Thanks for looking at this. I put flights against the dates I can travel, but as you cannot get the IB UIO-MAD flight to appear then I don't see this working.

Visiting Madrid twice at the start and end is intended as it's significant for me on this trip, but maybe it breaks the RTW rules. Olso is only there as it's the cheapest start/end city.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1fc4fd3b1a.png

I think there's a technical problem at the IB end. IB138 can be found on Sabre availability display and shows available but cannot be booked. It does not show up on Amadeus availability display at all, although the Flight Information (FLIFO using the "DO" command) is retrievable. The UIO-MAD flight can be booked as a QR code-share, but that's potentially violating traffic rights rules. If plated on QR, YR/YQ is only levied on QR- and BA-coded sectors. I can price all oneworld flights on Sabre for 66822NOK if booked in D class.

Note when IB138 is booked, the system says "UC" (Unable to Confirm), whereas when QR6532 is booked, the system says "SS" (Sell Segment).

Thanks for looking into that and highlighting the oddity of the Iberia UIO-MAD flight.

Given all of the information you have provided, hiow can I book this? Do I go to any decent travel agent with your screenshots? I assume I now give up with the oneworld RTW tool, I did try the tool yesterday now I have dates and flights but it said the route was invalid as greater than 34,000 miles in Business of First class - it's a piece of software junk!

I will not pretend to understand a lot of what your screenshot says, but what is the acronym FLIFO?

I cannot imagine the 66,000NOK price being beaten if I book individual flights on any airline for each sector.

As Pandaperth says, not on the Oneworld Explorer. I wanted this ticket as opposed to the global explorer ticket as I managed to rack up 50k miles (side benefit BAC Gold). The way I did it was to open jaw AKL/NAN and flying AKL-PPT on a cheap economy ticket (c £230 each via the QF website) then we're already booked on a one way cruise PPT-NAN which was the (loose) general purpose of looking at a RTW as business LHR-PPT-LHR wasn't that much cheaper that having the fun of 16 sectors and 50k miles.

For purchasing a ticket, I think Propeller are snowed under after Matt's recommendation but try messaging nufnuf.

Sure, you can go with a competent travel agency you trust. What I suggest is you can get all flights booked except UIO-MAD, or see if whichever travel agency you find is willing to book you on the QR code-share. xONEx has a generous ticketing deadline. Hopefully, IB will resolve this issue by then.

Flight Information, as I said in my previous post.

Depending on where they are crediting to, they may be far better off on the QR code anyway. Crediting to any of IB, BA, or AA, you want the QR code if you can get it ticketed that way.

I am not a member of any oneworld airline FFP. I would have prefered to do all this with SkyTeam as I earn redeemable points in Flying Blue. I don't have the inclination to start all over again from scratch in another FFP that I would not build and hold meaningful status to use in the future. I was thinking just to credit the Qantas flights to Flying Blue (who are a non-SkyTeam partner) and gain a few Miles from those as it's better than nothing and ignore crediting the others to another FFP.

I can almost make the intended RTW trip on separate SkyTeam (and Flying Blue partnes) flights, except the global airline alliance's gap in South America, to credit more into the FFP, but that total cost is far too expensive to go ahead with.

Have you considered AirTreks if you aren't a Oneworld flyer?

Never heard of it before. Thanks.

It said it's an AI thingy and quoted a crazy high price range $12k-$14k!

It's a conversation for the Which FFP program to join thread, but whether you'll care about OW again after this trip, or not, these tickets are very easy to get OW Sapphire status on, and sometimes can get to Emerald with 1 ticket if routed well. Plus you'll be earning a very significant amount of miles, but you'd need to evaluate your chosen carriers / codes on the itinerary to figure out which one will grant the most miles. Each program has it's own pros and cons, so earning (just an example) 70k in one vs. 100k in another may still skew toward the program you'd get 70k, in, or may not. Depends on your flying patterns when you redeem miles entirely and the award charts applicable to those routes.

In any case, it's not something I'd write off as a big nothing.

I have reported the problem to Amadeus. Let's see if this can be resolved in the coming days.

I got the reply from Amadeus. They passed the response they received from IB to me, which says,
It bewilders me but explains how come the flight is not bookable from various sources. I don't know if the restriction is only in place for the oneworld online tool and travel agencies, or even for other oneworld airlines if you call them.

Thanks for getting an answer for the anomaly on the Iberia Quito to Madrid flight not appearing in the oneworld RTW tool. I wonder if there are other oddities like this.

This is probably a hopeless case but asking anyway. We started a DONE4 back in January but after completing the first leg fell sick so had to return home (on a separate ticket). We haven't been able to use the rest of the ticket and the earliest possible time to complete the next segment will be a few days after 12 months since we took the first flight. Do I have any hope of extending the ticket validity to cover the rest of the trip (about 1 month)?

Apologies if this has been already mentioned before on this forum but I couldn't find the info...

Does anyone have a model(s) trip on First that I could use? (AONEx).

Thanks!

By the way, I found a great travel agent that organises these type of complicated tickets. They are not expensive either, including additional changes in the itinerary. He is also member of this forum. Do inquire privately if you want more info.

