Hello salt,

First of all, the rule states "ITINERARIES WHICH INCLUDE EUROPE AND THE SW PACIFIC MUST BE A MINIMUM OF FOUR CONTINENTS". Meanwhile, SWPacific-Europe is considered backtracking, and you are not allowed to do so. Your itinerary as Europe-Asia-SWPacific-Europe should be modified as Europe-Asia-SPacific-NAmerica-Europe, therefore, is a four continent Oneworld Explorer.

Second, you must have the ticket issued and paid in Hungary, not UK. The general rule of OWEs is SITI, sold inside ticketed inside the country of origin, and SOTO, sold outside ticketed outside, is not allowed. Only Canada and US seem to be exempt of this rule, and in these two countries, SOTO is allowed. But not UK. In the case of an ex-BUD OWE, you must complete your reservations, payment and ticketing with a travel agent in Hungary. I advise you ask airlines, credit card companies (e.g. AMEX) or large travel consolidators in the UK for recommended Budapest agents.

Third, you can fly to Muscat within the Europe continent boundary.

Finally, try digging up as many posts relating to OWEs using the "Search" button up there. You'll find past completed itineraries, rules in the original text and many tips for reservations. If you can familiarize yourself with the general rules as much as possible, your ticketing experience will be much more painless. And, keep on asking questions here, allot of the rules are very tricky in interpretation.

OWE General Rules at hsi.chang's website: http://www.geocities.com/osointer/ownotes.htm

************************************************

A note to fellow FTers: My agent in Budapest has been mentioning that she'd been receiving allot of foreign inquiry since I last completed my own reservations. While this kind of proves how effective this board is in terms of getting public exposure (wow!), it's a good thing for the Hungarian travel industry and the Oneworld alliance in getting more business. However, the agent was mentioning her office was starting to experience some stress; only a very small fraction of the inquiry are actually "serious," and some are rather abrupt and demanding in content. Therefore, I have a word of advise to my fellow FTers trying out for their first OWE reservations: Please bear in mind your single reservation occupies a considerable portion of the agent's working hours, and try your best to present your reservation request in the most detailed and final format. Utilize this board and make yourself familiar with the rules, ask questions like darren and salt, and make best use of tools such as ITN and downloadable timetables for airline websites. And, please be polite to our fellow agents, they're human just like us.

Sincerely,

silver


[This message has been edited by silver (edited 10-05-2000).]