Somebody called my name??

Okay here is my 2 cents worth of comments on tfung's itinerary. I think you mentioned that you will be issuing the ticket in BKK and hope that the BKK agents will overlook some sectors. Not very likely! Every travelagent will refer to the issuing carrier and in this case, you've chosen to issue the ticket with OneWorld's most STRINGENT carrier who goes everything BY-THE-BOOK-RULES - CATHAY PACIFIC. I can almost guarantee what they will tell you...

BKK HKG x 05-24 CX702 <HKG is 1st stop-doesn't matter if you're connecting to TPE to NRT. You're on CX 450 from HKG-TPE-NRT, CX will not allow that! From NRT, you cannot backtrack to HKG again. So these are your 2 stops HKG and NRT>

HKG TPE x 05-25 CX450
TPE NRT 05-25 CX450
NRT HKG 05-27 CX505
HKG LHR x 06-18 CX255
LHR DXB 06-18 BA107
DXB LHR x 06-19 BA106
LHR HEL 06-19 BA794
HEL LHR 06-20 BA795
LHR YVR x 06-23 BA85 <This is backtracking>
YVR JFK x 06-24 CX888 <CX will insist that you fly LHR-JFK first then Sth Amer, then YVR but not the routing you have>

JFK BOS 06-24 AA211
JFK SCL x 08-03 LA533
SCL EZE 08-04 LA533
EZE SCL x 08-05 LA420
SCL PPT 08-05 LA833 <PPT is considered SWP and therefore you cannot do this route and backtrack to SCL>

PPT SCL x 08-06 LA834
SCL MIA x 08-06 LA500
MIA DFW x 08-07 AA908
DFW LAX 08-07 AA2413 <Only 1 transcon allowed> From the direction you're doing, you can only go Westward and cannot backtrack to ORD!

LAX ORD 08-08 AA1238
ORD LAX x 08-09 AA873
LAX AKL 08-09 QF26
AKL SYD x 08-12 QF116
SYD AYQ 08-12 QF412
AYQ PER x 08-13 QF923
PER SYD 08-13 QF566
SYD HKG x 08-16 CX110
HKG BKK 08-17 CX751

(x=transit)

Doesn't matter what we say here - CX will have final say depending on how they interpret the rules. Although in theory all OneWorld partners have the same set of rules, in my experience, CX conjures their own interpretation of what they think is right. And if BKK doesn't understand anything, they will refer to HK and trust me, they are even more strict over there!

Good luck!

[This message has been edited by Guy Betsy (edited 04-25-2001).]

While we're on the topic here - I might as well show you guys what I'm doing with my 6 Con RTW ticket! I actually bought this ticket last year and only used one segment. Now I suddenly realise that I have to finish the rest of the ticket by June 27th!

I don't have the exact flight numbers, but here are the rough dates -

HKG-PAR CX F CLASS 13MAY
PAR-HEL AY C CLASS 17MAY
HEL-AMS AY C CLASS 17MAY
AMS-LON BA C CLASS 18MAY
LON-CPT BA F CLASS 19MAY
CPT-JNB BA C CLASS 22MAY
JNB-LON BA F CLASS 22MAY
LON-JFK AA F CLASS 25MAY
JFK-EZE AA F CLASS 01JUN
EZE-SCL LA F CLASS 04JUN
SCL-EZE LA F CLASS 06JUN
EZE-JFK AA F CLASS 06JUN
JFK-DFW AA F CLASS 07JUN
DFW-SFO AA F CLASS 09JUN
SFO-LAX AA F CLASS 10JUN
LAX-SAN AA Y CLASS 10JUN
SAN-LAX AA Y CLASS 20JUN
LAX-SYD QF F CLASS 20JUN
SYD-AKL QF F CLASS 22JUN
AKL-SYD QF J CLASS 23JUN
SYD-MEL QF J CLASS 25JUN
MEL-SIN BA F CLASS 27JUN

Whew!

tfung,

Easiest way to avoid the "Cathay Problem" is to have the ticket issued in your BOS homebase by AA or BA. There is no rule about who must issue the ticket. All of my tickets have been done by AA or BA and NONE have started with these carriers as the first segment. I also look forward to your reply on the answer to the "PPT - no way to get there" issue.


Guy Betsy,

Who issued the ticket above for you?? How did you get them to do LHR - CPT - JNB - LHR???

rich

Guy, if you will be in LAX for any length of time, give me a mail. I would like to meet you. You started ex-HKG?

Another way around the CX problem might be to go to AA's office in BKK. The itinerary I cited in a previous post was booked through them. They are located right next door to CX's office in Ploenchit Tower. Unlike the pseudo-AA office in HKG, however, where the AA-uniformed employees actually work for CX, these AA employees really do work for AA.

I will definitely try to book through the BOS AA office. About the trancon rule, I thought it was only for non-stop trancon flights. Also, I thought LAX-ORD is considered a midcon flight and thus it shouldn't matter anyways. Anyone can give me more info on this?
Thanks!
Terence

you are right. tfung

u can have as many lax-ord-bos as you like.
but u only have 6 segments in NA.

TFung - Okay I verified with the AA RTW desk and this is what they say -

You are allowed only 1 Transcon. A Transcon is what borders the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. So your YVR-JFK is permitted.
And then subsequently your additional sectors will be permitted within the US.

Backtracking between PPT and South America is definitely not permitted.

But there will be new rules effective May 8th - this is in additional to the 5% across the board fare increase:

The 3 stops per continent will be discontinued. Instead, within each continent, other than North America, you will only be permitted 4 segments. If you squeeze in 5 stops per continent, then you can! However, additional stopovers can no longer be purchased. Instead, you are encouraged to purchase OW's Visit Europe, Visit SWP, Visit Asia, Visit North America fares. Please note however that these will be available only in economy class.

Continent of Origin will be permitted 2 stops and this can be anywhere and not only at Intercontinental Gateways.

TFung, if you issue the ticket in BKK, you might still get a discount from the local travel agents there, but unlikely if you issue the ticket in North America.

Guy Betsy,

You've given me an interesting idea... I have no idea what the commission rate is on these RTW tickets, but when I'm paying nearly US$6000, it's got to add up to real money.

Although I always like handling the booking directly with AA, it might well be worth asking one of the BKK travel agents to issue the ticket on the condition they rebate part of the commission back to me (via some sort of "discount"). One of these tickets is equal to roughly 50 domestic Y class roundtrip tickets on TG-- and much less work for them, to boot!

Please note that issuing tickets in Thailand and you want a 'discount' - most will give you a percentage back of their commission - with the sole exception of American Express Travel!

The commission level in Thailand is now 7% on a published fare ticket. The agents will net the ticket down - eg - say your ticket is Baht 250,000. The net fare will be less 7% of that Baht 232,500. Then they will add their commission on top of that first - then the taxes and then that will be total.

Please do not try and bargain with them - so will let you do it - but as a RTW ticket is so complicated, I feel sorry to have to ask them for a bigger discount! Thai agents, after booking it on their system, (I know it's tediosu) but they will need to fax the entire ticket to the issuing carrier - and trust me - they will refer to CX/BA/QF/AY depending on who is the first outbound carrier, and not the Oneworld airline of your choice to issue the ticket!

Oh yeah, before I forget - THAILAND travel agents will only accept CASH as payment!!!!

No creditcards permitted. Unless you issue the ticket directly with the airline - and thus in that case, no discount!

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[This message has been edited by Guy Betsy (edited 04-28-2001).]

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[This message has been edited by Guy Betsy (edited 04-28-2001).]