So firstly, there's not a lot of interest in this topic, judging by the dearth of replies
Secondly, I have to apologise for an inadvertent error in the first post
When I wrote
My first idea is that the definition of the continent of North Africa should change...
I meant to write
My first idea is that the definition of the continent of Africa should change...
Elsewhere in the first post, where I referred to North Africa I was referring to the region, not a new continent I was suggesting
Apologies for any confusion caused
I will amend my first post accordingly
Originally Posted by
ernestnywang
While the way OW breaks up continents does not 100% conform with IATA definitions, save for countries that OW members don't actually fly to, there is almost a match. IATA groups Northern Africa and Middle East with Europe.
I was not aware of this. So my idea might add to issues with SABRE's autovalidation/autopricing of itineraries
Originally Posted by
JAXBA
My initial thoughts on this would be to ask whether those who fly from the Americas to DOH on QR are more likely to want to then use four segments within EUR/ME or AFR/ME - and I'd suspect they'd rather backtrack to EUR...
As for most changes in life, there are winners and there are losers
The winners would be those wanting to get from North America to Africa without having to touch (and therefore pay for) either Europe or South America
Could it perhaps be possible to group N. AFR/ME together and make them a kind of half continent, whereby you can visit the rest of EUR -or- the rest of AFR without needing to add a continent? If you visit both continental EUR and sub-Saharan AFR then the usual continent count increases.
e.g.
Americas-CMN-Africa-(DOH)-Asia-Americas - "xONE3AFR"
Americas-CMN-Europe-Asia-Americas - "xONE3EUR"
My first reaction is
:EEK:
My second reaction is recall the difficulties airline fares teams had with correctly interpreting the rules on backtracking to Europe/Middle East. Remember tables like this?
Originally Posted by
Dr. HFH
... resulting in an increased price to anyone who wants to fly to CAI or Morocco, -- xONE3 would now need to be xONE4. I'm not sure how that benefits passengers.
Yes, an increase for those that want to go Egypt/Morocco and Europe
But not for those that want to go Egypt/Morocco and Africa
Winners and Losers
Originally Posted by
anabolism
Are you saying that the main advantage of the change would be to allow an xONE3 that would otherwise be an xONE4? E.g., North America, Africa, and either Europe or South America?
No. The main advantage is good coverage of Africa/Middle East
More options for xONE3s is an added benefit
Originally Posted by
Dr. HFH
Well, there are several things here.
[snip]
2. Pandaperth talks a couple of times about the continent of North Africa.There is no continent of North Africa in the rules. In Rule 0, continents are defined as Europe/Middle East, Africa, Asia, Southwest Pacific, North America, and South America.
Apologies for the confusion
3. Currently, Egypt and Morocco can be visited on an xONE3 starting in Europe, N.A., or Asia. If you move them into Africa and keep the same starting point, then you would need an xONE4 to visit them.
Not necessarily
Starting in N.A. or Asia you could substitute Africa/Middle East for Europe and still have an xONE3
Starting in Europe, it would have to be an xONE4
Winners and Losers