Didn't we recently decide that QF, BA and AA all levied similar surcharges (with QF being worse than BA)?

Someone compared them all upthread.

I can't speak for AA's programme but actually I think RTWs are a disappointing way to earn points in BA's programme. Although the arithmetic will be different it won't be far off.

Here in Europe we are inundated with special J deals. Dublin to Hawaii is regularly under US$ 1600 in J. Oslo to South America is the same and we have sub 1000 USD fares to Hong Kong popping up.

So if you are really looking for the cheapest way to earn points it might be better to sit around in the premium fare deals forum and see what comes your way.

It seems that the most convenient (for US-based AA EXPs) and perhaps cheaper overall among carriers, is to get an issuing ticket from AA, and the most affordable and feasible starting point with AA seems to be ex-TYO. Do you agree with this?

Is this feasible from afar, or at least in person in TYO but with US credit cards? Or is it YMMV?

[QUOTE=Calchas;25389008]I can't speak for AA's programme but actually I think RTWs are a disappointing way to earn points in BA's programme. Although the arithmetic will be different it won't be far off.
QUOTE]

Is this because certain routes have carriers that give less than 1.25 EQPs per mile for AA? Most business tickets seem to credit 1.5 or at worst 1.25 EQP per mile to AA ffp.

Use the online tool with AA or CX as the first carrier and you can book it right now.

The basis for achieving status through BAEC is very different from AAdvantage; it has to do with tier points (a combination of class of service and segment length) instead of elite qualifying miles or points.

Would this price in Japanese currency, based on starting point in TYO? It is cheaper starting TYO than in the US, I assume, correct?

Aye, it's different but there are so many cheap J and F deals around now, all the oneworld special fares (including circle Atlantic and so on) look hideously overpriced even forgetting about the points.

I'm not saying it's definitely more expensive but it's worth doing the arithmetic.

My first relaxed attempt for a DONE6 not that good, $10k, 19 cpm and likely 13 cpp, lol. A few questions:

1. Does it matter what dates (close to booking vs. a few months later) or days (midweek vs. weekend) you choose for pricing? Is this based on actual dynamic pricing as it applies to regular flights? Also, I assume some near future flights may not have availability and therefore not showing at all?

2. Does it matter which carriers you choose for each segment, and if yes, do we have a rank ordered list of who is cheaper in general and has the lowest surcharges/fees? (at least a vague one? in general?)

3. Are there key airports to try to avoid for taxes/fees, perhaps LHR (although probably hard to avoid I assume, as a major OW hub.)? Others?

4. Do number of connections increase the price in general, reduce it, variable, or it doesn't matter? (I know they count as segments).

5. I assume number of continents affects the base price?

6. Do we have any MR maximized itinerary samples posted on this forum, ex-TYO, particularly?

3. LHR was quite easy for us to avoid, flying into mainland Europe, between AY, AA, JA, Air Berlin, QR, etc.

5. Yes

Can't help with the rest, unfortunately, but my recent RTW had us hitting:

AMS
FRA
ZRH
MUC
HEL

without touching BA

I agree that "partitioning" a DONEx across multiple qualifying years is a great idea when crediting to AA. Consider that PEY/Y+ fares are normally quite $$ efficient ways of generating EQP (perhaps except from Australia/HKG). In using one or more of those fares as positioning/partitioning, getting to the 100K EQP becomes somewhat more practical. In the day, SIN to Canada/USA on those fares worked quite well for me.

Maybe I'll get a chance to try a xONEx again before the ZAR exchange rate forces re-pricing...

Happy wandering

Fred

As far as I know (which often isn't very far) if you want to fly from Dublin to Hawaii for $1600 it will be an I fare, not a J fare. I mention that because I-class fares are usually quite restrictive while the 'normal' DONEx fare is obviously in D-class and extremely flexible. If you don't need the flexibility, ignore the comment.

I'm trying to maximize AA codeshares on my upcoming AONE4 (currently waiting for the Rate Desk to finish its work so I can ticket). Although my first leg will be JNB-HKG (so I can avoid the Europe/Middle East/Africa backtracking limitations), I booked it through the AA RTW desk because I there are several JL and BA flights on which I want the AA codeshare number and I couldn't get the online tool to give them to me.


