Hoping someone can help me. I have an itinerary that I'm trying to book, and the ticketing airline is giving me problems.

Itinerary was valid on the Oneworld site and it let me make the booking. However, Qantas are claiming the itinerary is invalid due to it having 18 segments. Obviously, it was 16 on the OW site. My guess is they're counting BOS-LGA, JFK-LHR as 3 segments, whereas the OW site counted this as two. My understanding of the fare rules is that it talks about "city pairs" and therefore this should be two segments, as the system thought also.

Does anyone have experience with this and how was it resolved?

LGA-JFK is a separate segment.
From the rules:
The concept of coterminals does not apply to Oneworld explorer tickets since the advent of e-tickets.

Thanks! I guess it's back to the drawing board. Another victim of the laggy RTW Oneworld site :(

Did you actually try to book it through the OneWorld site? I had a QF issued ticket last year that most definitely had an invalid segment but booked on the OneWorld site and it ticketed within seconds. Mine was a married segment I forced to break without the 24 hour stopover, but the OW site was very happy to ticket it via QF without talking to a human. If the OneWorld site is validating it, I'm surprised it won't auto-ticket on QF. I talked to a couple human agents before going that route and they refused to try to force it to break, said it had to be XXX-ZZZ and couldn't enter it as XXX-YYY and YYY-ZZZ without the 24 hour stopover.

BTW just reading what you've written above, if they're telling you that you have 18 segments instead of the allowed 16 then you have one more somewhere else that's invalid. BOS-LGA / JFK-LHR is only 3 segments because of the somewhat ridiculous surface segment across Queens. You could just drop that segment entirely and pay cash for BOS-NYC on your own and it'd drop you down a segment, shouldn't be more than $100-150 for that one, but still sounds like you have an extra one in there somewhere else that shouldn't be. Any other surface segments?

Morning all.

It's been many years since I last did an XONEX ticket but am busy planning for one at the moment. I know many rules have changed since then so need some clarification on a specific flight. Is the non-stop DEL-JFK on AA still considered a transatlantic flight - which would therefore effectively cut out the ability to visit Europe? Or is it now considered a transpacific flight?

Thanks

I believe it is considered a trans-pacific flight.
I tried it out in the on-line booking tool when the flight was first announced - see Oneworld Explorer considers AA's new JFK-DEL flight to be TPAC not Transatlantic - FlyerTalk Forums
But I do not recall seeing it documented anywhere on the Oneworld web site.

Thank you!

I have successfully booked an XONEX a few weeks ago with JFK-DEL being treated as a transpacific leg.

Hi everyone.
Quick question - is the $125 change fee for changing ticketed points charged on a per passenger basis, or just a set fee per booking. For example, I have a DONE5 for my wife and I, under the same reference number. If I wanted to change the ticketing points, will that be $125 or $250 change fee?
Thanks!

$250 for 2 pax

Thank you - good to know!

Have an ex-CAI DONE5 CAI-(DOH)-FRA-MAD...DFW-HND-SIN-HKG-ICN-SYD-PER-LHR-DOH. All 16 segments booked and currently in DFW.

If I need to skip Australia/NZ, what would be my best option to optimize mileage (Loyalty Points) while keeping surcharges low?

Perhaps ICN-HEL-DXB-DOH-AMM to squeeze out all segments? Or ICN-HKG-JNB-LHR-DOH to take advantage of that 5th continent? (Although fearing the BA surcharge for JNB-LHR)

Or maybe include something in India before jumping to Europe from ICN or HKG?

Surface segment for last segment?
 

Hi everyone.

Not relevant to my own RTW but helping a friend plan one and don't think I've come across anything specifically about this.

Is there any issue with the final segment being a surface segment? For example, DONE4 starting in OSL. Can the last 3 segments just be DFW to DUB on AA, then a surface segment from DUB to OSL? So effectively the final flight is DFW to DUB.

Thanks for any advice.

No. But some people have "missed" the final ticketed segment

3015 Rule 4c

Thanks for that.

In practice, is there any risk with doing this? Anyone have any experience of doing this?

