Done4 Suggestions

[madmat777]

Hi All,

I've been doing two RTWs using Finnair's special via Helsinki. Not as flexible as a DONE4 but for $6500 odd it was a cheap way to get where I needed to be in Asia, UK and USA.

Finnair have stopped doing these tickets (actaully i think they stopped flying from HEL-JFK), so I need to go DONE4 instead. I was browsing the forum because I thought my TA was charging me too much at $240 per ticket when I noticed that some of you were buying them OS and getting much better prices.

I'm not that interested in maxing my milage as I do three to four RTWs a year in D so QF Plat is easily acheived. I am interested in the savings as while I travel for business the company is mine.

The routing I was planning for May is:
BNE-LAX-SAN-DFW-JFK-LHR-AMS-LHR-SIN-BNE (I can reverse if it would be better)

In September and November I will also need to be in London and would expect to do these RTW also. In Feb 09 and May 09 doing the same again.

Specific Qns:
1. Do i need to change the routing to book through a cheaper option?
2. Which is the best place to start from? Book From? I have enough points to get me to a starting point.
3. Does a surface Sector mean that it cant be eticketed? (Mrs MadMat is flying on points and meeting me in London and then we were planning to take a train to Amsterdam via Paris).

Realy appreciate any advice from the experts. Is it possible for a sticky thread to be set up like was done for the AA Plat Challenge detailing the process and numbers etc to save the same questions coming up again and again?

Thanks Again

Mathew.

 

[simongr]

The cheaper places to start are CGK, NRT and JNB - none of which are on your itinerary.

In simple terms you get charged the higher of where you ticket it and where you originate so if you want to do it from a cheaper location you need to get it ticketed there and start from there.

So if you want to fly from BNE as a start you have an issue. If you want to you ticket in NRT and get an award to NRT as follows:

award - BNE-NRT
DONE3 - nrt-sin.........lax-nrt
award - NRT-BNE

That would be about the same price as the AY fare you have been using.

As long as you are under 16 segments you can eticket.

Hope this helps and book it through the AA desk and get them to ticket in NRT - much easier and will save $240!

 

[Shano]

Our corporate TA charged $90 for a recent LONE4.

$240 sounds excessive for ticketing.

As simon says ( ) book through AA ATW desk.

 

[madmat777]

Thanks Guys,

Can I do an award flight to NRT now and then save the final leg back to NRT to coincide with my next RTW trip?

so...
BNE-NRT Award
DONE4 NRT-....-BNE
Big long stop in BNE
BNE-NRT and then take up the next DONE4

I noticed on the one world site that setting the country as "Indonesia" is much cheaper. Has anyone got any experience of booking a DONE4 through there?

Thanks again - appreciate the advice.

Mathew.

 

[NM]

Yes, you can. but be prepared to prove to the check-in agent for the first flight that you have a ticket to leave Japan and will not be in breach of any Visa etc requirements. They will not check you in unless they know you meet the entry requirements for Japan, which may include having a ticket already booked to leave the country, and in your case that would be the DONE4. so be prepared to show the e-ticket receipt etc as proof.

 

[simongr]

Yep that is exactly what QF009 has done. You just need to check the price comparison between an NRT issued DONE3 and DONE4 and see whether the points cost of an NRT-BNE award is worth it.

Dont forget if you do an NRT bsaed DONE4 and route back through Oz like you plan you can then use your SWP flights - so if you need to go to AKL say - you can do so in J on QF included in the ticket.

Just a thought... that might pay for the price differential...

 

[Keith009]

Plus it's only the initial costs that matter if you do a DONE4 - you can chill out at home on the DONE4, then rinse and repeat when you end up back in NRT again, and you'd have saved more than enough to make up for the initial costs of getting to NRT.

If it's a DONE3 you might be spending too much repositioning yourself.

You could always book a cheapie out of NRT to ICN or something to get around the immigration issues. I got around it by including a dummy sector back to HKG in my OW80C.

