dfcatch
Established Member
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2010
- Posts
- 4,094
Having recently completed my first DONE4, I thought I’d post my first trip report.
Firstly – thanks to everyone on FT and AFF for the great advice on DONE4 planning and using the AA desk.
So my routing together with side trips was: CNS-SYD-LAX-SFO-JFK-(YYZ-JFK)-DFW-YYC-DFW-YVR-LHR-ZRH-LHR-TLV-LHR-(YYZ-BOS-LHR)-SIN-HKG-CNS for a total of 39,800 miles and 1530 SC’s. (With side trips - 47,800 miles travelled and 1550 SC’s earned).
All flights on QF/AA/BA/CX. I’d flown to the US many times, but this was my first time turning it into a DONE4 status run. FWIW – I’m a SFSC with travel being mainly leisure. I started the trip as a QF PS (QP).
BOOKING WITH THE AA RTW DESK:
After reading all the advice on FT and AFF I phoned the AA RTW desk in Dallas. The AA desk was fantastic; all I had to do was tell the girl the flights/dates I wanted and she booked me in and issued me a PNR. She advised me that it would take a day or two to generate the quote and to call the AA office in Sydney to get the final cost and to pay over the phone with CC. Immediately after I was able to call up the booking on the AA website. I noticed one flight was incorrect, called back and got it fixed.
As many others have mentioned – the AA desk does try and get you to book using AA codeshares (particularly on the transpacific/transatlantic flights). However, I was able to politely insist on using the QF flight numbers and simply explained that I needed it for lounge access and points upgrades).
I phoned the AA SYD office a day later, got my quote and paid over the phone – all done and ticketed.
THE TRIP:
Managed to score a points upgrade to F for SYD-LAX on the A380.
Up early to catch CNS-SYD and straight to the F lounge. Got my breakfast, grabbed a massage in the spa, kicked back with a few drinks and enjoyed the view. Got bumped from 1A to 5A as the IFE was not working.
First experience on the 380 and F is a great way to experience it – couldn’t believe how quiet the plane is, and the F suite is fantastic.
Arrived in LAX, got stuck in the usual immigration-wait-forever line, and then over to T4 and the AA FL before flying up to SFO.
http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/airport-lounges/ten-best-lounges-18055-4.html - My comments on lounges visited...
Next leg was SFO-JFK on a 2-class service in F (No business class). However, I changed my flight to the red-eye which was a 3-class service and AA mistakenly left me booked in F! Who was I to correct them? J
I must admit – the AA RTW desk was awesome in dealing with to make date/time changes – very easy and quite a painless experience.
AA F SFO-JFK was nice, but nothing super special to write home about, although far superior to AA’s “standard F service on domestic flights”.
Had a last-minute change of social schedule so nicked up to YYZ for the weekend on a separate ticket bought direct on AA.com. Had no problem having bags checked all the way from SFO-JFK-YYZ, but checking in at YYZ to fly back to JFK and then rejoin my RTW ticket from JFK to DFW was a little more troublesome. The check-in agent at the F check-in at YYZ was not as helpful as you would expect from a premium check-in desk and completely botched the process. He had pulled the JFK-DFW booking off the RTW PNR and added it to my cash ticket and in the process had deleted all the remaining AA flight segments that I had not yet done.
Luckily the desk agents at the JFK AC picked it up, and managed to reinstate all my flights even though there was no longer available inventory. Very happy to have that fixed.
Arrived in DFW for an overnight transit before flying up to Calgary. Was actually really impressed with the cabin service on this flight – so impressed I noted the FA’s name and even emailed a nice note to AA. Sadly, this was the only AA flight ever taken (quite a number over the years) where the service was even noteworthy.
Hit SG at this point which allowed me to select my upcoming seats on BA.
YYC back to DFW found US Preclearance to be great – was through in less than 60 seconds. A nice change compared to YYZ a few days earlier.
Back to DFW, overnight turnaround and off to Vancouver for some skiing at Whistler. Canadian immigration felt it was now their turn to finally ask questions (although I guess the 3rd entry in Canada in less than a week deserved a question or two).
Next was YVR to LHR and my first trip flying BA. Nabbed a nice Club World seat upstairs in the bubble and was impressed with BA service and the Club World cabin. Fast track through security and immigration at LHR was good as well. See my lounge comments in the link above regarding the LHR lounges.
