Hypothetically speaking, if I were to ring up the BA USA desk this weekend with my ex-CAI AONE4 itinerary (only CAI-LHR segment will be reserved - all others open) and then fax it to the CAI BA office on Monday morning (and presumably follow-up with phone calls), am I crazy if I show up in CAI on Thursday to have it ticketed? Will three days be enough time? Taking it out to the extreme example, what if one were to arrive in CAI with no itinerary or reservations whatsoever. Would it be possible to do everything through the CAI BA office? Again, purely hypothetical question.

Any tips or thoughts on making the process as painless as possible in light of the short notice?

Edit to add that I was planning to spend a few days in Cairo anyways, so I don't mind if it takes a little longer. But I'd rather not spend more than 3-4 days there. On that note, any recommendations on hotels near the BA office (in case I end up spending a lot of time there).

[This message has been edited by JSD (edited 08-01-2003).]

If by some chance you're actually thinking of doing this, drop me an e-mail-- I might have a suggestion for you that would work.

Your e-mail address bounced. Feel free to email me at: jsdeverell @ yahoo.com


[This message has been edited by JSD (edited 08-01-2003).]

It probably won't do you a lot of good to call BA in the US over the weekend. You could just FAX your itinerary to BA CAI (do it by Sunday evening so they will have it Monday AM). If the itinerary is not complex, it should not be a problem to pick up the ticket on Thursday. Be aware that the office is not officially open on Friday (Muslim holy day) but the woman that does the RTW tickets is usually there anyway.

As for hotels, the two closest Starwood properties are the Sheraton Cairo and the Sheraton El Gezirah, both within a couple of km's of the office. The Nile Hilton is almost across the street from the BA office. I don't think there is a close by Marriott -- probably 8-10 km distant.

[This message has been edited by ExMo (edited 08-01-2003).]

Willdo, sorry 'bout that.

I'm with ExMo on this. Just send the fax as soon as possible (don't worry about when they may or may not be in the office) to BA Cairo FAO Mrs Nabila Sobhi on +20 2 574 7674.

I don't see any value at all in involving BA USA. Mrs Sobhi has demonstrated to a number of us that she is very competent at ONE tickets.

I had called in my itinerary to the BA RTW desk, told them I would be picking up the tickets in Cairo. When I arrived at the BA office in Cairo I found that the whole itin had been cancelled for some reason! They were able to reenter the itinerary and price it out the same day luckily. If you are spending more than one night in Cairo then you could just show up at the BA office downtown and arrange it there.

BA has a (totally undocumented) ticketing deadline of approx. three weeks for tickets that they consider to be "high risk". So, regardless of there being no advance purchase restrictions on a fare rule, BA can and will cancel a reservation if the ticket numbers are not on the PNR within three weeks of reservation.

I actually wish that this rule existed for other airlines as well. 'A' inventory is scarce enough without imaginary bookings.

Actually most airlines do. Especially on CX, SQ and other asian carries. North American carriers only implement this on their special fares and not usually their First Class fares.

It wasn't three weeks... it was three days.