Originally Posted by
danger
I'm having a hell of a time convincing them of the rules, even though they can see it in the GDS, that Egypt is in the Middle East. The agent keeps saying "But it's actually in Africa".
[Depends who you ask.
Many consider Egypt to be part of the Middle East. While the bulk of the country sits on the African continent, the Sinai Peninsula does not.]
But seriously, the definition at the top is what matters in interpreting the rules. That is the point of giving a definition.
So I changed the itinerary to start and end in Egypt:
CAI-DOH-MAD-HEL-DOH-South America-North America-SYD-DOH-CAI
Now your itinerary is invalid. You have five intra-Europe/Middle East sectors, when you are only permitted four in this continent.
And it priced - but as a DONE5 - "Because Egypt is in Africa".
Time to find a different agent.
The agent went away for another 20 minutes and eventually came back to say it was a DONE5 because the SYD-DOH is considered South Pacific-Asia-Europe/Middle East. I thought the rule only applied on QF's through services from Australia to London via DXB. So I couldn't argue with that rule. Mind you, it was the third rule she'd quoted me as the reason my itinerary wasn't pricing. The other two I got over but this one caught me.
It counts as travel via Asia.
Code:
TRAVEL BETWEEN SOUTH WEST PACIFIC AND EUROPE /
MIDDLE EAST ON A SINGLE FLIGHT NUMBER OR BY
SURFACE EG.LON-SYD/MEL V.V. DXB-SYD/MEL V.V. DOH-
ADL/MEL/PER/SYD V.V. IS CONSIDERED TRAVELLING VIA
ASIA. CONTINENTS SOUTH WEST PACIFIC / ASIA AND
EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST MUST EACH BE COUNTED.