AA RTW Desk: Excellent Experience
 

Just finished booking my first RTW in a long time through the AA RTW Desk: MIA-LAX-SYD-HKG-JNB-CPT-JNB-LHR-MIA.

Every agent I dealt with was very helpful making some good suggestions all along the way.

Can't wait for the next one later this year.

I would have to agree with you.

Yesterday I booked my first F RTW with AA. I usually do 1-2 RTWs each year with Skyteam (DL) or Star (LH because I have never been able to find someone at UA who knew how to book a RTW). In the past with the other alliances, it has taken 1-2 hours on the phone and required alot of schedule adjustments because of non-availability of flights on some carriers or holes in the combined route systems.

The F RTW on OW booked by AA took only about 20 minutes (17 legs), had no problems with flight availability, and had a knowlegable and cheerful agent on the other end of the phone. They also had the entire ticket priced (including taxes) in just a few hours (instead of a week or more with the other RTWs I have purchased).

What a pleasant experience. I hope the flights are just as nice.

I am currently top tier with DL and TG, and it looks like I am re-activating my AA FF# and becoming elite with OW as well.

I just wish AA would fly mainline equipment into SAV.

I agree. I have almost always had great experiences with the AA RTW desk. The phone is answered promptly, the agents are generally knowledgeable (or readily seek help when they need it), they are pleasant, and carry through on the bookings efficiently without undue delays. This service, even more than the lower surcharges with AA, are why I have our RTW tickets issued (or reissued if originally issued by another carrier) by AA.

I would also like to add that I have had very favourable experiences with AA agents at airports when doing a reissue. Most of my experience on these reissues has been with the AA agents at YVR; they are great even when they have to do a lot beyond the normal. For example, today I had RTW tickets re-issued with AA at YVR and the original e-tickets (booked with only 10 segments but expanded to 18 additional ones after 2 segments were flown) not only had to be paper tickets but had to be hand-written! The AA agents (at least 4 of them were involved at various stages) spent several hours preparing the ticket and checking it over. Not only did they not resent this extra work, but they were cheerful throughout and were very diligent in assuring that all the many pieces (e.g., stapling fare construction printouts onto every coupon) were done correctly. I hope my positive experiences with AA agents on RTW reissues are mirrored elsewhere.

I have just finished a RTW in F. The RTW desk was great for me as well. I had to change a few flight during the trip not a problem. It was a pleasure. I am now sitting planning another RTW for April. I normally do about 3-4 RTWs a year.

I have not had to deal much with the AA around-the-world desk for some time, but I must say that some of my experiences have been very negative. For example, one agent insisted that I had already traveled on most (but not all) all the segments on my unused ticket. The same guy also insisted that the segments were out of order and that the ticket was invalid. And all I wanted was seat reservations. In this sort of situation, the only thing to do is to say ‘thank you’, hang up, and try again. But it did take me a while to catch my breath.

Another 3 thumbs up for the AA RTW desk. The knowledge of the RTW product dwarfed that of the TA I was going to use and the Qantas people too.

The fact that they accept a complex itinerary as an interesting challenge sells me.

Highly recommended.

Yet Another Question
 

Even though my trans-atlantic and trans-pacific sectors are not AA, I can still call AA's RTW no. and they will help to create the itinerary and hold for local ticketing? I am planning to do a AONE ex-NRT.

Yes. They will probably try to soft sell you on the idea of going for the AA codeshare but in general AA are rather flexible on this issue.

I was also pleasantly surprised when I called them up a few days ago to set up my first DONE4. I did a *A RTW last year, and while the trip was good, the booking experience with United was very frustrating.

I'm still waiting to ticket, which I'm hoping to do with AA Japan since I begin in NRT (thanks to Gardyloo's suggestion), but so far, so good.

You can call or email the AA office in Tokyo and they'll take care of it for you. Probably best to call first time - they have English-speaking staff. Just give them the SABRE PNR and your email address, tell them you need the ticket issued, give them a credit card number and ask them to email you when it's ready to be issued. They'll email you with the final cost (including taxes). I've done it several times and found them very helpful.

