The tool is not great. It doesn't show you everything it can do. You can try to force a different ticketing carrier (maybe throw in a domestic JL sector at the beginning) to get an idea of the price. Otherwise, contact UL directly, but I doubt they have much experience with RTW fares. Personally I would go to a JL or CX or BA or AA office in Toyko.

JL actually has a codeshare on the NRT-CMB flight. Could I ticket with JL using that flight, or does the RTW have to get ticketed with the carrier whose metal is actually on the first leg?

I don't think the tool will show you codeshares. (But codeshares are allowed!)

The itinerary can be ticketed by any oneworld carrier, assuming they are willing. The tool sends your itinerary to the first carrier you have, but as I say, the tool is nice but it isn't perfect.

All the major oneworld carriers should be willing to ticket your itinerary. AA likes you to have at least one sector with them, which is fair enough. The smaller carriers might not have the technical expertise to do it.

Ah, did not realize this! I've got a couple AA sectors, so hopefully they'd be willing to ticket.

Since this is ex-NRT, would it have to be ticketed by the AA Japan office (I am US-based)? I found a couple older threads on trying to book ex-NRT itineraries when living outside Japan, but didn't see any definitive answers.

Thanks for all your help!

yes, due to a rather silly sales office restriction, it needs to be ticketed by an office in the originating country, or else the base fare increases to the local sales office fare. But AA has offices everywhere.

AA prefers having an intercontinental sector when they ticket (eg, North America-Europe), not just any random sector.

You'll need an agent in the country of departure in order to get the 'correct' price. ex-Japan when ticketing in the US will force the US price on the ticket. There used to be a rule that allowed for ticketing in Canada at the CND rate of the departure countries price, but it was removed a couple of years ago. :(

But I believe it can be an AA codeshare?

Yes
In 2013 the only AA flight on my DONE4 was its codeshare on AMM-JFK, RJ-metal. The AA RTW desk had no problem issuing it.

Yes, but I believe that the tool won't offer you a codeshare. You have to call for that.

It does offer codeshares. Just not all (most) of them. eg, the QF codes on the JL SIN-TYO are in the tool, but the AA coded QR US flights aren't.

A bit of light
 

Update for those who have followed my saga:


Well, I finally found some disclosure from AA even if they didn't realize it, but now to get them to explain what they did still will require DOT action with my hard documentation.

The whole AA experience has left a bitter taste in my mouth, simple information and basic explanations wouldn't have me hating an airline I spend a fair bit of coin flying together with their partners. After my EXP expires next year I will be a complete free agent.

Any of the experts think they can decipher what has happened in the two ticket changes other than me getting the royal treatment from AA?

http://i57.tinypic.com/2ynnneq.png

Actually, what I found interesting is the ticket. Did you receive regular paper flight coupons, too, or just printed coupons for the fare calculation? I didn't know that you could still get paper tickets.

This is just a receipt, not a paper ticket.

One thing, folks. For those of us who are heavily invested in AAdvantage and look for AA codeshares wherever possible....

AA 6421 LHR-DOH is operated by BA and stops for an hour at BAH. When you use it in an xONEx itinerary, it will show there as two flights, LHR-BAH and BAH-DOH with the same flight number. However, it only counts as one segment. (If it counted as two, the itinerary I'm working on now would have 17 segments; and it's already been approved by the rate desk.) I haven't tried the BA flight number to see what happens with it. Since it's over 3,000 miles, I'll get the 2015 bonus from this flight, thus wanted to stay with the AA codeshare.

It is indeed a single "direct" flight from LHR to DOH ;). It just happens to have a stop in the middle at BAH, where some people get on and off.

BA has a few of these, particularly in the middle east [LHR-AUH-MCT and back is another], and many in the Carribbean. There are many AA flights like this as well inside the USA, and some of them include a change of equipment! But if there's one flight number there's only one flight.

However, even with a change of equipment, if there's one flight number, it normally only shows as one flight segment on AA.

Yes there are many direct flights. Three of the longest ones are SYD-LHR via DXB, MEL-LHR via DXB and SYD-JFK via LAX.

