Help with booking ex MNL
 

I am in desperate need of some help to finalise a DONE4 booking ex MNL. I have had the route validated, and confirmation of the cost and taxes. My first segments are with CX, thus I need to arrange payment and ticketing through them. My problem is to actually make contact with them. I have phone numbers and fax numbers, and have sent 4 faxes without any reply, and made approximately 10 calls - each time hearing a recorded message saying the "all the operators are busy - call again later", and then it hangs up!

It would seem totally impossible to actually buy a ticket from CX in Manila. I have been trying now for three weeks.

I know that some have had experience with the CX Manila office, and have reported that it seems rather disorganised.

So, what are my options? My DONE4 was tantalisingly close. I could arrange payment in Australia, and pay the higher price I guess. Or buy from somewhere else in Asia, as I would like to vist the continents in the order Asia - South-west Pacific - Europe - North America.

As always I welcome any suggestions from the combined wealth of experience on FT..

Apart from recent issues where CX suspended flights to and from CMB, I would suggest Sri Lanka. My experience with the CX agency there was extremely smooth.

Reasonably straight forward to get there to collect TIX as well

Just a quick note, It is impossible to fly your desired ASIA-SWP-EU-NA continent order. You will have to change it to ASIA-SWP-NA-EU as there are no direct flights SWP-EU.

Ignore the above. There are, of course, many direct flights SWP-EU. There are no non-stop flights, but the second entry into Asia is allowed under this exemption:

You may call up CX Tokyo/Narita ticketing office.
Because of ex-JPN DONE4 fare is cheaper than ex-MNL fare,
you can get ex-MNL DONE4 fare from a ticketing office in Japan.

Recently, I purchased ex-ARN AONE3 from CX Tokyo ticketing office.

Thanks for the suggestion Wasabi Tofu. One of my thoughts was to book the DONE4 ex NRT instead of ex MNL. The challenge is how to pick up the tickets if they're issued in Japan. Especially since I wish to start the DONE4 in a couple of weeks.

Thanks to all for their suggestions. I am confident that my routing is OK - it's been validated by both QF and CX - it's just a matter of payment and ticketing...

I am surprised that CX isn't more responsive - surely they're one of the world's leading airlines?

If they are e-tickets and CX NRT is happy to accept credit card details remotely then surely this isn't an issue? Alternatively, CX NRT might be able to issue a paper ticket for collection on departure from MNL?

Postscript
 

Just to complete this story, in the end CX MNL did issue the DONE4 and it was available for me to pick up at the airport, which proceeded without a hitch. Then I had to turn around and cancel the whole trip due to health reasons! I was quite concerned at how long it was going to take to get a refund, but once the tickets were couriered to CX MNL they organised the refund and it appeared on my CC statement within a couple of weeks.

Subsequently I have been in touch with them via email to organise an ACIR22 ex MNL, and that has happened quite expediently. This may be the start of a long-standing relationship...

I'm now getting close to wanting to issue a couple of AONE3s ex-MNL and contemplating the tax / fuel fine situation I thought I should at least ask if anyone has ever tried issuing through AA's GSA in Manila (Airesources in Makati)? Ideally I'd want to issue the full 17 segments as paper tickets first time round rather than having to deal with reissues.

As an aside, I'd also like to use AA since they are holding confirmed reservations for me on AA6124 on the date I want to travel, booked by the AA RTW deak after CX was unable to confirm me on the same flight (CX888)! This whole POS stuff has got way out of hand.

Has anyone tried issuing oneworld fares out of MNL recently? I am looking at starting at a new DONE4 when my current one ends in NRT this July - the NRT pricing seems to have dramatically increased since I last ticketed mine (even taking into account fare increases).

Specifically I'd like more info on the AA GSA in MNL, in relation to:
1) Whether they'd accept credit card payment over the phone, or if not - any other forms of remote payment like wire transfers.

2) Whether they will issue paper tickets in advance without my physical presence as I'd like to lock in all 20 segments immediately since no one knows what's going to happen to reissues after mandatory eticketing.

3) Any special local fees, taxes etc I should be aware of?

I should hasten to add that my other option is the AA GSA in SGN but MNL seems to be more 'well trodden' on FT. The difference is only about A$100 anyway.

