One World Explorer Fees & Charges

[gwynne]

I am off to London in September and am looking at a 3 continent OWE departing in February. It says some airlines may charge fees etc when booking onward segments. Now is this a booking fee or will it be taxes and fuel surcharges?

The routing I was looking at was London-Tokyo-Hawaii-LA-New York-Miami-Louisville-Houston-New York-Barcelona-Paris-Munich-London. What sort of taxes/surcharges would I be looking at? Is there a webpage that breaks these down?

 

[NM]

Since you are looking for a xONE3 fare, it will cost the same if purchased in Australia or in the UK. The base fare cost should be GBP1179 for economy, GBP3869 for business class, or GBP6529 for first class.

If booked directly with an airline, you are unlikely to be charged and additional service fees, just the taxes, levies and fuel surcharges. If booked through a travel agent, expect to pay at least A$100 for their services.

The only difference in the fare will be variations in the fuel surcharges added by the issuing airline. The difference between airline fuel surcharges will likely not be huge based on your itinerary. AA will add two fuel surcharges, being one for Trans-Pacific sector and one for Trans-Atlantic sector. QF and BA would also add surcharges for the Asia-Europe sector and intra-Europe sectors. USA domestic segments should not have fuel surcharges applied by any airline.

Note that fuel surcharges are charged and collected by the airline that issues the ticket, not by the airline operating the sector.

 

[sr81]

Welcome to AFF.

No, there is no website that breaks down the fees but use the oneworld itin planner at:oneworld - Itinerary Planner

This will let you plan flights, connections and check to see that your itin is valid.

The oneworld website will also give you a fare estimate for your country of purchase.

If you buy from BA, CX or QF you will pay more in fees as they apply fuel surcharges. AA does not do this.

Expect fees around USD600-700.

 

[zan5hin]

I recently purchased a OWE DONE4 (business class 4 continent) starting in Sth Africa. The best place to find out general info and rules about the ticket is here: oneworld - FlyerTalk Forums

If you are starting in Europe London is cheapest for Economy tickets, however if flying business it can be significantly cheaper in neighbouring countries, especially with the departure tax from LHR.

It is also best to book your ticket through American Airlines, as they only charge fuel fees and surcharges for their own flights, not for partner flights unlike BA.

Check out oneworld - Where We Fly and oneworld - Itinerary Planner

You have 16 allowable segments, so you could maximise your trip to either rack up more frequent flyer miles or visit more places in Asia. On the itinerary you have, according to the "Where we fly" link above is that there is no flight between Louiseville and Houston, only Dallas. You can purchase the extra flight as part of your ticket because you don't have the max 16 segments, or you can use an overland segment and purchase one flight through another carrier or use a bus or train to get between Dallas and Houston. Same problem between Paris and Munich. AA uses Chicago (ORD) and Dallas (DFW) as hubs, so many flights go through there. You are also only allowed one trans-continent flight, which you did LA-NY.

First find direct flights with "where we fly" then use the itinerary planner, then read the forums at flyertalk or ask questions here for additional advice.

 

[NM]

If you buy from BA, CX or QF you will pay more in fees as they apply fuel surcharges. AA does not do this.

AA does apply fuel surcharges, just not as many as the other airline. For example, QF will apply a fuel surcharge to all sectors except those within North America. AA will only apply fuel surcharges to the Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic sectors.

Since the quoted itinerary includes several NA sectors, no Asia segments and only a few Europe segments, the difference between AA and say QF fuel surcharges will not be as much as it is for some other itineraries. QF will also charge for Asia-Europe intercontinental sector and the European sectors in addition to those sectors charged by AA.

And of course each airline's fuel fine rates are different for each sector.

 

[Keith009]

AA will only apply fuel surcharges to the Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic sectors.

I recently learnt that as AA also limits fuel surcharges to its own flights, no fuel surcharges will be applied if AA isn't the ticketed carrier for said sectors.

See here:
http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...765-in-aa-done4-taxes-13428-3.html#post175163

 

[gwynne]

Spoke to my cousin who works at flight centre and she also reccomends AA as the cheapest because of the charges difference. Apparently as long as one of the TC flights is AA it can be booked through Flight Centre with AA so I will be taking that option. Cheers guys.

 

[Keith009]

Spoke to my cousin who works at flight centre and she also reccomends AA as the cheapest because of the charges difference. Apparently as long as one of the TC flights is AA it can be booked through Flight Centre with AA so I will be taking that option. Cheers guys.

You can have zero flights on AA and save on fuel surcharges (not that there's anything wrong otherwise with flying AA mind you ) if you book with AA directly. +18002473247 for ATW desk in Dallas, then simply ring up the UK number to pay. The reason why your cousin said one overwater flight has to be on AA is because AA tariffs will not rate agency bookings if they do not contain "international space" on AA, however this does not apply to pax booking directly with AA themselves.

 

[NM]

I recently learnt that as AA also limits fuel surcharges to its own flights, no fuel surcharges will be applied if AA isn't the ticketed carrier for said sectors.

The price I pay for applying E-VIPs to the most effective long-haul flights

 

[Evan]

The price I pay for applying E-VIPs to the most effective long-haul flights

And i would say a very small worth while price it is
E

 

[NM]

And i would say a very small worth while price it is
E

Indeed. Have to use those upgrades somehow!

 

[Keith009]

And i would say a very small worth while price it is
E

Indeed, on the 2 DONE4s I've ticketed both my transoceanic segments are on AA. Well the first was because I hadn't known that no YQ will be applied if I'd gone on QF108 instead of AA7365 and the fact that I thought it's only polite to send some revenue AA's way (now i know they actually make a massive loss after paying out codeshare costs... ); had EVIP applied for me LHR-LAX so that was nice. The 2nd DONE4 was AA metal on both legs and I intend to apply EVIPs.