Update on DONE4 ex-JNB
 

Wanted to update my ongoing saga with AA trying to deconstruct the fuel fines. I started a new booking from scratch as follows:

JNB-QR-xDOH-QR-MAD
MAD-AB-xDUS-AB-LAX
LAX-AA-JFK
JFK-AA/CX-HKG
HKG-CX-NRT
NRT-CX-HKG
HKG-CX-JNB

This priced out at:
Fare 59,070ZAR
Tax 2,025ZAR
YQ 8,922ZAR

This was a reduction of 1,100ZAR or US$100 from flying AA TATL. The big question is AA 77W worth the $100 upgrade from AB?

I was told in multiple conversations that a computer calculates the YQ/YR therefore agents cannot give detail or breakdown of these. Is this really the case or was I being told to take it or leave it?

re-route: calculating tax change
 

I'm in the middle of an ex JNB LONE6 (*) issued by AA (mindpearl) and am trying to get it re-routed. I have the new (**) itin held pending pricing but the _increase_ taxes initially quoted seems crazy ($500).

Would love some help getting the taxes down, either because they should be lower or by knowing where the larger items are so I can quash it. E.g. the following seem useful questions:

(a) am I right that an AA issued ticket won't have any YQ for flights on: AA, AA codeshare of LAN metal flights, QF

(b) Does AA charge YQ for JL, CX and/or QR flights?

(c) Is there a decent tool to see the YQ/taxes charges for the various segments based on issuing airline and airline flown (with/without codesharing)?

(d) I put the two routes into the oneworld tool to price but then realised it's probably pricing it as BA would not as AA would. Interestingly though, those two itins do indeed differ by about $500 when priced using the tool. There's a "details" link next to the taxes quoted in the oneworld.com tool but in both firefox and chrome (on my Mac) this doesn't actually do anything. Should it?

(e) Might I be getting into trouble by saying I'm using a UK credit card and this somehow being priced out as changing the origin of the fare? AA seem very keen for me to be dealt with by Europe since i'm using a UK card.

Many thanks in advance for any help!


*: original route: JNB-MRU-LGW-IBZ-MAD-xLHR-DFW-JFK-SFO-ORD-SFO-EZE-xDFW-xNRT-SIN-SYD-JNB -- first two flights on BA, then IB for LGW-MAD-xLHR, then AA till NRT, JL for xNRT-SIN and then QF for SIN-SYD-JNB

*: provisional new route (lhr-jfk wanted for this Weds!): JNB-MRU-LGW,LHR-JFK-xMIA-SJO-xMIA-LIM-IQT-LIM-xMIA-xNRT-SYD-SIN-xDOH-JNB -- first two flights on BA, then AA for till LIM-MIA which is an AA codeshare but LAN flight, then AA to NRT,JL for xNRT-SYD, QF for SYD-SIN and QR for SIN-xDOH-JNB

That link used to work, but for some reason hasn't for a few months now

But if you go the next screen ("Proceed to Booking"), then on that screen click on Taxes and Carrier Surcharges/Fees at the bottom
There will be lines labelled "Carrier Surcharges/Fees" and "Multiple Carrier Surcharges/Fees"; sadly not broken down by sector flown

In numerous re-issues and re-routes (on tickets issued by BA and AA) I have yet to have the taxes and fees decrease on re-issue.

You can get an idea of fees by entering the segment and carrier into ITA and just ignore the base fare. For example, QR, SIN-xDOH-JNB:

They are probably just concerned that the payment will not be accepted.

Changing the sales city changes the base fare, not the taxes (by more than $500 as well I think).

Ask for as detailed a break down as they can manage to be faxed or emailed to you.

<snip>

Tnx! It's like you were reading my mind. I used ITA to look up that exact segment pair and one reason I asked if AA charges YQ for QR flights is because that would be a good candidate for the bulk of the fees.

I also just checked by pulling those two segments from the test itin I have on the oneworld tool (replacing SYD-SIN-xDOG-JNB with SYD-JNB) and the price dropped by $500. But given I assume the tool is using BA as the ticketing airline all that confirms is that there's plenty of YQ on the QR flight for _if_ AA charges it.

Still, that's my number 1 target so I'll be calling the RTW desk shortly to see if that improves things.

Update on my attempt to uncover where the extra taxes are coming from on a re-route (see post 887):

* The current number being proposed is an increase in taxes of $420. At AA's suggestion the fare is being sent to the rates desk for top to bottom checking. We'll see if that helps, else me next step will be to drop the SIN-xDOH-JNB to see if that helps.

* I had a thought and checked the taxes etc. that would be charged if I booked the various flights using AA miles. E.g. QR would not change any YQ (it's $30 to fly SIN-xDOH-JNB on miles). LHR-JFK is "only" ~$200 (so I was expecting that increase).

Question: should the taxes/fuel charges on an award ticket issued by AA match the taxes/fuel charges on an xONEx ticket issued by AA (for an identical itinerary and airlines flown of course)?

No. AA eats most of the fees and taxes (not UK APD) on award tickets, e.g. total fees for a JFK-CDG award on AA metal are $5.60. The same flight shows $284.60 in fees (YR = $258) on ITA.

Using AA miles for JFK-xLHR-CDG on BA metal carries an out-of-pocket cost of $324.60.

Does AA actually provide this or have the capacity to provide this? Would you call Mindpearl or AA RTW?

I have been jerked around a bit by the RTW when it comes to carrier charge details.

I assume Mindpearl have no more access to information than the AA agents in the RTW desk?

The calculations are done back-office within AA so potentially neither the RTW desk nor Mindpearl have access to them. Certainly the AA RTW desk claimed to have no access to the breakdown and they say they asked for a little info (I asked if they might find out how much from the SIN-xDOH-JNB part of an RTW) and weren't given an answer.

I'll have time to play around with a 2nd xONEx re-route from next week so will try at least a few 1-2 segment change variants to get a sense of the pricing difference and how that maps to ITA info across various airlines (one or more of AA/JAL/LAN/Cathay/BA/QF) and will try and summarize anything useful I can discern in a few weeks.

Swapping SYD-SIN-xDOH-JNB (QF, then QR) to SYD-JNB (QF) saved a little over $400 in taxes (on a LONEx) plus returned two segments (*). Ticketed. Cutting out the QR long haul flights was a Good Thing (tm).

*: being used to save an additional $250 on a Peru domestic side trip. So $650 saved which is enough to buy a SYD-SIN return and earn more miles whilst at it. Go figure.

One for the experts, do the Intra-Middle East flights on QR book in A or L if ticketed on a DONEx fare?

The online tool shows them in L, not sure if setting up a booking via AA would make a difference.

As noted above they should be booking in A, if there is availability. AA can do it (or at least check).

Thanks (^); I thought that was the case but the tool, while correctly booking in A for intra-US segments books in L for Intra-ME. Wasn't sure if a bug or an exception to rules.