Just to be sure: is it not possible to issue an ex-CAI DONE4 simply by using the online tool?

With RJ as the first carrier, I understand that AA would be the ticketing carrier - but I can't recall if they still peskily insist on only issuing tickets at ex-CAI prices to persons using a credit-card that bills to an Egyptian address.

herschelflyer007 asked if Emeco is still able to sell xONEx tickets and IIRC the answer is yes.

Regarding using the tool for ex-CAI, it ought to be easy; however there are two considerations that might make Emeco an easier approach.

Only RJ and BA serve CAI (IB has dropped it) so the online tool would issue the ticket on behalf of one of those airlines.

If it's BA than the tool will add all of BA's fuel fines for the whole itinerary. Ouch.

If it's RJ then the tool will ask AA to issue the ticket, sending the whole process into the ether as the online tool has never been able to handle the interface between AA and RJ when it comes to the final payment screens. (If somebody has a successful result with RJ-ticketed xONEx's using the tool, please report your story.)

So as AA's GSA in Egypt, Emeco might be able to issue the ticket without all of BA's fuel fines. Might not, but IMO worth the phone calls or emails to see.

Hi,

Firstly,thanks for all the input, its has been very helpful.
From looking at my options(flights/trains/time constraints) the DoneX seems cost effective for my Europe travel.

A few follow up questions:

1)So if take out SYD sector it makes it a Done 3? Giving me 4 Europe sectors,instead of 2 transits <24hrs?
2)If i want to take advantage of as many Europe stops(as possible) would a Done 3 from ex Asia be a better option. Can anyone suggest a good price point ex Asia ?
Thanks for ex TLV suggestion Gardyloo, i would have not thought of that departure point.
3)would it be possible to end DXB/AUH(making awards flights easier) instead of originating point and how much would it add to the costs?
4) instead of LHR departure tax and BA fuel charges, could someone suggest an alternative departure to East coast USA i have been looking at MAD?


Appreciate all the help, thanks in Advance.

Removing Australia would make it a DONE3.

You're allowed four segments in the continent of origin but only two stopovers (24h+).

By originating anywhere in the Middle East you can end anywhere in the Middle East, so ending at DXB (or TLV or AMM or AUH or MCT...) would be easy. A problem has cropped up with the online booking tool in that when you use this option (ending in a different Middle East location) it erroneously prices the trip based on the ending country's prices rather than the departing country's. The work-around to this is to book the trip as ending in the starting point (e.g. CAI > CAI) but then paying $125 to re-issue the ticket with the new endpoint. The humans doing the reissue will interpret the rule correctly.

The BA fuel surcharges come when BA issues the ticket. The online tool will have the first airline issue the ticket and if it's BA then you'll get whacked for the maximum fuel surcharges. These are not taxes (unlike the UK air passenger duty) but merely additional revenues pocketed by the airlines. Have some other airline (including American through one of its ticketing offices or GSAs) do the issuing and you'll reduce the amount of fuel surcharges.

There are plenty of departure points from Europe to the US besides London - Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Helsinki, Rome, Frankfurt... you name it.

I have a ticketed ex-Japan DONE3 (issued by CX 18 July) which I need to change.
It currently routes HND-xHKG-JFK-SFO-xORD-ATL-ORD-xMIA-BCN-HEL-xLHR-xDXB-xLHR-PVG-KUL-xSIN-HND departing mid Oct.

I need to change the ATL stop to RDU. I'm trying to get a reprice in the online tool with the change to check for any tax changes in addition to the 125USD change fee, however the tool is popping out errors when I try to check.

Is there any other way to get an actuate costing of the revised routing?

Codes used:
CX HND-HKG
AA HKG-BCN
IB BCN-HEL, LHR-DXB
QF DXB-LHR
MH HEL-LHR, PVG-SIN
JL SIN-HND
BA LHR-PVG

Help - invalid booking class code?
 

Hello Flyertalk!

