Has any purchased an owe ex-Sweden? Any useful info to share? Particularly wondering if there is a travel agent giving a reasonable discount, or is it not worth the bother and better to book directly with AY or BA.

Thanks in advance.

I recently purchased two business class 4 continent RTWs from Stockholm. I went thro' lots of problems until I hit the best solution. Use the RTW desk of AA with extremely knowledgeable, helpful and pleasant agents like Sarah, Jeannie and Michael. Their tel no is 1-800-247-3247 open 7 days a week. They can issue a ticket originating in Sweden in US. You also have an option to pick it up from AA office at Stockholm airport. The travel agents are normal and do not give any discounts. I emailed at least 6 of them and nobody replied. With fares as low as they are now, you dont need discounts, but good service

Like drbala said you can pick up your ticket at the AA office at ARN. However, a word of caution, if you have more than 16 segments in your itinerary (including open segments) the AA computer will not print the ticket. The agent will have to either hand write it or trick the computer and split your booking into two (or more if you are over 32 segments). So, if you are planning on picking it up at the airport, make sure to allow at least an extra hour before your flight, and also note that the AA airport office is only open in the morning around the departure time of their Chicago flight.

Thanks for the tips guys. Just another question, can AA still issue the ticket if they are not the carrier on the first segment? (I am planning to use BA ARN-LHR). In Asia and Australia/New Zealand they insist that the ticket has to be issued by the first carrier. I'm not 100% convinced that it should really be that way but every owe I have purchased in Asia has followed that rule.

yes, they can

AA must have at least one long haul international sector before they will fare price the ticket for issue. ie Europe to US or US to Asia/Sth America. please note that AA ticketing agents themselves cannot issue international tickets without referring to the AA International Rate Desk. If you're hoping to issue a ticket on the spot, think again. My reissue alone once took more than an hour because AA must call the International Rate Desk for fares approval - even if it is for a RTW ticket.

My ticket was 24 segments, handwritten by AA office in Stockholm and my first leg was by BA. The only care I took was to warn the Sweden ticketing desk to keep my tickets ready for pick up giving my credit card number. I landed in Stockholm at 11 AM and was off by the BA flight at 1225.
Good luck

MGM, all of this depends on whether you are in Dallas or Tokyo at the time of ticketing. If you are in Dallas, the ticket can be issued at a local CTO, and you can have it before you leave.

Only "tip" I would have is that the lounge at ARN is land side, and you have to pass customs to get there. No problem, but I got my chops busted when I passed back to get on the plane. Just tell them you came to start an around the world trip and that you will stay in Stockholm longer when the trip is finished. Nice lounge, by the way.

Darren - actually I'm in London at the moment (on a New Zealand owe ). Kinda why I'm looking at buying my next owe in Sweden rather than in Asia or Australia/New Zealand. Having not booked one of these with AA (even though I'm EXP lol), could I do the following? Book it with the RTW desk in the U.S. and have them charge it to my credit card, get the AA London CTO to issue it, start the journey from ARN shortly thereafter.

No, because it would be technically reserved in the US and issued in London. The only way around it would be to have the ticket issued in the US (or Canada, lest I forget our Canuck neighbors) and have it fed-ex'd to you. The problem, of course, is getting someone to actually do that for you. Sounds like your easiest course of action would be to take care of all the reservations in London with the European RTW desk, and have them issue a fare. *MAKE SURE MAKE SURE MAKE SURE* that the expiry date of the res is past when you are going to pick it up. If that res drops, you are going to be turked. A competent agent will whip out 20 segments in 2 hours. Like drbala said, if you call ahead, I am sure that they can have them ready for you.

you best option is still book it in AA USA, and issue in Sweden. i might be possible to give AA/ARN your credit card and have your ticket ready for pick up, but i think you need to aks them after u made your reservation. otherwise, perhaps think about finding an agent in Sweden.

BA can also do this (bill your credit card and have the ticket ready for u to pick up at ARN), but it has to be done the Sweden office.

in either case, london should not have anything thing to do with it.

this is an unwritten rule within SOME AA agents. if u r lucky enough (depends on the agent), u can get away with it.
(the trick some of our FT friends here suggested is not to specify the airline, they will usually oblige if AA does not fly that route or AA is sold out)

I am talking from very recent first hand experience. DO NOT EVER ATTEMPT TO GO to the AA office in London. They WILL not issue the ticket. Telephone AA London or UK and ask for Mr Thomas of fares Department. He will sort out your routing patiently and reliably and will instruct Sweden to keep your ticket ready. I understand that he is in Dublin and starts work at 11 AM London time.
I tried to get the US RTW desk charge my credit card and FEDEX me the tickets;they couldnt do it. I did the mistake of going to the Piccadilly office of AA, spent 4 hours gaining nothing but ulcers and finally was referred to Mr Thomas by one agent from AA RTW desk, after which it worked like magic.


[This message has been edited by drbala (edited 08-16-2001).]

I haven't done it since November last year but I had an AA RTW desk in the U.S. build an itinerary, send it to the fare desk for authorization. I then gave the PNR to an agent in New York, equipped with SABRE, and they fedexed the ticket to my address in Japan. It was over 16 segments but machine printed. I am hoping to do the same for the next OWE.

well, recently I had an ex-SEL OWE4 RTW ticket issued at CTO in New York. The itinerary was well planned with one of the able agents at AA RTW desks, the name of which is mentioned here earlier; then I went to a NYC CTO thinking its going to take just a few minutes to issue the ticket since everything was approved by the RTW agent with the fare quote.

Surprise!, as Guy Betsy said, the agent had to call RTW desk herself and got all sorts of differnet answers with respect to routings, taxes and fares! I was there for more than two hours yet the agent was still trying to figure out taxes. Since I did have to get back to the office, I had them imprint my credit card and pre-sign it and asked them to leave it in 'WILL CALL' box to pick up in the morning. Well, it was all hand writen and I bet the ticketing agent took addtional hour or more to complete the ticketing. ( may be into 8pm or so....)

Then last week I was in Tokyo CTO to reissue that hand-written ticket, and it took them another two hours to correct the wrong tax that were documented in the original RTW ticket. (believe me , I went into the office at 4pm and was still there long after 6pm). Now I really feel there has got to be a more prudent and smart way to deal with these tickets. I really can't spent more than two hours each time I visit CTOs! Just a thought of having it issued at an airport before departure literally horrifies me.