Some questions about DONE5 itinerary
 

I have put together and booked a DONE5 for my parents originating in JNB, going to Australia, South & North America, Europe and back to Africa. I wonder if the experts could answer some questions:

Unfortunately, there is no D availability on the JNB-SYD flight with QF, so they are not booked in Y. I know the rules are quite clear about this, but has anybody been able to get around this problem before? If so, how could it be done? It is quite annoying buying a DONE5 with only 5 intercontinentals in true international business class, and then to not be able to use one. JNB-PER is not an option as the flight is operated by SAA.

Just can you confirm that I am correct about these two issues:
- Changes to date/time are permitted and unlimited, subject to availability
- Changes to routing, cities (anything other than date/time) is permitted with a US$75.00 fee per transaction and subject to availability. What exactly does per transaction indicate?

I have some lounge questions as well. If there is a better thread about this, please direct me as appropriate. My father is Gold and mother Silver.
- JNB (for SYD flight), can they use the SAA lounges or should they use BA Terraces?
- In Australia, can they use the Qantas Club lounges as business class pax, or is it the same deal as the AA Clubs? Does there BA status help?
AKL (for SCL flight), is there a LAN lounge or can one use the Qantas Club?
- Are there any lounges in EZE, LIM or CUZ?
- AMS, Iberia lounge?

Sorry if these questions are tedious. The most important is the JNB-SYD cattle class problem, so if anyone sees any way around that... thanks you!

That is correct. A transaction means one set of changes to the ticket. In other words, if you change a ticket, it doesn't matter if you make one change or a hundred changes, it's still $75 as long as the changes are made at the same time.

I don't personally, without adding Asia and going through Hong Kong, but maybe someone else will. One possibility is if they are willing to go the other direction. That would change the date which might open up some availability.

Good luck.

You'll have to tell us in which scheme for us to be able to do anything with this information! :)

Sorry! The world's favorite airline of course... British Airways, the only way to fly.

Could one also find D availability in another country, and then change the ticket to seat my parents in business, by calling the respective OW office in said country? I ask because I know availability of certain fare buckets seems to vary from country to country.

This ticket was built in AMS but will be ticketed/paid for in JNB. Which country of the two will determine availability?

Well in that case, as a BA Gold flying on a OneWorld flight your father can use the best available OneWorld lounge (including Qantas Clubs, Admirals Clubs) at the departure airport and can bring your mother as his guest. He can also use BA lounges even if he is flying on another airline (though I can't remember if he can bring a guest in that case).

I'm not aware that D availability varies particularly by country. Who do you plan to do the ticketing with in JNB? BA or QF. You might have some success if you went to QF in JNB and said that you would like to do the ticketing through them but it is dependent on them making seats available on the required flight.

By the way, if D is unavailable then then I believe (although I am not 100% sure) that they need to be booked into L, not Y. That is certainly the case if you use a DONEn on a flight which doesn't offer business or first class (with the exception of American Eagle, where it is Y).

Availablity of seats for ONE's is based upon the booking class, in this case D. I do not believe that D class availability varies by country. Those that do vary have their own specific booking class and is not valid for ONE fares.

By the way, you do know that South Africa is one of the more expensive places to start a DONE5. Starting in Zambia or Zimbabwe, just a comair flight to connect in JNB will save thousands of US dollars.

In JNB, QF use the SAA lounge although I don't see any problems with them using the BA lounge. My guess is that the SAA lounge would be closer to QF allocated gate. More information can be found here: http://www.qantas.com.au/info/flying...cations/africa

As BA Silver and Gold customers, they have automatic entry to Qantas Clubs throughout Australia. The only people who do not get entry to Qantas clubs are non Sapphire/Emerald customers who fly in J and are not coming from or going to a connecting International flight. Enjoy the lounges!

In AKL you would be using the Qantas Club. More information on the NZ based lounges can be found here:

http://www.qantas.com.au/info/flying...ons/newZealand

To be fair, I think you will find QF lounges pretty much up there with the best. I believe the only better lounges are the pier in HKG operated by CX.

I hope your parents enjoy their journey!

I think according to the rules, and from what I have read here, DONEx tickets book into full fare Y when D is not available,

(My own bolding, and sorry about the formatting, it kept deleting my spaces)

I suppose "not offered" could mean if there is no cabin. But as of now, my parents are unfortunately booked into Y. My father is trying to call around, and my mum will go beg and plead at the QF office (same office as BA actually).

Yes, I know, and I have told them. But they wanted to start in JNB anyway. :rolleyes:

It's booked into L not Y.

Not offered means that the plane doesn't have that cabin. You are looking at an involuntary downgrade and not a "not offered".

It would also allow them to book the JNB-SYD segment in D with an open date, make a reservation in the Y cabin, and then change it to D if the room opens up at some other point.

Or even waitlist D on multiple days and have a confirmed eco seat on one day, then call them. Using this method i was able to get seats in the past.

I think you're right about the "offered" part. However, the BA agent specifically told me my parents were booked into full fare Y.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will let my parents know.

The BA agent can book them into whatever code they feel like - that's not the issue (reservations and ticketing are two separate things). The crunch could come at two points: when it is sent to ticketing for pricing (almost certainly not in JNB), or when you come to check-in. I would go with the advice to make absolutely sure the ticket is issued in D (with an open date or any other date after the desired one which can be confirmed) and then keep trying to get the reservation on the date you want. If you can get L confirmed on the date you want then do so.

No Open Date for First Sector
 

If the first flight of this DONE5 is JNB-SYD, then the rules require that a date be fixed for this sector. The only workaround that I can see is for mum/dad to have some flexibility with their departure date so as to allow QF to confirm availability in D.

Otherwise, it is not a nice beginning of a DONE5 in QF 'why' class...