AA DONE4 Pricing Ex New Zealand - HELP!

[Paddy55]

Booked a DONE4 ex AKL via AA ATW desk with route as follows:

AKL-MEL-LAX-DFW-MCO-DFW-BOS-MIA-JFK-HKG-SIN-HKG-DPS-HKG-SYD-AKL

Actually in NZ now (and will be until Tue, 17th Apr) and called to get the price quote and pay, hopefully avoiding issues others have had.

Called the NZ AA no which I suspect is answered in Philippines. (which is neither here nor there except they're not as expert with DONE4's as the AA RTW Desk)

First I was told it would be $US15449! :shock: including taxes and fuel fines :shock:
When I questioned this was told it was based on 'no of segments' :evil:
After clearing this up, confirming it was priced as a DONE4, ex NZ and 'Eric' gave a price of $US11,954 + $US956 = $US12,910 :evil:

The surprise for me is that I'd used a web site:

RTW Fares Comparison for DONE4

to get a guide on the price... and it suggests $10,288++.

'Eric' claims prices haven't gone up recently so I'm wondering if AA is pricing it correctly?

Anyone any recent DONE4 ex AKL pricing experience, please?

 

[Leumas]

Is it even a valid routing for a DONE4? I'm not sure you can go to Asia directly from the US like that, at least the Mileage Monkey says no.

 

[Heleigh]

Paddy55,

I just book AONE4 via Qantas NZ clicked on Round the world created my own stops - AKL-SYD-LAX-LAS-LAS-MIA-ORL-JFK-LHR-DXB-LHR-BCN-LHR-SIN-SYD-AKL quoted approx NZ$18,842 convert to approx A$15,400. So if you have not completed this would be my suggestion.

I did similiar quote for same route in DONE4 approx NZ$14,443 convert over A$11,800 pricing is roughly same as you were quoted

 

[JohnM]

The OP's routing doesn't look like a valid xONEx to me. Seems to be going backwards between continental zones US-Asia.

Have you run it through the Oneworld planning tool: Plan & book online - oneworld? That will soon tell you if it's valid or not.

 

[serfty]

The JFK-HKG is not a valid segment as no oneworld carrier flush it as a single segment or a direct flight number with stopover.

JFK-<Europe>-HKG is doable.

Since the routing has only 15 segments I suspect the OP has accidentally omitted it.

Posted on a wing and a prayer ...

 

[Hawkeye]

For clarification of Serfty's post, JFK-HKG is invalid in the context of this itinerary.

As this is a RTW ticket, the direction of travel on this itinerary will mandate that JFK-HKG will need to be via Europe i.e continuing in an eastwards direction. If this itinerary had involved travel in a westward direction - say SWP-Europe-N.America - then JFK-HKG on CX would be a very reasonable option.

 

[serfty]

The base for for this route is NZD12699 -> currently ~USD10,458.

Results from ExpertFlyer.com

Fare Information Search:

Departing AKL on 01/03/12 for AKL
Flying QF   on booking class D
Purchasing at AKL
Viewing in currency NZD
Searching for fare basis code DONE4

Fare Basis  Airline  Booking  Trip Type   Fare           Cabin  Effective  Expiration  Min/Max  Advanced
                     Class                                      Date       Date        Stay     Purchase Req

DONE4       QF       D        Round-Trip  12699.00 (NZD) B                             -- / 12M

The Current filed IATA Clearing House Rate (ROE) for NZD to USD is 1.217672 so the calculation should have been ~USD10428.92 for the base fare.

Not that including Hong Kong in a route generally increases the base fare by a small amount.

I think the Desk did a multiplication for the ROE in the first place rather than a division - this would work out to USD15463.22.

 

[Danger]

The JFK-HKG is not a valid segment as no oneworld carrier flush it as a single segment or a direct flight number with stopover.

JFK-<Europe>-HKG is doable.

Since the routing has only 15 segments I suspect the OP has accidentally omitted it.

Posted on a wing and a prayer ...

It's my understanding CX flies on a single flight number HKG-JFK (the longest oneworld flight, perhaps alongside DFW-BNE). CX also flies JFK-LAX-HKG on a single flight number, I believe.

 

[Passport Premiere]

Paddy

Couple of pointers. For this to be an Around the World, you need to cross both the Pacific and Atlantic once and only once. If you fly Cathay between New York and Hong Kong, then it doesn't qualify as an Around the World ticket.

To fix this up, you could fly JFK-Heathrow on BA/London-Hong Kong on BA or Cathay Pacific. Segment count will be close but should work.

If you have no interest in going to Europe, you could easily make this a Circle Pacific which in USD terms is approx US$8600 from NZ vs US$10,433 for the Around the World. You would likely have to purchase some segments outside of the Circle Pacific

Even better, if you were to originate in Asia the Circle Pacific's can drop down to about US$ 5K and give you most of what you need. You could even buy two Circle Pacifics (one for now and one for later) for what the Around the World will cost you

Best of luck

Max Bennett
Passport Premiere Advisor

 

[Hawkeye]

CX also flies JFK-LAX-HKG on a single flight number, I believe.

