just curious: did you book by phone with AA RTW in the USA? And when
you showed up early at the airport, where exactly did you show up? I
assume the AA ticket office at YYZ airport?
Asking this, because i am planning to travel to South Africa to pick up
an AONE5 before June 1st (i want 20 segments), but it would be cheaper
to fly to Toronto. For payment, i don't have a creditcard on a Canadian
address, but they might accept cash?? Any experience here?
Nice itinerary by the way, i did IPC a few months ago on a DONE4. Just
amazing you can get to these great destinations for a bargain!

Don't know about cash. The official line from some AA agents is somewhat unclear, and contradicts the information received from other AA agents. IME, CC restrictions regarding billing address only apply if buying by phone; when payment is made in person, and the name on the cc is the same as that of the pax, and you provide photo id, the billing address does not matter. YMMV (big) so it would pay to check and recheck in advance.

By the way, cash, even if accepted, is likely to buy you a lot of hassles down the line.

I have just posted a suggested MR in your other thread "AA MR required from YYZ". Not quite $1000 you wanted but $1300. Maybe you can tinker with the process (which I explain) and get a better price. Good luck.

This is a follow-on question to the OP's original statement about arriving at the AA ticket desk at YYZ, and waiting around until lunch for the RTW ticket to issue. I'm going to be picking up my DONE5 at YYZ next weekend and had been told that I could have the ticket ready for me to pick up (i.e., just show up and pay). One difference is that, although my ticket is 20 segments, only 15 of those are flown, which apparently means that it's a paper PRINTED ticket, rather than handwritten. Would that be the difference between the OP's situation? We're flying into YYZ and then flying out of BUF, so that we can spend two days at Niagara Falls (this is how I convinced my wife to fly to Canada to purchase a plane ticket), and I'd prefer not to waste too much of the day hanging around the airport. Thanks.

How did you do the online booking with LAN? Could you kindly ket us know the URL and what limitations you found?

Your original question about AA status seems to have got submerged a little along the way. It would seem sensible to gain OW Sapphire status before setting out on a trip like this, especially as the bulk of the distance to be covered is going to be done in one hit. You might take a look at the AA forum for advice on recommended ways to Platinum. I've heard of something called the Platinum Challenge; maybe this would be a good thing for you. Us BAers have enough pain with our own system that I at least don't retain the intricate details of AA, I'm afraid.

Yes. I used the AA rtw desk and they rated the ticket for purchase in Canada. Every rtw desk agent I spoke to (6+) did not believe I would get the lower of the two prices (ie. CAN vs S/A).....so just ask them to rate it. We have a competive pricing law in Canada that prevents charging a higher rate to us (Bonus!!).

I don't think they would be able to accept cash. The AA desk is open between 4:00am and 7:00pm - they would need a couple of hours to write the tickets (we had 4 - so you should be done earlier). They are in Terminal 3 at Pearson. The AA counter won't have any line but only one person on staff (so if they are at lunch/break you will have to wait for half an hour of more).



Cheers,

Kevin

I remember reading some of your posts (talking your wife into going to TO).
I was told the same thing by the AA rtw desk; however, when I actually arrived at 6:00am to pick up the ticket ----- a different story. They don't prepare the ticket in advance even if the AA rtw desk requests this. The CDN AA staff want to see you in person before they begin the task. I too had what they considered paper PRINTED tickets too and it took 6 hours for our 4 tickets with the AA employee taking no breaks (she told me she would be paid overtime as I apologized for her carpal tunnel syndrome). I also lucked out with an experienced (older) woman who knew how to do these tickets -- scared the $##$^ out of the initial woman who looked at our ITIN.

Kevin

I always find this sort of stuff worrisome. Alright, I guess I'll just have to try and hassle them to start the ticket before I get there on Saturday AM, so we don't have to wait. Thanks.

It's Qantas - no "u"

It's an acronym of its original name "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service"

Zero chance of that, if their policy is not to have completed tickets on file at the airport. BTW this is a common policy esp. at airports like YYZ which have open areas and no secure storage. So your best bet is to have lunch at the Sheraton (which is at T3) while you wait. Or better yet book an overnight room there, in case ticketing takes a bit longer.

Given that the omission of a letter counts I have to say you missed eight.

The correct original name was "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited".

I try to learn something new every day - now I can tick off today on the calendar

Even if they accept cash, try to stay away from it (paying with cash, not the cash itself).
The information about how the ticket was paid for will be transmitted to the US. And payment with cash is one of the main security triggers. So in order to avoid any risk of being treated as a potential security risk I would strongly advice against buying tickets with cash which have a US component in them.

Also, crossing Canada's border with $10K or more will make the day for any bored Customs Officer.

I have booked a MR from YYZ to GRU (where our rtw ticket begins in Aug) June 19th. Using the ITA software and the help of a very nice FT'er I have a route that will allow my daughter and I to obtain Saphire status prior to our trip. Two Saphire members will allow all 4 of us access to Oneworld Lounges and my daughter (9yrs) and I will earn double AA miles (100K instead of 50). Plus we have made arrangements to leave our skis in Sao Paulo for a month until we fly to Santiago to ski for a week.

This board has been invaluable to maximizing our resources (time and money).

Hope I can be helpful to others too.

Kevin