Just when I was ready for ticketing, BA said the MCO can only be used on an itinerary that is fully on BA- so obviously its no good for the RTW. GiIven my frustrations dealing with BA, I decided to ticket through AA. AA said they can use the same reservation that I created through BA. I am a little concerned that BA will cancel the reservation if it is not ticketed through them. Is there any risk of this? The AA RTW Desk said that once it is ticketed and the ticket numbers are in the booking, BA will not be able to cancel it.

For the 307th time! (roughly http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) Why do people insist on having the ticket and the reservation linked? What benefit do you get from this to compensate for the hassle when things change or go wrong?

BOOK THE TICKET OPEN!
MAKE THE RESERVATION SEPARATELY!

One of the few issues I have with issuing a ticket with AA is that they stick in a Not Valid Before and Not Valid After date on each of your flight sectors. So basically if you have to change dates, effective it can done easliy... but with those remarks on the ticket, AA can be really sticky about it and may want to reissue the entire ticket especially on domestic sectors!

I know that AA in BKK will still put those dates in when the ticket is OPEN DATED. AA's CRS cannot leave an open dated ticket completely without a date. It MUST have a date on it even though it's OPEN. But that generates a message to the CRS to print the NVB and NVA similar to the date on the OPEN segment on the ticket.

AA also may not be able to issue past 16 segments. The best airline to issue a RTW ticket on are actually CX. I reissued a pre-new rules ticket yesterdat. All 30 segments of it on OPEN dates, and all automated.


[This message has been edited by Guy Betsy (edited 06-16-2003).]

Guy Betsy- I'm not sure I understand. What you are describing is only an issue for open-dated tickets, right? If the ticket is issued with dates for each sector and then I later want to reschedule dates, could there be a NVB or NVA issue?

I recently re-issued a AONE6 with AA an neither of the above were the case. No "not valid before" or "not valid after" dates and more than 16 segments issued (20 was the limit for non hand-written,) with more to be added during subsequent re-issue. Only coupon with a date was the first one a nd few other I requested have dates. Unless your comments only applied to AA in BKK.

Well, I finally have the ticket in hand. It was issued through AA though the record locator is still the BA one. It came to 187,000 Baht plus 13,000 tax.

I have a five hour layover in LHR and would like to use a gym. Does anyone know the airport hotels that would allow non-guests to use the exercise room?

[This message has been edited by BoSoxinBkk (edited 06-20-2003).]

Can't you get to the gym in the BA arrivals lounge in T4?

I looked through the BA and BAA-LHR websites but there was no mention of a gym at the airport. I will be arriving from BOM (725AM)and transiting to DXB (1230PM). Is the gym only in the arrivals lounge, i.e. I should exit customs, or is there a way to stay airside and access the facilities?

The BA site is not easy to navigate. You can see a brief description of the Arrivals facility here:

https://www.britishairways.com/trave...club/_as/en_gb

The Arrivals Lounge is land side in Terminal 4, but unless you have some difficulty getting through immigration (which shouldn't be a problem (unless you would ned a visa) since you will have a Fast Track card in J) it is very convenient. It is accessible to J and F arrivals on BA plus BA Gold.

The T4 First Class departure lounge in LHR (which you have access to as an AA EXP) has the Molton Brown Spa where you can get complimentary massages etc. Not sure if there is a gym there though... perhaps someone else can advise.