Rumoured enhancements to oneworld RTWs

[Keith009]

Some things i picked up from the AA ATW desk:

- Segment limit will go down to 16, including surface segments - in prep for mandatory eticketing. [Yet people I know at Amadeus insist that they can produce 20 segment etickets...]

- We'd be able to book RTW itineraries on oneworld.com; hopefully this means we're still able to choose who to issue via and/or ring up the carrier of choice, instead of having the online tool defaulting to 'first outbound carrier.'

Not sure of the accuracy of these rumours, but best to ticket any itineraries quickly I suppose.

 

[simongr]

Obviously to be taken with a pinch/grain of salt. My biggest concern is the online booking. If it is based on the same logic as the OW tool then we are in for some trouble - that does not seem to be able to cope with multiple flights on the same day...

 

[moa999]

16 with surface counting may well restrict you to 14 flights if flying through London/ New York without any real surface segments

that IMHO is the biggest issue

 

[aus_flyer]

Being able to book online would be a huge advantage!
Makes ex-CMB or ex-NRT much easier!
(not that there are many ex-CMB these days...)

 

[Alanslegal]

if the online RTW booking method becomes operative, not only does it benefit us - the flyers, but it would be extremely beneficial to the OW carriers as it means a significant reduction in calls to their booking agents and spending 1-2hrs on the phone working out an itn! so it is in the OW carriers interest to make online bookings possible asap!

 

[kiwicounter]

hmm. the 20 segments to 16 segments would kind of suck

 

[Platy]

Ih there not a risk that an online booking system might NOT accept say an exNRT booking based on a credit card registered to an Australian address at the Japan price?

 

[simongr]

Going back my earlier point re the current tool - it wont let you process to print an itinerary even if that itinerary is legal - it has some very restrictive warnings.

ANother point is who is going to ticket the itinerary - if it defaults to a home carrier then we are going to get scr3wed by QF's fuel fines and their refusal to ticket valid itineraries.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

I do wonder re the 16 segment rule how many people as a proportion of the total number issued actually get close to 16 segments...

 

[JohnK]

I do wonder re the 16 segment rule how many people as a proportion of the total number issued actually get close to 16 segments...

I would guess that the proportion is so minor it would hardly be noticeable. It would only be people frequenting sites such as AFF and FT who would try to max out the 20 segments. Would a sane person schedule LHR-MCT-LHR or DFW-ANC-DFW just for extra SCs or FF points in the middle of a 10 day business trip or 4 week holiday?

I have only ever booked a Oneworld RTW award and I managed to get 16 segments on that one and the Qantas customer service agent told me that he had never issued a 16 segment Oneworld RTW award. I will be looking to book another one for 2009 and I will not try to max out the 16 segments preferring instead to enjoy my holiday more on the ground. I have developed a dislike for spending 3-4 days in the air and just visiting airport lounges. But then who knows what will be going through my mind when I get around to planning it....

 

[Keith009]

ANother point is who is going to ticket the itinerary - if it defaults to a home carrier then we are going to get scr3wed by QF's fuel fines and their refusal to ticket valid itineraries.

As Kiwi Flyer pointed out on FT - maybe they'd be taking a leaf out of the *A tool which allows the itinerary to be sent to any carrier participating in the itinerary.