I'm running into difficulties in finding available seating for a side-trip LHR-DXB-LHR, and wondered if I'm correct in my assumption that Doha, Jeddah and Riyahd are also legal destinations that count under the rule of being in the European continent?

If yes, just for doing the afternoon/evening flight in and returnsing a few few hours later ont he same plane, will there be any visa related fun or similar difficulties for any of the countries for a person carrying an EU-ussied passort?

tia

I would rule both Jeddah and Riyadh out. Visas for Saudi are impossible to get without a local sponsor - and are not always guaranteed even if you do have one. From personal experience, even if you did get a visa, neither would be much good for a mileage run as it can take 2 hours plus to clear immigration! By which time you would have missed the return flight.

DOH is easier as you don't need a sponsor, but still need a visa. I think the flight to Doha alsostops in Bahrain out and back, so that might be a better option as you can get a visa on arrival. Also consider Abu Dhabi where you don't need a visa at all. The AUD flight continues on to Muscat giving you a reasonable turnaround time.).

Hope that helps!

Saudi is a tough place to enter as there are no "tourist" visas. However, I believe you can stay in transit for 12 hours without a visa. It is still considered Europe for OWE travel.

An alternative to DXB is MCT. Short stay visa is available at the airport to EU passport holders. Another alternative is AUH.

You will likely encounter a problem in most Arab countries if you have an Israeli stamp in your passport.

No israeli stamps or anything like that... I did suspect that Jeddah and Riyahd would be interesting in terms of visas.

My problem is mainly timing, I'm gettnig into LHR at 0915 and need to be able to make the connction, and I'm flying onwards to DUB the next morning... as long as its in D class i figure its livable to do LHR-mid east-LHR-DUB-LAX in a straight shot.

Am I also correct in asusming that all flights ex-LHR contain the NCW-seats that would let me sleep on the way back up to LHR?

Oh, and in the good tradition of following up my own post, as far as I can gleam out of amadeus.net, the summer schdule seem to have all arabian destination on their own flights, most of the places serviced by 772's with the exception of Cairo and Jeddah, which have 744's.

I looked into Kuwait in the schedule, and along with Cairo its not an alternative, as it flies on a funny schedule; out late, back mid-day next day. Apart from that, I'm not entirely sure that mid-february and Kuwait sound like an ideal option, considerng Dubya and his men

Almost last, a routing related question. If my tickets covers Euorpe-N.America-Asia-SWP, then I know I can router BNE-SYD-NRT-LHR on the way home with no stopovers, but would BNE-HKG(CX)-JNB(CX)-LHR(BA) be legal, with no stopovers?

And last, merry x-mas and all that, and thanks for all the help.

Oh well, lets follow up my own follow-up to my own posting while we're at it. Just saw that HKG-JNB is operated by SA as code share. So let me pop the quesiton this way, would BNE-SYD-JNB(QF) and then JNB-LHR(BA) be legal?

And again, merry x-mas

I would be shocked if A class to DXB in Feb. doesn't open-up once it becomes clear that war is going to happen in Iraq.

http://www.mydsf.com/

I'm looking for D-class, A-class it for now out of my league

What days are you looking? It appears D and A classes are avalaible on all flights I checked into and of Dubai in Feb. Most actually showed D7 or the max the system would show.

rich

No, you are not correct. Some non-NCW planes are used on flights out of LHR (not just LGW); usually these flights do not have WT+ so check for W inventory as an indicator that the flight is operated using NCW. The old CW seat is preferred by some for day flights but isn't for sleeping. I'd guess that 10% of long-distance LHR flights don't have new CW.

I dont think he ever actually said he was going in Feb, Pres did. In any event, I agree with Rich, if you are going in biz, you will *probably* find a seat on any flight you want. I wouldnt personally connect through Saudi Arabia, and for that matter, I couldnt. I wouldn't personally worry too much about Kuwait, though I dont know how hard it would be to go there and back. Abu Dhabi will make you pass through customs, which can take some time. Dubai is easy to go through. Go to Dubai, do some shopping, get a raffle ticket, and go back to London. I would be amazed if you have a few days flexibility that you wouldnt be able to find a flight. And for that matter, stay a day or two. It's a nice town. And frankly, if you can't get a flight, route to Athens or something. I know its blasphemy, but miles aren't everything.

" I know its blasphemy, but miles aren't everything"

Noo, trust me.. You are right.. Miles arnt everything. Miles are a benefit of the flight not vice versa. I agree, spend a day or 2 in Dubai, it is a nice place to visit. Why spend 16+ hours travelling for no reason

Dave

I know miles aint eveything, and I agree. I have a different motivation. I had already panned out most of my OWE and have a few things along the stretch set in stone (meeting others, etc). I discovered a bit late that this thing with the mid-east was allowed, and I'm doing this simply on the grounds that BA C-class in not a bad place to be, and that I've never been to any part of the arabic world and even if it might sound a bit strang, a quick jump down to Dubai would at least be more exciting than the nightstop that was planned in Dublin, a place where I've spent too many nights there on layover for work

Now, if I had the chance to do this, and spend a night testing out the beds in NCW, then I figured this might be a fun side trip, but I'm restricted in needing to go out on a specific date and back on the same bird, to not have to redo most of the onward stuff. That's why I also asked around for the alternatives, as I've seen Dubai as the most talked about one, and little talk about the other destinations of BA in the region.

As far as seting, I am off in february, I have this one quirk to find seating to a suiteable mid-east place for the fun of it,
and apart from that finding seats have been easy, except for getting from JFK to the Caribean (ended up going through MIA, since I didn't want to sit on a AA AB6 out JFK).
[This message has been edited by ph-ndr (edited 12-26-2002).]

[This message has been edited by ph-ndr (edited 12-26-2002).]

Of course of Saudis don't have tourist visas...they're afraid people might see them for who they really are - terrorist sponsors while pretending to be allies.