To ticket or not to ticket...that is the question...

[NM]

Ticketed in AU by a travel agent.

I assume using QF as the issuing airline. Check the ticket number. If it starts with 081 then its QF, if it starts with 001 then AA. Given the amount of "taxes and charges" being over $1000, it is going to be a QF ticket.

 

[Homer]

It's a QF ticket. I know there's a thread around here somewhere about the benefits of ticketing through AA and Lindsay Wilson has been in my ear about it too . I'm not yet comfortable doing that but maybe next year...

 

[simongr]

I have ticketed 3 DONE4's this year through CX, AA and AA. I tried to ticket through QF but they REFUSED to add on the domestic sectors and even made a crack that I was "just trying to get some cheap domestic business class fares". CX were a nightmare and I had to send them the fare rules. The only hassle with AA is having to fax the payment form to India - and that was only a hassle as I as in London, faxing to Australia and didnt have access to a fax machine or a printer... It took 7 minutes to book the initial routing (and it changed 20 times after that).

S

 

[Dave Noble]

It's a QF ticket. I know there's a thread around here somewhere about the benefits of ticketing through AA and Lindsay Wilson has been in my ear about it too . I'm not yet comfortable doing that but maybe next year...

What is the concern with booking through AA. Less hassle (ime) than using QF to book since AA ATW desk knows the rules and saves money ; only minor hassle is having to send a fax for payment

Dave

 

[Homer]

What is the concern with booking through AA. Dave

My TA says she loves doing RTW itineraries - she knows the rules and didn't challenge me on the domestic sectors. So for me the small cost saving using AA doesn't outweigh the benefits of my TA organising things through QF. She may even book it through AA if I ask.

 

[Dave Noble]

My TA says she loves doing RTW itineraries - she knows the rules and didn't challenge me on the domestic sectors. So for me the small cost saving using AA doesn't outweigh the benefits of my TA organising things through QF. She may even book it through AA if I ask.

What do you class as a small cost saving; personally savings in the >$100s I don't class as small

Dave

 

[Homer]

What do you class as a small cost saving; personally savings in the >$100s I don't class as small
Dave

I don't like to waste money and I am not being flippant about the cost difference. But a few hundred dollars is not as important to me as the convenience and time saving that comes from using my (current) TA. Still I will likely try booking through AA for the experience and the satisfaction of saving some money.

 

[Keith009]

I don't like to waste money and I am not being flippant about the cost difference. But a few hundred dollars is not as important to me as the convenience and time saving that comes from using my (current) TA. Still I will likely try booking through AA for the experience and the satisfaction of saving some money.

Wouldn't you be able to get your TA to plate your itinerary on AA? This way = "convenience and time saving" + saves a few hundred dollars.

 

[Homer]

Wouldn't you be able to get your TA to plate your itinerary on AA? This way = "convenience and time saving" + saves a few hundred dollars.

Yes indeed QF009, I had the same thought and mentioned it a few posts back. It will be interesting to see how she feels about this idea.

 

[NM]

Wouldn't you be able to get your TA to plate your itinerary on AA? This way = "convenience and time saving" + saves a few hundred dollars.

Many TAs in Australia won't do this. It seems they have some form of contract with QF to issue through QF whenever they can. I expect there is some sort of volume sales recognition provided by QF which is beyond the standard commissions for selling tickets (which are now very low indeed). So if they issue a DONE4 through AA (with whom they don't have any volume sales recognition program) they are forgoing that $10k addition to their QF sales volume for the period.

These days there is very little commission available to TA for just selling a ticket, and it really does not cover amount of labour required for many of the complex OneWorld Explorer itineraries (like the optimised ones people here often book ). So in order to make it worthwhile, the TA needs to be receiving some other form of revenue for the transaction, such as charging a service fee, commissions on accommodation and car rentals etc, or other volume based recognition.

This is why its generally easier to make the booking directly with the AA ATW desk and then arrange payment via a phone call and fax.

 

[Homer]

So in order to make it worthwhile, the TA needs to be receiving some other form of revenue for the transaction, such as charging a service fee, commissions on accommodation and car rentals etc, or other volume based recognition.

In my case the TA is part of AMEX Centurion Travel, part of a service for which I pay a handsome annual fee, so they usually try very hard to do exactly what you want.

 

[Keith009]

IME you'd need to have a personal rapport with your TA or be paying a huge service fee of some sort to get them to perform anything unusual like plating a ticket on AA.

My old TA was very willing to circumvent lots of bureaucracy to help me out, such as plating a CASTAR with major SQ content on to UA stock. But he's since left to become a corp TA and the new perspn I dealt with refused to even sell me an AA fare to HNL, sticking to the book that they do QF whenever possible.

But right now a good friend has just started his own home-based TA on a casual basis so I'd start directing revenue his way. I'd still do multi continent itineraries directly with the airlines though, to avoid cluttering up his time in light of the fact that he'd potentially be getting little revenue in return, and that thanks to the experts on this forum and others I've learnt to deal directly with airlines.

 

[Homer]

IME you'd need to have a personal rapport with your TA or be paying a huge service fee of some sort to get them to perform anything unusual like plating a ticket on AA.

I was just talking to my TA and she said she would ticket via AA if I requested it, so something that I will keep in mind for next time.

However a bigger issue has just come up. The experienced members of this forum may find this amusing. Even though my TA believe my itinerary is valid, Qantas is refusing to issue a ticket because of the domestic sectors at the end. My itinerary is SYD-LAX-SFO-LAX-JFK-LHR-CDG-LHR-HKG-SYD-CNS-SYD.

I have explained to my TA (thanks to the many helpful posts on this forum) that the rule about stopping once you return to your point of origin does not apply to my Oneworld Explorer fare. I have also gone through the fare rules with her (thanks to Serfty for links to the fare rules in an earlier thread).

She is going back to Qantas ticketing now...

 

[simongr]

Bwahahahahahaahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

 

[Homer]

Bwahahahahahaahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Thank you. Don't hold back.

 

[simongr]

Sorry - I just remember the drama I had with QF and the smugness of the booking staff which was followed by the 7 minute phone call with AA (admittedly I had check D availability on every flight etc. so I could just rattle off the itinerary).

:mrgreen:

 

[Travel Guru]

Its not the agents fault, it just the way the rules provided to them via the consolidators are poorly written by QF.

TG

 

[serfty]

Its not the agents fault, it just the way the rules provided to them via the consolidators are poorly written by QF.

TG

It's only our duty then to point them to the rules as published on the oneworld web site.

Then again, it's not the Centurion TA, it's Qantas refusing to issue ...

 

[NM]

I was just talking to my TA and she said she would ticket via AA if I requested it, so something that I will keep in mind for next time.

Then I would be asking the TA why she did not suggest to do this for you and this time and save you in the order of $500. You have paid handsomely for the Centurion service, so should they not be suggesting the best deal for you? If she can ticket through AA, then she should be doing so.

 

[Dave Noble]

It's only our duty then to point them to the rules as published on the oneworld web site.

Then again, it's not the Centurion TA, it's Qantas refusing to issue ...

The agent does not *have* to get permission from the airline to issue a ticket; the TA should be able to read the rules and issue a ticket on their own

Dave