DONE4 ex-BKK - some experiences
 

Just finished ticketing my DONE4 ex-BKK - my 4th I think and 2nd ex-BKK. Though I would share some experiences:

• I found and used a great TA - very good prices, excellent grasp of English, very responsive via email, quick turnaround (eg ticketing before Apr 15), and always followed through - I am happy to share her contact details if you PM me
• routing was BKK-KHG-MEL-SYD-MEL-LAX-JFK-DFW-LAX-DFW-RDU..RIC-LAX-LHR-HEL-LHR-DXB-LHR-HKG-DPS-HKG-BKK
• reservation made with AA RTW desk
• first reply from TA was that the airlines were saying my routing was not valid because I was stopping in MEL twice and they said I am only allowed once - clearly incorrect
• second reply confirmed that MEL was not a problem but itinerary was invalid as I was backtracking through LAX
• at this point I replied I didn't know which airlines she was dealing with but they clearly did not know what they were talking about - my thought was they were looking at DGLOBxx rules and not DONEx rule
• she replied saying she had been working with BA/QF
• I informed her that the reservation had been made with the AA RTW desk and validated an rated by them, so there should be no problem. I suggested she work with the AA ticketing agent instead of BA/QF
• this worked as the itinerary was fine and stopovers were confirmed for purposes of calculation of taxes - with one change - AA apparently insisted that for them to issue the ticket I had to change QF 93 to AA7349 - which I didn't care about

I must say that I had similar problems last year with QF in BKK having no idea about RTW rules and randomly making rules up - I had to work with the QF Premium desk in Australia to put notations in the PNR to the effect that routing is valid. I don't really blame the TAs - can't really expect them to know the rules. And it seems that unlike in Australia where the TA themselves issued the ticket, in BKK the TAs have to work through one of the airlines to issue tickets - is this correct?

Also, although I assume the AA7349 change is due to some internal AA requirement that a trans-oceanic segment be with them, I find it odd that on a ticket valid on any OW carrier, they would insist on this - because the day after ticketing I can easily change it back to QF93???

DONE 5 out of BKK
 

Doing something similar to yourself in May.

Would greatly appreciate degtails of your TA.

In your experience is it better or worse to go directly to an airline and book via them?

PNM

The convention is that the first carrier usually does the ticket issue. If you specifically avoid the first carrier for issuing the ticket, then the one you choose may (and rightly so) only do the ticket issue if they get a fair bit of business out of your RTW - such as a Trans Pacific sector (hence the AA substituting for QF).

I am somewhat guilty with a soon to commence *A RTW in that TG issued the ticket but the only business they get is BKK-HKG (as first flight). In spite of that, they happily and efficiently have done the hack work.

I have used the AA office in BKK for RTW ticket issues 4 or 5 times in the last few years after booking with US RTW desk. They have always been knowledgeable and efficient. Just there a few days ago for a ticket issue and it was all finished in 30 minutes or so.

I will PM your TA details.

I think it is essential to book first with an airline and then ticket - trying to do it from scratch with a TA would be futile as most don't have enough (any) knowledge of RTW rules). My main reason for going with a TA to ticket is that in BKK at least most of them offer a discount off the published price - 3-7%. As hvd points out later, the experience may be equally pleasant dealing with the airlines agent in the city - many have done so in CAI. I can't comment as I haven't done this so far.

DONE 5 out of BKK
 

Thanks for the data.
^

Good BKK TA from scratch
 

I used Chawla Travel for my last AONE ticket. They knew the rules perfectly, weren't fazed at all with my weird routings, and came to my room at the hotel to pay for the tickets rather than making me trawl through town. Highly recommended.

http://www.chawlatravel.com/

The agent I used this week for a ATW ticket ex-BKK is having the ticket sent out by DHL; far better than having to waste time going to an airline office/agent just to collect tickets ( or even having to stopover at all before connecting onwards )

Dave

That's interesting - how did you pay for the ticket? My experience has been that BKK TA's are very sensitive about getting signed charge slips. Apparently in the past there has been quite a bit of c/c fraud originating in that part of the world, and the intermediary banks wanted no part of an unsubstantiated charge.

My one experience having QF issue an OWE was so annoying they've gone to the bottom of my list. Their rate desk started by insisting that the milk run from CNS to GLT, which stops 3 or 4 times, was going to cost me 3 or four segments. How can one begin to do business with a company with a rate agent with such flimsy knowledge of the rules?

Even when issued through an Australian agent, an airline is involved in the issue process. Normally an Australian TA is going to use QF for that process. And yes, I have plenty of stories of needing to advise the TA of the rules when the airline has not understood them properly.

But occasionally the airline and TA can make a mistake and issue a ticket that is not completely in compliance with the rules. When that happens, you just keep quiet, ensure you don't need to have the ticket re-issued (until after the mistake segment) and enjoy the benefits of the mistake ;) (maybe some more on that topic when I complete this DONE4).

As for the need to include AA for MEL-LAX, that is due to revenue allocation. The various airlines are allocated a percentage of the overall fare based on the proportion of miles flown on each airline. So by changing to the AA codesahre, AA gets a bigger proportion of the renevue from the fare. Probably a good penalty against QF for not doing the right thing with the ticket issue in teh first place.

It was paid with VISA. I held an option with AA ( so had the itinery all validated) and then emailed him the routing. He confirmed that all was ok and the price , I emailed him the credit card details and he issued the tickets. Then he charged the DHL cost to the VISA and posted them over.

I don't see that there is too much of a fraud risk ( and assumendly he doesn't :) ) when the credit cardholder is travelling and when then tickets are being posted to the address registered for the cardholder.

A very handy TA in BKK imo

Dave