Thought this would be more relevant on OW board as it is more of an international travel forum and perhaps more used to the intracacies of international ticketing and IATA rules.

So, there is a fare that exists from EZE-MAD in B class on AA base fare BLXE6M for 1491 USD. here is the intinerary I am able to get in ITA using this fare basis.

EZE-xDFW-EWR (stop in EWR)
EWR-xDFW-LGW (stop in LON)
LHR-xMAD-xMIA-EWR (stop in EWR)
EWR-xDFW-EZE

American would not let me ticket it saying that i cant go through EWR and Amex Plat Travel's system would not take it.

1) is this fare not ticketable?
2) any travel agents out there willing to ticket this fare, and if so how are you able to do it when I can't get it from the airline?

thanks.

Here are the ITA details:
++++++++++++++++++
American Airlines Flight AA996
Departs Buenos Aires, Argentina (EZE) Mon, Sept 19 9:30p
Arrives Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) Tue, Sept 20 6:25a
1 adult in booking code B, covered by fare (A1) below
Layover in Dallas/Fort Worth 2 hrs 58 min
American Airlines Flight AA560 on a MD-80 (jet) in coach class
Departs Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) Tue, Sept 20 9:23a
Arrives Newark, NJ (EWR) 1:43p
1 adult in booking code B, covered by fare (A1) below

American Airlines Flight AA1447
Departs Newark, NJ (EWR) Mon, Oct 3 2:25p
Arrives Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) 5:04p
1 adult in booking code B, covered by fare (A1) below
Layover in Dallas/Fort Worth 1 hr 56 min
American Airlines Flight AA78
Departs Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) Mon, Oct 3 7:00p
Arrives London, United Kingdom (LGW) Tue, Oct 4 10:10a
1 adult in booking code B, covered by fare (A1) below

Iberia Airlines Iberia Airlines Flight IB3167
Departs London, United Kingdom (LHR) Sun, Oct 9 6:50p
Arrives Madrid, Spain (MAD) 10:10p
1 adult in booking code B, covered by fare (A1) below
American Airlines Flight AA69
Departs Madrid, Spain (MAD) Mon, Oct 10 11:45a
Arrives Miami, FL (MIA) 3:15p
1 adult in booking code B, covered by fare (A2) below
Layover in Miami 4 hrs 52 min
American Airlines Flight AA978
Departs Miami, FL (MIA) Mon, Oct 10 8:07p
Arrives Newark, NJ (EWR) 11:04p
1 adult in booking code B, covered by fare (A2) below

American Airlines Flight AA1327
Departs Newark, NJ (EWR) Wed, Mar 8 11:16a
Arrives Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) 2:11p
1 adult in booking code B, covered by fare (A2) below
American Airlines Flight AA997
Departs Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) Wed, Mar 8 7:35p 10 hrs 39 min
Arrives Buenos Aires, Argentina (EZE) Thur, Mar 9 9:14a
1 adult in booking code B, covered by fare (A2) below

Booking details
If you want to buy this ticket, it's probably best to use a travel agent (this ticket involves multiple airlines, which can get complicated). If you use a travel agent to buy this ticket:

* If your travel agent is online and has an e-mail address, e-mail this itinerary to them
* If your travel agent is not online, print out this page and fax/give it to them

It is very important to use exactly the same booking codes and fare codes that we've used on this page in order to match the price we've found.

Fare (A1): AA BUEMAD BLXE6M fare NUC 745.50
Tax: Argentina Ticket Tax $37.28
Fare (A2): AA MADBUE BLXE6M fare NUC 745.50
Tax: Argentina Ticket Tax $37.28
Tax: Argentina Security Tax $2.50
Tax: Argentina Immigration Tax $10.00
Tax: United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge �11.90
Tax: United Kingdom Air Passengers Duty �20.00
Tax: US International Arrival Tax $28.20
Tax: Spanish Security Tax �1.37
Tax: Spanish Departure Tax �6.45
Tax: US Customs Fee $10.00
Tax: US Immigration Fee $14.00
Tax: USDA APHIS Fee $9.90
Tax: US September 11th Security Fee $10.00
Tax: US Passenger Facility Charge $15.00
Tax: US International Departure Tax $28.20
Total for 1 adult passenger: $1760.26
(as of Wednesday, August 31, 2005 4:53pm)

I am no travel agent, much less a guru, but after buying a ton of South America - Europe round trips, on very similar AA fares, I consider myself a minor expert on the matter.

IMO, the basic problem with your itinerary is that by going to LON, and merely connecting in MAD, Sabre is, in efect, pricing it as an EZE-LON fare, not EZE-MAD, and since LON is a higher fare point from EZE the result is a no-no, because that fare is not available to LON.