Off to Zurich for some more skiing, back to LHR, and on to TLV. This was the older Club World cabin but was still enjoyable enough with decent service.
Booked a QF Partner Award LHR-YYZ-BOS-LHR as a side trip including LHR-YYZ in F on BA. Was nice to fly BA F to compare with QF F. There were only 3 of us in the F cabin so personal service was fantastic. ALMOST as good as the A380 F Suite with QF, but the BA seats don’t swivel within the suite as they do on QF. QF wins by a point, but VERY similar cabin.
Again – problems checking in at the F check-in at YYZ. They really aren’t very good at all.
Had to fly YYZ-BOS-LHR on my award ticket and then rejoin my RTW ticket to fly LHR-SIN-HKG-CNS. I didn’t want to have to recheck bags, but the best AA could do was to ticket through to SIN.
Had a nice dinner in the BA J Lounge in BOS (enhanced meal service due to the BA cabin strike, so no hot food on the plane).
Upon arriving in LHR, went straight to the QF transit desk to enquire about having my bags retagged in SIN. The girl checked it out and said that I was best to speak with the QF host in the T3 lounge. So, off to the lounge. The QF host was great and made some calls and arranged to have my bags retagged in SIN all the way through to CNS. I double-checked this at the QF J lounge in SIN and was assured my bags had been retagged.
LHR to SIN was also on the A380, but having burned too many points was unable to upgrade to F. I was however seated in row 12 in the J-mini cabin which was very private and enjoyable.
As a bonus – hit WP on this flight so able to enjoy the F lounges in SIN and HKG. (Again see my comments in separate thread on lounges)
So off I flew to HKG, and then onto CNS via BNE. Sure enough – arriving in CNS – NO BAGS!
The QF girl at the baggage desk confirmed they were still in SIN. Managed to get them a day later.
All in all – other than the lost baggage at the end I have to say that a DONE4 ticket through the AA desk was very easy, and painless to deal with. Including when I made several date/time changes throughout the trip – each instance only took a few mins on the phone. Of course, E/F is invaluable for checking that there is actually D inventory available on the flights you want, and you simply advise the AA desk the Flight number and date that you desire.
Being self-funded, it may be some time before my next DONE4, and the downside is that it may be difficult to get used to sitting in Y again...
Firstly – thanks to everyone on FT and AFF for the great advice on DONE4 planning and using the AA desk.
So my routing together with side trips was: CNS-SYD-LAX-SFO-JFK-(YYZ-JFK)-DFW-YYC-DFW-YVR-LHR-ZRH-LHR-TLV-LHR-(YYZ-BOS-LHR)-SIN-HKG-CNS for a total of 39,800 miles and 1530 SC’s. (With side trips - 47,800 miles travelled and 1550 SC’s earned).
All flights on QF/AA/BA/CX. I’d flown to the US many times, but this was my first time turning it into a DONE4 status run. FWIW – I’m a SFSC with travel being mainly leisure. I started the trip as a QF PS (QP).
BOOKING WITH THE AA RTW DESK:
After reading all the advice on FT and AFF I phoned the AA RTW desk in Dallas. The AA desk was fantastic; all I had to do was tell the girl the flights/dates I wanted and she booked me in and issued me a PNR. She advised me that it would take a day or two to generate the quote and to call the AA office in Sydney to get the final cost and to pay over the phone with CC. Immediately after I was able to call up the booking on the AA website. I noticed one flight was incorrect, called back and got it fixed.
As many others have mentioned – the AA desk does try and get you to book using AA codeshares (particularly on the transpacific/transatlantic flights). However, I was able to politely insist on using the QF flight numbers and simply explained that I needed it for lounge access and points upgrades).
I phoned the AA SYD office a day later, got my quote and paid over the phone – all done and ticketed.
THE TRIP:
Managed to score a points upgrade to F for SYD-LAX on the A380.
Up early to catch CNS-SYD and straight to the F lounge. Got my breakfast, grabbed a massage in the spa, kicked back with a few drinks and enjoyed the view. Got bumped from 1A to 5A as the IFE was not working.
First experience on the 380 and F is a great way to experience it – couldn’t believe how quiet the plane is, and the F suite is fantastic.
Arrived in LAX, got stuck in the usual immigration-wait-forever line, and then over to T4 and the AA FL before flying up to SFO.
http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/airport-lounges/ten-best-lounges-18055-4.html - My comments on lounges visited...
