Well, myself and Mrs Mac enjoyed a pleasant weekend in Cairo, picking up our rtw tickets from the BA office.

Most of the people who I have told about this ‘side-trip’ have been as disbelieving as I would have been a year ago, before I became a follower of Flyertalk – although funnily enough when I mention how much money we’ve saved, some of them do realise the sense of it (and I’ve even managed to persuade my stepmother to have a look here – it’s only a short step until she’s got my dad flying to Lisbon to pick up there transatlantic tickets ).

From the moment on Friday afternoon when the self-service checkin rejected our pre-chosen seats 29 A & B for a pair of rear-facing ones the trip was smooth as silk. Nabila from BA had written out the tickets (after I had faxed her cc details), so we were in and out of the office within ten minutes, which gave us some time for sightseeing as well as relaxing by the pool. Our return flight was uneventful, but packed; the Egyptian Special Olympics team (all 97 of them) were on their way to Dublin, but middle seats in the back are survivable for 4 ˝ hours – just !

If I can help anyone with the ‘beginner’s guide to buying a rtw in Cairo’, feel free to ask questions.

For the record, our itin is:

CAI-LHR
LHR-SFO (for July 4 fireworks)
SFO-DFW-ELP (big Marty Robbins fan)
Overland through Mexico, side trip to Belize and/or Cuba
CUN-JFK (visiting friends and family)
LGA-UIO (sidetrips to Galapagos and jungle)
UIO-SCL-GIG (overland via Pantanal, Foz, Fray Bentos, BA, the Lake District and Torres del Paine)
PUQ-SCL
SCL-IPC
IPC-PPT
(separate *A ticket PPT-AKL-BNE)
CNS-AYQ
ASP-DRW
DRW-PER
PER-SYD
SYD-JNB-CPT
CPT-LHR
LHR-CAI

(the eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that that is only 19 segments – we originally planned to fly NYC-MIA-GYE, but a last minute decision allowed us to get on the single-flight number LGA-UIO. We have already used our 4 segments for Sth Am and SWP, and I didn’t have the energy to shuffle the itin to use the last segment.).

In no particular order, I would like to thank UserMark for posting the OW starfiles, ExMo for compiling the fare chart, Manta for his recommendation to visit the jungle in Ecuador, and ExMo again, christep, Guy Betsy, Markie, Markonen, and countless others for all their help, advice and tips. If you feel that you’ve been missed off that list, don’t worry, you’re under countless others

And lastly, thanks to everyone who contributes to this forum for making it, unmoderated, the single most useful, cheerful, and aggro-free place on FT !

(with the exception of that time that christep got a bit annoyed when people queried the new April 15 rules….. )

Earlier comments about Cairo needing help from London in pricing OWE's when the itin gets controversial may be true, but for a non-controversial trip, Ms. Sobhi seems to be able to churn out a rate in hours instead of the days I've come to expect from the state-side rate desks. We still have the "pick up the tickets" step to go, but the rest of it went more smoothly than any other rtw I've ever booked. S.M., if you can share any observations on how to thank her, I'd appreciate it. Perhaps by email, as it's off topic.

FWIW, I gave her some perfume. I sat next to a man from Saudi on the flight into CAI and asked him what would be appropriate to give to an Arab woman. I didn't want to make a social faux pas -- and maybe end up with my throat cut by her husband.

She is a wonderful resource and really works hard to be helpful.

I have this vision of the most fragrant woman in Cairo sitting surrounded by a lifetime's supply of Chanel!

It is a tricky one though. I won't even meet her since she is doing my ticket for pickup at the airport on departure (8 hour turnround)...

Could you share a bit about this overland part? I have to plan south america OWE trip soon and am interested in this, especially involving the areas you mentioned.