There's no real evidence of anybody being punished for missing the final leg of a flight. (LH sued someone for doing it regularly and lost.) Theoretically, the airline could come after you for a change in fare and/or close your frequent flyer account. In practice, the chances of that happening if you miss one flight are nil.

I totally forgot to take the last flight of my RTW last year. No consequences, which is what I expected. ;)

Apologies in Advance if this is the wrong place to be posting. Seeking some help in pricing a RTW. This would be for my Mum and so being a Senior, she'd prefer not too long transits and the likes . I had initally priced the below as 4 separate One - Way tickets. Prices given below. Was thinking, it would be good if she got some decent amount of miles for the flying ahead and then realized might be better to look at a RTW option from Star or One world.

MAA – YVR / Mar 20th / CX – $ 800 INR (One World)

YVR – MEL/ June 10th/ FJ – $ 820 (No alliance)

MEL – LLW/ Aug 30th/ QF, ET – $ 1,085 (One World)

LLW – MAA/ Sep 16th/ ET or AI – $500 (One World/ Star Alliance)

NET TOTAL : $3205


Am a novice to this world of RTW tickets and so any help/ pointers would be most appreciated.

Would need a lot of work to get to an alliance RTW. And 95% sure would price much higher.
Most of those origin- destinations have transits

A map from the Great Circle Mapper - Great Circle Mapper
HAV can be tricky to get to.
FJ is Oneworld connect, so limited ff partner of OW airlines
QF fly YVR-SYD non stop, then SYD-MEL
LLW a unusual destination. (I have been there decades ago) ET & AI are not Oneworld. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamuzu...tional_Airport
QF does fly SYD JNB, South Africa. QR Qatar fly's to many African airports

Thanks all for the advice!

Many thanks for your reply. There was an error I made with a sector. It should read as MAA - YVR for Leg 1. Have edited the original post as well.
A side trip to HAV is happening, ex - YVR but as part of an all inclusive deal (Flights, Hotel, F & B package) & hence HAV can be removed from the RTW query.

All remaining legs are correct.

OW doesn't fly to LLW, unfortunately. Harare might be your closest option.

Your itinerary needs a crossing over the Atlantic and over the Pacific, and MAA-YVR would be considered Pacific. Even if you force a stop in Europe between MAA and YVR, the OW RTW tool doesn't let you go to Harare and then back to Chennai, although that may be legal in practice.

Hi, -- I would be grateful for any thoughts/suggestions on an itinerary that I will likely start on April 15th. 1) Must stop in BOS and BKK 2) DONE3 3) maximize mileage 4) my understanding is that there's no oppressive tax at LHR if you're connecting (<24 hours) as opposed to stopping. If I can't avoid the tax, I'll substitute CDG for LHR. 5) starting point is somewhat flexible, looks like TYO hits the balance of convenient to me and cheap price, but I'm open to other suggestions, always. I won't start in Pakistan, it's below my personal safety threshold. CAI would be fine, I've started these there in the past, but my impression is that it's extremely difficult to get one ticketed out of CAI now. Here's what I have so far: NRT-BOS-DFW-ANC-DFW-BOS-LAX-DOH-MAD-DOH-LHR-DOH-ICN-CMB-BKK-CMB-NRT. 55,218 miles according to MileCalc.com.

Are you crediting to AA or QR?

If AA, that's an awful lot of AA segments that could credit as Revenue instead of Distance and earn quite poorly, you might consider restructuring your US domestic segments to use AS metal or codeshares instead. BOS to DFW is also available as a JL codeshare, but not sure you can ticket it as a JL codeshare if you stopover in BOS, definitely worth a try. Codeshares have to be entered manually, so will require a phone agent vs. the OneWorld tool.

Not sure when you're planning BOS-ANC, currently in winter season AS has an ORD flight on Saturday and Sunday that doesn't count as your 1 allowable transcon. That can be booked as AS 6392 and AS 97, that goes to daily in summer season.

Your final transcon also could be via SFO instead of LAX to get an AS flight instead of AA... sure I know AS doesn't have a premium cabin like AA and the lounge situation in SFO isn't great compared to the QF lounge in LAX, but if maximizing mileage is the goal, that would earn better. (assuming again that AA credits your flights as Revenue instead of Distance, which can go either way it seems).

