No no no.

For Oneworld RTW fares, you can issue and pay for your ticket in the originating country's currency without paying the higher US fare levels if you are ticketing in the USA or Canada. The Oneworld RTW fare permits this kind of special arrangement. ie You wish to buy a RTW ticket ex-Thailand, you will book your ticket and issue it in either USA or Canada, either through the airline or through a travel agency, the ex-Thailand fare applies.

If you are buying another RTW ticket which is not OneWorld, say Star Alliance or CX/UA fare. If you book the fare ex-Thailand again for example, neither of these tickets have the special conditions that make the Oneworld RTW so attractive. These other tickets must be issued in the country of origin only. If you issue the ticket in USA, the USA fare will apply if it is HIGHER than the fare ex-Thailand.

The only exception to this rule will be if your ticket is issued in CANADA. Only then will your ticket be priced at the ex-Thailand fare without paying for the higher ex-Canadian fare. This is a certain ruling (don't know what it is really) that applies to all tickets, not just RTW fares. Which is why in some circumstance, it's cheaper to do split ticketing on a point to point basis. Say its cheaper to do oneway from YVR to HKG and oneway from HKG to YVR than a return YVR-HKG-YVR in Business Class. If you try to price the ticket HKG-YVR oneway on a CRS other than it being based in Canada (ie from USA), it will quote you the higher YVR-HKG fare even though you are flying HKG-YVR if the ticket is issued any other place other than HKG. This is called an "MDP" check. But Canadian law on ticketing permits this 'reverse' process and will quote you the fare as though you are issuing the ticket in HK. This system will not work for US based CRS systems.

As the Red Rose Tea commercial says..."Only in Canada, you say? Pity!"

[This message has been edited by Guy Betsy (edited 02-05-2002).]