Have you considered searching this forum? "AONE4" and the starting airport like "HND", for example.

Thanks for this. I did as you say… no real luck.

I have also been playing with chatGPT and got up to this, in case anyone is interested. I will continue fiddling.

1. London (LHR) → Doha (DOH) — Qatar Airways A380 First
   (Launch your trip in F and angle further east inside the Europe/Middle East continent.)
2. Doha (DOH) → Bangkok (BKK) — Qatar Airways A380 First
   (Keeps the direction east and adds a long F sector; QR is boosting A380s on DOH–BKK.)
3. Bangkok (BKK) → Hong Kong (HKG) — Cathay Pacific Business
   (No reliable F on this short hop; CX J here stretches the Asia mileage.)
4. Hong Kong (HKG) → Tokyo (HND) — Cathay Pacific or JAL Business
   (Another eastward Asian sector to set up the Pacific crossing.)
5. Tokyo (HND) → Sydney (SYD) — JAL Business
   (JAL doesn’t sell F on Japan–Australia; J only here.)
6. Sydney (SYD) → Los Angeles (LAX) — Qantas A380 First
   (Looooong Trans-Pac in true F; QF operates A380 First on this flagship.)
7. Los Angeles (LAX) → New York (JFK) — American A321T Flagship First
   (True transcon First to add distance within North America.)
8. New York (JFK) → London (LHR) — British Airways First
   (Classic Trans-Atl in F to finish where you started.)

JAL does operate first class between HND and SYD.

Depends when the OP was looking, it's currently a 788 route and has been for I think most of post-COVID. But appears to be going back to a 773 later this year and seems to continue next year even in the Australian winter.

Only if you call and ask for it. Since there's really no downside (except, perhaps, the waiting time for the call), why not try?

I have already and it got rejected on the first try. Sent it back for another go but thought someone here might know if this is even possible.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35271095-post1314.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/36965781-post2731.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/7383639-post1.html
...

Thank you!

For some strange reason, when I look for AONE here I only get
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f76338a1ce.png
... I am sure I am doing something wrong...

The problem with JAL F for me, booking thru AA, is that there is very limited, if any, A availability that I can find to book. Since I live in Asia that has limited me somewhat.

Here are my three example AONEs starting in Tokyo from the last year:

Routing 1 - AONE4
HND-HKG(CX F) / HKG-LHR(CX F) / LHR-BAH(BA F) / BAH-DOH(QR F) / DOH-LHR(QR F) / LHR-MIA (AA F) / MIA-BOS(AA Domestic "F") / BOS-LAX(AA Transcon F) / LAX-HKG(CX F) / HKG-SIN(CX J) / SIN-SYD(QF F) / SYD-MEL(QF J) / MEL-HBA(QF J) / HBA-SYD(QF J) / SYD-HND(JL D**)
**I booked this in D, could never get A availability despite ~6 months of watching and asking regularly, the route always showed A2 at least, but JAL never let AA book. In the end I changed to QF SYD-MEL-HND in J for better dates, but did miss my JAL business.
What did this give me: I nested a return from the Middle East back to Asia, which gave me another holiday, then it was designed to let me try QF F (first time, good, but no Wifi) and then obviously I had the maximum 16 legs by the end, but I also got to fly on AA F (Still not worth it, it had been five years and didn't seem to have gotten better, but I wanted an alternative to "another BA F flight").​​​ Australia is obviously not a good destination if you want F unless you do a fly-in/out

Routing 2 - AONE3
This was almost entirely designed to maximise my BA TPs under the old system, whilst doing a weekend trip to the UK back to Manchester

HND-HKG(CX F) / HKG-DOH, DOH-LHR(QR F) / LHR-MAN, MAN-LHR (BA J) /LHR-JFK (BA F) JFK-LAX (AA Transcontinental F) / LAX-HKG (CX F) /HKG-KUL(CX J) / KUL-NRT (MH "F"/BusinessSuites)
I did this, excluding the Tokyo legs, in about five days. Gave me a chance to try MH BusinessSuites (pretty good actually), however my LHR-JFK flight was delayed by ~3 hours which meant it was a bit of a rush to get my Transcontinental

Routing 3 - AONE3
Similar to the above, and a month later, so I just went the other way around the world, the start was the return MH BusinessSuites flight returning above. However I flew out on the day LHR burned down.... oh dear. I am putting in what I'd booked as TP maximisation, not the end result which ended up missing BAH and having an 8 hour flight to nowhere out of LAX
NRT-KUL (MH "F"/BusinessSuites)/ KUL-HKG (CX J)/ HKG-LAX (CX F) / LAX-LHR-BAH-LHR (BA F) / MAN-LHR (BA J) / LHR-DOH (QF F), DOH-HKG (QF J) / HKG-BKK (CX J) / BKK-HND (JL F)

