Just wondering has anyone had experience with either CX or AA with ticketing a DONE4 in NRT. I presume AA will be the cheapest with the lower fuel charge etc.. However given the new CX charges on non CX stock ticket changes, I am thinking is it worth asking AA to do the ticketing or not. Also will JL be another option?

I will have NO AA inter cont flights in my itineary and my first sector will be on QF..

I went through the Cathay office in NRT to book an AONE3 ticket back in February. Used a combination of telephone and email, found the agent very helpful (and knowledgeable of the rules). Picked the ticket up at the airport, although there was a slight wrinkle and eventually collected it in HKG (they allowed me to travel the first leg as if on an e-ticket).
Would definitely not hesitate to use them again.

Do you have any contact info for the Cathay office in NRT? I couldn't find it in Cathays web page and looks like my next DONE starts in NRT this June. I thought to try CX office unless others have better ideas?

-BB

http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_...countryCode=JP

Have flyers's recent experiences with AA ONE ticket pickup at NRT been good. Any "wrinkles"?

I rang AA Japan today to ticket my DONE4. At first they said that because CX operates the first flight (NRT-HKG), I would have to call them to issue the ticket. I asked them to check with a manager, as the RTW Desk told me that AA would issue it.

They cam back and said yes, they would issue it, but not over the phone! I have to have it written(?) at the AA ticketing desk at NRT, on July 1, the day I depart on my CX flight. I asked if I could pay, and collect it at the airport, but they were adament that I had to pay and collect at the same time, on the day of departure....At least it saves putting the charge on the card for a month longer.

I asked them to change the ticketing date for my reservation from June 1 to July 1, and they said that they did (after putting me on hold). I later checked with the wonderful CX agent I use in SEL, and she said that No, the CX reservation date hadn't been changed! Lucky I checked......I've emailed BA to see if the ticketing date with them has been changed yet.

AA Japan told me that I need ot allow them at least 3 hours on July 1 to issue the ticket also.....The ticketing desk opens at 9am, and my flight to HKG departs at 3:50, so I'll have a long day at NRT!

I have some experience of AA vs. CX ticketing through the US and the AA experience has been much better. I had a 18 flight DONE4 (including backtracking in Europe/Mid east and flights within Oz after returning to my origin - SYD) and AA ticketed it without any problems. It took a week for CX to admit I could make a similar booking - I am just waiting for it to be ticketed finally...

Next time I will book direct myself with the AA desk (This was being done through a US based TA for various reasons). QF wouldnt come to the paryt at all...

Can you pare down the itinerary to 16 segments total including open jaws? If so it can be issued as an e-ticket in a fraction of the time. You'd need to do a re-issue later, but it might be a workable strategy. I paid for an e-ticket at NRT and the whole process took ~20 minutes.

I suppose I could cut the Australian domestic legs with QF, as there is no need to worry about those being dropped! honestly though, as there is two of us, the 3 hour wait would save 125 each in reticketing charges, so I think we'll just atake a good book and wait!

Sounds very messy!

Are you doing a turnaround?

I mean, I'll be in Tokyo for about 3 days before I leave. Can't I rock up to the airport before date of departure to ticket the booking? Was thinking of doing all ticketing issues immediately after arriving at NRT.

I have a JL departure at 1055, AA NRT opens at 9am, and 3hrs to do ticketing on the actual day of departure means I'd miss my flight!

Also - I was under the impression that CX is the only one with a ticketing deadline? I removed the CX flights when I moved my itinerary to NRT to avoid the deadline. AA didn;t mention any ticketing deadlines for the QF/BA sectors on my itinerary.

It's a while till my actual ticketing deadline so I haven't been in contact with AA NRT yet.

edited to add - oops just realised I just posted my 1500th post rather unceremoniously... ie not in OMNI.

I'm planning an ex-NRT DONE4. The 3rd leg will be HKG-JFK using an AA codeshare, so I'll definitely need to be ticketed well in advance of the first leg. I'm in the US and don't plan to be in Japan before the trip begins.

Is johnkennett's experience (unable to ticket through AA/NRT by phone) the same as others have had? Any way around the problem, other than finding a Japan-based TA?

I've done a search on this. And posts of Feb 2007 by Gardyloo and ReelChief suggest that it's possible to issue the tickets over the phone. Either johnkennett got a bad NRT AAgent or there's now a new procedure. Hopefully the former (no offence), instead of the latter. If it's indeed the latter I hope they don't literally mean that ticketing can only be done on the day of departure.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...1&postcount=21
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...42&postcount=6

No offence taken QF009! I hope that it was just that I got a bad agent. I have a full 20 sectors on my ticket, so perhaps that is why they want to issue it on the day of departure. As I am flying in from ICN the night before, I don't really mind.

Actually, having it issued a month later than I expected is better- the charge will be put on credit card while I am away, so I won't need to worry about payments during the interest free period....

My main concern is that I was told the ticketing date had been changed, but when I emailed CX they told me that the ticketing date for their sectors remains the original date....I'll be calling the AA RTW desk to see if they can sort it out.

NOTE- Just got off the phone with the AA RTW desk. The CX flights have now been changed to July 1 as well, thanks to the great agent I use in SEL...He said a note changing the ticketing date came from CX this afternoon (Korean time)

Spoke to AA NRT today to get some info. I did let it known that I'm not actually based in Japan. AAgent said that I can pay for it and ticket on the phone at anytime. He even mentioned that I could've booked the entire itinerary through them - they just fax a form to pax and you'd have to write down desired itinerary and/or flights and fax it back. Admittedly I didn't show him my booked itinerary for fear that it'd somehow screw up, eg "no no u can't have such a long lead time to payment" etc, so maybe there are variables the AAgent hasn't considered. Will see what happens in September when I'm ready to pay.

Well, I called AA in Japan back, to see if another agent would let me ticket over the phone.
The agent said I could, then noticed that as I have a full 20 sectors, and therefore need paper tickets, I would have to do it at the airport ticketing desk. She also mentioned that I could use my credit card to pay for both tickets, as the surname of all travellers has to be the same as that on the credit card used! I've not heard of that before.

Is this an AA Japan rule? It doesn't really matter I suppose, as my fiancee has a card in her named linked to my account, but it does seem like a hassle, and I could see how such a rule could cause issues for some people if they didn't find out about it in advance!

I was also told that ticketing should only take 15-20 minutes, a lot less than the three hours the first agent told me I should allow, but being as they are two hand written 20 segment tickets, I think that the first agent was being a little more realistic. This of course means that I can't take the early CX flight from NRT to HKG....