After months of planning our LONE5 itinerary we're finally ready to purchase our ticket!

We spent several hours with the online booking tool and kept getting the "Invalid Booking Class Code" error... does anybody know what this means and how to fix the problem?

Another issue we have is flight availability/calendar. Our RTW trip will be from December 2013-December 2014, but the flight calendar will only show flights up until June 2014. Is everyone else just fudging their dates at initial booking and then just changing them as the flights become available?

We haven't gotten very far with the booking tool, but we're hoping that we can pay the NZ LONE5 fare with a Canadian credit card. We're trying to avoid paying the $50/pp ticketing fee by calling the actual airline. We tried calling the AA RTW desk but the rep wasn't very nice nor helpful, esp since we don't have any AA legs, or even flying through the US.

Our intended route is:

AKL-HKG-KTM-HKG-JNB-CPT-LHR-IST-AMM-DME-MAD-GRU-LIM-SCL-IPC-SCL-AKL

Thanks in advance for all your help!

The online tool has a number of bugs in it, which for whatever reason don't appear to be getting worked on :(. Most of the bugs have work arounds, but we would need to work out what is causing the bug to appear in order to work out a work around.

Yes, that is what most people in that situation do. Depending on airline, flights don't become bookable until about 330-353 days out.

No issue with billing address if you can get the tool to work. Which airline were you looking at? Yep, AA tends to want at least one "over ocean" flight before they will book a RTW ticket.

FYI the ticket rules are here - http://www.oneworld.com/documents/10...Explorer+Rules

Edited to add: I see Himeno posted answers while I was busy typing:)

Are you able to expand on Emeco? Is it like a travel agent, or like MindPearl in South Africa? I have a DONE3 all set up on the oneworld tool with the first sector being SSH-AMM on RJ. It's all fine in the tool but I'm waiting for other flights to become available before proceeding to payment.

Are you saying that in such a case the tool fails and I won't be able to pay online?

online tool cont'd
 

Hi Pandaperth and Himeno,

Thanks for your time and quick response!

We are actually flying to NZ in October to visit family (aunt works for Air NZ and can get us there cheap), and also visiting Australia before starting our RTW in December. Would we be cutting it too close to purchase the LONE5 in NZ mid October for early Dec departure? Since i'll physically be in NZ, i'm assuming the Cdn credit card won't be a problem...

Other idea is to ask my aunt to call CX New Zealand and pay for it with my credit card. Do these sound like workable solutions? :confused:

How does one book an AY-ticketed xONEx fare, originating in a city which AY doesn't fly/codeshare from?

Is there a central AY RTW desk in Finland, or can local AY offices in London etc. deal with RTW bookings?

(I've previously booked an AY RTW online, but that was ex-HEL and the tool worked fine, but it can't manage it if the first segment is on a different airline)

Try making the first intercontinental leg on AY if your routing allows it.

Just out of curiosity, why is it important that AY ticket it?

Low/no fuel surcharge. Plus last time I used them, they were really helpful and responsive both by phone and email for changes.

Help! LONE 4 with RJ
 

So I'm looking to book a LONE-4 ticket that would be AMM-ALG-MAD-EZE-LIM-BOG-SCL-AKL-BNE-NOU-SYD-NRT-DEL-KUL-SGN-HGG-AMM. I made sure everything was valid and got pricing with the online tool, but when I went to pay for it I ran into the apparently standard RJ-AA online booking bug. I'm not just starting and ending in Amman for the low price either, I have close friends and family there, and I'm trying to avoid the US because the whole point of this trip is to get out of the states for a while. So I do wan't this ticket, and I'm curious what's the best way to go about trying to book it? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks guys!

Advises on itinerary
 

Hi all,

This is my first message on flyertalk. I've been consulting the website for years now. Fantastic source.

I'm very close to fulfilling a childhood dream and booking a RTW flight. It would be a LONE4. I'm based in Rio, Brazil.

