Questions/Advice for booking flights from CBR to MUC

[tsergori]

Hi

I am trying to book an economy flight from CBR to MUC (via LAX using AA flight numbers).

The "Australia" AA website will not give me a price. The "US" AA website shows ~USD$6K, and I think this is for premium economy (fare classes are "R"). USD$6K is far more than I am willing/able to pay and more than what it would cost through the Qantas website (and Qantas flights).

So, what I've managed to find is

1) SYD-LAX return on the "Australian" AA website for ~AUD$1650
2) LAX-MUC return on the "US" AA website for ~USD$1150
3) And I suppose I'll buy the CBR-SYD legs using Qantas.

My questions are

A) I can't (legitimately) purchase a ticket from the "US" AA website using a credit card with an Australian address. If I call AA in the US, will they let me book this? I seem to recall that they once let PLT members book using non-US credit cards, but maybe the rules have changed.

B) Can the two itineraries be linked so that if I miss a flight, I might get some help and/or protection on the subsequent flights?

C) Is there a better way to book this? (I plan to call AA in Australia after the Easter break.)

Thanks

Cheers

 

[Dave Noble]

If you have status with AA , then they should be able to take your credit card in the US , otherwise just make the booking online and hold it rather than purchase it, then phone the UK office and book over the phone and pay the GBP20 booking fee ( Approx $33 )

Dave

 

[notzac]

The "Australia" AA website will not give me a price. The "US" AA website shows ~USD$6K, and I think this is for premium economy (fare classes are "R"). USD$6K is far more than I am willing/able to pay and more than what it would cost through the Qantas website (and Qantas flights).

So far as I can tell, R is actually a business class fare bucket: Inventory Classes and Mileage Eligibility (AA) - FlyerGuide Wiki

I had a quick search on the AA site for CBR-MUC and what appears to be happening is AA don't have any discounted fares for CBR-MUC - so they're quoting full Y fares and probably "constructing" a fare for you. Not useful. Side note: I can't find any discount Y fares published for CBR-MUC via LAX on any airline; best I can come up with is a full-fat Y fare CBR-Europe on QF that permits routing through the US.

Have you considered getting yourself a round-the-world fare? If you only need to pass through LAX and MUC once, it's probably the best way of doing this.

 

[Dave Noble]

Looking at the AA US site, can get a SYD-MUC as a single ticket via LAX for USD2640 inclusive of taxes (AUD2880); just search for SYD to MUC and then this will avoid the risks associated with separate tickets

Go online to aa.com and search for SYD-MUC and then hold the seats and then purchase over the phone . It may well be cheaper ( depending on mode of payment ) to pay the $60 to AA Australia telephone sales and get it billed in AUD and avoid the currency conversion fees

 

[tsergori]

Thanks for the replies.

Out of habit and almost subconsciously, I seem to have been searching the US AA website using the "AA, American Eagle, AmericanConnection® and oneworld" option. In this case, it was only showing QF/BA flights via Asia, presumably because these are cheaper than the AA flights via the US. And my subsequent searches were using Multi-City search options also with the AA+oneword option.

Anyway, thanks to Dave Noble, I've managed to find reasonable flights by searching only AA flights. Thanks also to notzac, I contemplated a round-the-world ticket but the cost was slightly too high (~AUD$4400 for one particular routing, and this yields fewer miles than going with AA flights) and my default itinerary is for less than the 10 day minimum.

Happy Easter

Cheers

 

[grussellt]

If you're happy to stay ONE WORLD but not necessarily AA then jetabroad throws out a CBR-MUC return with a LAX stopover for $A3649 for travel commencing May 10. All flights are BA/QF

 

[jamesatfish]

... and my default itinerary is for less than the 10 day minimum.

Whilst the *ONE4 fares might not help in this particular instance due to the cost, getting around the 10 day minimum rule is really easy if you just book the last leg of the trip (SYD-CBR) for some point in the future.

I'm CBR based, and my AONE4 bookings all have me arriving back in SYD/MEL at the end of my required overseas travel, but not returning to CBR for another xx months after that. I book a cheap return SYD-CBR-SYD fare with the SYD-CBR leg getting me home immediately after my overseas trip, then the CBR-SYD fare returning me to SYD to complete the AONE4.

Of course I usually make a detour on the final trip (ie SYD-BNE-CBR) so I get an extra interstate trip out of the booking (and of course the extra points & SCs).

 

[Dave Noble]

Whilst the *ONE4 fares might not help in this particular instance due to the cost, getting around the 10 day minimum rule is really easy if you just book the last leg of the trip (SYD-CBR) for some point in the future.

The won't work since the min stay requirement is

TRAVEL FROM LAST INTERNATIONAL SECTOR MUST COMMENCE NO EARLIER THAN 10 DAYS AFTER DEPARTURE OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL SECTOR.

 

[jamesatfish]

The won't work since the min stay requirement is

TRAVEL FROM LAST INTERNATIONAL SECTOR MUST COMMENCE NO EARLIER THAN 10 DAYS AFTER DEPARTURE OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL SECTOR.

Will have to defer to your expertise here - my experience has only been with DONE4 and AONE4 bookings and after re-checking the OneWorld site it does appear that the premium cabin fares do not have this same restriction.

For instance, my next DONE4 booked via the OneWorld site:

03/05 CBR-SYD QF560
03/05 SYD-LAX QF11
03/05 LAX-IAD AA144
05/05 IAD-LHR BA216
06/05 LHR-SYD QF32
07/05 SYD-CBR QF807

Total duration of the DONE4 is 4 days 14.5 hours.

So in relation to the OP - sorry for the misinformation.