Who’s responsible for cancelled flight
 

I noticed that one of my flights with AA/AS from Heathrow to San Diego (via Seattle) in November, the AA leg was cancelled recently without me getting any notifications. I contacted MH yesterday as the first leg of my itinerary is with them, and the MH agent told me to contact Oneworld directly as they couldn’t make any changes to non MH flight. As Oneworld doesn’t seem to have any direct contact number I tried calling AA to see if they could help. The AA agent insisted that she could see the flight and it’s not canceled but she couldn’t tell why I’m no longer booked on that flight. She said there is nothing she could do as the ticket is not issued by them.

I tried MH again today and it’s been a nightmare dealing with them. I called 5 times and each time I got cut off after waiting ages for the agent to come back to me. Most of them seemed to have no clue about the RTW product. The last person I spoke to said that I might need to pay extra charges and then disappeared for 30 minutes to investigate. She then came back and said that the earliest flight she could find without any extra charges is the same AA flight 8 days later. She also said who ever issued me the ticket made a mistake as the ticket shouldn’t have been issued by MH, which I know is completely bonkers as it’s clearly stated by Oneworld the airline that flies the first leg is the issuing airline,

My understanding of the fare rule is that any changes to flights shouldn’t incur extra charges as long as it doesn’t require route change. Or is changing the transit point considered as routing change?

I can see 16 flight options on that day with either BA or AA via different transit point on the Oneworld planning tool but only one BA flight (AA code share) that transits via Seattle. So if I choose the AA code share flight I shouldn’t have to pay any fees
or fare difference?

Also isn’t AA responsible for finding me an alternative flight since they cancelled my original flight?

Pharaohnz Welcome to FT

The full route of your *ONE* ticket would help. [assuming it is a OW *ONE* ticket]
*ONE* tickets do not have transits points. Just a series of flights. Guess you had LHR-SEA(AA) and SEA-SJC(AS). Changing SEA would be a reroute. An involuntary change can be treated different by some airlines/phone agents, as to cost and applying all the rules. For a seat to be available on a reroute or reschedule(date) need to be in the same fare class (L D A). In the past AA have had agents who were good & knowledgeable about *ONE* rules.
Good luck.

Thanks and yes you are correct my ticket is LONE4. I wasn’t aware that there is no transit point with this type of ticket as the fare calculation in the e-ticket shows this which seems to suggest that they price transit differently than a stopover ? MEL MH X/KUL MH TPE JL TYO JL LON AA X/SEA AS SAN AS ORL AA DFW QF MEL

Even if there is no transit point with *ONE* ticket surely MH should still be able to change the LON/SEA leg from AA155 to BA49 on 22 Nov if I can see it as available on the Oneworld planner?

Also since it’s AA that cancelled the flight is it true that they can’t do anything since the ticket is not issued by them or it’s all luck of the draw which agent you speak to?

The route-date can effect real taxes that are paid to governments~regulatory authorities. For example less than 24hrs between can have less taxes. The UK APD is a well know difference. So need a tax recalculation. But that does not change *ONE* ticket routing rules.

For AA155 to BA49 date/flight number change, on the same LHR-SEA segment, needs to be L class available. Seen reports some airlines (agents) want the $125 change fee for this. But some years ago I did a similar change at no cost. I would try AA again, as you have other AA segments. For AS *ONE* have read QF does the ticketing. But many QF phone agents are hopeless now, and would have little to no experience with *ONE* tickets.

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=MEL-KUL...=bm&PW=3&DU=mi
You are only using 9 segments. Years ago I did a *ONE* that had a 9 month "stopover" in MEL. Basically got a trip to DRW for the cost of cheapie MEL-SYD & ADL-MEL flights. The *ONE* started in SYD and ended in ADL 363 days later.

I tried calling AA again and the agent said she had to check with their resolutions desk. The answer was as expected that they couldn't do anything since the ticket was not issued by them. I don't know if calling their US number would make any difference as the AUS number seems to always go to their call centre in the Philippines, and the agents there either have no clue about *ONE* or not willing to help. I saw on the forum before that some people were able to get assistance from AA RTW desk but I don't know how you can contact them directly or if the team still exists.

I'm now waiting for MH to get back to me. I had to call their elite hotline as the normal helpdesk agents all said they had no access to the system to view *ONE* availability. Even with the elite hotline agent I had to be quite persistent to get anywhere. First I was told that since my booking was done online I need to manage it through their website and she couldn't change anything for me. After telling her that their website doesn't let me change flights, she then said because only the AA flight was cancelled I have to stick with AS from SEA - SAN, and there is no AA flight to SEA until 30th Nov. I told her I could see 15 other flights on 22nd on the Oneworld website for LON - SAN but she said she couldn't see any on her end. After a bit more back ane forth she finally could see those flights but since these are BA flights and not transiting through SEA she couldn't book any of those for me. I told here the BA flights are actually all code shared with AA so couldn't she just book it under AA. She said she has no authority to book code share flights and had to wait for her manager. She got back half a day later and asked for couple more days as they need to pass this to another department to liase with other airlines to see if they can get the seats and there is no guarantee.

