The one I have to hand has all the boxes that should be filled in filled in and does have a fare calculation.

However, I suspect one big difference is that I know when I get Cairo tickets issued that I will be rerouting them later. Since the cost to make one change is the same as the cost to change 19 segments then what I do at Cairo is get the segments up to where I know I will want a reroute and then do the rest as simply as possible.

For example, my latest ticket was ticketed at Cairo as: CAI-LHR-HKG-KIX//NRT-HKG-SEL-HKG-JFK-LHR-CAI
I knew that when I got to HKG the second or third time I would reroute, so I didn't bother putting in a complex US itinerary, or anywhere else in Europe at the end.
(I may of course have reservations already for some of that but that is a completely separate issue.)

On a previous ticket I had no idea where I would be going in Asia, so I simply ticketed: CAI-LHR-HKG-SFO-LHR-CAI and then rerouted once I got to HKG.

I am now happy that both the CX and the BA ticketing desks at HK airport are very comfortable with OWE tickets so I have no qualms about simply turning up an hour earlier than normal for my first flight on the reroute and just getting them to do the ticket on the spot.

Dare I say this is another reason to keep the reservations and ticketing separate (i.e. open-dated tickets)? It means that you can make your reservations as soon as you know where you will want to go, but you can hold off doing the reroute ticketing until you are at a place where you know it is easy to do.

[This message has been edited by christep (edited 10-18-2003).]