 

[openseat]

Yes, you can. but be prepared to prove to the check-in agent for the first flight that you have a ticket to leave Japan and will not be in breach of any Visa etc requirements. They will not check you in unless they know you meet the entry requirements for Japan, which may include having a ticket already booked to leave the country, and in your case that would be the DONE4. so be prepared to show the e-ticket receipt etc as proof.

Interestingly enough I was doing exactly this combination of a one-way award flight to NRT to pick up a ticket in mid February in Melbourne. At check-in with my oneway award ticket I was not asked for any proof of return/onwards ticket. It surprised me and I didn't raise it expecting that the check-in agent would say something, but nothing. Obviously YMMV, and I wouldn't count on this happening again.

 

[madmat777]

If I was to do this wouldn't i get asked everytime i flew BNE-NRT? Is an eticket printout enough to satisfy the questions?

Mathew.

 

[madmat777]

ok here is an updated itinerary which takes advantage of some SWP segments.

Award flight
BNE-NRT

DONE4 FLights
NRT-SIN
SIN-BKK-LHR (meet mrs in BKK on way to LHR and train from LON to AMS)
AMS-LHR-JFK
JFK-LAX
LAX-SAN-LAX-BNE (short meeting in SAN Diego)
BNE-SYD-BNE (just in Syd for the day)
BNE-MEL-BNE (just in Melb for the day)
BNE-NRT (this one to line up with the next jaunt ATW)

The OW itinerary planner likes it, does it look ok? Do i have to pick up a paper ticket in NRT or can this be e ticketed? (It is 15 segments).

Thanks again for the help

Mathew.

 

[Keith009]

You can include LHR-AMS on your ticket, or is there something I'm missing?

Your itinerary looks good for eticketing (even with the LHR-AMS thrown in) with AA NRT, provided you don't have any open dated segments.

 

[NM]

If I was to do this wouldn't i get asked everytime i flew BNE-NRT? Is an eticket printout enough to satisfy the questions?

Mathew.

All the airlines need to do is confirm that you meet the entry requirements to the country where you will be finishing that part of the journey. They are no interested in how or when you will be returning to Australia.

The entry requirements for each country vary. Some may not need to know that you have confirmed plans to depart their country within a set timeframe - some do. I am not sure exactly what the requirements are for Australian's visiting Japan.

On a recent trip I had to Asia, I was travelling on a DAS13 Circle Asia fare. I had to unexpectantly return to Australia mid way through the trip. So I booked a KUL-SIN-BNE-SIN-KUL flight. When checking in for the BNE-SIN sector, the check-in agent needed to know that I have confirmed travel plans departing KUL. I showed my DAS13 e-ticket receipt and all was ok.

 

[madmat777]

You can include LHR-AMS on your ticket, or is there something I'm missing?

Having flown so much i thought it would be a nicer way to see a bit of Europe to take the train to Paris and then up to AMS. unless there are better suggestions for taking 3 or 4 days to go from LHR to AMS.

Mathew.

 

[madmat777]

You can include LHR-AMS on your ticket, or is there something I'm missing?

Your itinerary looks good for eticketing (even with the LHR-AMS thrown in) with AA NRT, provided you don't have any open dated segments.

Ok so the best time to ring them is in the morning or so I gather from reading other posts. Is there any other info I need to give them? I'll check all the availabilities on Expert Flyer tonight to make sure that I can get all the D flights that I need.

 

[Keith009]

Ok so the best time to ring them is in the morning or so I gather from reading other posts. Is there any other info I need to give them? I'll check all the availabilities on Expert Flyer tonight to make sure that I can get all the D flights that I need.

You want to ring the ATW desk in Dallas morning US Central time not our time, which means around midnight AEDT. +18002473247 - get them to organise the itinerary for you. Call back 2-24 hours later for the fare. The quote and ticketing instructions ("PQR") will remain on your reservation for 7 days - if you don't contact NRT during that time you'd have to call Dallas again to set up another PQR. They are allowing you to hold your booking for 6 weeks now (3 weeks previously).

Don't get AA NRT to build the itinerary etc for you. Get the local stations to do as little as possible - ONLY liaise with them to issue the ticket. Trust me on this one.