Sadly, I didn't get the chance to thank Nabila in person - she had the day off on the Saturday, when I went to collect the tickets, but she had already said that she would be at the airport on the Sunday morning. However, when we arrived, *all* the BA groundstaff were helping the Special Olympics team, most of whom were clearly flying for the first time

Anyone know if Interflora deliver in Cairo ?

wrt the overland trip in South America, we have absolutely *no* idea how it's going to work at the moment - fortunately, we are going to have 8 weeks in Mexico/Cuba/Belize to work something out, and we're taking 10 weeks or thereabouts for the overland part.

Finally, anyone have any experience of upgrading a segment of a MONE to BA WT+ (principally, which class it books into and what miles/tier points acrue), as it is *very* tempting for the LHR-SFO leg for USD300 each (especially the way the Ł:$ exchange rate is going ) ?

How long does the process take to book the RTW? My wife and I are planning on visiting Cairo the first week of July and are interested in either a AONE5 or DONE5.

Routing is (haven't fully decided yet)
CAI-LHR-DFW-ANC-DFW-SJU-DFW-EZE-SCL-IPC-SCL-UIO-JFK-SYD-DRW-PER-JNB-NBO-SEZ/MRU-LHR-CAI

(according to the schedule QF is starting a PER-JNB flight in October).

OR.
CAI-LHR-DFW-ANC-DFW-SJU-DFW-EZE-SCL-IPC-SCL-UIO-JFK-HKG-BOM-HKG-AKL-SYD/PER-SIN-LHR-CAI

I have a MLONE currently going ex-Australia. Upgraded the SYD-LHR leg on BA (via SIN) to WT+. It books into T class. I assume you're booking via BA, ... in which case you won't have to explain to them what WT+. I had to explain it to the AA RTW desk and politely tell the lady to go read the starfile. AA office in Sydney wasn't much better - first thing they said when I went to ticket it was "what's this T class?" ... had to explain it to them as well.

It was worth it (A$900 SYD-LHR). Though it's not business class, it's much more comfortable than coach(WT) so the 20 hours or so flying time SYD-LHR wasn't too bad.

On AA, you get 100% miles plus a 10% bonus (versus 25% bonus for business class) - definitely worth it after July 1 when discounted coach tickets on BA will only get you 25% of the miles in the AA program. I assume you'd get 100% plus a bonus in the BA program - no idea about tier credits, though (as tier credits are strictly a BA and QF concept)

Book the ticket ahead with BA (either in NA by phone or in CAI via FAX). It only takes a few hours to process once it is booked and blessed by the rate desk.

BTW, are you aware that SCL-IPC-SCL will be in the back of the bus exen if your fare basis is A or D?

Why is that? I never heard that before.

LA now books all domestic RTW A/D fares as Y. So does AY, EI, and LP. See here for a list of the booking codes the various carriers use for each fare class.

Interesting (and awful!) I always figured I'd do IPC on an upcoming ONE-- even have A-class SCL-IPC-SCL coupons that I never used-- but this is very distasteful news. Wow. Thanks for the info.

ExMo, thanks again for a useful piece of information.

Hmmm, does replying to one's own messages constitute talking to one's self?

Anyway, based on some prompting from other FT'ers Email, I've done a little more research on this Y booking on a AONE* or DONE* ticket. It seems these same booking code rules were in effect last year when I traveled SCL-IPC-SCL on a AONE5 fare basis ticket but did fly in business, booked as D. (There is one row of first on the equipment but it was not made available for sale by LA.)

I suspect that this is either a not enforced rule or a not widely known rule. If D is available and you book it, LA apparently honors the ticket. They did for me and at least one other FT'er I know who flew it about the same time. Anyone else with recent experience on this route?

YMMV

Wow, thanks for the info on that.. but IPC maybe out anyway as I have been there before (wife hasn't but would rather visit other places). So I'll probably put the segments to better use elsewhere.

Looks now like CAI-LHR-PHX/CUN-ANC-DFW-SJU-DFW-GRU-ASU-SCL-LIM/GYE-SCL-AKL-BNE-PER-JNB-WDH/JNB-NBO-SEZ/MRU-LHR-CAI