Would it be a problem to just show up at the AA Tokyo office to ticket and pay? Does AA has a sale/ticket office in Osaka?

Can you actually use the AA RTW desk if you are not ex US?
Also what is the phone number? I can't seem th find it on aa.com

Anyone can call the ATW desk, you don't have to be a US resident. Contact details:

http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...iance/main.jsp

But mroe importantly, can they make the booking and validate the routings. Then I just pick up from their GSA at CMB at CMB prices not US prices?

Also I assume using AA means only max 16 segments as they don't offer paper tix?

AA ATW desk takes your itinerary, validates and prices it for any OWE origin you like, as long as there is an AA ticketing office. With the PNR on hand is up to you to contact the AA office, or agent, give them the PNR and take it from there.

AA does issue paper tickets right now. The maximum number of segments is 20.

THANKS! That makes it easier to purchase the tix as I assume the AA ATW desk will give the final approval before any GSA can issue the tix? Paper tix will be useful as well. Just 1 last question, because AA does not oeprate at CMB, are there any chance of the local GSA mail/DHL the paper tickets to me or I have to collect it in person (don't particularly want to spend anytime in CMB itself given the safety concerns).

The ATW desk is not the final word, the issuer is. As for payment/collection details, each AA office/GSA sets their own conditions so they can and actually do vary a lot from place to place.

I will call the CMB GSA and find out. It appears CMB will eb the cheapest place to start the DONE4 if the prices according to EF holds!

I have to somewhat disagree that the RTW desk is great. I have had many negative experiences with seemingly inexperienced staff and when you try to question them they develop an attitude. I guess as compared with the EXP desk, they're not as good as dealing with things out of the ordinary. They are, however, much better than BA's RTW desk....

Most people are like that so I can't hold that against them. Just look at the posters on FT.

I suspect they spend many hours a day explaining the complicated rules to people on the phone. 98% of the time they know more than the customer. 2% of the time the customers know more than they do. Its natural to first assume the former rather than the latter.

I tend to agree with this. My experience with the ATW desk is, after adding the good and subtracting the bad, far from stellar.

Understatement of the thread. And just try to price/book/buy a RTW from a Star or Skyteam airline. Ha ha ha.

I have very limited contact with the AA ATW desk, but it has been positive.

I had some issues recently getting my TA to book a LONE4 as they were relying on QF's interpretation of the OWE fare rules.

In the end I rang the AA ATW desk and gave them the PNR of my desired itinerary, which they told me was valid.

This was relayed to my TA with instructions for them to ticket with AA if QF refused to. In the end QF "accepted" the itinerary and ticketed it.

Next time I would deal with AA directly.

Can the AA RTW desk change and reissue a OW RTW ticket issued by my travel agent, and plated on QR ticket stock?

I'm not certain about your specific situation, but I've had AA RTW desk re-issue multiple RTW tickets that were issued by BA on BA ticket stock without issue. I *think* you can but a quick call to the desk should give an answer. Please report back as I'm interested as well.

They should be able to. In years past, there were sometimes barriers in that when the PNR was originally created in a GDS other than SABRE (e.g., created by QF or CX or a TA), often AA couldn't see all the segments, which prevented them from taking it over. I don't believe that's still an issue, but I haven't personally tested it.

Amadeus to Sabre transition should be possible, but there is still sometimes system incompatibility issues. In my case, AA wasn't able to see original taxes paid for booking that was created by QF, so AA rating desk didn't agreed to make changes for me even that AA RTW desk was willing to help.

There have been also many reports that it works as it should. SFO_FT, you should ask AA RTW desk directly, if they can do changes for you. Hard to say in advance if the system works for particular booking for sure.

RTW desk just sorted a problem that BA started. I made date changes to a BA issued xONEx and all seemed fine until I couldnt see the AA flight details on the AA web site (with the AA PNR). AA general agents apologised for "the system limitations" but didnt fix the problem. After explaining this to the AA RTW person, he deleted old now unconfirmed flights from the reservation and this then allowed the AA flights to he visible to me. So, yes, the AA RTW desk is great and i should have made them my first port of call rather than messing with everyone else.