Not sure about this. There is a JFK-YVR-HKG option - used to me more than once per day, but now I think with the 77W, most are direct flights.

As far as I know, CX have 5th freedom rights for the JFK-YVR segment, so you can travel that as a separate segment.

 

[serfty]

...
You would likely have to purchase some segments outside of the Circle Pacific ...

Most definitely - the routing on the OP is over 38000 miles - the OP would need to cut 12000+ to make a DCIR26.

As a double DCIR22 it may be possible but any savings if they exist would be minimal.

 

[Paddy55]

Is it even a valid routing for a DONE4? I'm not sure you can go to Asia directly from the US like that, at least the Mileage Monkey says no.

Finger trouble... should have been:

AKL-MEL-LAX-DFW-MCO-DFW-BOS-MIA-JFK-LHR-SIN-HKG-DPS-HKG-SYD-AKL

(LHR replacing first HKG)

Apologies for confusion.

Rest of original email, and questions, stand:

Actually in NZ now (and will be until Tue, 17th Apr) and called to get the price quote and pay, hopefully avoiding issues others have had.

Called the NZ AA no which I suspect is answered in Philippines. (which is neither here nor there except they're not as expert with DONE4's as the AA RTW Desk)

First I was told it would be $US15449! :shock: including taxes and fuel fines :shock:
When I questioned this was told it was based on 'no of segments' :evil:
After clearing this up, confirming it was priced as a DONE4, ex NZ and 'Eric' gave a price of $US11,954 + $US956 = $US12,910 :evil:

The surprise for me is that I'd used a web site:

RTW Fares Comparison for DONE4

to get a guide on the price... and it suggests $10,288++.

'Eric' claims prices haven't gone up recently so I'm wondering if AA is pricing it correctly?

Anyone any recent DONE4 ex AKL pricing experience, please?

Thanks for the suggestion re using QF NZ... I went to AA as I thought taxes and fuel fines would be a fare bit less.

One World planning tool suggests a price of $NZ 12,715 for base fare + $NZ 1,556 = $NZ 14,271.

 

[serfty]

The fare retuned by E/F is the current fare - See post #7 for details.

The trick with the oneworld tool is to get your first segment on AA, then it processes as AA.

 

[Heleigh]

Finger trouble... should have been:

AKL-MEL-LAX-DFW-MCO-DFW-BOS-MIA-JFK-LHR-SIN-HKG-DPS-HKG-SYD-AKL

(LHR replacing first HKG)

Anyone any recent DONE4 ex AKL pricing experience, please?

Thanks for the suggestion re using QF NZ... I went to AA as I thought taxes and fuel fines would be a fare bit less.

One World planning tool suggests a price of $NZ 12,715 for base fare + $NZ 1,556 = $NZ 14,271.

Paddy55,

I just book AONE4 via Qantas NZ clicked on Round the world created my own stops - AKL-SYD-LAX-LAS-LAS-MIA-ORL-JFK-LHR-DXB-LHR-BCN-LHR-SIN-SYD-AKL quoted approx NZ$18,842 convert to approx A$15,400. So if you have not completed this would be my suggestion.

I did similiar quote for same route in DONE4 approx NZ$14,443 convert over A$11,800 pricing is roughly same as you were quoted

Guess you by passed my #3 post (AONE A$15,474.75 which included $450 credit card charges) DONE convert to A$11,463 plus credit card charge

 

[Paddy55]

The fare retuned by E/F is the current fare - See post #7 for details.

The trick with the oneworld tool is to get your first segment on AA, then it processes as AA.

Thanks, serfty. On to it now.

 

[Paddy55]

Guess you by passed my #3 post (AONE A$15,474.75 which included $450 credit card charges) DONE convert to A$11,463 plus credit card charge

Heleigh.

Didn't bypass your response - and do appreciate it.
I just confused everyone with the stupid routing typo!

 

[Passport Premiere]

Saw the comments about asking for the first segment to be on AA. Sometimes you have to be careful of what you wish for. Until there is clarity on their future, there is some risks associated with a long, future dated , multisegment itinerary being paid via AA. For travel in the next month or two no problem, but if there was a negative development in their reorganization it could cause you issues if you still have unused segments on your ticket.

Wouldn't QF be a safer bet if you are buying in New Zealand anyway?

 

[serfty]

...
Wouldn't QF be a safer bet if you are buying in New Zealand anyway?

Since AA generally don't charge YQ as much QF do it's often much cheaper to ticket on AA 'stock'.

FWIW, LAN's even better as they don't do YQ at all.

 

[pyffii]

Planning a DONE4 for next year as follows...AKL-MEL-LHR-NCE-LHR-GVA-LHR-YVR-DFW-LIR-MIA-JFK-LAX-MEL-BNE-MEL-AKL.
A few questions...no AA code share on QF between AKL and MEL so guess cant be tickedted by AA and second mileage monkey accepts this itinerary as valid but the one world tool says NZ and OZ are the same continent and one cant book the MEL-BNE_MEL sector so for the booking to be accepted I need to remove that sector...Thanks for any help

 

[serfty]

What is the actual error?