The online tool will only show flights which have the needed booking class available. If D on LA801/5OCT is not available, the tool with either offer a downgrade to L, or nothing. Try a different date.

Like I said before, you might want to consider avoiding that flight. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/finna...dubai-75w.html

Thanks again Himeno.

Yes you did warn me about the HEL-DXB flight but I am really struggling to get back to Middle East to end the trip. HEL-DUS-AUH you suggested costs an extra segment. Chances are I will finish in HEL and throw away the last segment. Ideally I'd like to get back to London or close but that adds hundreds to the taxes.

Re. "The online tool will only show flights which have the needed booking class available. If D on LA801/5OCT is not available, the tool with either offer a downgrade to L, or nothing. Try a different date."

OK - I didn't realise that each codesharing airline has its own quota and you are right LA801/5OCT is not available but QF322 is. However if I check on flightstats for LA801/6OCT it shows D availability of 4 but it still doesn't come up on the planner:
http://www.flightstats.com/go/Flight...areClassCodes=


(LA) Lan Airlines 801
Departs:11:50 PMSCL Arturo Merino Benitez Airport
Arrives:4:00 AMAKL Auckland International Airport
Equip:340

0.15 out of 5
Available Seats:
First: n/a Business: 9 (at least) Coach: 9 (at least) Other: n/a
Fare Classes: J/4 D/4 I/9 Y/9 B/9 H/9 K/9 M/9 L/0 V/0 S/0 N/0 Q/0 O/0 X/0

Himeno
Thanks for all your help. Made the booking by calling the RTW desk. The agent was not happy as there is no AA segment but finally made an exception when I suggested AA do the booking for RJ - she said they don't anymore.

When I look up the booking on AA.com it shows up as a hold. However it doesnt display the fare and the taxes - "We are unable to access the fare summary for this reservation. Please contact AA Reservations." and needs to be ticketed by 31st.

Is the fare and tax info going to be updated online - if so how long does it take? I wanted to check before sending to Canada agent for ticketing.

The only reason they "don't any more" is because the tool fails when anyone tries it. Oneworld still maintains that AA tickets for RJ and JL.

I doubt it. In my experience, if a booking is made offline, the online booking management is limited. You can call them back later (after it has been returned from the rates desk) to get the final price, or you can send it to the agent and he will let you know the price.


As for availability... Different markets have different availability. I could view a flight for purchase in Australia and see different availability then someone in SIN looking at the same flight.
Last year, I had to replan my trip while on the phone to the AA RTW desk because the online tool and Expert Flyer saw the RJ JFK-AMM flight as available (D1) while the AA desk saw both the RJ code and AA code as booked out.

Thanks again. What do you mean by "(after it has been returned from the rates desk)". The agent gave me a PNR and I received an email as well. How do I know its been returned from the rates desk? - how long does it typically take. I made the reservation close to Dallas RTW closing time.

Normally no more then a few hours.

Help! Naeem has just come back to say that he can't ticket it unless there is at least one AA segment. My DONE4 is avoiding the US by flying from Europe to South America and then to Australia. Any work arounds or do I really need to redo it?

Thanks for the detailed reply. I found that one of the cheaper places to start a DONE4 in Europe was CPH, based on my limited search. So should I "waste" a short first segment on Air Berlin to get them to ticket it? At least that way avoids BA! If not, who is best?

Now for another silly question: sometimes the One World tool says I have too many sectors when its own little graph shows it as fewer than 16. Is the graph wrong or the error wrong? If it's the latter, can I still do this online? Thanks!

Can you post an example of the route you are trying when the error message appears?

Most likely is that you have too many sectors within a single continent (4 sector limit in each, 6 in NA).

One that it objected to was

CPH-MAD-TLV-LHR-MEL-HKG-NRT-SIN-SFO-JFK-DFW-CDG-CPH

Note that SIN-SFO requred doing SIN-HKG-SFO with different flight numbers.

It wasn't the limited stopovers in Europe that were the problem as TLV-LHR-MEL and CPH-MAD-TLV were both done with less than 24 hours between flights, so those errors went away.

