Originally Posted by
Often1
While Expert Flyer is a good resource, it is no longer necessary to look up MCT's as they are baked into the booking software. Put simply, one cannot book below MCT because the system will not permit it and thus you cannot do it online, a TA cannot do it and a phone agent may not do it either.
In general, this is correct. But it is useful to be able to check what the booking software is doing.
In particular, on this board we have a frequent occurrence of a piece of booking software that refuses to book connections that are legal for MCT purposes. That is because ba.com applies an additional rule in some circumstances that prevents some MCT-compliant itineraries from being booked. If you know the MCT, you then know that you can phone BA and book the itinerary, or to get a travel agent to book it. Without being able to look up the MCT on EF, you couldn't be confident that you are right and ba.com is wrong.