The itinerary I painstakingly put together so far is GIG-SCL-AKL-BNE-NOU-SYD-MNL-KUL-KTM-HKG-PEK-OVB-LBD-DME-GYD-LHR-GIG

I found out that including Africa on this ticket was not worth it. My idea now is to buy the Star Alliance Africa Airpass for this part of my journey.

I'd like to consult the god-sent gurus in this forum for suggestions of any itinerary change (or any other tips) I should make before I click yes on the OneWorld website (and I can't wait to do so).

Thank you all!

Welcome to Flyertalk, guilimacarv. It would help us to give you advice if you could give us some details and tell us what you actually want.

Are all the places on your itinerary cities where you actually want to stop, or are some merely transit points? Are you a member of any OW FFP?

An RTW is a great opportunity to rack up a lot of points / miles and if that is what you want then we can help you to maximise the distance. But first we need to know more about your situation and intentions.

cheers,

Henry

Hi henri999,

Thanks for your reply.

I am member of the LAN FFP, although I have exactly zero miles flown with them. However, LAN bought TAM, of which I am a FFP member, and the FFP programs of both companies should be integrated in 2014. I can also transfer miles from my credit card to LAN, which is why I joined them.

(As a side note for forum users, TAM is expected to join OneWorld sometime in 2014. This will greatly help people that would like to add South America to their itinerary. TAM flies to several locations within South America, and also connects Brazil with North America, Europe and more importantly South Africa - which could be key to future RTW plans)

Most of all airports on this list (GIG-SCL-AKL-BNE-NOU-SYD-MNL-KUL-KTM-HKG-PEK-OVB-LBD-DME-GYD-LHR-GIG) are places I'd like to go to. The details are

i) There are two stops in Australia mainly to be able to input Noumea in the trip.

ii) Hong Kong is there due to being the most convenient place to fly straight from Kathmandu

iii) Novosibirsk, Khujand and Moscow are there because I'd like to include Central Asia in this trip, and these airports where the ones I could find out of Beijing. If there is a way to leave Beijing, have a stop in Central Asia, and move on to Moscow or other European city saving this almost useless stop in Novosibirsk, that would be great.

iv) I know taxes in London are larger, but there are few options for me since I have to come back to Rio from Europe. Madrid and London are the only OW airports where I could do this, and I have friends living in London.

Thanks again!

I forgot one more detail:

v) Santiago is included because is the gateway to New Zealand. If I could fly from Rio to Auckland with counting Santiago as a stopover and thus saving a segment, that would be fantastic.

Not sure what you mean by this. To "save" a segment it needs to be 1 flight number Rio to AKL, which it is not.

As far as I know the part about connecting TAM Brazil to South Africa is, quite unfortunately, not true. The only existing route is GRU-JNB, operated by South African. I think Malaysian used to fly to CPT from EZE, but this flight no longer exists.

Yep, TAM doesn't fly to Africa.
MH used to fly KUL-CPT-EZE, but canned it for cost saving shortly before they joined oneworld.

GRU-JNB should be just a codeshare then. My bad.

Problems when changing dates?
 

Sorry to bother you guys again.

Has anyone here during a RTW trip faced a problem when changing flight dates? I'm about to book it, but my fear is wanting to change a flight date down the road and then being told by the carrier that the next available flight for a RTW economy seat is one month down the road. I don't want to be stuck in Siberia for ages.

Thanks for your patience,
Guilherme

That problem can happen. For example L class SCL-AKL with LA has been reported to be difficult to fnd. At worst case you fly when ticketed or re route (re issue). But no one can predict if it will be a problem for you.

Your best bet is to check up front for availability a few dates around your booked date. If it looks wide open, it's at least somewhat helpful to your chances of changing later.

