I think) and I believe it'd still count towards the 4 segments for BAEC. Anyone other tweaks I should consider?

In fact, when plating on AA, it is cheaper to use IB code for BOS-MAD than AA code. AA code comes with a YR of 175USD which is not charged when BOS-MAD is on IB code.

AA marketed IB operated would not count as one of the 4 eligible flights necessary for BA silver or gold status. IB marketed and operated, IB marketed BA operated, and BA marketed IB operated do count.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/33863721-post4.html

Also see ba.com:

Thanks to you both. I had misread that on BA, and wouldn't have guessed that re: the fees. It looks like fees are pretty well minimized otherwise from what I can tell, at least conditional on the route. Thanks for providing the info.

Given what people have said before about the AA desk sometimes requiring that the first long haul flight be on their code, I'm a little worried about this one since there is no AA code share for TYO-HNL (at least that I can see on EF). If they balk and HUCA doesn't help, what is the 2nd best way to book these things?

There are many mixed reports of AA and how they require their codes to ticket it, but it looks to me that if you do AA codes HNL-LAX-CUN then you should be able to get them to ticket it. The issue I think you may run into is they may insist on having BOS-MAD on an AA code which will complicate your journey to BA status. You'll get far more Avios if after October on an AA code, but won't count for your 4x required segments.

JL DONE3 availability not matching EF D availability?
 

Hello: I have done several RTWs in the past but not for a few years. I'm now planning one for later this year but having a problem with JL flights. I did some planning with the OW tool but found it buggy so ended up calling the AA RTW office to book. There are three segments that I need on JL that all show D9 on EF, but AA says they are not available. Agent claims that JL restricts the number of seats available for AA to book, even if they are available to other airlines. I asked her to contact the Oneworld liaison, which she apparently did but came back with the same answer.
Is this something new - that we cannot rely on EF for D availability for DONEx's, and does it only affect JL or other airlines too?

Or was I misinformed?
Thanks.

What point of sale did you use to search?

Were these flights transits or stopovers? Assuming you searched expertflyer to find availability did you search for the flights as standalone flights or if they were transits did you search as connections? Considering the prevalence of carriers to use married segments this could affect availability.

I know JL restricts AA from some award flights that are available to other OW airlines, but not aware of that on any revenue tickets. My first suspicion is that your issue is likely married segment availability. You have to have D available on the segment pair/trio, etc. together if it's all in transit, not a stopover. You can only rely on segment by segment availability if you have a stopover over 24 hours. I've been able to trick the OneWorld tool on those, but you won't be able to do it with a real agent, they're going to enter it (correctly) as the entire journey, not point by point. (Example: HND-JFK-GRU, you need D availability on that entire journey and they'll run the search HND-GRU, it doesn't matter if HND-JFK and JFK-GRU independently have availability unless you want to spend over 24 hours in NYC). It can make some routes on xONEx very frustrating.

I searched both the entire journey, and segment by segment: D9 all the way, yet AA sees nothing. Very odd.