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!