How much did you pay for DONE4 + tax?

[Chucksta]

How much have you recently paid for a DONE4 and what was the amount of tax?

What was the routing?

Where did you pay for it?

thanks

Chucksta

 

[JohnM]

'Evening Chucksta

My last DONE4 was in Sept-Oct 2007.

Total cost was $10956.46. From the records I can easily locate, it seems that the fare was $9699 and the rest tax.

Routing: PER-SYD-JFK-(land sector NYC-Washington DC (under old rules where it did not count in the RTW))-DCA-ORD-ATL-MIA-LAS-MIA-LAX-LHR-LISD-LHR/LGW-KEF-LHR-JND-CPT-JNB-VFA-JNB-SYD-PER.

The upgrades to F (on points) were so nice SYD-JFK & JNB-SYD that this year's annual xONE4 is going to be an AONE4.

There will be 6 of 20 sectors in international F (AA domestic F definitely does not count for the luxury but the hyper SC earn is another matter!): SYD-JFK(QF), SFO-LHR (BA), LHR-DXB (BA), DXB-LHR (BA), LHR-MRU (BA), JNB-SYD (QF) so I think the extra spend will be worth it.

Wondering why you ask?

 

[serfty]

+++ on DONE4 ex CMB in Aug '05 was ~AUD1070 (booked by CX agent).

For reference, a LONE4 with 17 segments being booked this month via AA RTW/IndiAA/AAustraliAA has a
+++ of AUD354.

 

[JohnM]

Sorry, Serfty, I can't follow your cryptic message. What do the +++'s mean? And the $$ seem an order of magnitude too low.

 

[Evan]

+++ = taxes, surchages, booking fees etc
$$ are only the taxes and surcharges on the fare, not the full fare.

E

 

[serfty]

...: Sorry, Serfty, I can't follow your cryptic message. What do the +++'s mean? ...

As posted by Evan, the +++ represent the total taxes/levies/surcharges on your fare. These get added to the base fare and you pay the total.

... And the $$ seem an order of magnitude too low.

In relation to the DONE4 ex CMB the fare was in Sri Lankan Rupees:

Fare  - LKR 523,200
Tax   - LKR  79,850
Total - LKR 603,050

The "Tax" (or +++) worked out to about ~AUD1070 with the base fare being ~AUD7010 for a total of ~AUD8080.

The $374 +++ for the LONE4's is due to it being booked via American Airlines who charge much less in fuel fines than Qantas - in this case saving around $600pp. The base fare (LHONE4) is $3479 for a total of $3853pp.

 

[dragonman]

My Done4 ex NRT was $8250 or so, but the AUD against the Yen was 105Y.

Today I would source out of JNB or a Global explorer out of Fiji.

 

[Chucksta]

My Done4 ex NRT was $8250 or so, but the AUD against the Yen was 105Y.

Today I would source out of JNB or a Global explorer out of Fiji.

Why buy the ticket in joburg?

Is buying a Done4 from Tokyo still on the cards? I heard that its much cheaper than Australia...

 

[JohnM]

Thanks for clarifications, guys .

I was aware of XONEX's being less costly out of places like Sri Lanka and NRT, and that AA doesn't charge the high fuel surcharge of QF.

However, I want simplicity and interactability (if there is such a word) and I'm prepared to pay for it, so I do it all through the consultant at QF Travel in Perth who I go back to every year. After the last several years of an annual xONEx's she knows exactly how I operate and I end up doing almost the lot by email with her.

I always do the full 20 sectors and play some games (usually in domestic F on AA) in the process to ensure maximum SC's and ongoing Partner Gold.

I think I'm her favourite client. She knows that I know what I want so I'm low overhead and I get top service.

One month after return from the latest annual 6-week xONEx the next email with the Oneworld Itinerary Builder output attached is off to her for getting the next one on the way to being booked.

The golden rule as far as I am concerned is if you want to get what you require is book exactly 11 months preceding date of return. The competition for DONEx seats is either hotting up (all those (divorcee) baby boomers like me spending the kids' inheritance) or the availability is collapsing because of rich mining company folk flitting about and paying J (eg. try getting D JNB-SYD).

 

[serfty]

Why buy the ticket in joburg?

Is buying a Done4 from Tokyo still on the cards? I heard that its much cheaper than Australia...