And I do need it to be ticketed on AA stock because that's the only way i can apply upgrades to the AA segments. I have no shortage of overwater segments on AA.

Thanks in advanced! :)

It was hard reaching the Philippines for some reason but I finally got through:

AA MNL:

http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...hilippines.jsp

1) Does not take credit card payment over the phone BUT
2) Accepts wire transfers
3) Willing to issue paper ticket in advance once payment is received without the pax's physical presence
4) Indicated a preference for holding the ticket and passing it to me on arrival; it didn't occur to me to ask if they'd be willing to mail it overseas if I organise and pay for courier. EDIT: They are willing to mail paper tix overseas - simply chuck in the courier fee with the wire transfer. ^^

Sorry I forgot to ask if they'd issue it without AA segments as that's not normally an issue for me given that I do want AA segments for the bonuses.

And according to others there's a special Philippines local fee but it isn't much. (A$43 when i last checked)

Looks like the Philippines is next in my list of places to visit. :D

Excellent news - thanks for reporting back here with the update - very useful ^

I've just initiated the payment/ticketing etc process of my DONE4 with AA MNL (aka Airesources). The total worked out to be USD7779.70 which includes +++ of USD753.70, contains one dose of the UK APD. Final itinerary as follows:

July 2008:
MNL
xHKG
DPS
xHKG
MEL

Jan/Feb 2009:
MEL
CNS
MEL
xLHR
MCT
xLHR
IST
LHR

Open dated (for June-July 2009):
LHR
LAX
SJU
xORD
AUS
SEA
xDFW
JFK
NRT
MNL

Not fully optimized for the Asian bit as I was trying to avoid the unnecessary flying on JO for MNL-DPS, I don't need the excess EQPs, and the CX flights actually gain more award miles as JO doesn't attract the status bonus. The rest of the itinerary is a balance between retaining status in the 2009 membership year and getting to places I want to be.

FedEx charges USD30 to courier, and it'd take 3 days to send the ticket to Australia.

Will be wiring money across tomorrow.

Let the waiting begin...:eek:

Thanks for the update - seems pretty straight forward.

I would be interested to know why QF009 dealt with AA in MNL via their agent. I thought that in purchasing an XONEX you needed to deal with the airline flying the first sector of your trip. I have done two circle pacific trips our of Manila, the first with QF where I had to wire the money and it took forever to arrive, causing a few days of worry. But, arrive it did, then I had some hassles having the ticket issued as they needed proof that I was in the Philippines, and I wasn't near the ticket office. So a scanned copy of my passport page was provided, and that worked. All in all, a bit complex for my liking.

The second was with CX who accepted credit cards, and once they began to reply to my emails, which took a couple of weeks, the ticket was booked, paid for and issued without much trouble at all.

Keep us posted on progress...

The "why" from the buyer's perspective is easy: tickets are cheaper bought from AA because they don't impose so many fuel surcharges.

From the seller's perspective: it's up to the individual airline office (or GSA) to determine whether they are happy to issue the ticket. Presumably the GSA in Manila gets enough commission that they are happy to do so. x% of a OWE price is substantially more money in real terms in Manila than it is in, say, New York.

The ticket needs to be issued by AA if I want to apply EVIPs and the like on the AA segments.

edit: And no don't need to get first carrier to issue. From what I read on FT I think the rule is that the first carrier MUST issue (in this case CX) if approached. However every other carrier can issue, they just have the discretion to not issue. AA is probably the most generous with these sort of things.

The GSA is also probably quite happy that both my overwater segments are on AA, though they didn't explicitly mention that AA content is required. Don't think CX will be too thrilled if I approached them anyway as I've only got MNL-HKG-DPS-HKG with them. Hypothetically for interest's sake: does CX pick up fuel fines for other carriers? If not, the fuel fines should be lower via CX with my itinerary as is if I didn't need AA stock for aforementioned reasons, given the transatlantic/transpacific AA YQ?

I've just wired the money off today. They wanted a copy of the receipt. They didn't need me to be in the Philippines but they wanted a photocopy of my passport to make sure my name is spelt correctly.

I'd probably go back to NRT if I ever do another one of these, since everything has to be eticketed next time round anyway.