I have AA64 booked for early Nov. MIA-ZRH (via JFK). It's showing up in AA MMB as 2 sectors. It has a narrow body > wide body 3 hour stop in JFK.

Interesting. Wonder if it's the same on domestic flights.

It will show was two "segments" but is one flight and should be treated as such for a xONEx and mileage earning.

AA added a lot of these when they merged with US.

Other good ones:
AA36/37 SFO-DFW-MAD
AA94/95 SAN-JFK-MAD
AA60/61 MIA-DFW-NRT
AA66/67 LAX-MIA-MAD
AA70/71 LAS-DFW-FRA
AA137/138 DCA-DFW-HKG
AA175/176 DCA-DFW-NRT

I have a quick question about North America routing rules/conditions for my current DONE3 ex-Japan. I have already flown the following segments (I am currently in New York City): NRT-xORD-JFK

I am planning changes to the remaining (original) routing made at the time of purchase. I wonder if the following North American segments would be allowed:

NRT-xORD-JFK-LAX-xORD-BOS-JFK-MIA-DOH ... etc TBD

I would like to know whether I can have the second stopover in New York City. I avoided the USA transcontinental direct flight rule by using ORD as my connection.

I realize this North American routing is not maximizing mileage accrual, but before I consider that more fully, I need to make sure I can have a second stopover in JFK or LGA, as that is a necessary stop I need to make.

Thanks in advance for you help!

That's the bit I also was surprised to hear. Especially if it's consistently the case.

Looks good to me. You can revisit a city no problem.

Thanks for the clarification zoombee!

I can only report my own experience, which, admittedly, was a bit more than 12 months ago. May have changed.

Back with one more question: if I book a flight segment, and then later want to change that to a surface segment (with same cities), will I incur a $125 charge? The rule sheet does not seem to address this situation.

Yes.

It's still the case. Try the routes I posted using the online tool. Put MIA-NRT in and AA 61 is an option.

Yes. xONEx permits more than one stopover in the same city/airport (unlike xRWSTARx the star alliance around the world product).

xONEx does not allow the same route to be flown more than once in the same direction - you're fine for this too.

What if instead of changing the flight segment to a surface segment, I simply missed (didn't fly) that segment? I see a few old threads indicating that this won't affect future segments, but no recent posts.

A no show risks the remainder of the ticket being cancelled. Also if this is the final segment of the ticket and the flown sectors no longer fulfil an around the world itinerary there is a risk of being charged the difference between fare paid and a series of one-way fares.

From the penalties category—

It's entirely possible that the next carrier in your itinerary will not know that you have no shown, just like any other ticket. But if they are the validating carrier or use the same reservation system as the validating or previous carrier, then they may have instructions not to board you until you pay the fee.

(thanks Kiwi Flyer for your answers to my previous post.)

I have reworked my DONE3 ex-TYO itinerary and hope some of you might have insights on how to improve it before I call the RTW desk to make the changes.

New itinerary (flown segments in bold, the rest to be flown up until 08/2016):

NRT-xORD-JFK-LAX-xDFW-JFK-xDFW-LAX-xDOH-MAD-TXL-xDOH-FCO-HKG-KUL-xDEL-NRT

As you can see, I tried to maximize mileage accrual. I also dedicated time to assess all YQ surcharges/taxes on ITA. I was surprised by the high YQ surcharges on QR segments. I then learnt from other FT threads about using AA codeshares to minimize YQ and potentially get better mileage accrual as well (my understanding is that as AA PLAT I would get 50% COS bonus versus 25%, I believe.) So, to my questions:

1) I could not find AA codeshares for the new QR LAX-DOH flight starting in 2016, although AA has codeshares for several other QR flights, including my chosen DOH-MAD and DOH-FCO segments. Is it possible that AA will release a codeshare for the new LAX-DOH anytime soon or perhaps I did not properly look for it? I checked on ITA, EF, AA, as well as QR press releases at no avail.

2) I could not find an AA codeshare for the CX FCO-HKG segment, although many CX flights seem to have AA codeshares, including intra-Asia flights. Possible that I missed this one as well or is there another reason for its absence?

3) If securing AA codeshares is not possible for the above mentioned segments, would you have other routing suggestions for my connecting segments (prefixed with "x") in order to maximize miles and ideally keep YQ to a minimum?

