Ticketing a CPAC
 

Just based on taxes and surcharges, which *A airline would you recommend for ticketing a CPSTAR1? I believe it can be any airline, not just the ones in the itinerary, but if I'm mistaken, the choices would be UA and SQ.

That is correct, while only flights on AC/CA/FM/NH/NZ/OZ/SQ/TG/UA/US are permitted, CPSTAR tickets can be issued on AC/BD/CA/FM/LH/LO/LX/JK/JP/NH/NZ/OS/OU/OZ/SA/SK/SQ/TG/TP/UA/US ticket stock.

I you want to avoid high surcharges, don't ticket with AC or LH.

Sometimes airlines don't like to issue ticket if they don't have any flight in the itinerary. In your case I would most probably go through UA.

Well so much for that idea. Even though the *A rules say anyone will ticket a CPAC, SQ refused to even price it for me because the first TPAC segment is on UA.

Call back and try again. There's no reason they can't issue it, I don't know where this myth that the airline with the first flight has to ticket got started. It's probably just a case of calling up a few times till you get someone knowledgeable on the line.

In my experience, UA tends to have the lowest pricing when compared against NZ and SQ for the same itinerary (yes, any carrier can issue).

However, you may want to book through the carrier with the most segments on your itinerary since dealing with a non-issuing carrier in the case of any changes can be highly time consuming unless you memorize the fare code and know exactely whom to call and what to ask for.

I typically book on UA and fly SQ and NZ. UA only if no other D seats are available or if the connection beats other carriers by 3+ hours.