Originally Posted by
hotpot1
When I put thru an itin ex-KRT on the OneWorld RTW booking tool, and priced it out, then clicked on TAXES, to see the exact breakdown, there would be a "SDEM" tax of about $240 or so. It only appeared when I had itineraries that included Khartoum, so I'm just assuming. This is a Business class though
I think I'm giving up on KRT as a starting point, unless some political changes happen before my trip and they start handing out tourist visas to Americans willy-nilly. Not sure its worth the hassle to save the $1000 (with all those extra KRT costs) or so over flying from Amman. Would totally suck to try that 6-hour rule and not be allowed to disembark. Even if its the official rule, I think its a roll of the die what kind of officials you'll get at KRT.
Well, I did try a AONE4, routing of KRT-AMM-DXB-LHR-SFO-HKG-AKL-SYD-LHR -MCT. Base was $7603 US + fees of $1620 (735 YQ + 380 SDEM + others). An end anywhere in the Middle East is valid without any problem.
Seems that there is an exit tax of some type ex-KRT that is high. Just dropping the KRT-AMM flight removed the SDEM tax, but that is all. I was surprised that the YQ's were so high since the website used was AA's amedus site in the UK. No AA flights though. There are 3 BA long-haul flights which would account for all of the YQ's, so maybe more non-BA flights will bring the YQ down.
My estimate is that with all of the taxes + fees, the savings on just the air fare is $1600-1800 US. A definite YMMV as to whether it is worth the savings.