Similarly UL is the least sexy of OW partners crediting premium cabin to AA (no cabin bonus on D and I fares). For the last stage, instead of UL BKK-CMB-NRT you'd earn a lot more miles doing MH BKK-KUL and then JL KUL-NRT. JL now has a 150% cabin bonus on D fares.

If you're planning to credit to QR ignore everything I said and use the Q Points calculator, I forget if all partners earn Q Points equally or not.

QR, but you made some interesting observations notwithstanding your caution to ignore everything you said. 😉

When I started seeing J/D redemptions in the hundreds of thousands of miles on AA, then I knew that it was time to move back to QRPC, where I was once PLT and will be again after this trip.

It will either be the very end of April, or the first week in May. Since I'm crediting to QRPC, DFW gives me a slightly longer flight, and hence a few more Avios.

Exactly, there's no cabin or COS bonus on UL when crediting to AA. But since I'll be crediting to QRPC, I'll do fine. I've flown UL a lot, and quite like it, although the facilities at CMB leave a bit to be desired. I've used the shower there, and it's at the very bottom of acceptable (at least it was last time I was there, several years ago), but if I have to, it will be OK.

I don't know if the earnings are equal regardless of the carrier, I just used the calculator on the website. It does require that you select the carrier, so who knows? I should get two years of QRPC PLT (OW EMD) out of this itinerary, so that will be nice. I don't think that the same itinerary on AA would even get me to EXP, never mind the absurd prices on mileage redemptions.

Thank you much for your thoughtful responses. Any suggestions for increasing my mileage?

Yes, I don't redeem on AA, just partners so that's advantageous as they do have a good award chart and low fees on everyone except BA. But I also don't live in North America nor redeem to / from North America, so actually partner availability is very good. Having said that I also keep a stash of Avios because there are great use cases for them in some markets that are a lot better than redeeming AAdvantage, plus QR has Rwandair which is a REALLY good redemption considering the cost of business class intra-Africa.

I think crediting to QRPC you have a pretty solid itinerary, you might squeeze in a few hundred more miles but not a ton. For example if you change Spain to Morocco, CMN is ~250 miles further from DOH than MAD. Changing LHR to DUB or EDI gives you ~200-250 miles more. I think on an ex-Japan itinerary that's about it without adding continents, naturally going down to AKL or SCL would add a lot of miles but on ex-Japan it also adds a fair bit of cost.

Ex-CAI the base cost differential between DONE3, 4, 5 (even 6 really) is absolutely minimal... a lot less than ex-Japan BUT there are a lot more YQ / YR variables. Ex-Japan doesn't have YQ (if I understand my last 2 e-tickets correctly), just some YR which is a lot lower and offsets the higher base price. As long as you're not worried about which partner code is used, you can definitely lower the ex-CAI YQ / YR significantly by using certain codeshares. (Like AA codes instead of BA for example, AA instead of QF if going from OZ or NZ).

I would encourage you to price out an ex-CAI and sub in something like SCL and AKL as side trips from North America and Asia and see how it prices for you. AA is pretty much your only choice for South America, but for New Zealand or Australia, you have a lot of options. I'd prioritize CX myself with QF and MH slightly behind them, I guess if you have an ex-CAI ticket then JL is also an an option to Australia for you, but I still like CX better than JL as long as you don't get stuck on their craptastic regional 777-300 or A330.

Excellent idea. I totally forgot about the U.K. departure tax which I believe would be ~₤250 on DOH-LHR-DOH.

Hello fellow travelers!
I see so many familiar contributors to this forum. Dr. HFH, Jarry Laska, Gardyloo.Pandapert etc
hello again.

I have not been keeping up on RTW forum, but trying.
In the past I have done many RTW( 12-14?) however I we went back to work during the pandemic and started to use up miles.
Now we need to build up status and buy tickets to places we can't get to via miles in first.
Who are you booking with now for RTW? AA, Tool? Other?

