Originally Posted by number_6

Isn't IST now on the 2 flight lmit list as part of Middle East? I thought OW made that change when Romania and Bulgaria were added (which are closer than IST to LHR).

You do know that YVR taxes are higher than normal, though not at the UK level, so that adds more taxes than LAX-MEX would, for example. Routing hkg-fk-sju-lax-mex-yvr-mex gets you over 1k miles more than with your yvr-mex loop (unless you really need to be in yvr and mex that often) and you don't care about the extra mileage.