How are you getting from CDG to CPH?
AFAIK there is no Oneworld service, and if transiting somewhere, that will result in a 5th flight in the continent of origin which is not allowed

EDIT: to remove the rubbish I had in about two visits to Asia (brain is now in gear:o)

Aha, well spotted, I missed that, thanks. I guess I could do DFW-MAD-CPH if I would be allowed to pass through Madrid again (without stopping over). Would that work?

That would be permitted ^

Itinerary Validation and Advice
 

Hi, RTW newbie here just about to embark on buying my first ticket (LONE4). I've checked it out using the OneWorld planner and all seems to be in order but I'm sure someone will be able to find a flaw in it somewhere...

SIN-(LHR-CDG)-(surface to MAD)-LIM-IPC-(LIM-LPB)-SCL-(SYD-BNE)-NOU-BNE-(HKG-XIY)-(HKG-SIN)

More importantly, what is the best way to get the lowest fare for this itinerary? Using the online tool necessitates putting in dates - I'd prefer buying an open-dated ticket as my travel dates are not fixed - and will cost me SGD7489 in total. I live in Australia (not in a big city, no access to good travel agents here unfortunately) but would rather depart from Asia.

Also, why do I keep seeing people using AA? Is there a benefit by ticketing through them - do they allow free date changes for example (QF says they can change dates for 'free' but will impose a service charge of AUD80 each time).

Thanks for clueing me in guys.

Welcome to Ft ThePeripateticOne

Your itinerary has no flaws, but I'm intrigued by what the brackets mean - for example "SCL-(SYD-BNE)-NOU"

With your BNE and SYD stops, I presume you're located somewhere on the East coast of the lucky country, and further that you want to start in Asia so that you can get two trips out of the one ticket (the first being RTW from SIN to Oz, and the 2nd to HKG and XIY)
BUT, I'll just point out that one of the cheapest places to start a LONEn is from New Zealand - for example ex-SIN LONE4 base fare SGD5419 and ex-AKL NZD3899 (the SGD:NZD exchange rate is 1:1) - so a saving of NZD/SGD1520 by starting in AKL

Your first segment is SIN-LHR, so that must be on either QF or BA - both of which are known for their hefty fuel surcharges. If you started with say SIN-HKG-CDG..., and so CX will be your first carrier, then your surcharges should be greatly reduced - try it using the on-line tool
Same thing if you choose to start from AKL - start with AKL-HKG on CX to reduce the surcharges

People ticket through AA for two basic reasons - historically AA has imposed very few fuel surcharges (though this is no longer as good as it used to be), and AA has a good RTW desk which makes it easy to set up the ticket and to make subsequent changes to it (at no fee)

I'm not sure if open-dated tickets are still possible

Under the ticket rules, date, time and carrier changes are allowed free of charge (a date change is subject to the 1 year time limit between the first and last flights) - but airlines can impose a service fee, which is what QF does

Other:
You're intending to fly LIM-LPB!!??
Fly over the Sacred Valley/Macchu Pichu and Lake Titicaca!
In March this year we bought cheap add-on flights LIM-CUZ (and bus/train return to Macchu Pichu through the valley) and CUZ-JUL (then bus to Puno on the shore of the lake, and then bus on to La Paz)

Booking class L seats are hard to find on the southern trans-pacific flights (QF SCL-SYD and LA SCL-AKL/SYD)

Happy planning:D

Thanks PandaPerth, that was very helpful. I've modified the itinerary so that I fly SIN-HKG first (and get to fly CX as a bonus!). The brackets were meant to indicate non-direct flights e.g. intended destination from SIN is CDG, but the flight stops in LHR.

Two further questions:

1) The online tool appears to book with the first carrier chosen (in this case, CX). How does one go about booking with AA - call them directly? Does CX charge service fees like QF?

2) It will cost SGD 16725 for D class and SGD 7315 for L. I have NEVER flown D before - given that if I buy a D fare I can experience D class in CX and QF (I doubt IB and LA will be as good) is the price difference worth it?