In my recent RTW, I had one segment which I couldn't book on my preferred date. About two months later it opened up and I changed it, and two segments around it, to fit. No issues at all. Another segment, I got the only D seat within weeks, and in watching availability for the next three months, none ever opened up on any alternate date within a week of my booked date. I would have been stranded for a long time had I needed to change.

Where/which airline are these trouble spots? I haven't flown an xONEx for several years (but began one ex-JNB recently) and will be majorly surprised to learn I'd better start worrying about availability.

Availability can be a problem on some routes if you are flying a LONEx. Though having said that, we had trouble finding availability on CX's HKG-DME route when we were re-routing our DONE4, so it can happen for premium cabins too

I'm about to book two DONE3 tickets using the online tool (done this before). But this time looks like I need to fly one segment on a different date than my wife. Can I change the date later on other ticket even if both tickets have the same booking code? Or is my only option to book tickets separately?

I'm planning a first time RTW - LONE4 starting January and I've come up with this:
MAD-GYE-EZE-SCL-IPC-xSCL-SYD-MEL-AKL-HKG-DEL-NRT-ICN-KUL-LHR-AMM-MAD

It was priced at €3600. Tried the same thing ex AMM and it was more expensive so I guess the price is ok. I'm trying to maximize miles around some of the place I want to see. Mileage Monkey says 49272 miles. I have an AirBerlin FF card but that's useless. AA seems to be best value and I'd love to visit the US next year with those collected miles. I read they don't enforce a rule for 4 AA flights to elite status. Will I get away with 0? Also can I credit miles and earn status on the way or only after I complete the whole trip? Any suggestions or tweaks to the itinerary would be helpful. Thanks.

Technically you have the entire year to fly the four AA metal flights. From a practical viewpoint, expect the elite status to kick in as soon as you have the required number of miles. Highly unlikely that they'll worry about the four flight requirement.

Generally there is not a big price difference for LONEx fares from different parts of the world, for example base fares for a LONE4 are
Spain: EUR2543
Jordan: JOD2350 (=EUR2458)
Egypt: EGP18800 (=EUR2019)
Bigger savings are to be made with premium cabin fares

With regard to accruing frequent flyer miles, you have some homework to do to decide which program will suit you best.
Your proposed itinerary has IB, LA, QF, CX, JL, MH, BA/RJ flights. You need to ascertain the earnings on each for the various programmes (and also consider how many miles are needed for the redemptions you want).
I know with regard to earning on AA:
QF flights earn only 50%
CX earns 0%

I can confirm that this year at least AA did not enforce is 4 flights rule - I achieved PLT status with no AA flights at all:D
You earn miles and status on the way, not at the end (subject to the program rules, for example Qantas does enforce its 4 flight rule, so you will achieve no status until you have flown them)

Hi,

I'm a new user of FlyerTalk and have searched this forum but not found an answer to my query. If it's in here somewhere, please accept my apologies (and maybe post a link)!

I'm booking two DONE5 tickets through an Australian travel agent and the first leg will be MEL-LAX on QF.

A subsequent leg will be GIG-LHR on BA that I would like to upgrade to First using Avios. I have the required Avios in my account and there are First reward seats available on my travel date.

My questions are:

• Is it possible to assign this leg of my itinerary to my BAEC account so that I can use Avios to upgrade but leave the rest of my RTW itinerary on my QF account so I earn QF points/status? Do I need to do this at all; could I just sign into the BA site using my booking reference number and select an option to upgrade using Avios?
• My BAEC account has an address in the USA but my Travel Agent is in Australia. Does that mean my TA won't be able to do the upgrade but I could using the BA website?
• Provided the upgrade is possible in my circumstances, when does the upgrade get confirmed? If I book the DONE5, log into BA and upgrade with Avios, is the upgrade confirmed immediately and if there is reward space for First will I definitely be provided the option to upgrade using Avios?

Thank you!
James

Welcome to Flyertalk, James Sanders.

