NONSENSE.

You are not booking with the right TA.

And there are NO creditcard surcharges because RTW is a published fare and not a net fare which requires a mark-up.

I'm not crediting anything to QF FF, I will be crediting them to AAdvantage and doing a platinum challenge. This is the main reason for not including CX on this trip, they give nothing at all for L class. AY gives 100% redeemable miles, LA and AA both give 100% redeemable and 100% EQM which will give me the platinum. AA is getting two huge segments GIG-JFK-LHR so they have nothing to complain about.

If anyone is wondering why I don't want to plate on QF, take a look at this tax table-airline which gives fuel surcharges. http://www.consolidatedtravel.com.au/qf/taxes.asp

Compare QF to LA, AY and AA! We are talking easily $800 or more extra! This was actually discussed on another thread in this forum.

There is definitely something fishy going on. Viajero copypasted AA's own starfile which states that the ticket time limit is 21 days prior to departure. So this is why I need to get to someone who works at AA who will honour the starfile. Obviously, the call centres won't do it. I think I will probably end up rebooking on LA because they do have a GSA in Australia so I don't have to call Chile.

Do other airlines have starfiles too? Like LA, AY and QF?

The largest travel agency in Australia which has an office in every shopping mall charges 1.5% for Visa and I think 3% to use Amex, not sure about that one though.

Credit card surcharges for booking flights, even for published fares are quite common in Oz. Qantas themselves even charge credit card surcharges for flights booked on their own website

Dave

Each airline has its own Starfile (equivalent). Technically starfiles are specific to Sabre, which used to be AA but was sold and is a separate company but contracts back to AA to provide the reservation service. So there are AA starfiles (and probably the OWE rules are from AA!) and there are other airline starfiles. For the OWE fare there are 8 different files, for each of the Oneworld member airlines (and sometimes they have had different contents!). Sometimes it is very difficult to get any airline to stick to the rules in those starfiles, other times it is trivial. My sense is that you will have a very hard time dealing with AA on this, and probably your L seats will disappear during your fight with AA. So it boils down to how much you want to keep the reservation for the specific dates. Have you determined the fuel surcharge cost from the LAN issued ticket? I suspect it might even be lower than AA, but I don't know.

As for AA having "nothing to complain about" by having GIG-JFK-LHR routing, actually only the JFK-LHR gets AA revenue, and you would be better off not having GIG-JFK on your ticket (AA loses money on that sector for LONEx tickets). If you want a favour from AA, you would have to add NRT-LAX/DFW/JFK to your ticket, so that AA gets the trans-Pacific fare portion as well. Something to consider if you want the "catch more flies with honey rather than vinegar" approach. But the bottom line is that the LONEx product is not really profitable, unlike the DONEx and AONEx products, particularly at the very low ex-Australia price. And, if you really push things, AA can insist that ticketing be done by the airline flying the first sector on your LONEx ticket (which presumably is QF) ... the OW inter-airline agreement does specify that the airline flying the first sector must issue compound tickets (others can issue it at their discretion). Something to consider so you have a complete picture of your rights and privileges in this matter.

It seems to me that AA has been putting less generous ticketing limits on RTW's for about a year now. Also, it is possible that one of the airlines in your routing is the one demanding a ticket number to confirm the booking.

As an aside, since the tickets are refundable, why not pledge it as colleteral to get a bridge loan? Otherwise, you are at the mercy of the yield management system.