You have 3 options:

1. Find a creative TA to ticket this for you and pay the fee.
2. Forget MAD and price it on aa.com to LON, where it will cost ~$1650
3. Forget LON and price it on aa.com to MAD, where it will cost $1491

There is a 4th option, calling AA and talking to an agent, but unless your itineray is a plain vanilla EZE-MIA/DFW-Europe it will all end up being an exercise in frustration and a total waste of time. Most AA agents don't have a clue about these fares, and the first thing they say, by reflex, is "you can't do that"; from then on it is like talking to Adrian's Wall.

What you want to do is doable through aa.com, with a little tweaking here and there and some compromises on your part.

Finally, a word about ITA. It is great, but the more creative ITA itineraries just cannot be ticketed by AA, simply because Sabre is not perfect; fact of life, and one I have learned to live with.

thanks for the reply. I knew I could find the person with the right experience here. In reality I want to go to London and only added madrid as London was coming out as $2350 and with the Madrid stop it was coming out at $1760. I actually don't need to go to Madrid. I can price it at AA.com but it will not come out as B classs fare basis, it will pick the lowest fare basis and the B fare basis is what I am after (1.5 EQM, upgrade with much less miles and no payment). do you know a way to get AA.com to price it out in B class for $1650 as you were suggesting?

lastly, if i have to go via a creative travel agent, if you know of one can you PM me the info. I am happy to pay a fee for this service.

That's a little different, aa.com is not very flexible when one is after a particular fare class and nothing else will do. The best you can do is price it at the lower class and get the agent to upgrade the PNR by hand, and pay the difference, naturally.

However, before you do further work on this,... are you aware that:

1. You cannot upgrade with miles an EZE-EUR through fare. You would have to upgrade EZE-USA + USA-EUR, at double the cost in miles.

2. Not all B classes are created equal. The B class fare you are after, even if you were able to get it, may not be upgradeable with miles at the reduced level if it is a restricted B fare. (edited to allow for exceptions)

My understanding is B = B = B no if ands or buts. last time i booked a B fare (LAX-EZE) and agent told me that it is not upgradable but then I called again and the second agent told me that the first one was wrong and any B class fare is upgradable for less miles and that the first agent was wrong. I also got the same reply to that question on FT.

I am aware that I will have to upgrade using miles for EZE-EWR and more miles for EWR-Europe but at 10K per 'trip' it is a bargain.

so, latest is I managed to price this out as a B for EZE-MAD as you suggested. I guess that was the lowest fare basis for EZE-MAD with stopovers etc.

now i have to figure out how to get to london and get the OW bonus

will post if I'm able to upgrade etc. thanks again for the help

Fares are low, low, but taxes are the killer. All up it will cost you ~$430 for OW (BA/IB), less for BMI, lots less for LCC.

If it works that way for you, great, but in my experience there are plenty of ifs and buts. Take a look at this fare, one of many:

And now a partial quote from the rules regarding upgrades, which I'm sure you know, but copy here for convenience:

"...Upgrade on Full Fare Economy is an upgrade to the next class of service on any unrestricted full-fare economy ticket. Unless otherwise noted, a full-fare ticket is one that is booked in Y or B and is unrestricted, requires no fee for change or cancellation, has no advance purchase requirements, and is fully refundable..."

Basically the fare from EZE to MAD allows you to stopover at EWR. But the transatlantic portions requires you to depart and arrive into JFK and not EWR. The fare you got has no stopovers. By stopping over, you incurred a $50 stopover fee actually for the London stopover. But by stretching the fare to go via London, you exceeded the mileage by 5M, and then there're fuel surcharges on top of that.

The lowest I can come up with a B class fare is US$1942. Flying from EZE to EWR, but from JFK to LHR and back... you must fly into JFK. Flying into EWR just changes the fare entirely.

Yes the fare to MAD is cheaper to LHR. And it permits you to stopover in LHR.. so why not just do a MR into MAD and back...

This is not exact to your specific flights but it at least prices out:

If you are to fly DIRECT with no stopovers no transfers within the US etc.. and fly the most direct route, you will get your $1491 fare.

thanks for all the help. here is how it's turned out. I magaged to book
EZE-DFW-EWR-MIA-MAD-MIA-EWR-DFW-EZE
with stopovers in EWR both ways on AA.com for $1760.

still not ideal for me as I now have to pay extra for LHR (and actually need to go to ATH also) and internal Europe on non LCC is expense!! when you don't have ultimate flexibility, but it all works out as it would cost me $100 to get to JFK each way vs. free for EWR (wife would drop me ).

Also, for this instance there were no problems upgrading the B class as a full fare.

cheers