Anyone had JAL issue a RTW ticket and how was it ?
 

HI
I usually book my RTW tickets via the AA RTW ticketing desk but my last experience with them was frustrating in that although ExpertFlyer was showing relevant inventory in A and D class AA were not able to access it particularly on JL .
I’ve been able to set up a AONE4 ex TYO online with several long haul legs in JAL F. However I’ve never had a ticket under the control of JAL and am concerned at how easy or not it might be dealing with them when I make the inevitable re-routings and date changes that I do. I’m also aware of their ubiquitous ticketing fee payable.
It looks like they have no 24/7 phone no to call even in Japan itself ..
Many thanks for any light anyone can shed

Disclaimer: I have not actually ticketed a RTW trip with JL. However, I have looked into it (as a JL elite with Diamond status).

• JL charges a fee (per this old post it was 5500 JPY) to book a new ticket or make changes, including date changes that don't normally trigger add'l cost. 5500 JPY is not terrible but it can add up if you are constantly making changes to your ticket.
• JL phone wait times can be lengthy, especially if you don't have JL elite status. Even as a Diamond, the longest I've had to wait was probably 10-20 minutes..
• JL phone agents will generally refuse to even price out a RTW ticket unless the first segment is on JL. They will instead point you to the online tool.
• As with most non-US airlines, JL agents are probably hesitant to take on a complex request like RTW pricing in a language other than Japanese. If you don't speak Japanese, I expect you would encounter a lot of passive resistance on the phone.

Hi and thanks for the reply
I am aware of the ticketing charge and have managed to get the RTW online booking tool to set up my itinerary and I just have to call JAL to make payment
I”m reluctant to as I know I will be making changes in due course and it concerns me that there is not 24/7 tel no for them … and these are not straight forward tickets for the average agent as I well know !
And I’ve read elsewhere about long wait times on the phone …
So i have to weight up the pros and cons … seems like ticketed on JAL I am able to secure JAL First Class more readily that if ticketed via AA RTW desk … and I had a v frustrating time on my last AA ticketed RTW with them not being able to access inventory on JAL and also on QF and on their own metal !
So I will see if anyone else on here has any insights and thank you again for confirming what I suspected !

I know we'd all like to think that Expertflyer is the final say on availability,but it's not. There are other rules that factor into whether you can book a particular flight,not just what's available in A or D.

Well in my many years of booking RTW tickets I’ve never experienced any discrepancies between D and A class availability on Expertflyer booking via AA RTW desk until the past 2 years when there have been many - even when the OW RTW booking tool is showing that there is availability when ticketing with AA, Clearly OW carriers are restricting availability to partner airlines in many cases when they were not before. Makes for frustrations at times ! I much prefer usually to ticket via AA RTW desk as they are able to sort out changes at short notice and my biggest concern with JAL is just the unknown really in terms of making date changes/reissues . I”ve had pretty good experiences with Cathay in the past and my current RTW is issued by them and so far have been able to make reroutings etc without too much hassle. I might have to forsake JAL First and go with the other options that are available i I book via AA …

I've booked multiple RTWs with JL, both AONEx and DONEx, and, while doing so has its challenges, I've not experienced most of the above (the lengthly hold times is something I always run into). I call JL's U.S. number, where agents speak perfect English (many sounds like U.S. natives). On occasion I've called their Japan number (e.g., when the U.S. office is closed) and sometimes those agents do not feel comfortable enough in English for a complex issue and will bring a translator into the call. JL has never charged me a fee to create or modify an RTW, except for changing the ticketed points. They do like to recalculate the taxes, which sometimes results in a small additional charge and sometimes a small refund to my credit card. I haven't encountered any passive resistance to anything.

This is a new "feature" of the GDS where additional inventory restrictions can be placed based on type of fare or point of departure. It isn't a native airline vs partner airline issue. For example, on my most recent RTWs issued by JL, I've run into restrictions on 'A' and 'D' inventory that don't show up in EF or the oneworld RTW booking tool, but do show up with JL and AA, It's easy to tell: when an agent says a flight isn't available in 'D' or 'A', ask them to try booking in a new record; there will be inventory in that record but not in an RTW record.

Point of Commencement (PoC) does matter, and GDS has indeed added that function over the past couple of years. I don't believe type of fare would matter in GDS, though I know NDC (New Distribution Capability) is launching that with a new concept called "continuous pricing," in which case booking class doesn't really matter anymore, and airlines are no longer restricted to 26 fare levels (because there are only 26 letters supported in GDSs). A quick look at https://www.businesstravelnews.com/P...cing-Explained suggests it's a good introductory text, although I didn't read every word there.