Except that the absurdly generous 2015 AA bonus program ends on December 31, 2015.

AONE4 ex-JNB now under USD $7,000. Hope that the AA rate desk gets it done so I can have it ticketed before any price increase!

No. The fare is fixed (actually in both cases, it's fixed, but the movement in available booking codes makes it look dynamic). All that matters is the availability of the right booking codes for the fare in question. DONE6 fares will let you book into D class internationally which is usually going to be available.

BA and QF have high surcharges.

The Heathrow Passenger charge is about £34 (about 50 USD). That is to pay for the terminal facility and everyone who passes through LHR pays it. However, if you stop in the United Kingdom for more than 24 hours, and then fly to somewhere more than 2000 miles away, a large government tax comes into play. That tax can be drastically reduced by stopping again (>24 hours) in Europe first.

No effect on the base fare, but of course the more segments you have, the more airport service fees you are paying, and the more fuel surcharges as well probably.

Yes. ex-Tokyo it looks like this. (The number at the end of the fare basis signifies the max continents, so DONE3 is three continents; DONE6 is six.)
On top of that you will add applicable government taxes, airport fees and airline surcharges.

Therefore it is probably better to squeeze something out of a DONE3 by repeatedly backtracking than attempting a DONE6.

You are entirely correct, and indeed a very valid point—as I had to change an I fare between Brazil and Europe with less than 12 hours notice earlier this week (somehow I found availability). I was confining my comments to someone looking to generate points for his frequent flier programme.

Thanks Calchas, very useful info. I guess maximizing a DONE3 may be the way to go, I assume you also want to definitely circumnavigate the globe but which 3 continents may give more bang for the buck, I assume Asia is definitely one, probably N.America another one, and I assume a third one will be either Africa or Europe.

It seems ex-ZA with CX is also popular and a DONE5 from there is about the same price with a DONE3 ex-TYO with AA? Can you book the ex-ZA online with CX with the AA OW online tool?

Also, what is the deal with codeshares, these don't show on the online tool, right?

Further, the first flight has to be operated by the carrier you book the ticket with, that is, no codeshare allowed there?

The online tool is very limited.

You have to have Asia and Europe, just because of the way the oneworld flight paths are arranged. Then you'll need at least one of South America and North America (South America is so full of all-Y flights it is probably best avoided) and you can optionally have Africa and Australasia ("South West Pacific").

It should be possible I would think. But someone else here will have experience.

They are fully allowed; but codeshares won't show up in the tool. You can substitute in codeshare later without incurring a penalty fee.

That's a restriction of the tool. Any oneworld airline can (in principle) book your itinerary, although there are some technical restrictions and not all airlines are competent to do it. However if you book with the tool, your itinerary is sent to the first airline on the list for them to ticket.

Note that whilst on this itin the reverse has much the same by way of airport/departure taxes, that's not always the case.

Here are the numbers as per ITA (searching for each leg one at a time, all on Sept 26th, airline charges first, taxes second).

JNB-LHR on BA (D): $263 + $41.8
LHR-JFK on AA (D): $204.2 + $314.7
JFK-LAX on AA (D): $0 + $119.24 (mostly the ~$105 US Transportation Tax)
LAX-NRT on AA (D): $86 + $27.8
NRT-HKG on CX (D): $16.80 + $21.9 (or $21 + $13 in taxes on JL).
HGK-JNB on CX (D): $24.8 + $15.5
total: $594.8 + $540.94

JNB-HKG on CX (D): $24.6 + $41.9
HKG-NRT on CX (D): $5.5 + $15.5 (same on JL).
NRT-LAX on AA (D): $88 + $57.1
LAX-JFK on AA (D): $0 + $119.24 (mostly the ~$105 US Transportation Tax)
JFK-LHR on AA (D): $414 + $27.8
LHR-JNB on BA (D): $234.6 + $279.5
total: $766.7 + $541.04

So the difference should be under $200. BA charging extra fuel surcharges seem to be most of the issue?

Cathay has just priced a AONE3 ex-Tokyo for me in super quick time, it took 7 hours from my original email for them to reply. Apart from a couple of very minor code share issues it looks good. The £900 in fees and taxes are not so good, but that's what happens if you include LHR...

