Ok - this seems to be a wee bit convoluted but am I getting this right?

1: I could ring CX in YVR to get my DONE5 booked;
2: Once booked, I could request payment to be made over the phone with CX JNB ticketing at ex-JNB prices;
3: Ask whether it is possible collect tickets at JNB or get them posted to me?

You are charged for the continent that is added. No refund for the continent that is deleted. At least this was the case when I inquired about this in 2004 (and decided it wasn't worth doing on those terms).

The advantage of ticketing with CX in Canada even if based in the UK is that this CX office is easy to reach, a pleasure to work with, issues the ticket promptly and correctly ...

Well, yes, but how do you get the ticket a) issued and b) in your hands, if you are doing this from the UK?

No, if you book with CX in YVR you would also pay for it with them and they would Fedex your ticket to you (if paper) or issue it as an e-ticket (more likely). No involvement with JNB at all. You pay the ex-JNB price even though the ticket is actually issued in YVR. You cannot do this in the UK, it is a Canada specific rule.

IATA is headquartered in Canada and has had a special rule for Canada for decades -- IATA airlines can issue any ticket in Canada, for anywhere in the world. All other countries can issue tickets only for their own country. So an IATA ticket issued in Canada is the same as one issued in South Africa. OWE allowed this until the rule was changed circa 7 years ago to prohibit it, then about 1 year ago the rule was changed back and it is allowed once again. Thus you will see conflicting info at different points in time (all correct at the time, but not relevant to today).

I have done this from the US (with CX in YVR) so the advice is not theoretical, it works well.

If true that would mean the end of the problems for all, not just the OP.

Not quite. CX will do it, some Canadian TAs will do it (most for fee of CAD 200), but AA will not do it in Canada. So it depends on how much you want to pay for fuel surcharges vs. hassle with the various ticketing alternatives in South Africa. Also CX office is a certain size, if they got thousands of OWE ticket requests, it would be the end of it. So far they seem to like the business (but all my tickets have a lot of CX revenue).

It was reported here recently that AA has no problem with ticketing ex-Canada. In what sense, or what part of the ticketing process, are you saying AA will not do?

Thanks for the advice. Will give CX YVR a try tomorrow morning and will report back on the progress.

You all have been very helpful, especially seeing this is my first RTW. What would one do without FT??!

AA said no when I enquired (but wasn't persistent about it as it wasn't important to me). If others have had success, let's hope that is the current policy. I've found a good TA and prefer to use that so it is of limited interest to me.

An update for those who are interested:

After the saga of AA telling me that they will cancel the whole booking - I just got a phone call from the same person who rang me the other day and said that she made an error!!

This is what AA had to say:

It is possible for AA to ticket a RTW ticket even if AA is not the governing airline PROVIDING that the passenger has specifically requested AA to issue the booking. That is to say a booking made by the passenger himself and NOT through a TA. BUT AA prefers passengers without AA segments to contact the governing OW Airline.



If you read between the lines - it means that AA does not want to be liable for the additional cost for re-booking should there be any schedule changes. This would obviously incur work for them from which they are not getting any revenue. I assume that they are forced to issue the booking as they are obliged to under Oneworld rules.

On another note - AA agent gave me an ex-LHR price which is insanely high so I'm waiting for them to get back to me with an ex-JNB quote!

On the using AA flight number for JNB/CPT-LHR segments, this is obviously of increased interest since the new rule of no elite level bonus AAdvantage mileage when traveling on BA except when on an AA codeshare flight number. SABRE will only allow booking the AA codeshare number on JNB/CPT-LHR segments (both directions, of course) when connecting to (or from) AA metal. I traveled this a few days ago, LAX-LHR-JNB. Returning to LHR and then onward to HKG, however, would not allow AA codeshare.

However, if you have direct access to SABRE (which I do not, but once did), my guess is that the following might work: Book, for example, JNB-LAX connecting at LHR using AA numbers. If this shows in the PNR as two separate segments, then you should be able to cancel the LHR-LAX segment, and be left with JNB-LHR standalone with an AA number.

I'll be curious to hear reports on this.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvv

You would, however, give up the ability to preselect seats on BA via MMB (at least as I understand it). I think I'd rather be able to go for row 62 than gain the extra miles.

I'm on BA 58 later this week flying on its AY code (CPT-xLHR-HEL) and can't prebook seats on MMB; I'll phone BA when I get to CPT and see if I can do so on the phone.

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Yep, managed to turn QF25 MEL-AKL standalone into AA7315. Was fed up with waiting for retroactive credit requests for QF segments to clear. AA7366 JFK-SYD credited automatically so I'm experimenting with the AA code on the TT to see whether my hypothesis about there being a problem with the QF portion of my DONE4 is supported.