Originally Posted by
anabolism
Which continent is Israel (or Egypt) in as far as xONEx rules?
If we do ex-JNB, I'd probably burn BA miles and do the positioning flights as awards. Israel is an option I hadn't though of. I did try Egypt, mostly because I wondered if prices were lower reflecting the unrest.
Thanks for the great tips!
All of the Middle East is regarded as Europe.
Due to currency fluctuations, in USD terms at the moment Egypt is a little cheaper ($100 - $150) than either Jordan or Israel for DONE3 and DONE4s.
One negative note, however, is that you'll probably have to have BA issue any RTW beginning in Egypt, unless your first flight is on RJ to AMM. Recently (say the past 3-4 years) BA-issued xONEx tickets have ended up carrying significantly higher taxes and fees - due to fuel surcharges - than those issued by AA. (Iberia also serves CAI but people have not had good luck trying to get IB to issue RTW tickets.) AA does the issuing on behalf of RJ when using AMM as a starting point, or you can use AA's GSA in Israel, Tal Aviation, to get AA-plated tickets out of TLV. On a typical DONEx, the additional cost due to BA's fuel surcharges can amount to another 5-7%+ of the face cost of the ticket, which is serious money with tickets costing $6000 or $7000 (or more.) Using AA as the issuer (or AA as RJ's proxy) tends to avoid those fees.