DONE4 EX WAW - Success(almost)
 

Hi,

As some of you may be aware I have been trying to arrange my DONE4 EX WAW for several weeks now and I must say it was a little bit of a hassle.

However, after trying to get the ticket through travel agents, AA and even trying through my Polish builder - I have almost successfuly managed to get the ticket through BA in Poland.

Details:

BA in Poland will be happy to organise the ticket BUT will not accept an external credit card therefore one must pay through Wire Transfer. I did this but not before I called BA in the UK to verify the Polish Bank details. The transfer took a week.

The price for a DONE4 in Poland is 19160 ZLN - I asked if they had converted this from $ but was assured that this is the list price.

The good news is (possibly) that they can (for a small comission of £26) issue the ticket in the UK - Mine is waiting to be issued at Terminal 1.

As the Lady I talked to was so friendly in Poland I asked if I could recomend her to you all and she said she would be delighted to deal with anyone who wants to book a XONEX ex WAW. Her Name is Kate and the BA Number is + 48 22 529 9000

QUERY
I would be grateful if someone could tell me if this takes longer than a regular ticket and if I should be aware of anything as I will be flying on Friday and would like to pick up my ticket then?

Also would it be possible to pick up the ticket of my partner as well? or will she have to go herself?

Finally, would it be possible to get my ticket issued in London (at another BA office) if it turns out I am running late on Friday?

I hope this information is useful and please let me know if you have any queries.

J

When you get ticketed and have time, would you be so kind as to let us know your itinerary and how much the taxes came to? Thanks.

Route & Taxes
 

Hi,

Route:

WAW-LHRx-GIG-SCLx-LIM-SCL-AKL-SYD-NRT-HKG-BKK//TLV-LHR-WAW.

I am aware I have several more options/possibilities but this is not a mileage run rather a pleasure trip with the other half as we have both taken a year out of the corporate struggle.

In addition, I have nailed all my dates to AKL and left the rest open - I will report back regarding the pros and cons of this.

TAX - 1263pln - I guess that is quite high but as I mentioned this is a fun trip.

All in all it seems that a few phone calls + a cheap flight to Warsaw has saved us each £1500 - well worth it

J

go Jonnny go!
 

This sounds exactly like what I'm trying to do!! I plan on starting a pleasure trip around the world with my girlfriend in december, and we're going to follow in your footsteps. I'd love to chat with you off this board to discuss itinerary, tickets, budget etc... Please drop me an email!

It's interesting that BA interperets the purchasing rules to allow you to take possession of the tickets in the U.K. and on the other hand denies you the opportunity to pay for them with a c/c. Strange world. Works just the opposite at BA/CAI.

Taxes translate to USD353, in my mind reasonable for a DONE4, albeit not using all the segments. I did one using CX at CMB a month ago and they got nearly twice as much for taxes. It was A, tho' I doubt that makes much difference, and used all 20 segments, which of course adds up a bit. Too many passes through LHR, I suppose.

Since you've paid your money, the tickets should be waiting for you to pick up in a flash, but you'd best try to talk directly with the office that has them in hand. If a person still has to write the tickets, or convince the machine to print them, the time can vary from a few minutes (skilled person with cooperative machine) to hours or more.

If you paid for the tickets I see no reason why they won't hand you both sets. But as usual the person who has them in hand gets to make that decision, so it's another thing to ask to avoid a wasted trip.

Hi,

Thanks for the Answers/Questions -

mycombs - I have sent you a PM

Just to add to the delights of xDONEx ticketing I arrived 'relatively' early for my flight at LHR T4 and asked the lady at BA ticketing if she could issue me with the ticket - at first she smiled and said 'not a problem'. Then she saw my ticket and came up with an excuse that it was to complicated and did not want to make a mistake and that I should go to T1'

As I had a bit of time I jumped on the LHR Express and popped over to T1 - Which had a dedicated Club ticketing booth - the lady there said that it would take little while and didnt recommend for it to be done as I might miss my flight. She then asked 'why did you come here - as it could have been done in T4'?!?

Anyway I have decided to wait till I get back to LON and get it issued in Piccadily - so still 'ALMOST' a success story

J

Almost got a prize
 

Well, you have been the first to send money that way so I guess you get a prize but only when you have actually DONE the Piccadilly trip and got the print out.

Prizes for ex-WAW can be collected from any JenBel arranged London drinking sessions (see BA EC threads).

Still working on ex-TIP for the longhaul tickets. Strange how ba.com does not want to price ex-TIP to the US. :D

Good to hear you have made progress. I am still sitting on my DONE4 as I have raised a query with Rod Eddington's office about (1) not being able to pay in WAW with a UK issed CC and (2) BA in the UK refusing to sell me the ex-WAW ticket at the ex-WAW price in the UK.

I'll drop you a PM as I want to check the Account number BA have provided me with.

As I read them, the rules would appear to say that you'd pay the ex-UK price if you buy a xONEx ticket in the UK and the first (international) flight is from Poland:

Your reading of the rules are correct, however, there is a belief that this rule contraves European Union law. There is a thread running on the BA Forum that discuss the legal arguments in detail.

A fundemental foundation of the EU is the free movement of goods and services. The belief is that by raising the price of an ex-WAW ticket to the ex-UK price that BA (and many other airlines) are contravening EU law.

Thanks for the pointer, Gaza: a very interesting discussion indeed.

Success at last!!!
 

Hi all,

Well I am back in London and decided to pop into BA in Central London to pick up my two DONE4 ex WAW tickets.

I had a feeling this wouldn't be a straight forward thing and amazingly, the first thing I was told was that I had to pay the UK price for them to issue the ticket(yeh right).

With a short explanation that I had already paid for the tickets I was told that they could not (would not?) issue prepaid tickets and I would have to go to LHR T1. As I didnt feel like taking the two hour round journey to the airport I was told that for a fee(bribe?) of £25 they would issue it there.

So I forked out the money and exactly 3 minutes later the tickets were in my hand - a nice wad of BA coupons with the PLN price on them.

So the question which needs to be asked - Was it all worth it? The hassle of trying to get the cheaper tickets?

The answer must be a resounding YES. Not only did the two tickets with taxes only cost me £6300 (A saving of over £3000) but I also through the process discovered Flyertalk. I have to admit that I am now an addict and would like to thank everyone who helped me get the ticket.

Cheers

J

Congratulations!
 

Excellent news indeed. Many thanks for the pioneering work on the ex-WAW ticket. I wonder if Gardyloo got his done yet...

I'm currently rethinking my own DONE4 so as to start in WAW, and this is certainly a great encouragement. SkyEurope is offering one-way AMS-WAW fares for as low as 25 euros, so getting to WAW is no problem. I could also start burning those KL miles I have stored.

Anyway, the final wrinkle for me is the payment by wire transfer. I'd much rather put it on my BA Diners card, as I'd be loath to miss out on the 5,600 miles I'd get.

Happy travels!

Congratulations all around
 

Congratulations to johnny for tilting against the BA windmills and winning, and especially to WearyBizTrvlr for being among the .004% of FTers who know the difference between loath and loathe.

No because Gardyloo (actually, it's a group effort :rolleyes: ) is still unclear if the point of departure is going to be Poland or Istanbul. Trying to hook up with a friend who's working in Pristina; it may be that getting to IST is easier for him than going west. Or it may not work at all because of his travel/work schedule. Need to find out one of these days. But good on ya johnny - I believe you are the official winner of Spotwelder's challenge - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=345557. Now what was the prize?