Outrageous taxes on LONE5

[paul4471]

Hi Guys, Wondering if anyone has experienced this. It has been a while since I've booked nay XONEX fares but recently had cause to plan a LONE5 in November. Itin as follows:

PER-xSIN-HEL-LHR-xMIA-BOG-LIM-SCL-MIA-IAH-DFW-YYZ-ORD-NRT-KUL-PER

I did this via the AA RTW desk. When I finished the lady said it was $4449 plus taxes. This floored me as I was sure that LONE5's were a fair bit less than this ex Australia but maybe I'm just getting old and that was the good old days. Anyway she said they would calc taxes and get back to me. 7 days later and 4 phone calls and they had finally priced the ticket and it came in at $6584 - over $2k in taxes!

I was understandably shocked but left it at that and figured I better asked the experienced minds on here first.

In the meantime I have jumped on the OW tool and recreated the itin and tried all combinations of code shares and alternative carriers etc. I managed to reduce it $6120 by using AY codeshare across Atlantic but nothing else changed the price by more than a few $'s

So my questions:

1) Is this now normal experience for these types of fares? (I should point out I had booked my business partner a similar fare but his is a LONE4 as no Europe and he is therefore a LONE4 and more QF/BA metal as he is going through JNB and transit LHR to but his taxes are very similar.
2) At these prices the LONEX fares are no longer a deal at all. I am pretty sure I could construct a similar fare in parts.
3) As a side question if I use the OW tool to book and pay can I specify the carrier (AA) that I want to use for ticketing - hope to use some EVIP's

Appreciate any thoughts.

Paul

 

[markis10]

AA recently introduced fuel fines on their commercial fares.

 

[moa999]

Yup.
AA policy has recently changed and all the instability in the middle East means fuel prices, and fuel fines are on an upwards trajectory.

 

[paul4471]

Wow this has to be the end of the LONEX - just no value in that anymore. Is there any carrier that has the fuel fines lower.

There is surely a market here for a carrier to just come out and start pricing fares all inclusive again and win a whole lot of market share. We'd have to be approaching a point where Govt's start to look at legislating this as misleading pricing.

And finally - I'm assuming that if I mess round trying for a DONE5 out of JNB the fuel fines will be just as much or worse?

 

[Timba-Jet]

Great itinerary Paul.

Agree, $2000 in taxes/surcharges is exuberant, can't see the value in LONE's, maybe if traveling in peak times when standard tix are expensive or for flexibility.

A cheap RTW ticket plus some side trips should work out cheaper.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Hi Guys, Wondering if anyone has experienced this. It has been a while since I've booked nay XONEX fares but recently had cause to plan a LONE5 in November. Itin as follows:
PER-xSIN-HEL-LHR-xMIA-BOG-LIM-SCL-MIA-IAH-DFW-YYZ-ORD-NRT-KUL-PER
< snip >
Appreciate any thoughts.

In my opinion xONE 5 have been poor value for several years. Same 16 segments maximum as xONE3 & XONE4
PER-SIN and KUL-PER are adding SWP. Start & finish the xONEx in Asia so its becomes a xONE4. Cheap to fly PER to Asia

My understanding is the ticketing carrier (usually first flight) determines the YQ irrespective of what operators of other flights charge. How Qatar handles YQ on these OW fares will be interesting

 

[Travel Guru]

As a TA I very rarely if ever use LONE4/5's anymore, generally it works out far cheaper and less restrictive to construct with 2/3/4 separate tickets and even taking into an account a service charge to compensate for zero commission paid on QF ex USA it still works out bucket loads cheaper.

