What means " not available " ???
If Iam on a DONEW4 confirmed in "D" class and the airline
a.) overbooks business, has no seat available and downgrades.
b.) airline changes aircraft and now has lower business seats capacity and downgrades.
c.) airline changes aircraft and now no business seats on the new aircraft and downgrades
d.) generaly overbooked, bumped and rebooked on next service
any general compensation rules for these cases; specialy for Downunder (where QF I searched their forum ) has nothing like European or US cmpensation by law !

i assume that there is no more to add?

This thread is exactly what I needed, being new here... it has already answered a great many of my questions. Talking to either travel agencies or airlines resulted in getting contradictory data, so it's good to find people who know what they're talking about. :) I'll post my specific questions on the DONE4 I've been considering soon. I think my original itinerary is still valid, having looked at the info available here.

So, I've listed the more generic questions I was left with after reading this. And I figured being new, I was the right target demographic to add to the questions. ;)

As for the sticky thread, I'd suggest adding something on buying RTW tickets in different countries, the rules that apply and and possible caveats one needs to bear in mind. Also, is there a definition of what "transcontinental" means in the US? Obviously, there's a fairly obvious intuitive definition, but I was wondering whether there's a formal one too. The "selected cities" wording makes me wonder...

Are there any benefits from choosing a certain airline on codeshares? Some flights offer a choice between booking on QF or AA, CX or IB, etc. Anything to be gained from that?

What exactly is the significance of a stopover? What are the advantages of connecting within 24 hours?

What are the chances of getting bumped from First or Business traveling on AONE/DONE? Although it'll be obvious that you're traveling on discounted First or Business fares, how often will you be singled out? Can the ground staff see you're on a RTW and pick on you because of that, or will you be put in the same pool as other A/D passengers? I've flown on D fares a few times and I've never had a problem. What are the routes where "real" long-haul First class is available. It seems to me that these are becoming fewer and fewer.

What's the best way to argue with reservations/ticketing if the need arises? Do you refer to the "star file" and specific lines? There seem to be a few of these around; what's the proper nomenclature to use?

Those are the questions that I still have. Unfortunately, these are real questions and I can't help much in answering them in the way others have done when posting questions and answers here. I don't know whether all of these questions belong in a FAQ here, as the answer may simply be "it depends," being too situation-specific, or the question might be far too labor-intensive to answer.

Anyway, many thanks to all for having provided so much information already!

Good to see the efforts here already helping people :p

You pose some good questions which have been omitted:

Depending on your FF program there may be benefits to booking the appropriate code share on a flight as the same fare basis earns different miles whether on one airline or another (eg disc Y on BA gets 25% QF miles, but the same disc Y on the QF codeshare earns 100% QF miles). This mostly applies to disc Y fares.

The only other instance that i know of is for QF FF members who only get status bonuses on QF/AA/BA (eg CX metal and CX flight number - no status bonus miles, BUT CX metal BA/AA/QF flight number - full status bonus miles).

Firstly some airports (eg LHR) do not charge transitting pax the airport/departure tax - hence if layover is up to 24 hours, you don't incur this tax.

Secondly, you can "stop" in a city even though you are out of stopovers (eg in continent of origin only 2 allowed) but this will not count as a "stopove" if less than 24 hours.

You are treated as all other A/D pax - most agents dont even know its a RTW ticket. I have never had a problem in D.

I can start this list but other will add to it (all routes have F in both directions):

QF - SYD/MEL-LHR
QF - SYD/MEL-LAX/JFK
QF - SIN-LHR
QF - BKK-LHR

CX - HKG-LHR
CX - HKG-JFK
CX - HKG-LAX
CX - HKG-YVR

BA - LHR-MEL/SYD
BA - LHR-HKG
BA - LHR-BKK
BA - LHR-NRT
BA - LHR-JFK
BA - LHR-LAX
BA - LHR-IAD
BA - LHR-PHX
BA - LHR-SFO
BA - LHR-SEA
BA - LHR-MIA
BA - LHR-JNB
BA - LHR-CPT
BA - LHR-DXB
BA - LHR-AUH
BA - LHR-TLV
BA - LHR-CAI

AA - LAX-NRT
AA - MIA-GRU
AA - JFK-LHR
AA - ORD-LHR
AA - DFW-LGW
AA - JFK-NRT

(this list is longer than I anticipated - others can complete it :cool: )

Excellent stuff, guys.

I would second the idea of listing the rule differences for RTWs starting in NA v. say Europe.

Also, if the itinerary begins outside NA, it's possible to purchase one or two additional segments over and above the six you're allowed in NA. I regularly do AONEs ex-CAI and purchase two extra Y segments to cover the shortest routes in the US (eg LAX-SAN) at $150 each. Not cheap, but generally better than buying one-way tickets. The additional segments don't have to be in the same class as the main RTW ticket.

Might as well continue while I'm at it... thanks for the answers to my previous questions.