I did my last 3 on the One world "tool" ex CAI.. It has been 5 years.
I am looking at any EX Japan AONEX trips would like to visit Australia again.
Has any one recently taken an AONEX from Japan recently and what routing has been successful, and where did you book it?

Thank you so much in Advance!!!

Many people are booking via AA. The tool has recently made it easier to book directly with airlines but seems to send the ticket to less desirable airlines for RTW management (notably QF).

Plenty of routings should be successful from Japan on AONEX tickets - it really comes down to where you want to go besides Australia. If you have a TPAC or TATL flight on AA, you should have no trouble booking the flight with AA.

Yeah, the UK and French departure tax are offensive, so I'd avoid CDG as a departure point as well. In France it's actually labeled as a 'solidarity tax" LOL. Best to go out of Ireland, Belgium, or the Netherlands if possible. It's rare that you can't get a flight or train to one of those for far far less. Shortsighted or tunnel visioned government policy I reckon.

SteveHolt.
Thank you for the quick reply!
Does the RTW desk still have a direct phone number?

At one time the AA around the world desk used to insist that the first segment was on AA if AA flew that segment, do they still insist on that?
The goal of the Aone4 I want to book is to fly QF first again for a reasonable price and of course visit Australia.

Do you find that the tool does not give first class availability even though Expert Flyer shows lots of "A" ?
My Last two ex CAI RTW ( 2019) were booked through the tool with BA. Working with them was hit or miss on any modifications and a total miss if the call was routed to India....
Thank again

Wow that’s a small surprise, but also not why I’m writing at the moment.

Anyone know how baggage allowances work on AONE3 tickets that have short segments in business (such as JFK-MIA or LHR-NCE)? I would expect the allowance to be the same for the whole itinerary, but I’d like to know for sure. When I study the matter all I find is one allowance for economy RTW tickets.
I am pretty sure all my long haul segments are already at 3x32 since they’re in First, but it’s the short hauls which are not direct connections that I’m concerned about.
Paying as much as US$150 a pop for all the small segments like JFK-MIA, MIA-JAX, JAX-ATL, LHR-NCE, NCE-LHR… would add up to an extra 10% to my AONE3 out of Japan.

From the Oneworld Explorer rule sheet:
So those 3x32 that you're seeing must be the individual airline allowances for first class passengers.
And for short segments in business class, you will need to look at the individual airline allowances for business class passengers.

Wish I’d found this guide earlier!

Frustratingly bad experience Global Explorer with QF for ticket changes after booking direct via oneworld website after BA kept on failing to price via their back office. Wish I’d persevered as Qantas customer service / IT is non-existent / terrible. QF agents just don’t understand these fares and getting changes made seems to be a constant battle with their IT systems.

more here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...l#post36014030

RTW desk's phone number is 1-800-247-3247.

First segment doesn't need to be on AA, but usually an overwater segment does need to be.

Keep in mind QF's flights over the water have significant surcharges attached. The cost savings between flying AA in J and QF in J on the same LAX-SYD route for me on my RTW ticket was about $1200 US - guessing it'll be similar for F.

I would not rely on the tool for availability. I would use ITA Matrix and force search on each leg using A class availability.

Ex-Japan seems to be an exception with QF surcharges. I've had QF long haul segments in my past 2 tickets and the charges were minimal. So far as I can tell, there's no YQ ex-Japan, only YR. For ex-CAI and OSL though I agree, QF code does add some nasty surcharges.

many thanks!! I will use expert flyer and call aa. the tool will not give me BA flights SFO-LHR even with A6. I will give me D to FRA or CDG.
Glad to have the AA number Thanks

Interesting topic (AY forum)--> https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/finn...ess-light.html

Do you have three stops (FRA, MAD and LHR) in your continent of origin, or is one only a transit?

Very disappointing!

I wonder if it had something to do with AY fare coding. Usually "I" is the lowest business category. Not "D". It must be AY coding.....No seat selection also???
I wonder if you would get the lounge benefit at QR ?

Your experience is a wake up call for usingDoneX tickets.

Let us know what you are able to find out!

Sorry for inconvenience. A real hassle after spending $$$$$