Questions regarding LONE4 RTW

[Matt Robertson]

Hi all,

I am planning to take a LONE4 RTW flight at the end of August. The route that I have planned is as follows:

SYD - LAX - JFK - YUL - LAS (via DFW) - YUL (via DFW) - LHR - FCO (via BCN) - KIX (via HKG) - SYD (via CNS) - ASP - SYD

It will take me 12 months to complete the entire trip, as I will be working at Montreal during this time.

I have a number of questions regarding my planned flight:

i) Does this route work within the rules of LONE4? I have plugged this into the OneWorld Planner software and all seems well, but I am aware that the software isn't perfect.
ii) For all the airports where I will be connecting through (i.e. DFW, BCN, HKG, CNS), I am considering of perhaps changing these connections into actual stopovers at a future date (depending on whether I have extra days of annual leave under my belt to use). Once my flight has been ticketed, am I allowed to make these changes? If so, will it be additional taxes that I will need to pay only, or would I expect to pay fees for the change?
iii) Do land segments count as part of the 20 segments that I am allowed to have on LONE4? If not, I may think about planning my trip differently (e.g. I will do YUL - LAS (via DFW), but may then look to catch a bus to LAX and take a LAX - YUL flight. This will result in me saving on one segment which I can use elsewhere (Note: LAX - YUL is a one segment flight at the time I am looking to fly )).
iv) And finally, this is a bit of left-field question, but does ASP airport have Qantas self-service kiosks installed? Need to know for planning purposes...

Thanks in advance!

Matt

 

[Steve Nash]

in terms of qantas self-service kiosks, these have been installed in sydney, melbourne, brisbane, canberra and perth.

can't help you with the other questions - sorry! one for the xONEx experts i think...

 

[serfty]

Check this thread on FlyerTalk for more infomation about XONEx's: The oneworld explorer ticket FAQs.

One thing for sure is that you are restricted to 2 stopovers in your 'continent of origin', so you will need to be careful with that.

 

[Matt Robertson]

Thanks serfty.

I had a good read through the link you provided, and it looks like there shouldn't be a problem changing my connections to transfers, just as long as I give enough notice...that's how I've understood it anyway!

It looks like I have 3 stopovers in Australia (i.e. Cairns, Sydney, and Alice Springs), so may need to fly into Sydney from Osaka via HKG instead, and bypass Cairns.

Still not sure as to what the rule is regarding land segments is - can anyone shed any light on this?

Ta!

Matt

 

[Mal]

By the time you are set to fly to ASP (nearly a year away?), I assume Internet Checkin will be fully rolled out and the bugs sorted. This may alleviate your issue (I assume something about a short turnaround or something?)

Not sure if you would be able to use it with a LONE ticket though as International Flights are planned to be exempt from being able to be checked in online at this stage. Depends if Qantas means part of an International journey, or just the actual international leg I spose.

Qantas staffers will often issue boarding passes for other flights on the same day if you have multiple flights, so that could also assist.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Once my flight has been ticketed, am I allowed to make these changes? If so, will it be additional taxes that I will need to pay only, or would I expect to pay fees for the change?

Date change only are free. You may be up for a local airport tax in some places as sometimes a fee or tax is not charged for transit (less than 24 hrs) If you change a destination a charge is applicable as the ticket needs to be re-issued

iii) Do land segments count as part of the 20 segments that I am allowed to have on LONE4?

No. The are considered just another stopover.

 

[Matt Robertson]

Thanks for your responses everyone - they have been spot on.

The agent I am dealing with doesn't think the following itinerary works under the rules governing LONE4:

SYD - PER - SYD (via ADE) - JFK - YUL - DFW - LAS - YUL - LHR - BCN - FCO - HKG - KIX - HKG - SYD

The concern she has is the initial SYD - PER - SYD (via ADE) leg. I have read the rules and posts carefully, and I believe I can fly this route, just as long as I fly back to SYD via ADE. It also works within the restriction of having only 2 stopovers in the continent of origin (i.e. Australia).

Would anyone be able to confirm or deny whether this route is valid for a LONE4?

Thanks!

Matt

 

[Dave Noble]

Well... PER-ADE-SYD would be a problem given that it is a 13,240 mile routing to go via Aden .... Going Via Adelaide (ADL) is no problem

Beyond that, the rest looks pretty ok to me.

Why use a travel agent? I would suggest just going to the AA ATW desk and getting them to do it; they are pretty clued up on the rules. If you use an agent, do ensure that they ticket through AA in order to keep fuel fines down

Dave

 

[Matt Robertson]

LOL! Thanks Dave - these three letter airport codes always catch me out!

