AA RTW is the best free agent.
if there is a change fee, well.. try not to make a lot of changes.

As my first segment was BA I just called them - got a good agent - she knew most of the rules - took down my schedule and its gone for pricing.

Question though - I have one sector SYD - PER on Qantas where Expertflyer shows lots of D class availability but the BA agent siad there was none (And this was for 2 flights both showing D). The BA agent was in the UK and I set Expertflyer PoS to be UK and all my other flights where I saw D being available were available. So what gives ? Why did the BA agent see D0 when I can see D6 etc and more important - how can I check to see if/when D class (from BA's perspective) might be available on this flight given that it is already showing available in Expertflyer

Was the requested SYD-PER segment part of a transit? i.e. XXX-xSYD-PER- or -SYD-xPER-YYY ?

This year I had issues where DOH-xJFK-LAX for particular flights showed D0 (both segments) whereas searching on an individual segment basis, the DOH-JFK and JFK-LAX flights each had D availability.

She said she tried both. As single segments there is lots of D on JNB - SYD and SYD - PER and I am indeed transiting straight thru at SYD (and she had no issues booking my JNB - SYD in D which currently is confirmed and she could confirm the later PER flights in Economy or earlier SYD - PER in D which is what I went for but this gives me only 1hr 55 in SYD to connect)

If I look at JNB-PER via SYD then there is no D showing on either flight.

Yes, appears to be one of those married segment issues.

In my case I also booked what was available although inconveniently timed. I did recheck once every week or so and after about two months D became available on my preferred flights and I was able to change to them.

(It's a shame Experflyer can't do alerts on multi segment routings such as AAA to BBB via CCC. (AAA-xCCC-BBB))

In case it is of interest - finally got things ticketed - took a while and some pretty big frustrations with BA - but like always - if you find the right agent then things can be done right and quickly.

The DONE4 ended up being 4193 GBP + 2888 GBP in Taxes - so just over 7K GBP for 14 segments (+2 surface) in Business and around 38.5K miles to be flown

Thanks for the update
 

Thank you for the update. I would love to see the full routing. Those taxes are a bit high but of course it probably gets you the flights that you prefer. I know on our last bookings we gave up some value because of work commitments.

OSL-LHR-JNB-SYD-PER surface MEL-ZQN surface AKL-JFK-ORD-SEA-BZN-DFW-JAX-MIA-LHR-OSL

I asked for the taxes calc but they weren't able to send me one so I guess I will check on the ticket receipt if/when available. Main concern is whether I have been charged APD for LHR-JNB as this is just a connection from OSL so shouldn't be there. JNB-PER via SYD is also a connecting flight in SYD but not sure if that makes a difference tax wise.

Is there a nice tool anywhere to check taxes ?

Used the very buggy OneWorld tool for your itin and got these fees in NOK. Not sure if that sheds any light on what you where charged but it does show that alot of the fees are the Carrier Surchage/Fees that I think come from Qantas. Thanks for posting your routing; I learned alot from looking at it.Airline Insurance Surcharge 6,366.00 NOK

Multiple Carrier Surcharges/Fees 155.00 NOK

Carrier Surcharge/Fee 27,224.00 NOK

Tax description unavailable (G2AP) 342.00 NOK

Tax description unavailable (ZNAE) 155.00 NOK

UK Passenger Service Charge 638.00 NOK

South Africa Passenger Safety Charge 18.00 NOK

Tax description unavailable (UMSE) 15.00 NOK

Air Passenger Tax for South Africa 109.00 NOK

Passenger Service Charge for South Africa 178.00 NOK

Australia Passenger Movement Charge 464.00 NOK

Domestic Head Tax - Australia 69.00 NOK

Australia Baggage Screening Tax - Departure 58.00 NOK

Australian Passenger Service Charge 728.00 NOK

Tax description unavailable (F1CA) 237.00 NOK

Passenger Security Charge for New Zealand 185.00 NOK

Passenger Security Charge at Auckland Airport (Arrivals) 170.00 NOK

Passenger Security Charge at Auckland Airport (Departure) 130.00 NOK

September 11th Security Fee 112.00 NOK

U.S. Animal and Plant Inspection Service Users Fee 37.00 NOK

Immigration and Naturalization Service Fee 71.00 NOK

U.S. Customs Fee 73.00 NOK

Passenger Facility Charges 45.00 NOK

Total 37,579.00 x 1 = 37,579.00 NOK

Interesting - and thanks for doing.

Actual taxes of 2888 GBP comes out to about 39750 NOK at today's ROE so that's about 160 GBP more than what your calculation is above (and probably close enough that its likely that its correct).

Despite BA not being able to provide me a breakdown - and it's not in my BA receipt - I went on to the Finnair website and they sent it to me and the taxes are as follows:


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...237ca36b53.jpg

Would you have rather paid more in taxes and fees vs paying a travel agent that could have reduced the surcharges?

Air Travel Taxes - The Travel Insider

This is out of date but it shows what codes go to which country. Over the years I have learned to stay away from anything BA ticketed on RTWs. The YQ is terrible. Its like dealing with Ali Babba and the 40 thieves. Your other taxes look normal. UK , AUS , NZ , and the USA are 4 of the worst for add on taxes. I always ticket with the AA rtw desk.

Somewhat cryptic ? How would an agent reduce the fees and if so to what ?

I did originally ask an agent and they would have ticketed this trip but at 250 GBP per change of which there were likely to be 2 or 3 - it did not seem worth it

I'm not an agent, so you'd have to ask them how much it would cost... But booking with BA pretty much guarantees you'll be paying lots of surcharges. It could be cheaper with an agent.

I agree with izzik on this one, an agent could have ticketed on QR stock which would quite likely reduce the fees quite a bit, I suspect AA stock would have saved you a good chunk too. QR won't issue their own RTWs, only agents can do it. You've got £2500 in YQ that might have been minimized to less than £500. Some of your segments might have had more advantageous codeshares as well that an agent can use. I'm nearly certain that a ticket can go on QR stock with no QR segments, but even if one was required you could have done OSL-DOH-JNB or MIA-DOH-OSL (or both if you wanted more miles).