Thanks for your help..! And apologies in advance if this should be posted on a different forum/thread, I thought that due the xDONEx rules and routing involved I should post here...

Hi, -- I'll try to help with some of this; I'm sure others will help with other questions, too.


I realize that it's too late because you've already flown the first segment, but why NRT-xORD-JFK instead of NRT-JFK?


It's pretty early for that. For example, I couldn't find even the QR nonstop LAX-DOH in Expert Flyer.


There may not be an AA codeshare for this one, I wouldn't have thought that there would be. Normally, flights which have an AA codeshare have one end in the U.S. or reasonably connect to an AA flight (i.e., have a through fare on AA).

Thanks. I think it was a mistake on my part. I needed two more flights on AA metal to fulfill AA PLAT elite status this year, so decided to have those two AA segments at the start of the DONE3. At the time of booking, I was not aware that a JL flight would have worked for my elite status just like an AA flight. So, I lost one precious segment. :(

It shows up on EF searching for 2016 departure dates:
That's what I thought, too. But I was surprised by the amount AA codeshares on other CX flights, even intra-Asia ones... Maybe the latter have to to do with segments that connect to US-bound flights, but I'm not sure. Curious to understand how they make those codeshare choices...

Yes, that's bound to be it. I take those CX codeshares both ways between HKG and BKK, as well as JL codeshares between NRT and BKK when connecting to or from the U.S.

An airline wants a codeshare principally to pretend it serves somewhere and therefore provide local feed for a larger route, or to deepen a commercial exchange on specific routes with a partner airline where revenue is being shared to some degree between the parties.

For instance, intra-Asia (I assume you mean, shorthaul on CX ex-HKG) makes sense because AA recently started serving HKG. By codesharing onto local CX flights, AA can draw feed to connect to its new HKG service. CX will have to decide carefully if it wants to cannibalize its own prime services to the USA, but if the price is right, then maybe that's better than AA working more closely with JL. AA also has an arrangement with JL as well.

Looking at another one you mentioned, MAD-DOH, well AA doesn't serve DOH itself, but QR is a major oneworld partner. There might be good reasons to cultivate that relationship, even though AA already has a partnership with EY.

And then you have BA and AA codesharing everywhere on their transatlantic and domestic and intra-European sectors, together with their partners AY and IB. That's part of their "joint venture".

However, on CX FCO-HKG, there is really no reason for AA to codeshare on that at all. It doesn't give either CX or AA any advantage. It doesn't feed any real AA sectors. I doubt AA would want to buy a block of space or subsidise space on that flight.

Also, there are legal and regulatory restrictions on codeshares; often regulators have to be consulted; maybe domestic codeshares can only exist when part of a fare component with an international prime segment (as in the USA), maybe a codeshare is only allowed if it connects within 24 hours to a prime flight (such as in HK). Although these technical restrictions are often not enforced on oneworld explorer tickets!

What I was also going to say, is even if AA doesn't have a codeshare, you might earn more miles (I don't know the details) if you pick a "closer" AA partner, for instance use the BA codeshare instead of the S7 prime flight. Not entirely sure about AA's programme, but it might be worth thinking about.

AA codeshares on CX metal were around long (and I mean years) before AA started the DFW/HKG service. Remember, there are also AA codeshares on CX metal out of all CX U.S. ports.

Yes, the first codesharing agreement was signed in 2000. (See https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/es_...elease_58.html)

Thanks Calchas for the very informative response. Perhaps an edited version of your response could be considered for the wiki for easier future access.

I have been doing some more research. I include below some findings that might help future readers.

Not all AA codeshare flights listed on the AA PDF Timetable show up on ITA/EF, including some of those not requiring specific connections. And I am not quite sure why. But from the ones that do show up on ITA:

AA codeshares on QR do charge the same YQ surcharges as QR metal. So in this case, AA seems to be passing on the exact same YQ surcharge as the operating carrier.

CX codeshares on QR charge a lower YQ surcharge from QR metal. CX seems to be charging their own (lower) YQ surcharges rather than those of the operating carrier.

Have not checked other OW partners, but will do soon and will report any findings worth posting.