Since the AA RTW desk was merged into Meeting Services, there are a lot of agents answering the phone who have no idea. You can try calling back and see if you get a more knowledgable agent. There is no requirement that the first flight be on AA, although as I mentioned above, they will likely want to see one or more AA codes on over the water flights. That may not matter to you, but it could affect your earnings and also the fuel surcharges.

The term "RTW" is often used to mean OneWorld Explorer, Circle, Global Explorer, and Visit fares. It would be worth clarifying the fare want to book.

I believe the CX call centre is extremely busy now handling all the rebooking and rerouting, as HKG was shut down for about 12 hours. It is unlikely that they have time to handle your request now. See the CX forum if you haven't heard of what happened.

Thanks, things were relatively normal when I made the request originally, but I am not even thinking about calling them back now. Perhaps I'll give BA or QF a shot.

Following up on this.

So I decided to call QF and try to piece together the two bookings, One World Explorer and Circle Pacific. After 1.5 hrs on hold, I reached an agent. We tried to piece together and ran into multiple hurdles. I had carefully pieced together the itinerary looking at the fare rules. In assembling both itineraries, we ran into numerous hurdles:

• Agent told me that if it was a First class booking (AONE3), every single segment had to be in first class.
• Agent told me that if I departed from Vancouver, I'd also have to return to Vancouver (rules say last segment can be overland between US/CA)
• Agent told me that I could only go around the world in one direction (starting with transatlantic)

After 6 hours on the phone, the signal dropped and I never received a call back. I was able to retrieve the booking references with all flights by calling both QF and MH.

After multiple hours on hold I finally reached someone today. We only got as far as the AONE3 ticket, and the agent told me it would only price if I returned to Canada. The fare rules clearly state otherwise. I told him forget it, I'm going to try turning the ticket over to a travel agent and see what happens.

Is this level of difficulty normal with RTW and Circle Pacific tickets? I'm surprised that the airlines/agents aren't more familiar with a OneWorld product.

You unfortunately got a particularly ill-informed, poorly-trained agent, as everything he/she told you is wrong. In those circumstances, the normal advice is HUACA but one understands that you might be reluctant to do that after waiting on hold for so long. :(

'Is this level of difficulty normal?' I don't think so. I've booked 10 RTWs in the last 20 years and I've never had the level of frustration that you describe. They often don't call back and sometimes they don't reply to e-mail as promptly as one would wish but in general things have gone smoothly enough for us in dealing with CX, JL, AA and BA.

Good luck.

In my experience, only the AA RTW desk is up with the rules and even then some of the staff aren't without their misinterpretations and misunderstandings. The problem as I see it is that the rules are very cumbersome and complicated. As numerous posts show, it's almost luck of the draw as to the outcome you get. In my most recent experience with a DONE3, it took me an hour to convince QF staff that, yes, geographically Morocco is in Africa but for the purposes of the oneworld Explorer, it's considered part of Europe/Middle East. Even on Qantas's own oneworld five stop award (frequently used for round the world redemptions), agents often don't know the rules and that's Qantas's own product.

Oneworld either needs a dedicated desk for these types of fare products or each carrier needs to have dedicated staff whose only job is to deal with these tickets.

I have downloaded a copy of the rules so I am armed when I get someone at the dedicated desk who doesn't know as much as I do. (Most recently, I had to show where in the rules it says that a DONEx segment on a route that only offers economy class is to be booked in B, not L.) Of course if I get someone who seems to have been assigned to the desk that day or so (which has happened more than once), I politely tell them I'm thinking things over, then hang up and call again.

I really don't understand how this level of incompetence exists ... a fare booking into a non-prime class on some sectors is hardly unusual. Is it just that everything is autopriced these days so no one ever does it by hand?

The AA RTW desk does not autoprice. The agents are supposed to know the rules and create valid itineraries which are then sent to an offshore desk for pricing. Many TAs don't autoprice RTWs either, sending them to the rate desk of the first carrier.

In your example, my guess is that agents are used to booking RTWs in the usual booking inventory (A, D, L for the most part).

