Having devoted the umpteenth call to AA in an attempt to stop them from screwing up my DONE5 yet again, I simply don't trust them to do the right thing anymore.

Does anyone know if I can get another OW airline to take over the booking an re-issue on their stock? Carriers included in the itin are BA, CX, QF, LA and my good friends at AA.

Thought I'd ask this question of the good sages of the OW board, given that I was flamed over on the AA board.

In theory any OW airline can reissue a OWE, but lately they have been reluctant to do so. Presuming you have a paper ticket originally issued on AA you can get it reissued by BA but they will charge you an extra free of USD50 on top of the OW USD75 reissue fee. CX will also do the reissue in the US but you have to deliver the ticket to them in person (or Fedex it); probably best to fax them a copy of the ticket first (they won't be able to see the stored image in their computer system). Be aware that all segments of your ticket will be vetted for compliance with current rules, and you may need to remind the airline for the rules in effect at the time of issue of your ticket if you are depending on any old rules (this checking for rule compliance is much more thorough than it was a year ago). I've found CX to be good to deal with as they are very thorough (but they will catch any problems in your routing if you happen to have any). QF is less reliable but also less likely to catch rule infringements. I try to get my reissues done in HKG now but that isn't useful if you don't pass through there frequently (by the same token avoid LHR at all costs for reissues).

Agree with #6. Any of the carriers can do it and I would suggest CX or QF as well. As far as not seeing the booking, it doesnt matter all that much. They can get the routing from the original ticket and they need to re-input it to price it anyway. If they make a big deal about not seeing the original routing then its only becasue they are too lazy to redo it. CX actually uses their head during a reissue from my experience. They will create an entirely new routing with your changes as if you are creating the ticket from scratch and then they compare the tax charges for the new ticket to the old and charge you the difference. I have been told QF does the same, though its more computerized. Been a while since QF touched one of my tickets, though. And he is also right that CX will catch any rule violations. They are very, very good at it. I would not do it with Lan Chile for two reasons. First, their ground staff is too stubborn. Second, they have not done them often enough so they dont know the rules.

Another airline cannot 'take over' an itinerary which AA has set up for you for the original reissue.

So to make things easier in that you don't hold double bookings and such, CANCEL your reissue with AA and rebook the entire itinerary with another Oneworld carrier - hopefully one that has at least a long haul flight in your itinerary. I find BA and CX very good with reissues. Yes both BA and CX seem to have less problems reissuing international tickets. Maybe its because they have hardly/no domestic flights.

Thanks for the advice. GuyBetsy I did think about doing what you suggest, but this was ticketed before prices went up ex CAI, so I suspect I'll be stung for the new rate. I also wondered what the impact of fuel surcharges would be.

Who/where are you dealing with at AA, and what are they doing to screw up your OWE? Considering price changes, it'd have to be pretty bad to scrap the thing and start over.

My recent experiences with AA have not been pleasant either, and I would need a compelling reason to book a new OWE with them, but it seems unlikely that you wouldn't be able to get them to toe the letter of the OWE rules. Get it straightened out with their rtw desk, and if necessary call back until you get someone who knows the rules or is willing to listen to you explain them. I hesitate to bug the one agent there who's eminently competent, since she's probably already handling everyone on FT, but that's always a recourse. Then the agent doing the re-issue need only follow what's been typed into the pnr by the desk.

A worse problem is when their rate desk gives the wrong pontification, since you can't deal with them yourself. A competent rtw agent will understand that problem, though, and deal with it.

Did Emeco issue your ticket? I just had them work with the RTW desk in Dublin to reprice my RTW. While I haven't gone to the airport yet to change it, the repricing has been done and I have been told the amount.

Yup EMECO did the original tix issue and were great. Problems kicked in when I changed a couple of segments requiring re-issue and this is where I had the misfortune to commence dealings with the AA office in Dublin.

So far they've:

* Cancelled segments I intend to fly without any reference to me, including my waitlisted segment to upgrade J to F on QF - this has happened three times now
* Booked economy segments in the wrong booking class (L rather than Y) - less serious than cancelling them but still an annoyance when it keeps happening and you find yourself having Groundhog Day conversations with res agents
* Plus I sent back the tickets for re-issue on the understanding that I'd get them back within 2-3 weeks. 2 months on... Nothing. Each time I call AA to ask when they intend to send them back I get told something different, ranging from "in the next week to 10 days" to "2 weeks before travel commences".