To answer your queries,

1) Yes I am starting in SIN so I can get a few extra trips out of the ticket. I have to come back to work (you're right - in East Coast Oz) after the SCL-BNE leg, and was thinking of using the remaining segments next year. So while it might be cheaper to fly from AKL I won't get maximum use from the ticket.

2) I spent 2 months in Peru in 2006 (work and play) have already done the Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca and the Sacred Valley. Going to explore the rest of the country this time round, so no regrets flying from LIM to LPB. Might have to take some internal LAN flights though...

Those sectors still count towards your overall 16 sector limit. Only if the flight has a through flight number (eg QF107 SYD-JFK) does it count as one sector.

The tool uses the code of the first flight to determine who to send the booking to for ticketing. Using a codeshare will have that carrier issue the ticket (eg, QF4022 is JL36. Using QF4022 as the first flight will have QF issue). There are some exceptions to this (JL, S7 or RJ being sent to AA for ticketing, but currently has a bug preventing such bookings). You can issue with AA either by booking an AA coded flight as the first or by calling the AA desk in Dallas.
I've had to make a number of changes during my xONE3/4s over the years, I've never had anyone charge any fees for it. All the changes I've made have been to QF flights or on QF issued tickets, although the actual changes were made by AA, BA and JL.

It can be. The quality of D depends a lot on which flight and aircraft used. Long haul aircraft are a lot better in D then short haul/regional.

You're welcome
Did the change make much difference to the overall cost?
Yes - in general the tool uses the first carrier to ticket
Yes - you can phone AA's RTW desk BUT AA is loath to ticket if it has no long-haul flights (the desk is in Dallas - phone +1 800 843 3000)
I don't know if CX charges a service fee

Only you can decide if the extra for D is worth it
One major benefit will be much better availability on the SCL-SYD segment

I wouldn't pay that much extra for D
but I am playing with DONE4 itineraries ex-KRT where the base fare is SDG14,700 - approx AUD2,700 (and we will be in SEZ next April, not too far away from KRT:p)

Others have reported that LA long-haul D is very good

Open dated tickets are technically still possible (at least as of last year) but if issued by AA it must be a paper ticket. BA no longer accepts paper tickets issued by other carriers (and are the only OW carrier on LON-PAR). CX can reportedly issue open-dated e-tickets, but I can't find any recent info on the matter.

The online tool, of course, will not issue open-dated tickets.

It reduced the cost by about SGD 150 in L and much more in D. Funny, you'd think the taxes wouldn't be that disparate.

Paper tickets? I thought we were in the 21st century!
Will they post the tickets to me then, or do I collect them from the airport? AA doesn't fly to SIN as far as I know.

I'll give CX a call tomorrow to find out more re open-dated e-tickets and charges, thanks for that bit of info.

They don't have to fly somewhere to have an office there. AA doesn't fly to Australia, yet has an office in BNE.
AA SIN phone number 65 6622 1291

Date changes
 

I am half way through a D OWE ticket. I need to change some dates, not route, but AA say that they can't, even though the next flights are on AA. After pressing they said they could reissue the whole ticket as it's not on their stock, for a fee. Is this true?

I always thought that date and time changes were straight forward and could be done with the next carrier.

(Note, it was the AA call centre in Cape Town, if that makes any difference).

Thanks.

I'm on DONE4 ticketed by BA and changed date on an AA-flight. Did it at the first class check-in desk and it took about 30minutes as the agent needed to "reissue the whole ticket" instead of simply changing the flight. I don't know what she did exactly, but the whole thing was free as it is supposed to be.

I can see now in MMB in BA.com that the earlier flight shows cancelled and another flight is added (with new date).

Also trying to decipher some of the tax/fee code from the online booking tooling. I did a simple KRT-AMM-LHR-JFK-EZE-JFK-SYD-FRA-AMM-KRT in biz class.

