[austrider]

Originally Posted by QF009

1) Did you speak to ATW Desk or did you speak to AA NRT? Each issuing office has its own policy with payment and ticketing, and AFAIK AA NRT accepts foreign credit cards and payment over the phone so long as the itinerary is eticketable (in the brave new world of 16 segment itineraries I can't think of many itineraries that CAN'T with eticketed).

Thanks for the info - I thought so. I spoke to ATW at Dallas and the agent sounded experienced so I started to doubt myself.....

Originally Posted by QF009

2) The agent was right. You can't enter/exit Asia more than once unless one of the entries/exists is in transit or on a single flight number service between the South West Pacific and Europe.

Sorry I meant to ask that even his routing looks incorrect as wouldn't the JFK-LAX be considered as the second trans-continent N. America trip? What will happen if he's wrong - does it get picked up at ticketing?

Originally Posted by QF009

4) Booking on the QF code will mean you avoid AA's transpacific fuel surcharge as AA limits collection of fuel fines to its own flights. The QF codes will also count towards the 'min 4 QF group segments' rule for QFF status.

I see - that will definitely make a difference to the cost! I will call back tonight and fix that up. Thanks again!

By the way I've already flown QF more than 4 times this year (just the regular CityFlyer stuff) - do I still need to accure more than 4 QF segment on this trip to get all the SCs?

[Evan]

Originally Posted by austrider

By the way I've already flown QF more than 4 times this year (just the regular CityFlyer stuff) - do I still need to accure more than 4 QF segment on this trip to get all the SCs?

As long as by this year you mean your membership year then thats all you need. Its for QF segments per membership year and that can be 1 ticket with 4 segments or 4 seperate tickets, whatever you like, domestic or international. So then your safe.

E

[QF009]

Originally Posted by austrider

Sorry I meant to ask that even his routing looks incorrect as wouldn't the JFK-LAX be considered as the second trans-continent N. America trip? What will happen if he's wrong - does it get picked up at ticketing?

Oops hadnt picked up on the 2nd transcon.
Yep JFK-LAX would be considered a 2nd transcon. It should get picked up by Dublin tariffs desk when they're building your fare quote, and they will then queue the PNR back to ATW desk pointing out the problem.

Try YVR-DFW-MCO or JFK-SYD? The latter would require some repositioning admittedly.

[austrider]

Some update on my progress and experiences:

* The AA online reservation check is almost real-time. I'd recommend finding out the record locater early and login and monitor as the booking progresses. See my next point for why....

https://www.aa.com/aa/reservation/fi...ationAccess.do

* The agent got my wife's name wrong. I called back but apprently there's no way to change the name - the whole booking has to be cancelled and started again... If I had been able to log in and check the reservation as it progresses then I could have picked it up and cancelled it/fixed it the first time.

* Another advantage with checking the booking in real-time is that they don't tell you there's no more First seats, and just book you into Economy... so if you haven't used EF to check seat availability you may want to choose another flight that has First seats. Apart from the comfort my understanding is that you earn the SC of First as well?

* Definitely make sure they get your email and send you the itinerary. If they did not get your QF number correctly then it'll show up in the email

* In the email confirmation, each flight also has a Terminal Reference number. Some flights would have the same Terminal Reference number, and some flights would not (or none at all). It seems Qantas MyBooking picks up the flights with a particular Terminal Reference, but not others. By the way for me the Qantas MyBooking was almost immediate (within 5 minutes of completing the booking)

I will update more on my experience after I get the fares calculated and paid.

[serfty]

You may find that not all flights in your booking are listed on Qantas MYB or www.checkmttrip.com.

This is normal. For example, with a LONE4 I booked via AA I see the following AA booked RTW segments:

MEL-(QF)xSYD-(QF)JFK-(AA)xORD-(AA)SEA-(AA)xDFW-(AA)xORD-(BA)LHR,LGW-(BA)DBV-(BA)LGW,
LHR-(QF)SIN-(CX)HKG-(CX)BKK-(CX)HKG-(CX)NRT-(QF)SYD-(QF)CNS-(QF)MEL

This shows on Qantas.com as:

MEL-(QF)xSYD-(QF)JFK,DFW-(AA)xORD-(BA)LHR,
LGW-(BA)DBV-(BA)LGW,LHR-(QF)SIN,
HKG-(CX)NRT-(QF)SYD-(QF)CNS-(QF)MEL

i.e. the connecting flights on CX and AA show on Amadeus but that's it.

[serfty]

If you fly in the economy cabin of a 2 or 3 class AA flight on a DONEx or and AONEx then you get Discount WHY SC's (L).

(Book in first Cabin, get A SC's; Business cabin, get D SC's)

[austrider]

Thanks Serfty... I understand it's normal and accepted but just wondering if anyone know the reason behind it (e.g. backend system integration limitation?)

Ok - just called back for the quote and the additional taxes are around AU$ 700. This seemed to be a little high so I asked for a breakdown of how the fare was calculated, but was told that it's not possible and that it will be available after payment (?!)

So here's another question - Is there a way to determine the breakdown beforehand? e.g. would the Premium subscription of EF do that? I'm not sure if the taxes are high because stopping by CDG, or the MAD-ORD leg that's booked under AA instead of IB. Thoughts?

FYI route is NRT-TPE-HKG-CDG-AMM-DME-MAD-ORD-MCO-JFK-YYZ-DFW-LAX-MEL-HKG-TPE-NRT
Transits: TPE-CDG transit via HKG, and YYZ-MEL transit via DFW and LAX, and MEL-TPE transit via HKG.

Thanks!

[QF009]

Book MAD-ORD on IB rather than AA and you'd save yourself over A$100 in fuel fines as AA will not collect said fines for other carriers. Similarly, make sure LAX-MEL is QF instead of AA. No requirement for there to be AA transoceanic segments as you're booking with AA directly.

[austrider]

I'm logging my first DONE4 experiences here and just want to provide a quick update. Just called AA ATW to change some of the legs and learnt couple of things:

• You can request seats as soon as it's ticketed. I didn't know that.
• Once ticketed, any change in iteninary would require a fee - even when the routing was suggested by AA and was less efficient. I wanted YYZ-LAX-MEL initially but was told it's not possible and have to do YYZ-ORD-LAX-MEL instead. I (stupidly) accepted it back then and now this agent said it's possible but would cost me extra. Argh!

I should start a blog to log my trip reports plus the DONE4 experiences in one spot.....

[simongr]

There shouldn't be any fees after ticketing and before you commence travel. That only applies to travel originating from some regions - not SWP.