Yep - I agree that going direct with AA may be an easier and potentially cheaper option based on all I have read in these forums. The only reason why I am going through a TA is because they are offering 4 qff for every dollar spent. I am a Commonwealth Bank Platinum Credit Card and this promotion is running through their affiliated travel agent - Travel Plus. They are also throwing in free travel insurance, and because I am paying for my partners LONE4 as well (all up we are looking to pay around $7,000 - $8,000 for both flights = ~ 32,000 qff points), it adds up to be quite a good deal (the travel insurance is also covering my partner who is a signatory on my Credit Card).

 

[Dave Noble]

I would still get a quote from AA given that the last one I arranged for someone worked out a total of $900 difference on 2 people between booking through AA and through QF. Can you hold the flights with AA and just go to the TA to get them issued?

Dave

 

[Matt Robertson]

I'll be getting a quote sometime tomorrow and will see what the figure I get back is...if taxes round out to be significantly more than ~$600 a person, I will look to try the AA suggestion.

 

[Matt Robertson]

To wrap up - I ended up taking the AA ticketing route and spoke to Al from the US ATW desk to have the itinerary set, and then went to the Sydney AA office to have it ticketed

My final itinerary is as follows:

SYD - PER - SYD (via ADL) - JFK - YUL - LAS (via DFW) - YUL - BZE (via MIA) - YUL (via MIA) - LHR - BCN - FCO - HEL - KIX - HKG - SYD

Total cost of the ticket was $3893.57 which included all taxes. Base fare for the LONE4 was $3,379 (departing during basic season ($2979) and adding 2 extra segments for North America at AU$200 each). So taxes came up to be around ~AU$500.

In comparison, the quote I got back from Travelplus had taxes estimated to be ~$900 as it was ticketed with QF. Also, they were adamant that the SYD - PER leg would be extra, and charged $363 for this...the quote ended up to be around $4,700 and needless to say I had the AA ATW desk on quick-dial from that moment onwards.

Thanks for all your help - have learnt a great deal and saved a bundle in the process - doesn't get better than that!

(Note: I went to the AA office on Wednesday, and it closed on Friday - lucky me! I dealt with a person by the name of Hector, and halfway through my transaction he had to pick up a call from the GM to discuss his termination options - so I probably should have guessed something was afoot!)...

 

[Dave Noble]

In comparison, the quote I got back from Travelplus had taxes estimated to be ~$900 as it was ticketed with QF. Also, they were adamant that the SYD - PER leg would be extra, and charged $363 for this...the quote ended up to be around $4,700 and needless to say I had the AA ATW desk on quick-dial from that moment onwards.

Good to hear it worked out well. You hit both the main reasons why I dislike TAs for ATWs . (a) they are much more prone to be wrong in fare rules and (b) they like ticketing with QF despite the hideous extra cost

Dave

 

[Matt Robertson]

A quick follow-up question - I am looking to do the Platinum Challenge on this ATW, and I have followed the instructions in the Platinum Challenge thread by bringing up my itinerary through ba.com to enter my aa ff. The only problem is that I don't see all my flights when I view my itinerary through ba.com. Based on my above routings, I am missing the entire SYD (via ADL) - JFK - YUL - LAS (via DFW) - YUL - BZE (via MIA) legs and also the HKG-SYD leg. When I view my itinerary on aa.com, all my flights are shown. Is there a reason for this?

 

[NM]

A quick follow-up question - I am looking to do the Platinum Challenge on this ATW, and I have followed the instructions in the Platinum Challenge thread by bringing up my itinerary through ba.com to enter my aa ff. The only problem is that I don't see all my flights when I view my itinerary through ba.com. Based on my above routings, I am missing the entire SYD (via ADL) - JFK - YUL - LAS (via DFW) - YUL - BZE (via MIA) legs and also the HKG-SYD leg. When I view my itinerary on aa.com, all my flights are shown. Is there a reason for this?

That is normal. AA and BA use different booking systems. It would appear from your description that your trip was booked through AA or at least by a travel agent that uses AA's Sabre booking system. Sabre will only push to BA's Amadeus booking system the flights that BA needs to know about, which will be all the BA flights plus direct connections.

Just use the BA MMB to select BA seats and to verify the FF details are correct.

 

[Matt Robertson]

Thanks NM. Yes, I have booked this ATW ticket through AA.

So just to clarify - in this instance should I only need to post my ff number through aa.com (which shows all flights), and then use ba.com as a check (for some of my flights)?

Ta!

 

[NM]

Thanks NM. Yes, I have booked this ATW ticket through AA.

So just to clarify - in this instance should I only need to post my ff number through aa.com (which shows all flights), and then use ba.com as a check (for some of my flights)?

Ta!

If you have booked through AA and only given them your AA FF number, then there will not be any problems. The problems only seem to exist when you book through someone other than AA or use an FF number from another program and then want to change it to AA later.

Enjoy the trip and the candy .