How to book a One World Explorer overseas?

[aus_flyer]

Just wondering... what's the easiest way to go about purchasing a OWE ticket overseas?

In particular, from Colombo.

Thanks

 

[Dave Noble]

Just wondering... what's the easiest way to go about purchasing a OWE ticket overseas?

In particular, from Colombo.

Thanks

I would work out your itinery then contact the AA ATW desk and get a reservation held and priced out for purchase in Colombo

Then contact an agent in Colombo to ticket it. Do make sure that you get it priced by AA and not one of the non US carriers otherwise you'll be stung for fuel surcharges

Dave

 

[aus_flyer]

What does ATW stand for?

So I have to find a reliable travel agent in Colombo. Hmmm...

 

[Dave Noble]

What does ATW stand for?

So I have to find a reliable travel agent in Colombo. Hmmm...

(A)round
(T)he
(W)orld

You do ideally want to find a decent agent in Colombo if you want to get it ticketed at the Colombo rates plus don't want to be stung for lots of fuel surcharges.

Dave

 

[aus_flyer]

Couldn't I just get Qantas to reserve it? And then finalise booking through Colombo travel agent?

Isn't it the agent's responsibility to work out fuel surcharges?

 

[NM]

Couldn't I just get Qantas to reserve it? And then finalise booking through Colombo travel agent?

Isn't it the agent's responsibility to work out fuel surcharges?

An agent issues the ticket on the ticket stock of a particular airline. This is still the case even if the ticket stock is virtual in the case of an e-ticket. And the agent is bound by the surcharge policy of the airline on whose ticket stock the ticket is issued.

Hance use AA for the reservation and find an agent that will issue the AA reservation.

 

[aus_flyer]

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought that if the itinerary included a QF flight then the QF surcharge would apply to that flight, a BA flight then the BA surcharge, etc

 

[NM]

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought that if the itinerary included a QF flight then the QF surcharge would apply to that flight, a BA flight then the BA surcharge, etc

Don't tell that to AA or they might start charging the surcharges :wink: .

 

[Dave Noble]

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought that if the itinerary included a QF flight then the QF surcharge would apply to that flight, a BA flight then the BA surcharge, etc

Nope.

In the US, the airlines include any fuel surcharges within the published fare whilst QF et al enjoy pretending to call it a tax/surcharge.

If you book through AA, they will not charge fuel surcharges on top of the published fare. MAkes a big difference on ATW tickets

Dave

 

[Dave Noble]

Couldn't I just get Qantas to reserve it? And then finalise booking through Colombo travel agent?

Isn't it the agent's responsibility to work out fuel surcharges?

You could book through QF if you don't mind paying considerably more for your ticket; it's your choice

Dave

 

[tuapekastar]

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought that if the itinerary included a QF flight then the QF surcharge would apply to that flight, a BA flight then the BA surcharge, etc

Nope.

In the US, the airlines include any fuel surcharges within the published fare whilst QF et al enjoy pretending to call it a tax/surcharge.

If you book through AA, they will not charge fuel surcharges on top of the published fare. MAkes a big difference on ATW tickets

Dave

So does the reverse also apply? When an ATW is booked via Qantas, do they (QF) charge their fuel surcharge for AA flights?

 

[Dave Noble]

So does the reverse also apply? When an ATW is booked via Qantas, do they (QF) charge their fuel surcharge for AA flights?

Not sure. I don't think that they do ( at least they dont with award tix ) , but they do charge surcharges for all the other carriers

Dave

 

[tuapekastar]

So does the reverse also apply? When an ATW is booked via Qantas, do they (QF) charge their fuel surcharge for AA flights?

Not sure. I don't think that they do ( at least they dont with award tix ) , but they do charge surcharges for all the other carriers

Dave

Thank heaven for small mercies. Thanks for the answer, and also the original info re minimising costs by booking ATW through AA...v useful.

 

[aus_flyer]

So does the reverse also apply? When an ATW is booked via Qantas, do they (QF) charge their fuel surcharge for AA flights?

Not sure. I don't think that they do ( at least they dont with award tix ) , but they do charge surcharges for all the other carriers

Dave

No, QF don't charge their fuel surcharges for AA.

I recently booked a DONE4 through QF and there were no fuel surcharges for AA - although there was for QF (of course) and CX and BA.

 

[serfty]

Just wondering... what's the easiest way to go about purchasing a OWE ticket overseas?

In particular, from Colombo.

Thanks

Hi odoherty,

Not 14 Days ago I flew to Columbo and collected an impressively fat book of tickets from Cathay Pacific at CMB airport. Since then I have flown to SIN, HKG, NRT, HKG, AKL & PER using these tickets.

I did the complete booking process though the Cathay Pacific office in Columbo (actually, they are an agent for CX). All communication was via Email and my tickets were waiting for me as I wrote above. No fuel charges appear to have been applied to AA flights; in fact their Tax/Levy calculations came out about AU$150 less than what I had expected.

They did advise of a 3% CC charge, so I used International Money Transfer instead.

My experience has been one of efficiency, they have a very good knowledge of xONEx rules and I would not hesitate to recommend them.

The Sri-Lankan Rupee is 'tied' to the US Dollar at 100:1 (SLR1=US1¢).

PM me if you would like their EMail address.

 

[Skyring]

I would work out your itinery then contact the AA ATW desk and get a reservation held and priced out for purchase in Colombo

Then contact an agent in Colombo to ticket it. Do make sure that you get it priced by AA and not one of the non US carriers otherwise you'll be stung for fuel surcharges.

I've been following this discussion with some interest. Pardon me if this is a very basic question, but if I book such a trip through AA, then how do I get my QFF number associated with it? Can I just nominate any OneWorld partner account number, or do I have to join up with AA?

 

[QF WP]

You are using AA Reservations to book the ticket - you can advise whatever OW FF program you want to credit it to, AA Res don't care which one you use...

 

[NM]

Also note that for any itinerary that includes more than one carrier, they need to associate the FF details with each carrier. So if you want to credit all the flights to your QF FF account, they need to associate your QF FF number with each airline that is used.

You can check the FF associations on CheckMyTrip.Com. It will look something like this:

Frequent Flyer: [airline name] - ZZxx_xx_

where airline name is the name of the airline operating the flight, ie Qantas Airways, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific etc.

ZZ is the two letter abbreviation for the airline FF program you wish flight on the airline in [airline name] to be credited, eg QF, AA, BA, CX etc.

xx_xx_x is the FF membership number or code.

Note that [airline name] and ZZ do not need to match. For example, you could credit AA flights to AA, BA flights to QF, and QF flights to AA with entries that look like this:

Frequent Flyer: American Airlines - AAxx_xx_
Frequent Flyer: British Airways - QFyyyyyy
Frequent Flyer: Qantas Airways - AAxx_xx_

Just make sure it matches the way you want to earn the points. Some agents struggle to understand such desires and the systems are unforgiving if the wrong details are entered. Getting it changed can be an arduous task.

 

[aus_flyer]

If you book through AA and provide your QFF number, will it appear under "Your Bookings" on QF FF website?

 

[QF WP]

odoherty, yes it will appear under "Your Bookings", I can confirm with first hand experience (in addition to the reduction in fuel surcharge when booked, using my 10* Travel Agency, with AA USA and subsequently ticketed using AA SYD).