For peace of mind I want to confirm that all I need to do to change any flight dates (I don't start until May next year but I want to get it priced ASAP to take advantage of the favourable rates) is email Cathay at Tokyo with the revised dates once I've taken my first flight. I've included a number of dummy dates as part of the booking but obviously I can't set these beyond a year from now. Once the first flight is taken I should be able to change these to any dates as long as they are within 12 months of the first flight. Is this correct?

^

Did you used to do the special oneworld fares (RTW/Visit-a-continent/etc) when you worked in JAX? We have a lot of problems here trying to figure out exactly why some ticketing/validating carriers are charging different fees for identical itineraries, and how that can be avoided.

No need to e-mail Cathay Tokyo to change dummy dates. I made date changes (from dummy dates to open dates) by calling the Cathay 800 number in the U.S. The agent was well versed in RTW ticket rules.

BTW, I changed my dummy dates to open dates before the first flight.

Perhaps I just had a good agent. YMMV.

Oh I forgot to say, I heard back from my contact at BA.

It is possible to do open tickets, but you have to use temporary ticketing mode in Amadeus (and the PNR somehow doesn't get stored after the ticket is issued), and the Amadeus manual devotes about 30 pages to how to do it. So I can see why they didn't want to bother.

^

Interesting as always

Do you remember if YQ was "frequently" missing from non-BA tickets?

PNR with open segments
 

I have a DONE4 issued by CX with 6 dated segments and 10 open segments.

BA has a hard time dealing with this ticket. It is not accessible through "manage my booking." If I call BA they can find the PNR, but are unable to make seating choices on BA flights for dated segments (and I am BA Gold). Most agents just say the computer is down (since they are unable to pull up a seat map) and ask me to call back tomorrow. Other agents have speculated that it is because there are some open segments in the itinerary, but none have been successful getting me an upper deck seat on a BA flight.

Might have something to do with Amadeus - open segment issue noted above by CALCHAS? Anyone know a work-around to select a seat on a BA flight for a dated segment?

Are you calling the UK Gold Line or the regular BA line?
To be clear you do have a confirmed segment?
Does the itinerary appear on tools like http://classic.checkmytrip.com or the MyFlights App (iOS)?

Please forgive my ignorance, but what are the advantages of open segments? Is it to allow you to book seasonal flights which may not be available at the time of booking? Reservations will have to be made on these at some point, but that's not much difference changing the dates of dummy bookings. Also will you have to pay any extra carrier surcharges (if required) when making the reservations?

You don't have to make any decisions or pay any airport fees / carrier charges until you make your decision.

As others have said the advantage is fairly slim.

A question for JAXBA, hoping you don't mind my asking;)

When you voluntarily re-route a Oneworld Explorer itinerary, am I correct that the following occurs:

• You receive back what you have paid in taxes and (sur)charges on segments you are dropping
• You must pay the taxes and (sur)charges on the new segments you are inserting
• You must pay the USD125 re-route fee

And so what you pay is the net of the above three items (which of course, in theory at least, could be a refund:D)

I ask because I am just about to re-route the last six segments of my DONE5 and want to be forearmed on what it is likely to cost me (by running the numbers in itasoftware)

Also, do you happen to know if BA collects surcharges (meaning YQ and YR) on RJ and QR segments?

Thank you very much JAXBA
Now to make the phone call....

Well I've yet to get to finding put the cost of changing my ticket, because BA is saying the changes I want are not allowed

I've documented the story so far in post #73 in this thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...cpt-done5.html

JAXBA - I'd be very interested to hear your take on this issue

Thanks for responding. Yes to all three questions. Following your advice I looked it up on checkmytrip and found that all of my open segments were now dated..... and I never gave CX any dates!

So I called CX. They claimed that the problem was that the open segments that they had originally entered into my record were rejected by the system. So, they changed all of the open segments to arbitrary dates (without informing me).

The open segments were originally necessary because the 6th segment (confirmed date) bumped up against the 355 day window. This is no longer a problem, although I now have to periodically move the dates into the future so that I am not a no-show.