I've been reading some of the older threads here, and one other question that might be useful to add is the following:

Q) Do intercontinental segments count toward the maximum number of stops that are allowed in a continent?

A) No. Intercontinental flights don't count against the segment limits for each individual continent, but do count against the 20 segment total limit

Taken from http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=331471

Q) When will I start to receive the benefits of higher status on my FFP as I rack up the miles/tier points?

I'm not entirely sure about the answer here, but I think it's pretty much immediately once you attain the eligibility criteria. Your new, higher status will be printed on the boarding pass for your next flight, which in turn should help with gaining acccess to lounges. The only problem I can see is that your shiny new Emerald pass will be sent to your home address half a world away, which could be problematic if you want to enter a lounge while not on a OW flight.

Returning to my question on codeshares, is there is a difference in miles earned on AA domestic F class and the QF codeshare, assuming a DONE ticket? I'd like to get those 180 BA tier points...

Another question: how well are luggage maximums aligned on the various carriers? In general, I have found airlines to be rather accomodating on long-haul flights in F/A and J/D, but I can imagine you could run into trouble on a RTW.

Finally, there's the issue of fares. Since I was working on my own RTW, once I had found the star files, I created a spreadsheet with all the fares (before I found the other thread here that listed them all...). In any case, since the spreadsheet is done, I've put it online here for those who're interested. It's pretty rough around the edges, as it was not meant for public consumption. Don't worry about the links, as those are to get fx rates from Bloomberg. It works without them too.

I've read in one of the older threads that the consensus was not to include fares prominently, so as not to publicize the differences too much. I'll keep the file there for a while in any case.

the fares aren't /wasn't the intention to be included in this faq, as this changes by rates and also those who want to can look further into the details of such deals.
the star files are also probably best kept out as discussed, the star fliles vary slightly between carriers.
also agreed the first class flights should have its own thread.
which i would link to on the FAQ page once its stuck.
thanks for the other bits
i will add them to the faq page further up.

also if anyone is good at editing the faq to look appealing would help.
im not that good at the features if the ft forum

I actually already offered to do this and the offer stands. The timeframe has changed a bit since a small client catastophe but hopefully that will get sorted out in the next week or so, and I can do up a pretty, new thread. Have already PM'd Randy and got him teed up to "sticky" it once it is done. So continue to have at it with more Qs and As, and I will get it prettified and stuck some time soon.

My view would be to separate out the directly *ONE* Qs and As from the mileage implications Qs and As. So we would run through the basics (terminology, basic rules for continent/areas, specific continent and sector limit compliance, "true" F routes versus US-domestic F, baggage limits, e-ticketing), then move on to some of the local rule variations, and obliquely point out price variation (i.e. not list prices or link to them, but point out that prices do vary by country to some extent and a search on that front may be revealing) and then finally deal with the mileage implications (codeshares vs. op. carrier, status/tier credits, when benfits of status kick in). Any other views on how to order it are very welcome. As well of course as additional Qs and As on any of the above, or anything else.

buying tickets in other countries
 

Tickets prices can vary by country, sometimes to the advantage of the traveller, so here is my contribution.

If I want to start a RTW in another country, can I pay that price rather than my home country?

In order to take advantage of a difference in price between one's home country and some where else, the ticket MUST be issued in the country where you actually begin the RTW itinerary.

In answer to another question, all travel on RTW's are on the piece system. Make sure that is noted on hand-written tickets.

EXCELLENT work here!
 

From another newbie, great work. Very helpful to me. And I just about wore out the search function on this forum. Many thank you's to all involved in sharing the information.

:-: :-: :-: :-: :-:

EAMUS- i thought you'd forgotten about it, glad you are still up for doing it.

sooner the better me thinks now-
as most Q's seem to be in there.

No, not forgotten, just sidetracked putting out fires. Still have my mop and bucket out but that should be finished in the next couple of days. Helpfully the techno-weenies have decided now is a good time to change the OS on my laptop from W98 to XP, but hopefully that won't delay anything and I can get the new thread done and stuck soon.

couple of minor things...
 

fantastic thread. i'm planning on doing a rtw w/my girlfriend next summer to celebrate getting our ph.d....

1) Can someone post examples of a *ONE* iteneraries w/prices that will give people an idea of how one can get near-maximum status miles & prices. Obviously not for all combinations of *ONE* but simply to give good ballpark (e.g., best ONE3 itenerary?) I don't really have a sense of whether i should expect to get 20k 30k or 60k miles from a trip.
2) It would be add a comment in the basics that the trip can be broken up over a years time, so one could qualify & re-qualify for a status level with juse one rtw ticket.

Just as a clarification. If you're booked into First, you'll get the corresponding miles and points in First and not Business?

Correct. But on the other hand, if you hold a AONEx ticket and use it on a flight where you travel in D (either because there isn't a First Class cabin or there is no availability in A) then you will only get Buisness miles.