Carrier imposed charges!
 

Firstly - thank you to Mwenenzi GinFizz and pandaperth and others for your helpful tips above on my proposed RTW itinerary. For a few different reasons we have largely decided to stick with our current plan. The AA RTW desk has validated this routing and is currently holding the following booking for us:

OSL-DOHx-SGN-PNH - Qatar Airways
PNH-HAN - surface leg
HAN-HKG-AKL - Cathay Pacific operated but booked on a QR code share
AKL-SYD-HNL - Qantas
HNL-DFWx-YVR - American Airlines
YVR-LHR - British Airways
LHR-DOHx-DXB - Qatar Airways
DXB-LHRx-OSL - British Airways

The pricing has also just come through - the base fare (£4,178) and lots of various taxes (total of £714) are broadly what I expected but the "other taxes and carrier imposed charges" are £1,998! Whilst I expected a certain level of taxes and carrier charges I am still quite surprised at how high these have ended up being. There are 3 adults and 1 child on this booking so the total carrier charges end up being a huge total amount for us.

Curiously the "other taxes and imposed charges" for my 10 year old son are showing as an even higher £2,760.80 - which makes me think there must be an error at least in the child fare and perhaps also in the adult fares that have been presented to me?

I am happy to change airlines etc if that helps the cost - also happy to adjust the overall itinerary also if it saves a meaningful amount of money (but do still want to ensure we get to Vietnam, AKL, HNL, YVR as a minimum - ideally also preserving DXB at the end which would be a separate trip later in the 12 month period for us). I have one spare segment left in the current booking and am also happy to drop SGN-PNH if it is helpful to have a further segment available to change the routing to reduce carrier charges.

Not sure if this is relevant at all - but the AA desk insisted I pay in GBP as I am based in the UK - I had expected to have to pay in NOK (as it is an ex-OSL routing) and am happy to do that - wasn't sure if having to pay in GBP added to the overall cost in anyway? I had assumed the FX translation from NOK to GBP would be at normal FX rates.

I'd hugely value any advice/tips on how I might be able to improve the overall cost.

Have checked the routing myself, if issued by AA / BA the total taxes are EUR3258 (excluding the base fare).

Cathay Pacific slightly lower around EUR3150.

If issued on QR they are EUR1985.

The difference is the Carrier Imposed Charges.

Interesting - thanks. How can I organise for the ticket to be issued on QR?

TA or call QR.

you cannot book this on the Oneworld Round the World tool, as they are not listed as ticketing carrier.

So I just called QR who said they can't book a OneWorld Explorer ticket and referred me to the OneWorld website instead! Is there anyone who has had success in booking a OneWorld Explorer ticket that was issued by QR? If so, who did you use to book this for you? Separately, are there any downsides to booking a ticket on QR? I'm also curious as to why such a big difference in carrier charges arise depending on which airline issues the ticket.

On the assumption it may be challenging to find anyone who can book this ticket on QR for me, are there any other pointers you or others may have that could help bring the overall carrier charges and taxes down?

thanks

TA = travel agent
Is there a reason why you are not considering using a travel agent?

No, I’d be happy to use a TA (assuming no material downsides of doing this). I’ve called a couple of travel agents today in the UK but neither of them could book a OneWorld Explorer ticket that was ex-Oslo. Happy to receive any recommendations if that is allowed on this forum.

Someone on this forum has offered their services for booking,if you want to explore that option.
Otherwise, I guess you'll just have to ask around.
Good luck!
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onew...-services.html

A novice question, but not one that I've been able to find a recent answer to: As it sounds like the US-based AA RTW ticket desk is a good place to start, what is the best telephone number for them?

1-800-247-3247

And since the RTW desk is based in Dallas TX, it's best to phone during office hours in US Central time zone (GMT-6)

Thanks guys. Greatly appreciated.

Since you're a novice, let me add, just to avoid confusion, that the fact that you use the U.S. based AA RTW desk doesn't mean that your itinerary has to start in the U.S. (Years ago there was a rule that you had to buy your ticket in the country in which your itinerary originated, but that rule is long gone. Back then I got to know the people at Mindpearl in South Africa and the BA staff in Mauritius.)


And the AA RTW desk is open every day.

From my last interaction with them (about 3 weeks ago) I was told they are available from 7 AM to 10:30 PM US Central time zone, weekends might be slightly different.

Say what?