The other poor value aspect of these fares is for those wishing to do paid upgrades to Y+ on long haul sectors; generally I can book someone on an LH Business fare to/from Europe via USA for around the same and the Business sectors BNE/SYD/MEL-SIN and LAX-BNE/SYD/MEL provide almost as many SC's on QF metal as an entire LONE4 doing a basic 26k routing in Economy with Premium upgrades

TG

 

[Hawkeye]

I'd agree that the cost-effectiveness of xONEx's has been eroded with the progressive price hikes, and likely more so with changes in AA policy. Perversely, the cost-effectiveness improves as you move from L- to D- to A-. I just picked up my 9th AONE4, and for about 18K, get a nice leg in QF F to HKG, CX F to LHR, a few stops around Europe, BA F to the USA, few more side trips, then a nice transpacific QF F flight to finish on. Having said that, my first AONE4 purchased back in 2006, cost about $13.5K.

Price aside, the xONEx's do have some nice features, in that the enable the creation of some complex and interesting itineraries, without too many restrictions, and are relatively flexible for making changes etc. They used to be fully refundable (or at least the DONE's and AONE's were) which was a nice feature.

The other oddity is that the taxes, fuel fines etc remain largely static regardless of which cabin you fly in, so the relative impact on price becomes diluted as you move up cabins. The UK passenger duty is the only example I can think of, of a +++ that changes based on the cabin you sit in.

There used to be a lot of discussion on AFF about these fares (most of my posts related to these threads), but very little in recent times. That either reflects less interest in them ... or perhaps everyone knows the rules back to front!

 

[paul4471]

Thanks for all the great responses. I do agree that the DONEX seems to be better value - unfortunately finances do not allow for that this time. The change flexibility is one thing these tickets have going for them but I reckon this is my last LONEX!

Great suggestion on dropping the SWP - I'll look at that now.

Quick question - if I pay and ticket this with QF can I still use EVIPS and 500miles on the AA metal and flight numbered sectors?
I normally use AA to ticket but in this case the OW tool is getting better prices than the RTW desk.
I can't seem to think of any other disadvantages of using QF? I collect AAdvantage miles.

 

[pyffii]

Just bought a DONE4 ex JNB for $7800 incl taxes....Would have been a bit cheaper had the rand not fallen against the aussie over the past few months and even though AA have introduced fuel surcharges really pleased about the price paid when compared to buying ex MEL

 

[Danger]

Thanks for all the great responses. I do agree that the DONEX seems to be better value - unfortunately finances do not allow for that this time. The change flexibility is one thing these tickets have going for them but I reckon this is my last LONEX!

Great suggestion on dropping the SWP - I'll look at that now.

Quick question - if I pay and ticket this with QF can I still use EVIPS and 500miles on the AA metal and flight numbered sectors?
I normally use AA to ticket but in this case the OW tool is getting better prices than the RTW desk.
I can't seem to think of any other disadvantages of using QF? I collect AAdvantage miles.

There shouldn't be any issue as a result of the ticketing carrier not being AA.

Just bought a DONE4 ex JNB for $7800 incl taxes....Would have been a bit cheaper had the rand not fallen against the aussie over the past few months and even though AA have introduced fuel surcharges really pleased about the price paid when compared to buying ex MEL

Was your first flight with BA or CX? Did you book through the tool or elsewhere?

 

[pyffii]

Booked directly with AA in Capetown

 

[pyffii]

First flight with BA as BA won't allow the code share on the JNB LHR sector

 

[anabolism]

it came in at $6584 - over $2k in taxes!

I think it was in April 2013 that AA started charging fuel surcharges when tickets included other carriers' flights. I was rather dismayed when pricing my own xONEx to see fuel surcharges around $1300-$2000. I used the online tool to try all sorts of carriers metal and codeshares, but nothing I tried, not even using an AY codeshare as the first flight, caused the fuel surcharges to drop more than a a few hundred.

I have jumped on the OW tool and recreated the itin and tried all combinations of code shares and alternative carriers etc. I managed to reduce it $6120 by using AY codeshare across Atlantic but nothing else changed the price by more than a few $'s

You saved $400 by using an AY code across the Atlantic? The tool didn't show that for me. Can you share more detail? I'd like to see if I can recreate this.

