OW 3015 rules

Super helpful thread, thanks! I'm currently looking at a Business Class RTW itinerary and I would appreciate some help if someone can give it. So far I priced it out from Oslo and Cairo (as these are said to be the cheapest starting locations). So far I have only used the online booking tool (both the old one and the new beta which is even worse). Example routing OSL-DOH-HKG-PER-SYD-TYO-HNL-BOS-OSL (not all direct).

1. Cairo currently has an extremely attractive base fare (less than US$ 3k), but whenever I try pricing out an itinerary it switches the currency to Australian Dollars and doubling the base fare in the process. I tried itineraries without Australia or any Qantas flights, but it still does it. How do I get the Egyptian base fare?
2. Are there guidelines on how to minimize taxes and fees (e.g., which airline to avoid). For example flying SYD to TYO directly on Qantas adds US$1000+ in fees as compared to just flying via Brisbane with the long haul on JAL.
3. Given the pain-in-the-neck factor of the tool, I would probably prefer booking directly with an airline. Is there a "preferred" airline to use? What happens if you price it out on the tool and the airline agent quotes you a much higher price for the same itinerary.
4. Not sure if this is on topic (please disregard if isn't). Given the complexity, I would be interested working with a knowledgeable travel agent, but these have become rare. How would I find one who is good at this type of thing and/or can someone make a recommendation?

We used a travel agent to book our first RTW, and indeed not easy finding one that understands the rules.

I understand that AA are good for booking RTW but you need to have a transoceanic or transcontinental flight with them, their number has been posted. I am planning our second RTW and plan to use them.

i would appreciate a definitive response/summary to 2) 😊

Try reading earlier posts.

I have a question about this (at least the closest I found to refer to): I would like to rebook my DGLOB34 ex-CAI, not only in terms of time but also to change three different routing points. Instead of (...) FRA-HEL-DFW(AY)-SJO(AA) (...) HKG-BKK(CX)-CMB(UL) (...) I would like to change to (...) FRA-DFW-SJO (AA) (...) HKG-CGK(CX)-CMB{UL). My understanding of the ticket rules is that a change should be possible for the fee of 125USD if it's done in one transaction (D-space still wide open), but with no further fare difference (the ex-CAI RTW has already been started, first 2 legs done, I am currently on a three-month "break", after starting in CAI before continuing). However, the QF social media team replied to me:

"Please note to change the following flights would be considered as a voluntary change with a change fee of USD125.00 per person and any difference in cost would apply.(...) The additional cost for these changes are AUD 3733.00 per person including the change fee USD125.00 per person."


Has anyone here had any recent experience or advice on how I can sensibly proceed (knowing well, esp. after reviewing the many posts on this, how difficult and complicated it is to even make any change in this tariff when dealing with QF).

I'd be very curious how they arrived at that number, you can ask them but I'm sure they'll try to be opaque. I'm pretty sure the new fare is a lot more than AUD3700 more than the old one, so it's an odd number. But probably the only thing you can do is fight for the rules. After the first segment is flown the ticket doesn't reprice, the only differences should be airport / country taxes and different YQ / YR. You're not changing carriers, so the YQ / YR wouldn't be significantly different. Taxes are different in Indonesia vs. Thailand but neither are much in the big picture, so they're pulling that number out of some magic hat somewhere.

All you can do is keep pushing back by quoting the correct rules, but you may never win. They hold the cards unfortunately and there is very little recourse in Australia. There's no consumer agency with any teeth to file a complaint with, nothing like the US DOT for example. Suing them might get somewhere, but at what cost to you? They are in breech of contract, but enforcement is very difficult.

I would suggest that things are not quite this grim. I have flown three of these fares in the last year, all ticketed by Qantas, and all have had multiple changes after departure.

Has it been a bit painful to make the changes? Absolutely. Some agents were able to get it right on the first time, and sometimes it took 10 or more calls. that said, even after getting a string of bad agents with bad advice and super high price increases, I always managed to get to an agent who knew what they were doing eventually. Keep calling back, and eventually it will all work out. You’re completely right that it sounds like there should be no fare increase at this point.

This thread is as so helpful when I was first booking my ticket!!

I now have a new question.

We have Global Explorer tickets booked OSL-DOH-AKL-NAN-LAX-LHR-GOT and then HEL-OSL

Our first flight from OSL to DOH with Qatar has been changed to later in the day so I’m looking at change possibilities.

Starting in OSL is cheapest for us but not the most convenient when we want to fly to DOH in December.

Would this be valid?
OSL-HEL-CPH-DOH-AKL-NAN-LAX-LHR-GOT and then HEL-OSL

The OSL to CPH via HEL would be a placement flight for us so that we could depart on our main flight to DOH from CPH in December. The LAX-LHR-GOT leg is also continuous so the only stopovers we would have over 24 hours would be CPH and HEL.

We are booked with AA who have already offered to waive the change fee if we wanted to start and end our itinerary in ARN instead of OSL. But this is not preferable because this ticket would be considerably more expensive due to the change in start country from Norway to Sweden.

Obviously the Oneworld tool does not allow this but it doesn’t allow the ticket I have bought either!

Thank you if anyone can shed some light on this.

No because you have five flight segments in Europe, the max allowed is four.

Thank you for the quick reply!

Just to confirm then - it is not just stopovers but number of actual flights including transit stops?

We want to fly OSL - CPH but are forced to transit due to route availability on Oneworld carriers.

So this leg would be considered two segments and there is no way around it?

Yes, this is a valid Global Explorer (it is however an invalid Oneworld Explorer)
You have five flight segments in Europe/Middle East which the Oneworld Explorer does not allow (the max allowed is four)
The Global Explorer limits the number of stopovers per continent (max of four, except for the continent of origin where the max is two), and does not limit the number of flight segments per continent.

ps I'm currently in Fiji and loving it (again. It's my fifth time here :))

pps You're not yet a true FTer
- only ten of the allowed sixteen segments, and well under the 34,000 miles allowed on a business class Global Explorer!
- nothing between DOH and AKL (DOH-CMB-SYD/MEL-AKL?)
- or between NAN and LAX (NAN-CXI/APW/HNL-LAX?)
- or between LAX and GOT (LAX-MIA-xLHR-GOT, LAX-SJO-xMAD-ARN?

Thank you very much, that's exactly what I understood. Indeed, the new fare (now) is also completely different from the numbers (significantly more, as you said). One correction from me: FRA-HEL-DFW is booked on AY, not AA. The change to AA would therefore logically (thank you very much for the oint!) entail some taxes, but I have run through this once in the OW RTW tool using the existing flights as an example and now come to 2550.82AUD taxes/fees compared to the original costs for the new routing (as mentioned) compared to 2235.71AUD t/f that I originally paid - a difference of 315.11AUD (plus actual fee for rebooking).

@ironmanjt: Many thanks to you too! I have now tried only via social media. The way via the call center/HUCA would indeed still be an option.

Thank you both for your response. If there are any recent experiences, especially on the subject of changing the routing points, I would be grateful for further information.

Thank you for the answers and great to hear that you are enjoying Fiji ☀️

and no I realise that we really haven’t taken full advantage of our ticket possibilities but it is our first time and we are constrained by dates and having to work. I do intend to look at the end part and see what we can do but we need to fly to New Zealand and quickly as possible from Northern Europe and then get back home again fairly directly.

But next time 😁😇

Not Oneworld, but are you aware of these deals?
Round the World - Star Alliance - $3k-$4k Ex-Italy - Page 2 - FlyerTalk Forums

I did. I only asked questions that I couldn't find an answer to.