Yes of course I was charged the Egyptian rates. They were converted into USD at a slightly favourable rate: EGP 27150 = USD 4534 when the inter-bank rate would have given USD4544, and the normal credit card rate would be over 4600. The base price for the AONE3 was USD 4220 as converted. (For some reason BA does not wish to bill the credit card directly in EGP, so they convert the Egyptian price to hard currency first.)

Absolutely no problem with the overseas credit card.

But to be clear, I physically picked the ticket up myself at Cairo airport. The faxing served simply to get the ticket issued in advance and get comfortable before I set out since I was only going to be in Cairo airport for a few hours.

Mrs Nabila Sobhi is at BA's Cairo telephone sales office. Tel: +2 02 578 0742. Fax: +2 02 574 7674.