We’re still waiting for the new rules to be posted on the Oneworld site; but in the meantime I have compared the previous rules (as published on the Oneworld web site on 1-October-2013) and the rules that currently show in Expert Flyer (see post #66 above)
GeneralQR is now a member of Oneworld and so it can be used on a Oneworld Explorer
Rule 1The definition of the continent Europe/Middle East has been changed to split it into two ZONES:
Europe Zone – which includes Nth West Africa (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia)
Middle East Zone – which includes Nth East Africa (Libya, Egypt and Sudan)
These zones are used in rule 2(e) to define the allowed second visit to Europe/Middle East from/to Africa
Previously a second visit to Europe/Middle East was allowed provided one of the two visits was a transfer without stopover between Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya or Uganda and another continent
This rule has changed significantly. This is my understanding of it:
- Like the previous version, the new rule:
- applies only IF you want to include Africa in your itinerary AND you want a second visit to Europe
- requires one of the two visits to Europe/Middle East to be a transfer* without stopover
- The new rule allows the transfer without stopover to be to/from any African country (with one restriction)
- The rule has varying new restrictions depending on where your two visits to Europe/Middle East occur:
- Both in the Europe Zone – South Africa and Mauritius cannot be included (and so the transfer without stopover cannot to/from either of these countries)
- Both in the Middle East Zone – no new restrictions
- One in each Zone – no inter-zone segments allowed BUT stopovers allowed on each visit
It will be interesting to see how the online tool handles the new rule
*Correction: In the case of "One in each Zone" there is no requirement for one of them to be a transfer without stopover. I have tested this in the tool and it allows each to have stopovers (test itinerary: CPT-oLHR-oMAD-JFK-SYD-MEL-oDOH-oCAI-oDOH-CPT)