Hey guys, so my understanding is that whoever the first segment of the explorer is with becomes the issuing carrier.

In practice is it important? E.g. Are any/all queries you might have with the ticket then needing to be handled through them? Are there better/worse airlines here, or it doesn't really matter? For example any pros/cons of issuer being BA vs Royal Jordanian etc.

Cheers

You need to find an airline that is willing/able to issue an xonex. AA is for the most part the easiest due to their RTW desk. BA used to have a RTW desk but does not seem to anymore. Issuing with other airlines can be hit or miss (with a lot of misses). When using the online tool AA tickets for JL, LA, S7, and RJ. Recently with the ex-MPM fares one or two people reported that they had been able to get S7 to issue tickets. QR seems to consistently not understand or not respond. Some airlines used to not assess the fuel surcharges of some other carriers although this is not as common as it used to be -- you have to balance this with actually finding a carrier that is willing to issue your ticket.
See these threads for some discussion of starting points:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...t-airline.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...e-pacific.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...periences.html

Great thanks, very helpful

So assuming you get the ticket issued, is there any real world difference after that during the trip? If you need to make date changes for example would it need to be done through the issuing airline, or can it be any oneworld partner?

From oneworld.com:
That said, the same advice holds true. Some airlines may be unwilling to make wholesale changes to an xonex issued by another airline. If you are just changing one segment then you may be fine contacting that carrier. I have had tickets screwed up by persons unfamiliar with xonex tickets, so I usually go back to the AA rtw desk or have used CX at HKG (and QF at SYD) to make wholesale changes to AA issued xonex's (CX and QF segments were on the ticket and I was changing some other segments to CX and QF). Others will probably be along with their feelings.

My current DONE3 was issued by QR. QR had the longest flight on the ticket so the travel agent just sent it to them to ticket automatically.

On my many xONEx's, I've had changes made by QF, JL, AA, BA, CX, MH and AY. AY changed something that MH had screwed up. BA changes things to their benefit (ie, instead of simply changing date on a QF32, they changed it to the BA code as well).
When I asked MH to change something (rather them then just doing it), they told me to go talk to SQ.

Otherwise, changes (or lack of) have very much come down to the agent. Recently (since the US merger), AA agents have tended to get confused, with some saying it can't get changed, others outright refusing, others saying they can't touch it due to different systems, and others simply making the change in a few moments.
When a CX or JL agent has made changes, they have tended to call someone for "permission" then done it. I don't recall any time I've asked JL or CX to make changes and they've refused.
(I've done a yearly RTW since 2006)

Thanks both, good to know

On top of the below there are other technical aspects to consider when selecting the plating carrier. To determinate which validating carrier is the most appropriate in an itinerary you have to look at the entire journey (both operating and marketing carriers), country where the ticket is issued and make sure that your plating carrier matches both the ATPCO validating carrier selection logic and the IATA ticketing requirements. It’s basically a 3 step check:
- BSP (selling, remitting and reporting procedure for all tickets issued in a specific country)
The plating carrier must be a BSP affiliated airline in the country where the ticket is issued (i.e Iberia is not BSP in Sri Lanka, QR is not BSP in Colombia, RJ is not in Mexico, etc. so technically it’s impossible to issue such a ticket on that stock in that country, even if the itinerary starts in another country).
- GSA (general sales agreements – process that guarantees that each airline will receive its share of revenue)
The plating carrier must have revenue agreements with all the participating airlines in the country where the ticket is issued. If one of the participating airline doesn’t have a GSA in the country where the ticket is issued the ticket issuance will fail.
- Interline ticketing agreement (a sort of guideline for airlines to follow when issuing documents for carriage on each other's services)
It basically dictates that the plating carrier must have ticketing agreements in place with all the of the carriers (also the operating carriers in case of code-shares). For example, on a XGLOBX, you can’t travel on a QF/TN codeshare (AKL-PPT or v.v) if your ticket is issued on QR simply because QR and TN don’t have bilateral ticketing agreements. This will be technically impossible to issue so you’ll have to select another plating carrier or change your itinerary.

And finally, there are also other random checks (see section 15 of the fare sheet – sales restrictions). i.e if you have a QF/JQ codeshare in your itinerary you can’t plate it on IB on a xonex fare.

As you see it’s quite a complex process. Failing at one of these points will prevent the ticket from being issued (or reissued) and will involve either a change in the itinerary or in the plating carrier. That’s one of the reasons why we frequently see travellers being frustrated because 1 airline refuses to issue documents while another airline can actually do it without any problems. It’s not always down to the lack of expertise of the staff, most of the time it’s actually dependent on other factors that are beyond the control of people at the ticketing desk.

It seems this has now changed. I was able to use the online tool to issue an ex-CAI DONE4 where RJ was the first airline, and RJ ticketed it (e-ticket numbers starting with 512).

I've heard that AA is considering closing their RTW desk. I hope they don't do so.