BA refusal to book Explorer fare
 

Hi Folks Has anyone ever experienced being refused an explorer fare with BA because not using their airline ? As this happened to me today I was shocked Is this right ? It seems unfair and wrong on so many fronts I spoke with AA and their desk kindly helped me though the agent said that BA should of booked my flights

Yes, this is not exactly uncommon as apparently most of the revenue from an xonex tickets comes from the overwater segments.. BA for years has often refused to book if you aren't using BA (especially if not using BA for the overwater flights). AA has at times also refused to book if not using AA for the overwater flights (an AA codeshare will usually meet this requirement). Other members have at times done similar.

Hi Thank you for your comments I think this needs to be addressed at a higher level within the airline industry but it will provide ba ly fall on deaf ears as probably all airlines do something similar as you pointed out with American Oh well BA has missed out on my business and AA has gained

Kind regards

ELO

I'm not entirely sure I blame the airlines entirely as these tickets often involve some time and work. If an airline isn't receiving any (or very little revenue) from the ticket their position that you should issue from one of the airlines that is to me isn't unreasonable. So if I want AA to issue I will usually put at least one intercontinental segment on AA; same rationale would apply for BA, JL, or any other airline I am asking to issue the ticket.

Was there some particular reason you couldn't add a BA segment?

Hi

Thank you for your balanced view unfortunately there was no way to use a BA flight without compromising my journey to maximise miles and it would of meant flying OSL-LHR then using QF I think the fuel taxes leaving the UK would be more expensive as well

Kind regards

ELO

Taxes wouldn't have been significantly worse, LHR does have a somewhat sizable facility charge but I don't think it's much worse than DOH. However yeah the airline fees would have been very different. Ex-OSL from what others have posted before you'll get very high YQ / YRs on BA or QF.

In the end if you go to make any changes down the line I think you're going to be happier AA issued it anyway, they're known to be BY FAR the easiest to deal with of all the Explorer issuing carriers. The biggest downside to AA issuing is only for those of us crediting to AAdvantage since you run a higher risk of getting pro-rated revenue method segments vs. distance method segments on AA codes, you don't have that issue. You wouldn't get more Avios having BA plate it vs. AA, OneWorld mileage credit is all based on marketing carrier, unless of course you have a BA credit card that has some bonus for BA issued tickets... but that's a side issue.

Hi

thank you for a well documented response It’s a lot to think about I decided to give BA one more chance and tweaked my explorer ticket and was presently surprised at how knowledgable the agent was I must of spent nearly two hours going through the itinerary The agent in question said that she gets to do a lot of the explorer tickets it’s still from Oslo so it will be interesting to see what the base fare plus taxes are for a DONE5

OSL-LHR-SYD -BNE—ADL—PER-SYD-AkL —HKG-HND-LAX-SCL-MIA-_-PTY—MIA—DOH-OSL

Kind regards

ELO

You had good luck getting a knowledgeable agent
No Oneworld airline fly LAX-SCL non stop [reference wikipedia]. You must list and count all OW flights/airports
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo...tional_Airport
LATAM is no longer part of OW. A big loss to Oneworld *ONE* tickets

Adding SCL is another continent, at a cost increase

Going to SYD twice is a waste. Looked at BNE for the second east coast airport (SYD-ADL-PER-BNE-AKL)? [have not checked QF time table]. But QF do operate a wide body B787 on the SYD-PER-FCO route and MEL-PER-LHR route. Far better business class seat than on the B737.

A map from the Great Circle Mapper - Great Circle Mapper

Hi

thank you you raise some good points For the LAX -SCL it’s a strange but the BA agent said I can use JAL as it has a code share with LATAM flight JAL7622

yes I agree that adding SCL is a cost increase food for thought

kind regards

ELO

Well, that may cause a problem.

From the rules:

LOL, would be fun to get them to try to ticket that JL coded LAX-SCL. I seriously doubt it would stick once it went to ticketing and someone knowledgeable with xONEx saw it, but you never know. I think that's where you're seeing BA may not be as good to ticket this with as once thought since you're not getting to a real RTW agent like you would with AA. Might involve more back and forth to negotiate some mistakes like that before you can get a ticket they're willing to issue.

AA actually used to fly to Brazil on a 787 from LAX pre-COVID but that is not likely to ever return. For anywhere else in South America you'll need to go from MIA, or on a few routes there are DFW and / or JFK options as well. SCL does have DFW flights.

In terms of the cost increase I forget the incremental difference between a 4 and 5 ex-OSL but usually it's not too much, I want to say ex-TYO it's about $800. If you want to go to South America and you're not going to do these tickets on a regular basis then it's a good add on. It's still far better than you're going to find a discount Business class fare for from North America usually, and those while sometimes under $1000 are short lived and limited dates. (ex-CAI the incremental cost between 4 and 5 is almost nothing so it's almost silly just to ticket a DONE4 from there.)

Hi

thank you for your detailed response I find it very frustrating trying to work out the good deals especially with a Oneworld tool that is hot and miss and AI . It seems that airlines do not like to make it easy for these kind of fares ?

It’s it only American that has proper dedicated RTW and Oneworld explorer agents and the rest of the alliances agents are just hit and miss . I have to wait up to 72 hours for a fare verifications for the DONE5 for BA and AA has still not informed me of the DONE5 . Nevertheless the saga goes on and hopefully after a few headaches an agreement will be reached with either AA or BA ticketing I would like to say I appreciate all the comments that have been suggested Wherever you are in the World Have a very blessed morning , afternoon or evening

kind regards

ELO