QANTAS are being difficult ... any suggestions, please.
 

I am in the middle of booking my very first LONE5. Itenerary is:

PER-LHR ... HEL-NYC ... DFW-SCL ... SCL-LAXx-BKK-AKL-SYD-PER

I am confident this is okay, but yesterday the travel agent (who seems efficient) tells me I can't back track through NA - we all know you can. Following discussions with QANTAS, she confirms that backtrack through NA is okay, but QANTAS says I can't do it because I am also backtracking through Asia ... ie you can do one or the other, but not both :confused: I have copied the fares rules below - I don't see a problem. The question is being escalated within QANTAS, so I am hopeful for a positive outcome.

Grateful for you views on (a) correct interpretation and (b) what do I do if QANTAS still says NO? The only option I can think of is asking the Travel Agent to get another OW carrier to ticket it?

Thanks in anticipation! :)

C)ONLY ONE INTERCONTINENTAL DEPARTURE AND ONE
INTERCONTINENTAL ARRIVAL IS PERMITTED IN EACH
CONTINENT - EXCEPT AS FOLLOWS:
1)TWO PERMITTED IN NORTH AMERICA WHEN ONE IS A
TRANSFER WITHOUT STOPOVER. NOTE: TRAVEL BETWEEN
USA AND CANADA IS NOT CONSIDERED INTERNATIONAL;
2)TWO PERMITTED IN ASIA WHEN ONE IS A TRANSFER
WITHOUT STOPOVER OR ON DIRECT SINGLE PLANE
SERVICES BETWEEN THE SOUTH WEST PACIFIC AND
EUROPE;
3)FOR TRAVEL TO/FROM OR VIA GHANA OR NIGERIA
TWO PERMITTED IN EUROPE WHEN ONE IS A TRANSFER
WITHOUT STOPOVER BETWEEN GHANA/NIGERIA AND
ANOTHER CONTINENT.

Only option for you is to issue PER-LHR on CX or BA and ask CX or BA to issue it. BA however may ask you to issue ith QF since their presence in Australia is limited to codeshare agreements with QF. So CX may be the only choice.

AFAIK, agents have to comply with issuing with the first outbound carrier. In real terms, one is not restricted to that, but in the TA world, one can only do as much as the airlines allow. Doesn't matter what WE say as to the rules etc, it's up to the issuing airline to interpret the rules they see fit as to maximise their bottom line.

Thanks, good advice. Fortunately, the TA has been advised by QF that routing is okay :) Bad news: the itinerary prepared by the TA has four of the flights out of order and has missed one all together ... despite being given a copy of the full itinerary produced by the CX Timetable Pgm :mad: Now waiting to get final quote (which will of course be wrong) and TA is on leave on Monday, back on Tuesday :mad: Meanwhile, I need to get this thing ticketed quickly so I can upgrade a couple of flights where I know there is some availablity. BTW TA is part of a very very big chain in Australia (you can probably guess who).

Question is, do I give up on this TA - three strikes etc. I have two concerns ... the need to ticket quickly (as mentioned before) and a concern about how effecient this TA will be in the future (all my flight are open dated ... so there will be a need to have an ongoing relationship.

Also, if I decide to abandon this TA, do I go for another one or just go straight to QF or CX.

Any advice gratefully received :)

I am in the middle of getting my AONE4 organised and did it through a TA online. Went through this TA for an upcoming trip to BKK and Hanoi, did a good job for me there so shopped around first then went back. He booked all my flights first. Least got the ole saying of Bum on seat before the arguements start with QF. They say that LHR-VIE-LHR-DXB-LHR is two continents. Got my TA arguing the fact :D and if need be go to BA. Good luck with your planning, my TA gave the right advice at the right time, and FT forum with lots of reading gave the rest.

If this 'very big chain' is who I think it is, then I think you should be OK. I realise time may be important with price rises, but they generally have to get everything confirmed with their ticket office (which you normally don't have access to anyway). If everything is OK, and you've given the go-ahead, then they may take a day or 2 to do the taxes and so forth.

Did you work out the route or did you TA work it out? With some basic reading and help from the experts here, I suggest you work out the route, make sure it's OK. Once that's done, just say to the TA, book this by this date. If not, just go to another company or just another branch.

For your circumstances, I suggest you check progress with another agent (at the same branch) on Monday (or even today). Then do the rest ASAP, and make it clear to the agent that you want it on the quick.

(I'd a similar situation earlier when I booked my ticket. I wanted to avoid the most recent round of fuel surcharge, so I hurried my process and told my TA to ticket it ASAP. From there, it was done in about 2 days. I told my TA to hurry it up due to the surchage coming in, she didn't have a problem with that. Now, your circumstance is slightly different, I think it's the base price that's changing, so I don't know whether it'll affect the agent's commission. So be careful...)

open dated relationship
 

Why do you need to keep the relationship going for open dated tickets. Just give the carrier a ring and quote your PNR reference and get a confirmation of seat availability/waitlist. Now if it was as easy as that then the carriers could form an alliance and work together to bring global benefits to their passengers.

Ah, an airborne swine has just passed the window.

You will probaby not need to call you TA in Australia just to confirm a flight.

As for the DXB and VIE being different continents, yes, they are but not as far as the xONEx ticket is concerned, Middle East and Europe are lumped together. And we all know that Egypt is actually in Europe don't we.... :p

Leumas - thanks for the good advice. I did visit the TA today and spoke with another consultant - she was pretty good and sorted everything, although I was alarmed when she admitted to me that they operate on the assumption that backtracking is not allowed, "... but sometimes the airline will let them do it." Oi - its simple - the rules aren't even abiguous. May main concern is for others who haven't discovered thw wealth of knowledge that exists HERE. BTW, thanks to all those who have helped with my annoying questions ^ .

The injustice is that the consultant that helped me today won't get any of the Commission ... it all goes to the original consultant :(

In answer to your question, I worked it out myself and gave them a full printed itinerary - I didn't check it here, but I have certainly asked question where necessary ... and in the end it turns out that it is valid. Lets hope its all smooth flying from here!