SDG issue
 

I'm joining this thread a bit late and got curious about the BSR/ICH rates and just in general whether there's a currency arbitrage here.

I tried to dig a "current" USD rate for SDG:

• Oanda says 2.64.
• I looked at VISA to see what they would exchange it at, and came up empty. Same with MasterCard. AmEx cards use Oanda and builds in its commission, giving a 2.71 rate.
• The Wall Street Journal does not list the SDG on its daily charts, which probably implies that it's not traded in NYC. On its weekly chart, it shows 2.68 for 17 June.
• Bloomgerg.com (the website) does not list SDG amongst the trove of currencies it has data for.
• I couldn't find any exchange rate on the Financial Times.

Conclusion: it appears that the actual exchange rate is around 2.60/2.70, but the currency is not really traded. So it seems that 3.10 is what some of the GDSs are using and it's what we most likely end up having to pay for tickets issued on that GDS.

You are, as usual, spot on. The rate used by Sabre is as follows:
Notice the "ICH" in the "RATE" column.
Compare the same entry with the EUR:
As far as I can tell, Sabre uses only one rate, which turns out is either a BSR or the ICH.

Further, the AUD rate is calculated as follows by Sabre:
What GDS you got your rates from? I presume Amadeus. Wouldn't the trick to have the ticket issued on a carrier/agent that uses that GDS?

Did you ever figure out a solution to this?

I was thinking of doing something similar. I'd be in Egypt anyway, and would either fly from Cairo to Khartoum, and maybe hang out a few days and look around, or do something more adventurous like take the ferry from Aswan Egypt to Wadi Halfa, Sudan then a train to KRT. But with a US Passport, getting a Sudanese tourist visa... not so easy.

I don't want to chance it, buying a one-way ticket on Egypt Air hoping for a TWOV, then not being allowed to disembark (or even embark in Cairo...) and messing up my whole itinerary.

Any luck finding a tourist visa? Read about a guesthouse Bougainvilla in KRT that can arrange sponsorship letters, but iffy on whether they can get a letter from the Sudan Ministry of Whatever that the embassy in DC needs to issue a tourist visa.

Though with the KRT departure tax of like $250usd in business, plus the $100 for Sudan visa, probably another $150+ in fees to get the visa, $350 flight from Cairo, and the stress/hassle, maybe just better to pay the extra and start in Amman or Cairo. Probably Amman...

Also... how were you going to book this? I've never done an xONEx (only OWEs) -- read that in order to pay the lower fare in a foreign country we'd have to go thru a travel agency there?

An xONEx IS a Oneworld Explorer

first 'x' is the class (A=first; D=business; L=economy)
the second is the number of continents (3, 4, 5 or 6)

So to book it and get the price of the originating country
- use the on-line tool
- buy in Canada
- find a travel agent in the country of origin that will book it for you

Ah right, sorry, I meant Oneworld RTW Award thru AA.

From what I read yes. Although at least you have an Sudanese embassy in your country (well at least a 'North' Sudan embassy)

I am looking at coming in from UAE and their are some late night flights on flydubai and Air Sharjah that meet the Timatic six-hour TWOV rule for the Royal Jordanian but struggling to get positive confirmation on this from wither airline and equally don't want to be denied boarding at the airport.
(flydubai responded to an email stating we can't provide you with information, you are responsible for the right documents, please contact embassy, but then went on to say we can deny you boarding if you don't have the right documents... how they can not have the right information but then deny boarding I don't know)

Where did you get the departure tax number from?. Only refs I have had to a departure tax is USD/SGP 20 (about US8 if in SGP) or SGP 35 (wikipedia). It used to be SDD 2500 which converted to SGP 25

Not easy but not impossible. There are reports that many people get their Sudan visa issued in CAI or ADD rather than their home countries as the process there is much easier. I don't have any first hand experience but I would look into this possibility.

Exchange rate
 

The key issue here is going to be what your credit card company will bill you for a charge made in Sudan Pounds. I once got a shocking credit card bill for a charge I made in Zimbabwe. If I paid in US dollars on the spot I would have saved many hundreds of dollars. However the Zimbabwe bank charged my card the government exchange rate, which was 4 times the going ( street rate). So beware.

I would like to hear from anyone who makes this journey and starts a Aone4 in Sudan.

Good Luck!

Cheers!

Start at this post on my trip report.

Online, when you go through the booking you appear to get charged in USD, converted seemingly at a Bank rate, not the IATA rate.
May be different through an agent in Sudan.

WOW Great report!

Good info on Khartoum.

I read some of your reports: Awesome! I felt I was flying on the same flight experiencing it as you did!

Bravo!

Cheers!
2old4coach

Interesting read Kiwi. I assume the 'traffic rights' point meant that LH didn't have rights to carry passengers ADD-KRT, presumably just ADD-FRA and KRT-FRA (ie no other passenger got off the aircraft?)
and not a TWOV issue. Am I right in assuming when you originally checked in at ADD the check-in staff were OK with you transiting KRT on a TWOV.