 

[thegurio]

Can you book a DONE4 online (or at least even check prices/availbility etc.) or do i have to do all prelim stuff and then ring up and book?

 

[simongr]

You can check availability using seat counter or expertflyer online and note that down. You can check the base price on the OW website quite easily.

You cannot book the whole shebang online - the best (IMHO) way is to call AA and avoid the exorbitant QF surcharges...

 

[madmat777]

You want to ring the ATW desk in Dallas morning US Central time not our time, which means around midnight AEDT. +18002473247 - get them to organise the itinerary for you. Call back 2-24 hours later for the fare. The quote and ticketing instructions ("PQR") will remain on your reservation for 7 days - if you don't contact NRT during that time you'd have to call Dallas again to set up another PQR. They are allowing you to hold your booking for 6 weeks now (3 weeks previously).

Don't get AA NRT to build the itinerary etc for you. Get the local stations to do as little as possible - ONLY liaise with them to issue the ticket. Trust me on this one.

Thanks QF009,

I really appreciate all the help you guys are giving.

Can i just repeat the steps so I know that I have got it right.

1. Create the itinerary and check for seat availability.
2. Ring Dallas AA and get them to put it in their system. They will give me a PQR number (I assume that is used for tracking the booking).
3. Call Dallas Back and get the fare (is this step necessary?)
4. Ring NRT AA and give them the PQR number and tell them that I want to pay via Credit Card.
5. NRT will eTicket it and all I need to do is print it out and get my award one way from BNE to NRT.

Is that right?

Thanks Again

Mathew.

 

[Keith009]

Thanks QF009,

I really appreciate all the help you guys are giving.

Can i just repeat the steps so I know that I have got it right.

1. Create the itinerary and check for seat availability.
2. Ring Dallas AA and get them to put it in their system. They will give me a PQR number (I assume that is used for tracking the booking).
3. Call Dallas Back and get the fare (is this step necessary?)
4. Ring NRT AA and give them the PQR number and tell them that I want to pay via Credit Card.
5. NRT will eTicket it and all I need to do is print it out and get my award one way from BNE to NRT.

Is that right?

Thanks Again

Mathew.

2. Sorry I wasn't being clear. They will give you a record locator to track your booking (admire it on aa.com etc).

The PQR is for the sole use of the ticketing office - information for the local office containing tariff and ticketing instructions. The ATW desk will build it then "send" your itinerary to Dublin for pricing. If a fare has appeared in your reservation it means the PQR has been set up properly. Without the PQR the ticketing office has to refer your itinerary back to a tariffs desk. AA NRT is much more competent than most other locations but still fumbles. The PQR will only stay in your reservation for 7 days from creation.

In other words, make sure that you call NRT within 7 days of the last date your itinerary got priced. If it's been too long since the itinerary got priced, you're best off calling Dallas again to reprice your itinerary before contacting NRT.

3. Not really - you could ring up NRT to check the fare. If it has appeared in your booking you may well go ahead and ticket it. Otherwise call back at a later stage.

I prefer ringing Dallas to get the fare prior to contacting the ticketing location though, so if there are any anomalies with the fare (for instance Dublin priced my last itinerary initially as an AONE4 instead of a DONE4 because I upgraded LHR-LAX to F with an EVIP but they thought it was booked as an AONE4 as the upgrade also appears as A class) I can challenge it there and then rather than deal with someone who isn't specifically trained to handle ATW products.

4. Give them the record locator.

5. Yep

 

[v8Statesman]

I prefer ringing Dallas to get the fare prior to contacting the ticketing location though, so if there are any anomalies with the fare (for instance Dublin priced my last itinerary initially as an AONE4 instead of a DONE4 because I upgraded LHR-LAX to F with an EVIP but they thought it was booked as an AONE4 as the upgrade also appears as A class) I can challenge it there and then rather than deal with someone who isn't specifically trained to handle ATW products.

[stupid hat]

How did you notice the taxer where wrong?

[/stupid hat]