Yes, the comment has been made, but I wonder just what that opinion is based on, because when it comes to real life cases the airlines usually do what they want. I don't remember reading here one single post where such MUST has been put to the test. I can just see the reaction of airlines such as LA or IB if you walked into their offices in remote locations and said "you MUST issue this".

Hmm very true. The 'first airline to issue' line is taken by lots of airline staff and TAs; seems a popularly held misconception or perhaps laziness on the part of airline agents who'd rather not help. I remember having to argue with several aagents at AA NRT over it for my last DONE4 when they told me to go over to JL (my first segment was NRT-SIN) despite both overwater segments on AA; they only agreed when I finally said that I wanted to apply upgrades on AA. Then again others don't even remotely question when AA content is lacking.

This just in:

^

edit: AA.com now shows status "Ticketed."

Email address for AA in Manila?
 

I'm not sure how long to wait for a response to a fax sent to Airesources in Manila for a DCIR22 booking. It's a very difficult process for me to fax them as I have to use one of the web based faxing companies, so have you found an email is actually responded to?

If you could PM me it would be much appreciated. My flights are next month!

TravelTil

YGPM.

Fedex tried delivering my DONE4 this morning at 0933, unfortunately I missed them - doh! :o They're coming by again on Monday the 28th.

The ticket has arrived!

All 5 booklets, 20 coupons written in the neatest handwriting I've ever seen.

^ ^

edit: i tried to send them a thank you email but their email seems to be down. So apologies to those whom I PMed with the MNL email address - best simply to call them at least over the next few days.

can you PM me their contact details
thanks

AA (US) issued me a AONE4 last month with the first sector on QF and no overwater sectors on AA.

AA MNL (Airesources) recently issued me two AONE3s set up by the AA RTW desk which contain no AA over water. No problem at all.

With an e-ticket, do you even have to visit an AA ticket counter?

Can't AA issue the ticket electronically and you can just show up for your first segment from MNL-HKG at the CX check-in counter?

In principle yes if you have a means of getting the money to them. Airesources will not accept credit cards by phone - but (as QF009 described above) you can wire transfer the money to them if that is acceptable. If your ticket has open segments then it needs to be on paper which makes it a bit more complicated. In my case Mrs christep was not far away and was able to get down to Manila with the credit card - with the current promos it was worth the trip to get the extra AsiaMiles for the card purchase.

Just spoke with the AA RTW desk, and the AAgent said they can ticket/issue all OWE e-tickets priced on the OW site in US dollars, such as ex-Philipines, or Vietnam, by charging the ticket to a US credit card, where all the passenger would have to do is show up at the appropriate ticket counter for his/her first segment.

Yes, but at the ex-USA price. (The rules are very explicit on this point.)

AA and I stand corrected. A follow up call to the rate desk yielded the answer that it would be at the US price, which defeats the purpose. I wonder whether online ticketing will enable this?

As reported here, the OW online booking tool:


"will enable customers to plan oneworld Explorer round-the-world trips, which can be of up to 16 segments. As a customer builds his or her itinerary, it will verify flight availability, displaying only flights that have seats available for the date and routes selected. It will automatically validate that the itinerary meets all fare rules and conditions - and then provide an instant price. Once a customer has finalised his or her itinerary, he or she will be able to pay on-line using a credit card and print out all the details before his or her e-tickets are delivered by email."

Otherwise, what's wrong with making the reservation and ticketing with/thru CX?

How long will CX hold the reservations/seats for without ticketing?

The taxes and surcharges when booked through CX will be substantially (hundreds of US$) greater than when booked through AA. I believe CX will hold unticketed reservations for 7 days (this was my experience recently when booking CX segments via the AA RTW desk).

Ah so. Now it's all starting to make sense. I should have initiated another ticket in Jakarta when I was there last month.

The situation with the difference in taxes and surcharges for the identical airlines/flights is pretty weird...wonder what's behind that? I could see a minor difference in ticketing fees ($25-50), but otherwise what is behind hundreds of dollars in differences in taxes and surcharges?

On this note, I wonder how this will change once the OW online booking/ticketing engine becomes operational?

AA do not charge fuel fines on segments where they are not the carrier; some of the other oneworld airlines do.

I booked 2 LONE4's through AA earlier this year where the intercontinental segments were on BA & QF(x3).

• There were no YQ charges!