AA Award flights- or Award tickets on other airlines (obtained by redeeming FF points) are completely different to xONEx paid tickets.

When I put thru an itin ex-KRT on the OneWorld RTW booking tool, and priced it out, then clicked on TAXES, to see the exact breakdown, there would be a "SDEM" tax of about $240 or so. It only appeared when I had itineraries that included Khartoum, so I'm just assuming. This is a Business class though

I think I'm giving up on KRT as a starting point, unless some political changes happen before my trip and they start handing out tourist visas to Americans willy-nilly. Not sure its worth the hassle to save the $1000 (with all those extra KRT costs) or so over flying from Amman. Would totally suck to try that 6-hour rule and not be allowed to disembark. Even if its the official rule, I think its a roll of the die what kind of officials you'll get at KRT.

Am getting to the same point, although for an AONE there are more savings. I asked some questions on the thorntree board and got this response

which sounds consistent with your extra 'tax', albeit maybe they are taxing like the UK!


however this piece makes it more interesting

Probably so, but odd they allowed it to be ticketed and didn't check any time in the months before travel.

I checked in a couple of days earlier ... in Pristina of all places. The agent did not check visas or other rules.

Has the wording changed for the visa requirement?
Delta.com now returns the following:


TWOV (Transit Without Visa):
Visa required, except for Holders of onward tickets for a max.

transit TIRULES/R32 time of 6 hours.
- The onward carrier is required to report the onward booking
to the Immigration Authorities.

This last line makes it a bit problematic if you are flying in on a different ticket to the one you are flying out on as would be the case for everyone commencing an xONEWx from Sudan

And moa999 as long as the following link is still accurate then not everyone requires an exit visa point c) being the most relevant

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/469e20832.pdf

4) The following persons shall not require an exit visa in order to leave the
New Sudan:-
a) holders of foreign diplomatic passports.
b) officials of the United Nations and other recognized
International bodies.
c) visitors staying in the New Sudan for not more than three
months.

KRT is in old Sudan.

The above link is from 2003 The person who signed it was a rebel leader who went on to become First Vice President of (old) Sudan. But I don't really have any idea what is new Sudan and what is old Sudan.

Could someone with access to EF please post the fares (in local currency) for DONE3/4, AONE3/4 from KRT, Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia

No Sudan currency available on E/F for KRT, so USD used:Results from ExpertFlyer.comResults from ExpertFlyer.comResults from ExpertFlyer.comB]Results from ExpertFlyer.com[/B]

thanks serfty...

KVS has the local fares:

[KVS Availability Tool 6.2.0/Diamond - Sabre: Fares/DotRes/US]
[KVS Availability Tool 6.2.0/Diamond - Sabre: Fares/DotRes/US]

More exchange rate confusion. Direct AUD price from expert flyer does not match the xe converted SGP amount.

From Expert flyer - AUD 6226
Conversion from xe (20400 SGP) - AUD 7118

somebol, that is explained in prior posts - expertflyer uses a bank rate (if available) as it seems to be for SGD-USD, but otherwise defaults to the IATA tables (which use a dated rate) for SGD-AUD.

If you ticket fro KRT you will either pay in USD on the oneworld engine (which appears to use a bank rate) or in SGD in which case your credit card company will charge you bank rates (equivalent to xe)

I read thru some of the earlier posts and could not find an answer: did anybody actually start a ticket in KRT?
I contacted the Sudanese embassy in Berlin and getting a visa seems to be no problem at all. Hotel Res + money + passport + wait for a week or so.

It is not as easy and straight forward as they say it is. Waiting times can easily exceed one month.

depends which passport you have. US is the worst, then UK. I think with EU passports, it's probably much easier/quicker to get a Sudanese visa.

Yes, but even then it can take a couple of months and not just a week to get the visa.

And not some way (involving payment to an interested intermediary) that will hasten the process?

What I wanted to say is that from my experience with some embassies the actual time to process a visa can be substantially longer than what the embassy website says.
Some embassies might be faster, there might be expediting possibilities and I am not an expert on Sudanese visas. All I am saying is that it can take longer than "a week or so" even if the website might make it look like an easy process.

Very very confused. I have read on this forum about BA adding on YQ, that some airlines don't charge. Gardyloo, am I missing something, unless I fly IB for the first segment (assuming IB doesn't charge YQ like BA) aren'
t I better off having RJ issue the ticket and therefore wouldn't I want RJ to be the airline I fly on the first segment?

Please help steer me in the correct direction I am thinking of buying my first RTW ticket for travel in 2012.

Normally, the ticket is issued using the stock of the airline you first fly. This is how the online tool is doing it (with some exceptions). You will then pay the fuel surcharges of that carrier often for all the flights in the itinerary.

However, this is not a rule. In other words, you can get the ticket issued by any airline on the itinerary, theoretically even by an airline which you don't even fly. So if you get this ticket issued by AA your fees will be a lot lower than when BA is issuing it. In reality, for an airline to be willing to issue the ticket they often ask for you to have at least one long flight with them. The online tool will always take the first airline unless the first airline is RJ, then AA will issue the ticket. If you want somebody else to issue the ticket then you need a travel agent /airline to do this for you.

