Originally Posted by
Calchas
I think that the wording remains needlessly opaque.
I believe that I agree with your interpretation. The purpose of the clause “to/from Europe in both directions” can only serve to qualify the permitted routes on the left-hand-side of the table. It is to take pressure off the highly popular routes from Europe to South Africa and Mauritius; routing via DOH is probably what is intended.
LHR-JNB is one of BA's most profitable routes, even given the long downtime at JNB (which actually BA often use for cheap maintenance). LHR-CPT is also very lucrative for BA. Thus, I suspect that the true purpose of the clause is to reduce the capacity BA must make available to xONEx tickets, for which it would receive a sharply reduced revenue compared to ordinary return tickets bought on that city pair.
I made the same sort of argument when the rules were changed in April. In this post
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/26570141-post336.html, I suggested simpler wording:
Suggested Wording
If the intention is to disallow two flights between the UK and Southern Africa – then say so explicitly:
4(e) Only one intercontinental departure and one intercontinental arrival permitted in each continent except as follows:
- Two permitted in North America when one is a transfer without stopover.
- Two permitted in Asia when one is a transfer without stopover or on direct single plane service between the Southwest Pacific and Europe/Middle East.
- Two permitted in Europe/Middle East when one is a transfer without stopover. Note: only one flight permitted between the UK and South Africa/Mauritius.
This wording is concise and does away with zones completely.