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

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.

Suggested MR
 

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.

AA office in Toronto
 

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

YYZ and AA rtw purchase
 

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:D

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.

:D

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

AA status go to go.
 

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:)