Originally Posted by WearyBizTrvlr
On the downside, this means bidding a fond farewell to the ex-WAW fares, although the ex-ZAG may survive. On the positive side, it'll make booking the I-class BA fares ex-LIS a lot easier, although that bottleneck seems to have been removed by BA earlier this year anyway (possibly by the imminent EC action).
I believe this action is only designed to allow customers to buy ex-WAW, ex-LIS, ex-VIE, etc. outside the originating country at the originating country price and for purely economic reasons the airlines will still offer regional pricing. As said above a number of restrictions have already been removed. It is possible to use opodo.co.uk to purchase tickets originating outside the UK at originating country price and still be charged in GBP. This does have a benefit in that there is no FOREX credit card charges.
At times I think FT'ers overestimate the number of people who go to the lengths that some often us do to track down a bargain. As a percentage of total sales in any given country I doubt we account for more than 1 percent of volume.