Originally Posted by JohnAx
Thanks, I got the phone number out of the archives - any name to ask for? - and will see what they say about Syria.
A year earlier, SchmeckFlyer posted a thread about a great BA agent in AMS who was proficient at booking OWE's for pickup in far-flung places. That may also be a viable contact.
[Wonder why so little interest in DAM - for AONE3 it's the practical price leader, easy enough to get to from Europe/Asia, etc. As a Yank I assumed I needed to arrive and depart under cover of darkness or a platoon of marines, but other FT'ers have assured me it's a pleasant enough spot.]
Speaking personally, our passports have way too many TLV stamps in them to make a trip to DAM a good idea.
Of course it's also really important to factor in the "positioning" cost, including overnights etc. For example, I've been looking at a DONE5 to start early in the new year that would go Europe-S. America-N. America-SWP-Africa-Europe. While Turkey is cheaper than, say, Germany, if I ticket in FRA (using AA and therefore bypassing BA ticketing yoga) I can go straight to SCL on LA, without burning a Europe seg, plus I can fly into FRA from the US and not have to connect inside Europe in order to get to the "start" point. Counting the cost of flights to (and later, from) IST, plus hotels and taxis blah blah, that are typically required for such things, the price differential between IST and FRA as origin points is greatly diminished, and I've conserved segments for use elsewhere. (In 5+ continent itineraries one can easily run out of in-continent segments.)
Anyway, just an observation.