Nor, end one, it seems---I cannot force the online tool to see the QR DOH-CAI flights.

And, indeed S7 and US are a bit hit and miss as well.

I know the tool can be quite/very flakey
but, in its defence I've had no trouble using it to price up an itinerary that
- begins with CPT-JNB-xDOH-EZE (first segment on BA, the next two on QR)
- ends with TUN-DOH-CMN-DOH-NBO (all QR flights)

1. RE:QR flight availability, are you looking up individual segments or the CPT-xDOH-MEL connecting flights? I realized in my search that if I searched JNB-xDOH-MAD i got no D availability, but individual segment lookup had D9 and likely ran into married segment logic. I checked a random date CPT-DOH and there was availability in fare classes, what dates are you looking for? I had no problem getting AA to book individual segments.

2. The tool doesn't handle having QR as your first flight, that is an almost given.

3. Unless comparing to BA/AA/QF, yes QR fuel fines are high. However, when i went digging deeper via ITA I found that QR may not be as bad as I initially thought, instead of maybe $230 it is maybe $161. I still don't think these will exceed or come close to QF fines.

I've just done a check in ITA

CPT-xDOH-MEL
- QR has fuel fines (YR) of ZAR1910

CPT-xJNB-xSYD-MEL (first flight on BA)
- BA fuel fine ZAR1047 :eek:
- QF fuel fine ZAR1819

Depending on who tickets the itinerary, these surcharges may or may not be collected
But for sure if QR tickets then it will collect its own surcharges; and the same for QF

I guess that with a travelling party of four, these surcharges become important

Here's my latest plan for a biz class RTW on a DONE5.

This plan involves buying separate economy class tickets for CPT-JNB and SYD-MEL-SYD and SCL-IPC-SCL.

DONE5, comes in at about 293,000ZAR in the booking tool for 2 adults+1 child. The infant is on top of that since I can't book that online.

JNB-SYD QF (Been on many Qantas 747s before, this may be the last)
SYD-NRT JL
NRT-CMB UL
CMB-KUL UL
KUL-RGN MH
RGN-HKG KA
HKG-LAX CX
LAX-ORD AA
ORD-CUN AA
CUN-JFK AA
JFK-BDA AA
BDA-MIA AA
MIA-SCL AA
SCL-GIG LA
GIG-LHR BA
LHR-EBB BA

16 segments, every stop is somewhere where I actually want to go (although Chicago is a bit of a case of "since I'm in that general direction anyway").

I'll be missing Papua New Guinea which I wanted to visit but the above is 7 months worth and I think I'll be out of time, out of flight segments and out of cash on this trip. Another year for PNG.

BUT - one of the things I'd like to do on this trip is make as many flights as possible on aircraft with good business class cabins. Therefore I wonder if taking so many flights on AA on 767s & 737s and KA's A321 is a bad idea.....?

Has anyone ticketed a xONEx with QR?

Right, I've cracked it.

A DONE6 itinerary ex-JNB and priced in South African Rand. Booked by phone through the AA ATW desk in Dallas with me generating the route first in the OW planner tool.

The AA ATW desk have given me the number of the AA General Sales Agent in Cape Town, who is Mindpearl.

Any recent experience with paying through them with a non-South African credit card?

As there are several tickets the entire deal is over ZAR 300k or over US$27,000

If you do not make transactions of that magnitude regularly in South Africa it's probably worth letting your card issuer know in advance.

Over the years I've never had any problem with Mindpearl. Your credit card issuer may be another matter, of course.

Changing carrier but not route
 

Are date changes where there is also a change of carrier but on the same segment free of charge on the OW Explorer?

Eg my CMB-HKG legs are served by CX and UL as a single flight number, SYD-NRT by QF and JL. Are the carriers on these segments interchangeable?

Yes, such changes are free of charge. However the airline making the change is allowed to charge a service fee (I know QF does charge this, and I also know AA does not charge it)

There is a special rule regarding changing the first segment (before departure obviously) - but other than that, changes to date/time/oneworld carrier are free of charge

How many AA flights do I need before AA will issue a RTW ticket?

At this point my itinerary probably only includes HNL-LAX-PHX on AA. (For now I will assume that US flights don't qualify.)

I have a few US-operated flights and probably BA 2 that could conceivably be taken as codeshares with AA, if that makes any difference. (And indeed if codesharing is even permitted.)

As per the one world explorer rules: (http://www.oneworld.com/documents/10...9-d346ec820edf)

It's no so much "number of flights" - AA have often required at least one intercontinental segment on an AA flight number.

So I could book QF 3 SYDHNL as AA 7359, that would be sufficient? (Better for me actually as I get nearly twice the Avios points that way.)