Has anyone tried the BA office in Jo'burg?

I once did the online option, years ago. The first segment was on Jordanian, and the ticket was issued as AA. It worked and I had used the ticket partially, but when I wanted to make changes with the AA rtw desk in the US the rate desk wouldn't make any changes without collecting a difference due to my credit card address outside Jordan (which they must have seen on their system). I know others have had better experiences in this regard, but it did happen to me.

Let's see if I have this right. You buy a OWE ticket online originating outside of the U.S. AA is the ticketing agent and accepts payment on your US credit card.

You later contact AA to make a change and they ask for the difference between the US fare and the ex-US fare.

I find this really scary!

Yes, but the correct way to put it is: "You later contact AA to make a change and they ask for the difference between the ex-US fare and the ex-JORDAN fare".

You should bear in mind that in the vast of majority of cases reported here, people have had no problem in a similar situation. I happened to be in Jordan at the moment of ticketing but AA said they had no record of this. I bought the ticket on-line because Royal Jordanian would have nothing to do with it. The problem was never resolved -- I simply flew the ticket as issued. At this point, I don't even remember clearly, but I think they did allow me to change dates. I did not have any problems with a similar ticket physically issued in Qatar by an AA agent at around the same time. I always use US credit cards, although I do not have residence there and the US is actually irrelevant to my travels except as an intermediate point. AA didn't want to know.

Tip: Amex does not verify the billing country ...

No Show Fee
 

The rules suggest that a no show fee is 125USD for rebooking. If I do not show up for a flight and then call to make changes to my itinerary, will I be charged this amount once or twice?

Hi,

Forgive me if this has been covered - but I've run in to some issues booking a RTW fare with oneworld and I'm really starting to worry as the flight dates are fast approaching - perhaps somebody out there has some advice?!

The booking was made via the oneworld RTW booking tool. It was made on 30th December, and an email was issued saying my reservations were confirmed and that I would receive e-tickets from TAM.

It has now been over a week, and there hasn't been any word from TAM, and after checking my statement today, it also seems that the payment that was 'confirmed' on the oneworld site has not actually left my account.

My main worry is that I've read it can take time to sort all of this out, and our fist flight is 'reserved' (but currently not ticketed) for the 4th Feb.

Every time I speak to TAM the advisors tell me that my that they can see my reservations (for all of our RTW segments), but that there are no tickets attached to it at all, and that they cannot attach them?

So ... I've read before about people having issues with the online system actually getting the ticketing done, and issues with payments made online not actually being made, but from what I can see thats been with other issuing airlines like BA or AA - does anybody have any experience of TAM sorting out RTW fares?

I've no idea why the tickets are issued by TAM to be honest. Our first 5 flights are all with LAN, not TAM, and although I know they are the same parent company the booking systems are apparently completely unrelated. The guys at LAN have been able to confirm, for example, that we have seats reserved on a flight from Santiago to Easter Island, but that we don't have any tickets that match the reservation, which has puzzled me and the staff at the airline. The guys at TAM keep going round in circles and passing me between departments without much at all happening. Its been 3/4 days of calls now, and I've (again) been told that somebody will be in touch within 24 hours to sort it out, though I'm not holding my breath.

Anyway. Can anybody advise what I could / should do? Anybody hear of similar issues or know how such a problem can be sorted? Can I simply ask for this whole reservation to be cancelled and try another booking via the oneworld website in the hope that it works this time?

Welcome to FlyerTalk RTWrun

The first point is that flight reservations and flight tickets are completely separate systems. It's very easy to create a flight reservation but ticketing it is a different matter.

In this context a "confirmed reservation" means it is not a "waitlisted reservation". Space has been reserved for you on this flight. It is not the payment or the ticket that is confirmed, which is a separate process.

RTW tickets are priced by hand, so the procedures are different for a ticket that will be priced and issued automatically by a computer process. I have no idea what the Christmas season is like in Brazil but it may be a few days before the ticketing team are back to working on this.

Did you try asking for the round the world desk or the ticketing desk?