For some reason the itinerary still doesn't show up on the BA Manage My Booking, but BA is now able to assign seats.

I have been a reader of Flyertalk for some time, however this is my first post.

I would very much appreciate any advice on the following, my first RTW booking.

I am seeking to book the following trip in Business, and had thought a DONE3/4 would make most sense:

LON-TOKYO-SYD-ZQN//CHC-PPT-BOB-IPC-SCL-AEP-SLA-BUENOS AIRES-LON

I have flexibility in starting from within Europe (I had thought AMS which I've used before or OSL which I learned from Flyertalk) but most likely not further afield, reflecting the exJNB and exTokyo posts previously. I have read through much of the thread on this topic, but finally became somewhat confused.

SYD-ZQN//CHC-PPT is unavailable on Oneworld, but for the remainder, BA have quoted me £5225. Does this seem to be the best sort of price available? To which the remaining flights in Econ/Business where available would add c.£1k on top.

I am BA Gold and travelling companion Silver, though I suspect that won't particularly help apart from mileage accumulation.

Many thanks in advance for any suggestions.

RTW advice sought please.
 

I have been a Flyertalk reader for some time, however this is my first post.

I am seeking to book my first RTW ticket using Oneworld where possible as I am BA Gold and my companion Silver and would very much appreciate any advice on starting point, ticketing and pricing.

My intended route is:

LON-TOKYO-SYD-ZQN//CHC-AKL-PPT-BOB-PPT-IPC-SCL-AEP-SLA-EZE-LON

Of that, BA have quoted me £5225 for all excluding SYD-ZQN//CHC-AKL-PPT which aren't oneworld & SLA-EZE which they dont have availability in appropriate class for; these would would add c. £1k on top. I have flexibility within Europe with regards start/end points.

I have read most of the thread and garnered a huge amount of useful info, but would nevertheless appreciate advice from those who know far more than I as to whether this sort of price is what I should be expecting to pay or whether I can improve on it.

Thank you.

Welcome to FT ECNIV

What cabin class are you wanting to fly in?
Your itinerary is a four continent Oneworld Explorer
Or it's a 34,000mile Global Explorer
Did BA say which is was?

IIRC the SYD-ZQN flight is seasonal - only during the ski season
And QF does not fly internally in New Zealand, so there can be no CHC-AKL flight on an Explorer ticket

The Global Explorer does allow AKL-PPT; there is a specific exception allowing the Qantas codeshare on the Air Tahiti Nui fight

PPT-BOB-PPT is only operated by Tahiti Air, which is not in any alliance and so that would have to be a separate booking

Many thanks for your response. It's in business class, and I'm afraid BA didn't indicate whether it was a One World or Global Explorer.

I see now that the following (SYD-ZQN//CHC-AKL-PPT-BOB-PPT) will need to be on Air NZ (given the days which QF have the codeshare on that route) & Air Tahiti so will need to be booked separately so I think my challenge is the best price for the remainder, with that - if possible- counting as a surface elment.

Many thanks once again.

You can probably save a few bob starting in Paris or Dublin instead of London. Have a try at http://rtw.oneworld.com

If you are more adventurous you could trek down to Cairo and begin your journey there --- it is always very cheap, but of course you have to position there and without Avios that can be an expensive option.

DONE6 Ex-TYO
 

I'm trying to book a DONE6 ex-TYO and running into some trouble with the online tool.

Itinerary is:

NRT-CMB-SIN-SYD-sAKL-SCL-EZE-GIG-sLPB-MIA-SFO-xLHR-FCO-xDOH-JNB-xHKG-NRT

Attempting to price this with the online tool gives me the fun error: "We have encountered a problem pricing your itinerary. Please save your itinerary then contact Sri Lankan Airlines to book it. [Error: cca34435e76788c]". (NRT-CMB is on UL).

Some questions:

1) Does anyone see issues with this routing?
2) Assuming it is in fact valid, how hard will it be to book this with UL? (I am US-based.)
3) In a couple cases (AKL-SCL and SFO-FCO), there are direct flights that show D availability on EF, but the tool does not always bring these flights up. Is there some other criteria beyond D availability required to book flights on a DONEx?

Thanks!