It's got to the point where I have to keep checking and cross-checking the itins on AA.com and checkmytip.com to make sure that nobody has gone in and interfered with the booking again.

JohnAx if you have any suggestions for someone reliable to deal with at AA Dublin please PM me.

I have completed 2 OW RTW and am nearing the end of my third. My experience has been that if there is any significant change, the only people that you should talk to is the AA RTW desk. They know the rules and can help you. I have even had the EXP desk and the RTW desk at the same time to have a problem resolved.

Can the Dublin AA office connect you with the AA RTW desk? If you have not used them, you might try them.

I used CX once for a RTW because they can computer print a 20 segment ticket. They issued the ticket and handled a routing change very efficently. The tax and change fee was calculated and I mailed the ticket in and it was reissued while I was in mid trip.

Good luck.

Thanks Rogodwin. After the first set of nonsense to come back from the AA DUB fares desk I went direct to the RTW desk and got them to send a message through.

What I fear more though is someone in DUB who thinks they know what they're doing and 'enhancing' my itinerary, as has happened several times so far.

This is my fifth RTW (all previous ones booked with BA or TA) and it's amazing how wrong it's all gone this time round. I appreciate these are difficult tickets to the uninitiated but if I tot up all the time I've had to spend getting AA DUB to do what they're meant to be doing it probably comes to at least 9-10 hours. Add time spent listening to the Four Seasons on hold to that and it's nearer 24 hours

Presumably you are on a DONEx or AONEx, in which case L is the correct booking class for most flights when A/D is not available. Y is only for some specific routes, such as AE one-class (regional) flights in the US and some other one-class flights. It is spelled out in the OWE rules as to which book into Y (very few); but if you downgrade from A to coach because of availability on other flights, it must be booked in L and not Y! This is one of the booking mistakes that will be caught in a re-issue if you switch carriers (so maybe staying with AA isn't so bad after all?). Perhaps not very nice of the rules to not allow Y when downgrading, but these are the rules you bought into. Often airlines will let you fly standby and book you into J/Y inventory when standing by at the gate, however that is a favour and not a rule you can depend on.

Sorry number_6 I wasn't being clear in my earlier post. The Y segments are being flown on LA domestic routes, where for first or business ONEs Y is the booking class which should be used.

AA's rate desk in DUB does not have the rules down pack. Only a *few* agents know what they're doing. EMECO had even issued a RTW when the fare was completely wrong and the fare calculation was done by DUB. EMECO just accepts what DUB prices out. When I saw the fare calculation, I emailed EMECO to highlight the fact and they had to queue the PNR off with my notes, and only then was the problem corrected.

I have had a few clients who wanted to reroute after the first segment from CAI. I simply put in the remarks that the client needed to reroute, please reprice from LHR.... DUB will then recalculate and get the PNR ready for reissue. THAT is the correct procedure. However, the agents there tend to leap before reading the itinerary and you'd have to explain everything in clear detail otherwise they think you're starting your journey in LHR! Yes they have returned messages saying that there is one segment too many and I needed to cancel one. Then I had to message them back to say that one segment was on waitlist - hence it shows 21 segments... yes it's like explaining things to a bunch of 5 year olds. Mind you, some 5 year olds know better.

I'm not saying that everyone in DUB is like this.. but it all depends on who you get and how the wording of your request for reissue is taken up. You need to detail everything out to the agent. IF the agent knows what you are talking about, he/she can spell it out to the rate desk and thus get this done properly. The DUB rate desk will usually not take calls from the public. So you'd need to communicate with the AA rep doing the booking for you.

Good luck.

Hi, if there is no A available (no First or just no availability), then remember to ensure that your entitlement to F/J is entered into your booking when confirming L. You should waitlist in the other higher classes as well. If the higher class becomes available prior to the flight then you will get the F/J. If it is last minute and at close out, then the airline should give you the seat over the op-ups as you are entitled, they are not.

I wish I knew this years ago. I do not know exactly how to do it but you need to ask reservations to ensure that they have DONE it. I can ask the potential Mrs. Spotwelder how to do it if you need more details.

Spotwelder

spotwelder if you can ask the missus I'm sure the info would be useful to FT'ers, especially when I've read a few horror stories about LA denying original booking class entitlement.