I wish I could use up all 16 segments but I will be travelling with a toddler and newborn. I only booked *ONE* because I have to go to DFW and flights are ridiculously expensive from AUS to DFW at 2/3 the price of *ONE*

I have noticed that the base fare for *LONE4* has already gone up by AUD$300 this month since I booked it. Otherwise I would probably be better off just cancel the booking and rebook with another airline.

The problem you have is the lack of detailed knowledge about *ONE* t&c's by the phone agents. Far more common post CV19 with most(all?) airlines.

Changing LHR-SEA-SAN to LHR-SAN (non stop) would be a reissue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Di...tional_Airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattl...tional_Airport

Certainly is past times could book/change prime-codeshare flights on *ONE*, without cost. The earnings on A D L fare buckets could be different depending on the marketing carrier(flight number) and frequent flyer program. Was therefore possible to increase ff earnings by a change prime-codeshare flight.

Intending to Revise the User Guide WIKI
 

Hi all
It's been nearly three years since I wrote the user guide wiki
Time for a review I think
Nothing major (the rules haven't changed), but just a tidy up, correct a few minor errors, express some aspects more clearly, and the like
Comments/suggestions are welcome :D

Introduction:
You may wish to modify comments about other alliance products as SkyTeam RTW has been suspended for a while now: https://www.skyteam.com/en/round-the-world-planner

Ticket Basics:
Update January 2020 ticket prices to current prices and perhaps additional/different originating points (this one's probably already on your list)

Last flight
 

7. MAXIMUM STAY
Return travel from the last stopover point must commence no later than 12 months after departure.

Hmmm ... 'no later than 12 months'. What does this mean in practice? If my first flight was 1 June, can the last flight be the following 1 June or does it have to be 31 May? (I've cut it close before but never this close.) TIA.

IME (limited to one case and it was a BA ticket) it would have been 31 May. As always, other airlines / different agents might have a different interpretation of the rule.

Is one allowed a surface segment from the origin to the first stopover? Guessing the answer is no, but didn’t see it explicitly mentioned in the Wiki.

No. This is not allowed in any kind of air ticket.

Which is the best thread to discuss oneworld Explorer pricing? This one, this one or another one?

I would say definitely this thread --> 2016-2023 Oneworld booking and pricing experiences - FlyerTalk Forums
The User Guide thread should really only be used for discussions of the user guide contents and for discussion of the rules and what "tricks" can be exploited.
The Oneworld product pricing - PLEASE READ - FlyerTalk Forums thread appears to be moribund

Advice on proposed itinerary
 

I think this is the right forum? Correct me if I'm wrong please! I’m hoping to get some input into this itinerary – it’s been 8 years since I had some invaluable advice from the experts on this forum and I’m hoping for a bit more.

NRT-SEAo-LASo-JFKo-GRUo-MADx-CDGo-LHRx-ATHo-DOHx-SYDo-NOUo-SYDx-BKKo-NRT

Husband and I need to be in Brazil in late March 2024 for a wedding but other than that we are completely flexible – my only other aim is to pack as many miles and sectors into our itinerary as I can. We plan to take 4-5 months on the first half, taking a big break back in Sydney before completing it with the Noumea/Bangkok sectors. I plan to buy a flexible return ticket SYD-NRT-SYD as starting in NRT vs SYD is a substantial saving – only just a little more than starting in OSL (which is a much expensive positioning flight for us).

We plan to start the trip in late February/early March 2024, thus book every flight after GRU with dummy dates and rebook them as they become available.

I’ve checked the flights in Expert Flyer with QR flights for all three 14hr long haul flights (their business class product is so good) and JAL for most of the rest except for QF short hauls back in Aus. Once I know if this itinerary is going to work, I hope to price the surcharges out on ITA Matrix to add to the $AUD9,836 individual DONE5 fare that Expert Flyer gave as a base fare.

Question 1: Is it viable or have I made a really stupid stuff-up? I have plugged it into the Oneworld trip planner which says it’s viable until I’m halfway through pricing the itinerary and for some reason it just keeps hanging.

Question 2: I think I can fly into SYD for a 6 month stopover and then transit back through between NOU and BKK?
Question 3: I couldn't find a better way other than the CDG-LHR-ATH other than Iberia CDG-MAD-ATH(which has no business class on this route)- is this one a problem?

Question 4: If the itinerary works, I count 14 sectors? Any suggestions to squeeze one more stop somewhere?

Thank you in advance for anyone who has the time and patience to read through my overly long entry and who might offer some suggestions.