Next leg was SFO-JFK on a 2-class service in F (No business class). However, I changed my flight to the red-eye which was a 3-class service and AA mistakenly left me booked in F! Who was I to correct them? J
I must admit – the AA RTW desk was awesome in dealing with to make date/time changes – very easy and quite a painless experience.
AA F SFO-JFK was nice, but nothing super special to write home about, although far superior to AA’s “standard F service on domestic flights”.
Had a last-minute change of social schedule so nicked up to YYZ for the weekend on a separate ticket bought direct on AA.com. Had no problem having bags checked all the way from SFO-JFK-YYZ, but checking in at YYZ to fly back to JFK and then rejoin my RTW ticket from JFK to DFW was a little more troublesome. The check-in agent at the F check-in at YYZ was not as helpful as you would expect from a premium check-in desk and completely botched the process. He had pulled the JFK-DFW booking off the RTW PNR and added it to my cash ticket and in the process had deleted all the remaining AA flight segments that I had not yet done.
Luckily the desk agents at the JFK AC picked it up, and managed to reinstate all my flights even though there was no longer available inventory. Very happy to have that fixed.
Arrived in DFW for an overnight transit before flying up to Calgary. Was actually really impressed with the cabin service on this flight – so impressed I noted the FA’s name and even emailed a nice note to AA. Sadly, this was the only AA flight ever taken (quite a number over the years) where the service was even noteworthy.
Hit SG at this point which allowed me to select my upcoming seats on BA.
YYC back to DFW found US Preclearance to be great – was through in less than 60 seconds. A nice change compared to YYZ a few days earlier.
Back to DFW, overnight turnaround and off to Vancouver for some skiing at Whistler. Canadian immigration felt it was now their turn to finally ask questions (although I guess the 3rd entry in Canada in less than a week deserved a question or two).
Next was YVR to LHR and my first trip flying BA. Nabbed a nice Club World seat upstairs in the bubble and was impressed with BA service and the Club World cabin. Fast track through security and immigration at LHR was good as well. See my lounge comments in the link above regarding the LHR lounges.
Off to Zurich for some more skiing, back to LHR, and on to TLV. This was the older Club World cabin but was still enjoyable enough with decent service.
Booked a QF Partner Award LHR-YYZ-BOS-LHR as a side trip including LHR-YYZ in F on BA. Was nice to fly BA F to compare with QF F. There were only 3 of us in the F cabin so personal service was fantastic. ALMOST as good as the A380 F Suite with QF, but the BA seats don’t swivel within the suite as they do on QF. QF wins by a point, but VERY similar cabin.
Again – problems checking in at the F check-in at YYZ. They really aren’t very good at all.
Had to fly YYZ-BOS-LHR on my award ticket and then rejoin my RTW ticket to fly LHR-SIN-HKG-CNS. I didn’t want to have to recheck bags, but the best AA could do was to ticket through to SIN.
Had a nice dinner in the BA J Lounge in BOS (enhanced meal service due to the BA cabin strike, so no hot food on the plane).
Upon arriving in LHR, went straight to the QF transit desk to enquire about having my bags retagged in SIN. The girl checked it out and said that I was best to speak with the QF host in the T3 lounge. So, off to the lounge. The QF host was great and made some calls and arranged to have my bags retagged in SIN all the way through to CNS. I double-checked this at the QF J lounge in SIN and was assured my bags had been retagged.
LHR to SIN was also on the A380, but having burned too many points was unable to upgrade to F. I was however seated in row 12 in the J-mini cabin which was very private and enjoyable.
As a bonus – hit WP on this flight so able to enjoy the F lounges in SIN and HKG. (Again see my comments in separate thread on lounges)
So off I flew to HKG, and then onto CNS via BNE. Sure enough – arriving in CNS – NO BAGS!
The QF girl at the baggage desk confirmed they were still in SIN. Managed to get them a day later.
All in all – other than the lost baggage at the end I have to say that a DONE4 ticket through the AA desk was very easy, and painless to deal with. Including when I made several date/time changes throughout the trip – each instance only took a few mins on the phone. Of course, E/F is invaluable for checking that there is actually D inventory available on the flights you want, and you simply advise the AA desk the Flight number and date that you desire.
Being self-funded, it may be some time before my next DONE4, and the downside is that it may be difficult to get used to sitting in Y again...
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