Thanks Calchas, I'd pretty much figured that the reservation system and the ticketing system are separate - but I had assumed that booking via the oneworld website, and putting in all of my card details at the time of booking, would result in reservations and etickets being issued. Clearly I was wrong.

I guess the good thing in all of this is that our actual seats on the planes are reserved, so even if it does day a few more days to sort out the actual e-tickets, we wont end up in a situation where we lose out on those.

Also, you mention that the RTW fares will be priced by hand - does this mean that the price I was quoted online, and had assumed to already pay by putting in my card details, could change?

Also, to answer your question, when I've called TAM to check whether it was just a delay because of Christmas & New Year (as I had figured initially), they have repeatedly just said that they don't know what the problem is and told me that they do not have a RTW team whenever I have asked. The last guy I spoke to said a special department will be in touch within 24 hours to fix the error, so here's hoping that happens - if not I'm starting to worry there is nobody in the company who can actually sort it!

Cheers again & looking forward to more answers and insights :)

Airline insurance surcharge
 

Just after some help with fees/taxes for a DONE 4 from Johannesburg. I get the following from the online booking tool. First segment is with BA to London.

Please could someone tell me what the ZAR 8,690 Airline Insurance Surcharge relates to. Is this because BA is the first segment, any ways around this. In 2009 I booked through AA Mindpearl but I understand that is no longer an option?

Many thanks

621.00 ZAR Australia Passenger Movement Charge:
486.00 ZAR BEEB:
568.00 ZAR Embarkation Fee -BRAZIL:
85.00 ZAR Finland - Security Charge - Domestic and International:
232.00 ZAR Peru International Arrival Tourism Tax:
18.72 ZAR South Africa Passenger Safety Charge:
148.00 ZAR Finland - Passenger Fee - International:
289.00 ZAR ISAE:
381.00 ZAR Airport Services Charge for Spain:
10.00 ZAR OGCO:
155.00 ZAR Argentina Customs and Immigration Services Tax:
197.00 ZAR Domestic Head Tax - Australia:
197.00 ZAR Domestic Head Tax - Australia:
63.00 ZAR Security Tax for Spain:
155.00 ZAR Argentina Security Tax:
513.00 ZAR UK Passenger Service Charge:
24.00 ZAR UMSE:
190.00 ZAR Air Passenger Tax for South Africa:
124.00 ZAR Australia Baggage Screening Tax - Departure:
655.00 ZAR Australian Passenger Service Charge:
882.00 ZAR Argentina Airport Tax:
20.00 ZAR XUAV:
8,690.00 ZAR Airline Insurance Surcharge:
3,577.00 ZAR Multiple Carrier Surcharges/Fees:
346.00 ZAR Passenger Service Charge for South Africa:
464.00 ZAR International Departure Tax for Chile:
111.00 ZARZUDP:
19,201.72 x 1 = 19,201.72 ZAR

I suspect that it is shorthand for "Airline Fuel and Insurance Surcharge" also known as YQ. And many other unpublishable names in the minds of frequent flyers.

Happy wandering

Fred

Yes it sounds like a combined YQ and YR line

Hi All,

Have OneWorld closed the Australia - Europe stopover issue?

Previously if one flew Australia - (Asia) - Europe that was considered a stop over even though the stop in Asia/Middle East was considered transit to say it is two continents as opposed to three?

It isn't a stopover issue, but rather xONEx has a minimum continent count of 4 if the itinerary includes any flight directly between Europe or Middle East and Australia. Originally there was only QF & BA between SYD/MEL and LHR, but now of course there is also QF between SYD/MEL and DXB, and QR flies to Australia too from AUH DOH.

And yes, it still applies.

BA still flies LHR-SIN-SYD. I don't see them changing the AU-EU counts as transiting Asia rule while BA keeps that flight. Even if BA did drop the flight, I don't see QF or QR agreeing to change the rule. They'd earn more per sector from a xONE4 then an xONE3.

This is intentional, I don't think it will be going away.