Overall
If you reflect on these examples you will observe that "too" many legs are short, or in business. But it worked for me and I was happy with all routes. Getting pure F routes is hard unless booking well in advance, and with the AONE4 I wanted 3 seats (not always possible). I would personally try to make sure you get CX long haul (across to the USA or into Heathrow) as that is really special. Qatar Airways F is "ok", you've got the right idea to prioritise the A380 around BKK over the old Qatar Pacific F into HKG and sometimes MLE/others as it is a bigger cabin and more QR specific. I would not spend much time on either BA or AA F, however unfortunately BA has by far and away the largest network of F seats in oneworld, so you are going to have to do them across the Atlantic. The AA Transcontinental is worth doing before they get rid within a year, but certainly nothing to write home about - it is obviously better than a domestic F flight. And then finally, you will struggle to really get to anywhere near 16 legs if you are doing only an AONE3, you'd need to add in at least Australia (only QF F available) to get some more routes. Personally I'd rather do CX F as my trans-pacific flight which means HKG (since JL F seems impossible to book) over QF F, but then you can only get QF F in and out of SIN (is there now a JNB option?). Finally, when you get into IRROPs, whist they will obviously treat you well, you get into the simple situation that most F cabins now are full days or weeks out, so you really do get stuck being bunged back into business.

So, now that BA has made "A" earn less than "D" I am even less tempted to book another AONE trip as the 30-40% premium is hard to justify objectively when you end up with 30% of the flights not really being in F. But, they are special otherwise.

Many thanks, littlevoices!

This is super useful and wise. It does put in context the challenge and the limited reward.

If I end off booking it, I shall report back!

Hello All,

I am currently planning a RTW for autumn/fall 2026 on One World carriers and have a question regarding seat selection. As I’m travelling solo and prefer a window seat, I’m looking to secure window seats on my flights. I am currently BA Silver and will retain through to April 2027:

I’m hoping that if I ticket with BA, my status will allow me to select preferred seats on all the flights in my itinerary, would this be a correct assumption?

Thanks in advance.

Who issues your ticket has no impact on seat preferences. Each individual airline has its own policy. At a guess, oneworld Sapphire would allow you very good (and free) selections on most oneworld carriers, certainly in premium cabins anyway.

Thanks for your reply

When booking, always try for seat assignments. much more complicated later.

JL is one that I know holds back a lot of seats for Emeralds in business. But they'd all be available at OLCI. I've rarely not been able to do OLCI with JL even when they should be checking visas (like one way to China for example).

Are seat selection fees incurred on the RTW ticket for us that do not have oneworld status? If so, are they added on top of the RTW cost only when in contact with an airline and making a RTW booking? Thanks

Any fees for seat selection are determined by individual carriers. The fare product itself doesn't dictate conditions. Such fees are paid to the individual airline at the time of selection and aren't part of the charge for the fare.

So those are included when during an airline's online booking tool or with an airline's telephone booking person? That can add a few extra £100s to the RTW price quoted by the oneworld tool.

The seat selection fees, where they apply, aren't included anywhere. You may pay them, where appropriate, directly to the airline when you choose the seats.

I have no status other than BAC Blue when I booked my RTW (DONE3) last month yet the agent was able to reserve seats on 11 of our 16 sectors. Yes, JAL blocks almost all window seats for it's higher status holders so 3 out of 4 JAL sectors are aisle seats unlike other airlines we're flying where we've got row 1 or 2.

I also have no status and my agent was able to select seats for me when I booked my DONE3.

Booking though a Travel Agent is often a different experience from when booking though an airline (or using the online tool).

A good TA will be able to select seats on your behalf. When booking without a TA generally once ticketed you need to separately either contact the carriers involved (or enter the manage booking online pages for each carrier) to request/select seating.

I did get seat assignments with my current DONE4, booked with TA. But I also went through each flight with the agent on my other trips booked with AA RTW desk and got seat assignments.

I had this happen again, I debated with myself was it an agent problem, or are AA enforcing a new rule, did I misunderstand, or should I HUCA... The answer HUCA, and the next agent didn't invent her own rules and was fine. This was what the first agent tried to say no to:
OSL-DOH-HKG // HKG-DPS-HKG // HKG-AKL-NAN-MEL-HKG // HKG-SIN-HKG / HKG-JFK

The first AA agent said ""no stopover when going back to Asia"" as soon as I read out the return itinerary, we didn't even get to completing my route - i.e. I double confirmed with him that I could only do MEL-HKG-JFK as a layover of less than 24 hours, no stopover allowed. Anyway, I decided to drop the HKG-SIN-HKG segment to give myself a bit more flexibility on routes and do CMB rather than DPS with a longer return, which helped later on.

Full route booked in the end that worked ok for others to use in the future
OSL-DOH-HKG // HKG-CMB-SIN-HKG // HKG-AKL-NAN-MEL-HKG // HKG-JFK-ORD-ANC-SEA-DOH-OSL
(Return from another RTW) // 1 week CNY Holiday // 2 week Easter Holiday // 2.5week Summer holiday and return

Are there no DONE3/4 fares being filed for CAI? Trying to book some combo of:
CAI-SFO
SFO-SYD
SYD-DPS
DPS-ATH

(obviously adding on ATH-CAI to make sure the flights align)
but online it’s pricing at 14k AUD

I didn’t double check D fare availability, but before I plan exact routes does this seem roughly possible?