Confused Messages from Travel Agent
 

I am trying to organise my One World RTW ticket from London. I have been to Trailfinders and got a quote for £1550 inc taxes. I made a slight amend to the itinerary different consultant to the first who had to start from scratch as the system overwrote out first itinerary. The price jumped to £1900!! :eek: I was told that this is due to fuel surcharges which have gone up. I persisted in asking how this is possible and did not get a straight answer. Has anyone else experienced this? If so are some airlines cheaper for fuel surcharges as if possible I'd like to avoid the steeper ones.

Also, I want to visit 2 cities in Europe before leaving the continent- Copenhagun and San Sebastian. I can fly directly Lon- Cop but then need to fly via Madrid to San Seb and back to Madrid to fly to my next continent. This 2nd consultant also told me that the previous consultant was wrong in saying I could take 4 flights as requested with 2 stopovers in my continent of origin. He said it's 2 flights. Does anyone know what the correct rule is?The website is unclear stating-

"You are allowed to take two stopovers in total within your continent of origin in order to get to or from a gateway to begin or return from your international travel."

It's confusing as 2 people previously told me a stopover is not the same as a flight so even if limited to 2 stopovers I can use more than one flight to get there??? :confused:

I downloaded the route planner so I could try to sort this out for myself rather than deal with Trailfinders again. http://www.oneworld.com/travel_planning/home.cfm

This planner does not seem to have a function that allows you to go overland. Eg, if I fly Auckland and overland it to Christchurch from where I take my next flight to Sydney the system is counting a flight from Auckland to Christchurch. Has anyone overcome this problem?

Final ques can you avoid paying a booking fee for this flight? Trailfinders charge £60.

Many thanks

You have many very basic questions on your list so I'd suggest you study the stickies first with a notebook and come back if something is still unclear.

And welcome to FT.

Hi

What is the "stickies"? I have done a search and looked at the FAQs before I posted but still unclear which is why I posted.

Welcome to FT.

If you change the itinerary other than date/time changes, the fare is recalculated. If the fare has gone up in the meantime , as happened last week, the price you are quoted will jump.

You can make four flights in the continent of origin, with two stopovers (stopoover = stay of >24 hours). There are however some restrictions with regards to flights into and out of where you start and restrictions on number of flights from London to far flung destinations with europe. See the Sticky FAQs (At the top of the thread)

No , annoying isn't it.

You can pay a lower £15 booking fee by phoning BA direct.

Booking staff do not always understand the rules. Generally if you post your itinerary on here, you will receive good advice as to the validity of your itinerary.

It is your bad luck to have caught the cusp of an increase; you might be able to get the old booking reinstated (but you cannot make any routing changes). Any new booking would be at the new higher pricing. It sounds like you are wanting to go London-CPH-MAD-SanSebastian-MAD and that is allowed under the OWE rules.

Historically BA and QF have had the highest fuel surcharges, and AA and AY the lowest; however these numbers are changing monthly these days and I don't know what the present ones are ... they are all going up.

Only if the ticket was actually issued - until that point the price is not confirmed. Once the ticket has been issued then you are locked into the flights up to the first international segment; after you have flown them you would be able to do a reroute/reissue for US$125 without the new price kicking in, but if you want to change the first international segment or any flights before it then you have no choice but a cancellation and reissue at the then prevailing price (but without the US$125 change fee).

Many thanks
 

Thanks so much for the valuable information. The advice you've given me is far better than any consultant I had in the travel agents! :cool:

That is the official rule. Some travel agents are quite adept at backdating transactions to circumvent this rule, but there is only a day or 2 leeway so time is of the essence. But of course you are absolutely correct, and I have no idea how some TAs manage to do the backdating but I've seen it done (and in this case would save 20% of the fare).

Agreed - I know a TA here pretty well, and yes they can sometimes play the systems to achieve that, but it would be brave to rely on it, and it really is a day or two at most...