I've never tried to upgrade a BA sector that is part of an xONEx but, in general, upgrading any BA flight that is part of a multi-sector itinerary -- even xxx-LHR-yyy, with both segments on BA -- cannot be done online; it requires a call to the service centre. Good luck.

cheers,

Henry

Generally you can only UuA on BA issued tickets (125 ticket stock). See these threads:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...-scenario.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ht-number.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...t-w-avios.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...mpossible.html

You can have seperate freq flyers number's on each sector, but has a risk. Ask your TA to do this, try on line or ask BA. The issue is that the freq flyer number may stick for all sectors or sectors after your BA flight. So check, check, then check again. Some BA people use www.finnair.com. Seem's to have a good interface to BA. Keep all your boarding pass's. The BA, AA & QF pnr's may be different. Look at Sabre http://www.virtuallythere.com and/or Amadeus:http://www.checkmytrip.com

Having multiple ffp's is often not a good idea, unless you fly a lot. For most people QF & BA ffp's are not as good as AA. AA has less miles for awards & little or no surcharges on awards. With a DONE5 the AA plat challenge would be easy.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...l#post21739327

Buying the the DONE5 & starting in NZ may be cheaper

First post (been perusing this website for months and the lot of you are currently my favourite people in my life) and have finally today booked my DONE4 (It's currently on hold with AA), but I did have two questions which I hadn't seemed to be able to find an answer to specifically.

The first: if, due to a seat being unavailable, I'm booked into Economy on a DONE rtw, but later on a D or W seat becomes available or I change my date, is switching possible with ease? Would that be a free "date/time/oneworld carrier/inventory" change? Or would that change cost the US125?

Secondly: With E-tickets, open-dated segments aren't possible anymore, is that correct? So for example if I choose to include a "Surface Segment" and a Oneworld airline runs that route, is changing that "Surface Segment" to a flight later when it's available considered a "Re-route" even though the ticketing points remain the same? I would argue that the route was running but seats weren't available at time of booking, but I'm not one to persuasively argue any point, so... :D

That specific flight is UIO-SCL. Instead of booking it as UIO-MIA-SCL, which would add another continent, I told the RTW operator to leave it unbooked - it's not present on the reservation page.

Thank you.

I don't have experience with either situation and I'm sure the experts will come along soon.

In the meantime, I suspect the answer to question one would definitely be that it would be a free change.

Welcome to FT lycidas

I believe a change from an Economy seat to a Business seat is an Inventory change, and as such is free of charge

Correct
Changing a surface segment into a flown segment does count as a routing change and so you are up for the USD125 change fee.

A little bit confused her

• LA flies that route non-stop twice a week Tuesdays and Fridays (it does not have business class)
• and if there is no availability, or the days of the week don't suit you, then you can fly via GYE, or LIM or even EZE
• certainly no need to include Nth America

Just for interest, from what country are you starting? (I see your location is MEL, and I presume you know from your lurking that there are far cheaper places to start from than the Land of Oz;))

So much help needed.
 

Couple of years ago spent time here trying to understand O ne World Explorer and Global Explorer fares. But then we decided to burn off lots of our existing BA Miles/Avios with trips to N. America, then S America and coming up Aus/New Zealand. We still have about 125,000 Avios and a 2for1 voucher so need to find another trip to use them on, but the round the world issue is rearing its head again. I have gone through all 40 pages here (my head is spinning with airport codes - is there a better way of looking them up then Google?)
Basics - BA Frequent Flyer, currently bronze but will revert to Blue soon. Live in London.

Places we will want to visit are as follows (appreciating some might have to be side trips).
Mexico, Cuba, Chile, Easter Island, Pacific Islands, Japan, India?, South Africa.

Does that route (which could be the other way round) suggest Global Explorer rather than OneWorld Explorer? Plan would be to fly Business
Which of those two is generally better value?
Where would be best place to start (not necessarily in the list above?)
And which airline to prefer and which to avoid - though Avios are the desired FF scheme.

That's a start! All and any help much appreciated.