Because of the dropping exchange rate for the ZAR a DONE4 is ~AUD2,800 less than starting in NRT and ~AUD5,400 less than from Oz. If you want to make it easy to visit Oz, a DONE5 is ~AUD2000 less than a DONE4 ex NRT. Note: a DONE5 ex JNB is ~AUD5,500 < than ex PER:

 xONEx from JNB in ZAR and approx AUD.

oneworld Explorer -
4 continent
	
Economy 	  ZAR 	18,500 (AUD2,503)
Business 	  ZAR 	39,950 (AUD5,406)
First 		  ZAR 	51,990 (AUD7,035)

oneworld Explorer -
5 continent
	
Economy 	  ZAR 	22,000 (AUD2,977)
Business 	  ZAR 	45,300 (AUD6,130)
First 		  ZAR 	66,000 (AUD8,931)

oneworld Explorer -
6 continent
	
Economy 	  ZAR 	27,000 (AUD3,654)
Business 	  ZAR 	53,000 (AUD7,172)
First 		  ZAR 	76,800 (AUD10,393)

 

[JohnM]

It's interesting to see the theoretical prices from places outside Australia, but how easy is it to get exactly what you want?

If booking 11 months ahead in Australia can present difficulties getting D on certain sectors, how easily can one work with an overseas-based consultant or a reservation engine to tweak for the desired result?

I'd be interested to hear some real-life examples where little or no itinerary compromise occurred and whether the $$ saved were worth the additional hassle of dealing offshore, or costs involved in getting to commencement points, that would seem to be inevitable.

 

[Keith009]

The AA ATW desk in the US provides a one stop shop for all my DONE4 bookings. I only liaise with the issuing office for preliminary research as to their payment policies, and then contact them again when I'm ready to issue the ticket. Praise be to VOIP.

I paid around A$8400 including tax for an ex-NRT DONE4, ticketed in August 2007 for a January 2008 start. This was prior to a fare increase in September 2007. Earlier this month I priced up another ex-NRT DONE4 but the fare including tax came up to around A$8900 due to the fare increase and somewhat strong yen. I then looked around and priced up an ex-MNL for approx A$8200 including tax. This will also allow me the opportunity to visit the Philippines without using up any DONE4 segments.

I traveled up to NRT on an award ticket using AA miles. My existing DONE4 takes me back to NRT in July and I shall be repositioning myself to MNL using bmi miles - 11 125 miles + 63 quid Cash/Miles copay gets a one way NRT-SIN-MNL on SQ C with stopover in SIN.

I believe the ex-NRT price is still competitive when compared to the ex-Australia price. But MNL does present advantages in that the AA GSA is able to issue paper tickets remotely (thus ensuring all 20 segments locked in right away without the worry of how a reissue back up to 20 will go after compulsory eticketing) and even courier them overseas, and you're able to avail yourself of more of the longer routes in Asia which happen to be out of NRT whereas you'd not be able to head back to NRT or Japan until the end of the itinerary if commencing an ex-NRT.

Of course both Japan and the Philippines are on my list of places to visit anyway - as opposed to places where I'd be merely dropping in to pick up the DONE4. This offsets any extra costs that you might otherwise consider like accomodation.

 

[serfty]

It's interesting to see the theoretical prices from places outside Australia, but how easy is it to get exactly what you want?

If booking 11 months ahead in Australia can present difficulties getting D on certain sectors, how easily can one work with an overseas-based consultant or a reservation engine to tweak for the desired result?

I'd be interested to hear some real-life examples where little or no itinerary compromise occurred and whether the $$ saved were worth the additional hassle of dealing offshore, or costs involved in getting to commencement points, that would seem to be inevitable.

Look around on this forum and also look at Flyer Talk's oneworld forum for such examples.

Many take a one way flight to get to the cheaper starting point and simply do annual trips, using the last segments of the xONEx to return to the start to commence a new xONEx.

I have had few problems in dealing outside Australia, neither with CX in CMB (where emails did the trick) or the AA RTW desk (I've used 80% of $10 phone card with several calls to US totaling about 1½ hours).

Once of the advantages of starting outside Oz, it that you can break the trip when doing your SWP portion.

For ex CMB, I used 50K QFF points +++ to get there from MEL via SIN.

