DONE4 or DONE5 - a OWE Rules Question

[Homer]

I am only a few weeks away from ticketing a DONE? which begins in early March. I am flying to South America and then on to the UK/Europe before Asia and home. Originally I was going via LAX and leaving America via JFK however for reasons of time I have decided to drop all North American destinations. My TA thinks that this will mean that I will be paying for a DONE4 and I tend to agree with her. However something way back in the dark recesses of my mind is telling me that any OWE from the South West Pacific (ie Australia) that includes South American destinations must be ticketed as a DONE5. Is that actually the case or am I confused?

 

[Keith009]

Did you mean that you're now going SWP-South America directly rather than via LAX? If so, you lose one continent. SWP -> SA -> EUR -> Asia -> SWP = DONE4

 

[Mal]

I'm no OWE expert by any means, but are you thinking of the unavailability of DONE3's ex-Australia? Rather than DONE4 going through S America having to be a DONE5?

 

[serfty]

Minimum from Southern hemisphere origins is xONE4.

SWP-S/A-EUR-ASIA-SWP is DONE4

only xONE5 if you touch another continent, even on a transit.

e.g. If you cannot get from S/A to Eur without touching N/A then xONE5 it would be.

 

[Homer]

Great, so TA = 1, the dark recesses of Homer's brain = 0.

Thanks guys. A DONE4 it is.

 

[Evan]

you forgot .... DOH DOH DOH !!!

 

[Danger]

I've had the following DONE5 priced ex-South Africa:

CPT BA JNB BA MRU BA X/LON BA MCT BA LON BA WAW IB X/MAD AA X/MIA AA SCL LP LIM LA SAO //RIO LA X/SCL LA BUE QF X/SYD QF JNB

(For those interested it has priced at ZAR55685 or ~ AUD8400.)

Ideally I'd like to avoid the North American transit which, from my reading, moves it from a 4 to a 5 continent. Any ideas on (i) how I may do this or (ii) if it's too difficult how I may maximise QF SC earning on the DONE5?

 

[serfty]

You can fly MAD direct to SCL, cutting out MIA. Both IB and LA ply this route.

 

[Evan]

If you do it like this... Then you touch Asia, eg JNB-HKG-LHR-GRU-EZE-SYD-JNB

I don't think it can be done, i think you have to either touch USA else you can still do a xONE5 and touch Asia instead like above.

Or... JNB-JFK-SFO-EZE-SCL-SYD-JNB that's a xONE4 but no Europe which you want.

E

 

[Danger]

You can fly MAD direct to SCL, cutting out MIA. Both IB and LA ply this route.

Thanks, serfty. That's what I originally had but then Mindpearl came back with:

"I just had a few discussions regarding your reservation, as there are no American Airlines segments on this itinerary, the ticket should
in fact be issued by the first international airline, British Airways.

The only way to solve it, might be on the route from MAD - SCL (going via MIA instead)."
​

Now my reading of the oneworld forum over on FT suggests that any airline can ticket, regardless of the carriers (or maybe I've misread and it's actually 'regardless of the first carrier').

​

 

[Keith009]

Now my reading of the oneworld forum over on FT suggests that any airline can ticket, regardless of the carriers (or maybe I've misread and it's actually 'regardless of the first carrier')/

That's true in theory, and the ATW desk will book itineraries which do not involve AA flights for you. In practise OTOH, whether the local office will issue the ticket or not is another matter. AA CPT is known for refusing tickets with zero transoceanic segments, however I do know that another AFFer has managed to get such an itinerary past.

There's no such thing as 'the first carrier must/should ticket.' However this is commonly cited by many airline offices (most commonly CX's North American tariffs desk in YVR) as most would want to avoid booking RTWs, as it's a lot of work and not everyone is familiar with the product.

 

[Evan]

I have simply thrown something there way, eg AA7365 SYD-JFK which is a code share on QF, and the only other AA i had was domestic US flights. Doing this seems to always get you ticketed.

I can see there point if they don't get any major flights out of it then why should the ticket it.

Is it LA or IB that also have little YQ in there taxes ?

E

 

[Danger]

I have simply thrown something there way, eg AA7365 SYD-JFK which is a code share on QF

I'd forgotten about that. On my current DONE4 I booked on the AA codeshare HEL-JFK (AY metal) and JFK-SYD. The problem in this situation though is it still means a DONE5.

Is it LA or IB that also have little YQ in there taxes ?

What is the YQ tax?

 

[Evan]

At the time my taxes last year ex JNB for an AONE5 was about $760-780 AUD or something like that, i can't find the record just in front of me. That was taxes including YQ.
If the YQ by having 1 over water AA flight is even say $150 its worth it compared to the savings you make by not ticketing via QF/BA/JL etc.

Just remember the 10% discount end on the 12th April.

For the locations you want to visit it will be a xONE5 i guess, always has to be compared to starting Asia for example and it being an xONE4 and its often less to get to you start point.

E

 

[serfty]

YQ refers to "Fuel Fines". LA have None.

Perhaps you could ticket through LA? Not sure how to do this but it's an option.

e.g. Having first segment on LA with the online tool generally reduces overall

significantly.