3) As a side question if I use the OW tool to book and pay can I specify the carrier (AA) that I want to use for ticketing - hope to use some EVIP's

As long as you book a flight that is both operated and marketed by AA, so an AA code and AA metal, you can apply EVIPs regardless of ticketed carrier. However, it may be more work for AA to take over reservations made using some carriers, since AA won't see all the flights. But I've been told by AA in the past that they will work it out.

Quick question - if I pay and ticket this with QF can I still use EVIPS and 500miles on the AA metal and flight numbered sectors?
I normally use AA to ticket but in this case the OW tool is getting better prices than the RTW desk.
I can't seem to think of any other disadvantages of using QF? I collect AAdvantage miles.

You will be able to use VIPs, and you should be able to use segment upgrades, although I've never tried the latter on non-AA tickets. But once you apply VIPs, AA will re-issue the ticket anyway, and from then on it will be an AA ticket.

How did you get a lower price by using the online tool? By ticketing with QF?

 

[alieninperth]

This isn't a RTW fare but plugging PER-DFW-LHR into the QF multi city search presents the following

PER-BNE-LAX-DFW-ORD-LHR//LGW-DXB-PER for $4586.73 and is a flex fare allowing unlimited stopovers. Dates and times looked pretty flexible. Going the other way the fare is $4624. All flights are QF, AA or BA (AA and BA are intra US and US-EU only).

Might not be for everyone but not completly terrible

 

[anabolism]

This isn't a RTW fare but plugging PER-DFW-LHR into the QF multi city search presents the following

PER-BNE-LAX-DFW-ORD-LHR//LGW-DXB-PER for $4586.73 and is a flex fare allowing unlimited stopovers. Dates and times looked pretty flexible. Going the other way the fare is $4624. All flights are QF, AA or BA (AA and BA are intra US and US-EU only).

Might not be for everyone but not completly terrible

Is this in business?

I tried to replicate the search but after filling in PER-DFW, DFW-LHR, LHR-PER and filling in dates, it just keeps saying "You must select an itinerary to continue."

 

[alieninperth]

It's in Y.

I don't know what to tell you, using the booking engine I been able to pull this up.

Your Flights 1 Adult Total Price for 1 Adult: $3353 AUD [h=3]From[/h]

---

Perth to Dallas Fort Worth

[h=3]Date[/h]

---

Tue 8 Apr 14
View lowest fares around this date

Flight 1	From	To	Flight	Travel Class
	Total duration: 21h 15m
Tue 8 Apr 14	05:30PerthDuration: 04h 15m	11:45SydneyStops: 0	QF574	Economy
	13:20SydneyDuration: 15h 25m	13:45Dallas Fort WorthStops: 0	QF7	Economy
	Total duration: 21h 15m
No alternatives on this date

[h=3]From[/h]

---

Dallas Fort Worth to London (Heathrow)

[h=3]Date[/h]

---

Tue 22 Apr 14
View lowest fares around this date

Flight 2	From	To	Flight	Travel Class
Tue 22 Apr 14	16:50Dallas Fort WorthDuration: 09h 15m	08:05WedLondon (Heathrow) Stops: 0	AA50	Economy
= Flight Operated by American Airlines No alternatives on this date

[h=3]From[/h]

---

London (Heathrow) to Perth

[h=3]Date[/h]

---

Tue 6 May 14
View lowest fares around this date

Flight 3	From	To	Flight	Travel Class
	Total duration: 19h 30m
Tue 6 May 14	22:25London (Heathrow) Duration: 06h 55m	08:20WedDubaiStops: 0	QF10	Economy
	10:10WedDubaiDuration: 10h 45m	00:55ThuPerthStops: 0	QF8424	Economy
	Total duration: 19h 30m
= Flight Operated by Emirates No alternatives on this date

	Points	Cash
Total per adult	pts	$3353 AUD

For an extra $100 or so you can add in a couple of extra sectors. It looks like the sale prices have pulled through