Of the $1,437 total tax/fees the big/odd codes are:
Jordan Embarkation Tax 113.02 USD
Tax description unavailable (YRVB) 500.00 USD
Airline Fuel Surcharge 175.00 USD
Tax description unavailable (SDEM) 328.40 USD

Did not know about the Jordan Tax, but what the heck is YRVB? I guessing that the SDEM is a % of the total ticket price since the prior LONEx example is about 50% of the DONEx price. Any way to track these odd codes?

My understanding is that the Y* tax codes are airline fees. I would think that YR charge is fuel.

So, I made a booking through the AA RTW desk, but the agent told me that the Rates desk might reject it as it doesn't contain any AA flights.

This is despite me telling them that the first leg (SIN-HKG) is an AA codeshare even though the plane belongs to CX. Is there any way around this? The itinerary they have sent me shows the carrier as CX. This whole process is getting quite frustrating.

As a rule, codeshare flight numbers are only applied in cases where either (a) the flight terminates or ends in the home country of the codeshare partner, or (b) the flight connects from or to a flight actually operated by the codeshare airline, or, in the case of SIN-HKG, it connects to another AA codeshare, in this case possibly HKG-LAX/SFO/ORD/JFK.

It's long been the case that AA sometimes won't ticket xONExs that don't include either an AA flight or code, but that "rule" seems to be applied haphazardly. It's yet another mystery of airline tariff departments, the practitioners of which mostly attended Hogwarts.

This whole thing would be moot if Oneworld's vendor simply fixed its buggy booking tool so that it didn't have a seizure at the last minute under so many circumstances. I've written to Oneworld about this (using their extremely limited feedback channels) and have gotten answers that are halfway between bupkis and happytalk.

It's helpful when planning such flights to look at the AA timetable, which makes a clear distinction between "operated by codeshare airlines" and "operated by codeshare airlines, connection required." While the codeshare typically won't exist unless it has a logical connection to an AA coded or operated flight, you don't actually need to connect to that flight to book the AA code if it is in the former category. For example, AA5870 (JL) HKG-HND can be booked as a standalone flight.

Does anyone know how long it takes for a ticket to be rated? My booking says it's on hold until 16 Sep, after which it will automatically be cancelled, however 24 hours have passed since I made the booking, with only 24 hours to go until the deadline, and still no sign of a rating.

Does the ratings desk even work on weekends? If they don't, I might have to book with another carrier - was hoping to get an AA ticket to reduce surcharges though.

Well, finally got my quote back from AA, a mere 12 hours before the ticketing deadline. Shockingly it was horrendously expensive compared to the quote I got from the online tool, about AUD6000 more, so I didn't go for it. Good news is I'm finally ticketed through CX now.

It's been a good, if steep, learning experience for me - thank you to all who replied, keep up the good work.

Last year, the AA desk returned a quote for an AONE3 when I was booking a DONE3...

Quick question I can't find an answer to - if I use the Middle East exception to start and end in different cities do I have to count a surface segment between the origin and destination as part of my 16 segments. The online tool is trying to do so but Mileage Monkey validates the routing.

There isn't anything in the rules saying you have to.
It's the same rule that allows me to start a xONE4 in CBR and end it in MEL, I don't have to count MEL-CBR as a segment.

Thanks. I was sure that was the case but couldn't get the online tool to end an ex-KRT AONE4 in MCT.

Clearly (a) is working without issue and (b) has a bug. Do the other exceptions work?

I've had no problems ending an online tool ex-KRT itinerary in either CAI or DXB. [ime, ending the itinerary in AMM sends the pricing sky-high, and I haven't tried MCT.] I therefore concur that there's a bug, but since neither CAI nor DBX are in the same country as KRT, the rule logic can be made to work. I suspect therefore that the problem is in the online tool programming, not the rule per se.

What's your overall itinerary? Maybe too many "long"/LHR Europe segments?

KRT-AMM-xMCT-xLHR-SFO-xDFW-ANC-DFW-JFK-HKG-BOM-xHKG-DEL-NRT-SYD-LHR-MCT.

As far as I can tell I have just 4 segments within continent of origin as well as only 2 stopovers. KRT//MCT open jaw shouldn't be an issue.