Hi all,

I am in the process of booking a DONE5 but I am getting utterly confused.
Is it possible to get an ex-JNB ticket issued in London by CX? or do I have to contact CX JNB directly to get my tickets issued?

I initially booked my ticket through AA - everything seems to be dandy but then got a rather rude phone call from AA informing me that they are cancelling ALL bookings held as AA is not the governing carrier.


Routing:

JNB-LHR-CAI-LHR-MAD-SCL-IPC-SCL-LIM-EZE-SCL-SYD-PER-AYQ-SYD-HKG-DPS-HKG-JNB

It's a question of price. If the ticket is issued in the UK you pay the UK price (because the rule is that you pay the higher of the two); if ticketed in JNB you pay the S. Africa price.

If you can modify your plans slightly try with AA ex-CPT. Several FTers are doing so with success. You will, however, likely run into the same problem, given that CPT's GSA also requires that your transatlantic flight be on AA.
 

Viajero - thanks for the sound and quick advice.

I'm actually trying to avoid routing through the US as it is such a pig to through immigration and most importantly it adds another continent.

I will try booking my flights through CX and getting it issued ex-JNB.

I can understand that but there are certain advantages to adding NA, if budget permits of course, such as not having to sweat on getting that elusive SCL-SYD seat, plus the significant increase of miles, if they are important to you.

I can't say I'm surprised by AA's decision given you have no AA flights on the trip - do they codeshare on the JNB-LHR flight and is it possible to book the codeshare stand-alone without flying AA trans-Atlantic?

In the distant past (the last time ex-SA RTWs were cheap) I booked several 1st Class Oneworld Explorers through Flight Centre in Cape Town. For the 1st ticket they required a photocopy of my credit card. Given they have multiple branches in London you might be able to organise some way of providing proof of identity through one of the local offices and pick up your ticket in SA. I'm sure the possibilities will depend on whether travel agents in SA still get paid a decent commision or not. When i was buying my tickets it was around 7%. So they were making $400 on the deal and were willing to go a bit out of their way to accomodate me. These days I don't know.

I think I might end up in a similar situation as I'm looking to book an ex-CPT DONE5 in the next month.

If I can't book through AA (I'll give it a try at least), is CX the next best option to avoid high fuel surcharges, or should I just go with BA?

As to whether you can book a codeshare standalone. I know I was able to do this a few years back when AY code-shared on QF SYD-BKK as part of a Circle trip. However, as I'm looking to fly MAD-GIG for my transatlantic, even adding a AA codeshare CPT-LHR wouldn't fix the problem.

Does it have to be a trans-atlantic segment? I did manage to find an AA codeshare for HKG-DPS-HKG. Would that help the situation?

Just saw jkirsch's comment: I think I'll give AA a buzz this afternoon to see whether they will accept codeshares. If not, I think CX is the next best option. I've seen on here somewhere that BA does charge incredibly high surcharges?! Not too sure so would be great to have some advice which OW airline I should approach to book and issue my DONE5.

AA codeshare HKG-DPS is not bookable standalone.

My understanding is that AA wants at least one transoceanic trip on AA metal, not just an AA codeshare.

As for using an AA code on a flight (JNB-LHR) when you're not connecting directly to an AA flight, I don't think that's allowed; you'd need to use the BA code. Next week I'm going CPT-xLHR-HEL and using the AY code on the CPT-LHR segment as I'm going on to HEL on Finnair. I don't think AA CPT (Dublin) would have approved the route had I asked for an AA code on the CPT-LHR flight, since I'm not taking AA across the Atlantic until a few days later. Codeshares seem to vanish if there's a break in continuity.

Should've checked on FT before ringing up AA - got the same answer. Nor can JNB/CPT-LHR be booked under AA codeshare if it is not continuing to the US.

Seems like I have to hassle CX in JNB. It's a real shame that AA couldn't issue my tickets as they are extremely helpful especially with their dedicated RTW team.

We shall see what CX JNB is like. I rang CX HQ up yesterday and they seem to be completely clueless regarding RTW bookings. I'm normally bias towards CX but they definitely have let me down this time.

AA codeshares on QF operated international flights are one exception though.
For the OP I don�t think it helps though - if he/she flew on the AA coded flight AKL-SYD I don�t think AA would consider the Tasman Sea an ocean.

Phone CX in Canada (actually the US 800 number goes to them most of the time). CX out of YVR is quite helpful, has back office staff fluent in OWE (even if the phone agents are not) and with the recent rule change allowing Canada to issue tickets for anywhere in the world there really is no good reason to deal with CX in SA. Solves all of your problems. CX fuel charges are higher than AA but lower than BA (at least were the last time I checked), and overal CX in YVR was a pleasure to deal with. So CX hasn't let you down, if anything has let you down it is the poor search on FT which failed to reveal to you that ticketing in Canada was an option!

I had a long talk with the CX JNB office manager a few years ago, bottom line is that their hands are tied in terms of staff and they have one or 2 competent staff, the rest are problematic, and no way for CX to change this given the situation in SA.

OP resides in the UK... how is dealing with CX in Canada an option?

I've booked xCIRx's through AA RTW with no AA metal segments (did do AA codeshares on CX and QF though). They may have a different take for xONEx's though.

You can book the codeshares without connecting AA metal flights, as long as you are flying to/from the USA. So you can book the AA flight number on CX's DPS-HKG if you are using the AA flight number to book HKG-LAX. No need to use AA metal, just a AA codeshare to the US.

There's another way out, albeit one that I'd probably be too chicken to take: ticket a bare bones westbound eTicket RTW ex-CPT that includes AA TATL, fly to LHR, reissue at a modest cost.

Edited to add a caveat: I'm not sure if adding and deleting a continent, for a net nil change in the number of continents is subject to some penalty.