Is it still in Ireland? I always wondered why it wasn't in Dallas.

But I mean, even if you autoprice a regular TATL AA F itinerary, it will book into different codes on connecting sectors which don't offer F class, and the agent will see that.

It just seems completely inexplicable to me that a person trained to book itineraries would be unfamiliar with booking code exceptions.

I don't think it's been in Ireland for a number of years. Last time I had AA price an RTW it went to Fiji or someplace around there.

Well, the AA Meeting Services people don't have the best reputation.

I'm sorry if I missed it in all these pages, but the cost, or even price range, seems to be unavailable. I don't want to spend a lot of time on this and then find the price is crazy. Can someone PLEASE just post what you can about prices for the different options for business and first? I originate in PHL. No definite idea where I'd go, but probably Fiji, Tonga, Australia/NZ, Papeete, Rome, Greece, Paris, London (open to trains between local places), Israel, Egypt, Singapore, Dubai, Seychelles, someplace in Africa for safari (maybe Kenya), Iceland, Anchorage, Las Vegas, Panama someplace, Peru, Chile. I'll spend time reading the rules & restrictions of course, and will strategize the order and dates to max things out. Senior discount if applicable, we're both over 65. These are just some ideas about places, we'd change them around if it turns out some add $$$$$$$ to fares.

What's a ballpark price range? We'd go cheapest season, flexible about dates (at this point anyway)....

You need to do some more reading in the forum to understand more of the nuances of the fares. You can also read the rules at oneworld.com or expertflyer.com.
You can look up fares at expertflyer.com.
For a start here are some coach and business fares ex-us:
coach:
lone3 - $3599
lone4 - 4999
lone5 - 5699
lone6 - 6899
business:
done3 - 9699
done4 - 10299
done5 - 11799
done6 - 13599

In addition to base fares you need to pay local taxes a fees. These are route dependent so cannot be quoted until you do an itinerary. Expect to be a few hundreds. Example post 2609 $334

Base fare varies by country of departure
Not every place has a OW service e.g.
Tonga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fua%CA...tional_Airport. Unsure if OW connect partner FJ can be used
PPT only to/from SCL and cant go on to Aus/NZ--->no OW flight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faa%27...tional_Airport

L = economy
D = business
The last digit is the number of continents 3, 4, 5 or 6.
All have the same restriction of maximum 16 segments (Many years ago was 32). Makes LONE6 & DONE6 poor value. LONE5 DONE5 not much better.
Dates can be changed

https://www.oneworld.com/world-travel
https://rtw.oneworld.com/rtw/ (broken at this time)

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=PHL-MIA...L&MS=wls&DU=mi

Well worth reading the wiki

there is no senior discount, the cheapest business class starting in USA is probably over 14000 USD (business class) if you were to start in USA given the list of countries that you want to visit since it seems DONE6 and it is not even clear how you can reach PPT.

Thanks all, that’s what I needed to know. Cross my fingers this will be available into 2021. I’m retiring either year end or sometime early 2020, and then I can do some serious planning.

PPT via OneWorld is an often asked question. Can fly in from SCL on LATAM. But out to NZ/Aus needs to be a separate flight, as no OW service.

LATAM is leaving Oneworld in ~10 month (date not know). This will have a big effect on South America, Easter Island , PPT and some other routes with XONEX tickets.
Takes a lot of planning to string together the 16 segments. XONE6 not worth the extra above the ONE5.

Years ago I used aa miles for air Tahiti Nui....

TN is not part of oneworld. if you use TN, you would need xGLOB34, a different product that probably wont work for you.

And with AA ff miles you still can get an AA award on TN.

RTW XONEX have very specific rules on what airlines can be used
http://assets.ctfassets.net/m9ph4qva...rer_1Apr19.pdf

You can book up to around 11-12 months before departure, depending on how you book and which airlines you want to include (AA only has flights loaded 331 days out, other airlines such as BA and QF load flights a year ahead). You have one year from the first flight until the last flight. So if you want to fly in 2021, you could buy your tickets in 2020, or if you want you could buy a ticket now for a first flight in 2020 (up to around October-November) and have the rest of your flights in 2021.

