Advice Required + Help for others
 

Well,

After going through the various forums we have our tickets and some new challenges.

We are a family of four (myself, wife, 9 yr old daughter, 10 year old son).

We have booked/paid and have our paper tickets in our hands for our Oneworld LONE6 tickets;) in Toronto ex GRU (South America). Yes, if you pay for your tickets in Canada you pay the lower fare - it's the only country that you can do this in.

Our route is: GRU-SCL-IPC-SCL-SYD-NRT-PEK-HNK-BKK-HNK-JRB-MAD-CAI-AMM-ORD-YYZ-DFW-ANC-DFW-JFK-GRU

We don't fly American until after our trip is over.....we will fly to Anchorage next summer with the kids. What do people think about obtaining Platinum status prior to our trip?? Is it worth doing a mileage run?? Best thing I can find is YYZ(BUF)-SCL-YYZ(BUF) [we have skis we could send down to Santiago early which would be a bonus --- or take one of my kids to Tokyo or Paris for the weekend but these tickets would cost us around $2700. Is platinum for two of us really worth it? I would really appreciate any comments or suggestions anyone has.


Advice for others:

1. Purchase tickets in Canada/Toronto saves $$ - most AA rtw desk people are not aware of this rule but the rating desk will confirm
2. Show upto airport first thing in the morning - come back at lunch and tickets are prepared
3. Purchase tickets prior to June 1 and get 20 segments instead of 16 thereafter
4. Once you have completed 4-5 segments on paper do a date change and this will require reissue of the ticket BUT NOW THE TICKET CAN BE e-ticket!! This is a great idea that I learned by accident yesterday while on the phone with AA rtw desk
5. Booked and paid for this ticket on a new TD Visa Advantage Card that gave x2 AA miles
6. Flying TASCA airlines from YYZ to LIM, LIM-CUZ-LIM,LIM-GRU for about $2500 (all 4 of us) - this extends our rtw trip for 13 months and allows us some additonal time in S/A for less then the Oneworld flights would have cost out of Toronto and no Alaska side trip next year

Help Required:

• We would like lounge access while travelling and the Admirals club doesn't work for our destinations, we don't have status yet for Oneworld lounges - maybe use Diner's club - priority pass isn't efficient with a family (kids)
• I am trying to figure out a suitable mileage run that would give us Platinum status with AA prior to our trip (we need 10000 qualifying points)
• What do you think two Platinum status (we need two as each can bring a guest)/Saphire is worth in $$ terms
• We will be travelling around 50,000 miles

• We will be travelling to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam from Nov-Jan out of Hong Kong - any suggestions for other cheap airlines? Probably do the train in Thailand
• Same question for Africa - would like to do a Safari (we know it will be $$)
• Same question for Madrid to Morroco & Madrid to Belfast

Thanks in advance for your help/suggestions and hope this post will help others in their planning.

A date change does not require a reissue. If you change your routing yes, but a simple date/carrier change can be done without reissue.

RTW desk comment
 

That's what I thought as well; however, the AA rtw desk agent told me it did. I'm not planning on changing the routing only dates so I may be stuck with paper for the trip.
Kevin

The agent is wrong.

On the date change, are you changing from a transit to a stopver?

Let me understand this better. Does it apply to any ticket or just rtw? Do you have to purchase in person, or can I just buy my ORD-DEL ticket from a Canadian site and pay less?

No - just a date change - but could make it a stop over if this makes a difference.
Kevin

just rtw tickets....

Paper ticket is advantageous over e-ticket. You will appreciate this the first time an airline prevents you from boarding, claiming you have no ticket, until you produce the e-ticket numbers. This isn't an academic problem, I've had it happen over a dozen times now. The onus is on you to prove that the e-ticket exists (and having a PNR means nothing!). Obviously the situation with e-tickets gets better each month, but it is still problematic at times and on some airlines/airports. I was enthusiastic about e-tickets but they simply don't work as well as they should ... be warned and prepared. Given a choice I would pick paper ticket, but generally they cost extra.

My understanding is that it applies to any fare, but why would ORD-DEL cost less if bought in Canada?

I always print a copy of my e-ticket with me, just to avoid situations. Have not encountered any problems for my last two years of heavy flying.

Ditto, and ditto.

Actually, I had no idea. :) Except that OP had written, "If you pay for your tickets in Canada you pay the lower fare - it's the only country that you can do this in" and I wanted to understand what was meant and if I could use it in my forthcoming purchase.

The OP was referring to this rule:

However, most regular fares (like ORD-DEL), do not have a different base price from country to country, so this Canada exception, if applied, would not make any difference to the base price of the fare.

Thanks
 

Thanks....good point, I could see this happening although I don't know which will happen first....loosing/damaging the paper tickets or an airline not having the flights in their system.

I have been able to book most of my seats online with LAN and a follow up phone call with Quantas.

K