The point I was making was in regard to an AONEx being issued in the Middle East.

It might very well be that having RJ be the first carrier, hence having the ticket issued by AA on RJ's behalf, might save some money overall in fuel surcharges. (But I'd caution not to overestimate the scale of savings. Do some dummy booking using the OWE tool - some with BA as the first/issuing carrier, and others with RJ/AA, and you might be surprised at how small the difference will be. Much depends on the route and carrier choice later.)

However my point was in the context of posters wanting the most first class bang for the buck. In the case of RJ as the first carrier, since there is no first class service into or out of AMM on Oneworld metal, choosing RJ means basically that at least the first, and potentially the first two, segments of 16 can't be in FC. In the case of KRT origins, it would be at least the first two, KRT-AMM and AMM-XXX, that would be in business class by definition.

In some peoples' minds, foregoing 2 FC segments out of 16 (at least) might be a sufficient disincentive that paying the extra YQ and/or country-of-issuance costs might be worth it, in order to originate in some country and/or some carrier that offers FC as soon as possible (which in the case of the Middle East means BA, full stop.)

My experience of Sudan
 

In case this is of any help in deciding whether to originate from KRT:

1) I flew to the Sudan for wedding three or four years ago. I flew with British Midland via Beirut. This is a dreadful flight in economy, do not do it!
2) I got my visa in London. The bride was the daughter of a Sudanese official so an arangement had been made to expedite the applications of our group but even that took a couple of weeks and the process at the embassy was perhaps best described as whimsical and arbitrary. The embassy kept my passport during this period.
3) Credit cards (other than Diners, the French foreign policy exception!) do not work in the Sudan because of US sanctions (these may have been lifted) and Sudanese pounds do not appear to be available outside the Sudan. As a consequence, all tourists carry stacks of hard currency. Whether the sanctions also affect interbank settlement of Sudan pound transactions, I can't say, but I do wonder how the price of the RTW ticket is actually arrived at....
4) Arriving at KRT airport was, er, opaque. However, I am used to first world airports and their transparency of process. It may be run of the mill for African airports, or even quite good, I cannot tell you. It may also make a lot more sense if you speak Arabic! Again, arrangement had been made for us by the family and we wranglers meet us airside to escort us through the process but it still took a very long time to go through immigration etc.
5) Departing KRT airport was frankly chaotic. The flight list was incorrectly compiled and a couple of our group were in danger of being forbidden boarding but it all got sorted out in the end. Again, the family and the arabic-speaker in our group sorted it all out.
6) We stayed in the KRT "Hilton" - in quotes because, again because of sanctions, the official franchise ran out years ago. I believe it has been rebranded a Sofitel since we stayed. It is a faded seventies Modernist concrete block, with vintage interiors and a nice swimming pool. Wallpaper would love it and it would make a good set for a pre-oil crisis Graham Greene film. It was not cheap!
7) If you get a visa and actually enter the Sudan, you will find a lovely country. The Sudanese are extremely dignified and will leave you to your own devices (not like Egypt!). There is plenty of interest to see - the whirling dervishes, the market at Omdurman, the pyramids at Merope etc. - and the city itself is quite grand, set on the banks of the confluence of the Niles, with islands and boats and boathouses dotted on the shores. We went in December and it was still very hot!
8) I would love to go back. I would also love to use it as an origin for OWE fares but, having flown in and out once, I would rather let somebody else prove to me that it can be done....

Good luck!

I might actually make a go at this later this fall - I haven't been to Sudan yet (either of them), so if I could get a visa, this would indeed be an ideal AONE4 starting point. For those who don't care about visiting KRT, as others have said it might not be the best choice.

Hopefully the pricing will remain steady for a bit longer...

Thank you both, I am slowly learning about rtw tickets and appreciate your insights.

Sorry, I had also posted DownUnderFlyer's quote, but it didn't post in my last post. Thank you DownUnderFlyer and Gardyloo.

Do NOT start in RUH without entering SA
 

Just don't try using RUH (Riyadh) as a starting point for a RTW without entering the country for a night with the appropriate visa. We recently finished an AONE3 there and had return boarding passes issued at LHR for the RUH-LHR 1st segment. Upon arrival we were detained by Immigration, then by some scary army guys with rifles. They simply could not grasp why we were arriving on a BA flight and turning right round and returning. After two hours of worrying opposition we were allowed into the departure lounge and made the flight with minutes to spare. The absence of a visa seemed to be the major problem. It should also be mentioned that the treatment of my wife was disgraceful; she rightly refuses to finish this existing RTW in RUH so I've changed it to CAI which has once again become one of the better places to start a further RTW.

Sorry to bump this up - but it seems nobody did an RTW from KRT recently? Looks like the prices (5742 US$ for an AONE3) are still there.