It would help to give us an idea of how is "crazy." Prices vary a lot depending on where you start and how many continents you visit, and of course which class. For example, the base fare for a first class 22,000 mile Circle Pacific starting in PHL is $12,700, while a six-continent first class starting in PHL in first class is $19,399. A 3-continent business class booked into I inventory starting in PHL has a base fare of $8,699, while a 6-continent business class booked into D starting in PHL has a base fare of $13,599. That same first class 22,000 mile Circle Pacific that is $12,700 base fare starting in PHL is $7,545 starting in Hanoi. Lots of differences, as you can see, and a place that might be the least expensive in one case might be midrange or on the higher end for another case. Many people use miles or buy cheap fares to get to where they want to start.

I can live with these prices. They seem reasonable and thanks for the tips about starting points. The EQMs will be very useful too!

AA has specific rules on earning with RTW. Is not as generous compared to previous
Link--> https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...age-miles.html

Yes, although that affects EQD and RDM. For EQM, booking AA/QR/BA/QF/JL/AY codes earn 2 EQM per flight mile for business class, 3 for first class.

Hi Guys,
Got this in my email from AA.
Where is the sale??
I have tried many origins and cannot find one that is less than normally priced.

Explore the world with American and oneworld® during our round-the-world sale. With over 1,100 destinations to choose from, there are limitless possibilities for where you can go and how you can get there.

Select your destinations, choose your flights and book your trip. Easy!

AA thread. Some people are reporting discounts
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...-sale-now.html

Does anyone know the BA RTW desk phone number? I wrote emails to [email protected] and it’s been a couple of week but no response, and I also called 800-828-7797 and couldn’t get through (always saying high call volume try again later) ...

At least I haven't been able to get through RTW desk using 800-828-7797, instead it have been connecting to normal agents. The email [email protected]seems to work fine, I have got reply always in a working day.

THE BA RTW desk in Dublin closed some time ago. RTW reservations for RTW go through the regular res. number.

Starting in “Europe”
 

Preamble: Help please. I’m finding it difficult to arrange travel for the Euro 2020 football games and need to be in Baku (GYD) and Rome next summer. I’m thinking of buying a RTW ticket and using the remaining segments later in 20/21.

The question: is MAN-GYD via DOH, then GYD-FCO (again on QR via DOH) a valid starting itinerary before leaving FCO-JFK open dated for later travel...?

I would get back to the UK and return to Rome etc off ticket

delete

Thanks. I thought Doha & Baku counted as same (Euro/Mid East) zone and therefore Baku & Rome could be my two stopovers before departing for more distant climes? Hence no backtracking but maybe I’m wrong?

if that’s the case I’d be happy to go to Asia and return via N America. But would prefer the other direction of travel. More avios & Tp too !

In my response I am assuming your are considering purchasing a Oneworld RTW ticket. I'm further assuming you're looking at the Oneworld Explorer ticket which is the most common one (Oneworld's other RTW offering, the global Explorer has different rules)

Other Points:
- I see you are based in Wales
- QR also flies from Cardiff (CWL) and Birmingham (BHX) to Doha - one of those might be more convenient for you than Manchester
- The Oneworld Explorer fare rules are available on oneworld.com
- Happy planning :)

You are correct

[MENTION=563437]alex67500[/MENTION] seems to be mistakenly assuming that you are looking to redeem frequent flier miles for an award ticket; such redemptions will have their own rules, which may well include no backtracking

Mea culpa, I was actually under the impression that you had to keep going in one direction, and so that once in Baku, coming back to Rome would be illegal. I'll read the rules again...

The relevant rule is Manchester, Baku and Rome are all in the same continent (Europe/Middle East), so the backtracking is permitted

That is SO helpful and confirmed my thoughts. Even though I have three RTW tickets under my belt with various alliances RTW rules are not simple. Thanks again!