The travel was:

Oct: CMB-{Asia}-AKL-MEL
Dec: MEL-PER-CNS-MEL (back then MEL was not restricted)
Mar: SYD-{Eur/M.East)-LAX (used an award to get LAX-MEL-LAX)
Jun: LAX-{N/a}-JFK-HKG (used an award fare HKG-MEL)
Aug: HKG-CMB

I had to make a few changes: for AA flights I called AA (in Oz), for QF, I called QF, for CX an email to the booking agent did the trick. All was quite painless.

I have just been ticketed for 2 LONE4's ex MEL, as mentioned I used the AA RTW desk solely to save ~$1200 in +++ (Total cost $3,353pp on base $3,479).

This too has been straight forward (although it took just over two weeks for them to write the ticket and hit my CC.) You can read more about it here:

• Detail on using the AA RTW Desk

Our routing for this is:

June: MEL-{N/A}-{Eur}-SIN (Upgradeable fare SIN-MEL-SIN on QF ~AUD850 pp)

Apr: SIN-{Asia}-SYD (red e-deals SYD-MEL,MEL-SYD)

May: SYD-CNS-MEL (Oz Fest VI?)

 

[Chucksta]

Do you need to be a member of AA advantage to use the AA RTW Desk?

Does that mean we can use the AA RTW Desk to book the DONE4 and ticket and pay for it somewhere else?

 

[serfty]

Do you need to be a member of AA advantage to use the AA RTW Desk?

Does that mean we can use the AA RTW Desk to book the DONE4 and ticket and pay for it somewhere else?

NO, they were happy to insert my QFF number.

As per the thread I linked to above (Detail on using the AA RTW Desk) the RTW desk takes the booking and passes it to "Dublin" for pricing. You call the AA RTW desk again a day or two later to confirm the pricing. You then call the Oz AA number (goes to IndiAA currently) and they startthe ticketing process, passing on to AA in Sydney for finalisation.

 

[Dave Noble]

Do you need to be a member of AA advantage to use the AA RTW Desk?

Does that mean we can use the AA RTW Desk to book the DONE4 and ticket and pay for it somewhere else?

Anyone can use the AA ATW desk (not RTW ) and it can be used to booked any Circle or Explorer tickets as long as AA has a location where you can ticket. e.g. I just used them to book a LAS13 ex Australia and paid for it through the UK office ... ( since there is no ex-UK LAS fares, then the ex-Australia price was charged by AA London )

It is easy, for example, to book an DONE4 ATW ex TYO via the ATW desk and then just call AA office in NRT to pay for it when ready to ticket

Calling the USA 1800 number can be free using voip

Dave

 

[Chucksta]

It is easy, for example, to book an DONE4 ATW ex TYO via the ATW desk and then just call AA office in NRT to pay for it when ready to ticket.

Dave

I noticed you save about $2k alone

ex-AUS $10,499 + tax; versus ex-NRT Yen743,200 ($8257)

Plus all the tax savings (if there are any???).

When I call the AA office in NRT, can I pay for the ticket over the phone? Is it an E-Ticket?

 

[wrldtrvllr]

If it's e-ticketable then usually there are no problems with paying with CC over the phone. If a paper ticket is required (> 16 segments) then the agents usually require you to be in person to pay for ticket via CC. There are ways around this with a fax authorisation but not all places are accommodating...

If you are looking for a cheaper DONEx (than ex-AUST) there are also a few other places around SE Asia that are cheaper then ex-JAPAN ... CMB, MNL, DPS, ICN - there's been some discussion on these in other threads.

 

[Dave Noble]

I noticed you save about $2k alone

ex-AUS $10,499 + tax; versus ex-NRT Yen743,200 ($8257)

Plus all the tax savings (if there are any???).

When I call the AA office in NRT, can I pay for the ticket over the phone? Is it an E-Ticket?

As long as you have made sure that it is eticketable ( e.g. ensuring no open sectors and that it is no more than 16 sectors and that not going to a non eticketable destination ) then just phone up , pay and watch the status change to Ticketed - mm/dd/yy

Dave

 

[Keith009]

ex-NRT Yen743,200 ($8257)

oneworld.com is still showing the old NRT fare - the existing fare is JPY780 400 for a DONE4. AA NRT is an office that requires you to be physically present for payment should a paper ticket be required, but they do take payment over the phone if your itinerary is eticketable (ie the criteria Dave Noble pointed out).