Currency and price fluctuations may have displaced Egypt, the long standing champion of Oneworld business class/First class RTW tickets. Are India, SriLanka and Thailand still more expensive than Egypt? The RTW gurus please analyze and respond

[This message has been edited by drbala (edited Nov 30, 2003).]

I just checked. Egypt is 1972 pounds sterling for DONE3 and Srilanka 2162 pounds sterling mainly due to downward revision of SriLankan rupees against British pound. This compares to 2375 pounds from India. Most of Indian TAs still give a cash discount. This might be a viable alternative for those visiting India this holiday season as fares fro Chennai to Colombo is only about 80 pounds. It also may avoid the BA rule of limiting segments in the country of origin.

Has anyone any experience of buying in India? I have a trip coming up in January and the idea of travelling home with a cheap AONE3 to use later in the year is very appealing. I guess a simple BOM-LHR-LAX-HKG-BOM would be sufficient to get the ticket issued and I could pay later for a new routing when back in the UK?

There is no rule about limiting segments in the country of origin.

What there is is the the rule that limits (to two) the number of stopovers in the continent of origin. It's not a "BA rule" it's a OneWorld Rule.

I buy all my tickets in India and use local currency and US or UK issued credit cards. No problems whatsoever.

There is no rule about limiting segments in the country of origin.

.[/B][/QUOTE]

Perhaps you are unaware that number of segments is limited to 4 in the continent of origin and you cannot buy any extra segments as well.

I am fully aware of all the OWE explorer rules. In N America you can have 6 segments, anywhere else you can have 4. This is completely independent of the continent of origin.

The only rules specific to the continent of origin are two stopovers max, and, as you say, no extra purchased segments.

Christep, where do you understand that there are no limits on the number of segments in the country/continent of origin? I can't find justification for your interpretation anywhere in the rules.

I believe it's a max of 4 in each continent, except 6 in the US/Canada, with two additional segments able to be purchased in all except the country of origin.

Sorry - obviously my version of English / logic is different from yours. In my version of logic the statement:
"there is no rule limiting the number of segments in the country/continent of origin"
is perfectly consistent with:
"the maximum number of segments is 4 in each continent except N America where it is 6".

The second rule is independent of the country or continent of origin.

Moreover the first statement does not imply that the number of segments in the continent of origin is unlimited.

Maybe that's what comes of having studied formal logic systems. But in any case I do seem to find interpreting the rules much more straightforward than many people, and I have never had any difficulty at all with airlines in getting routings/tickets etc which are consistent with the rules, which are, in general, very unambigously written.

(Except for the infamous "can you do Aus to NA via Asia" question.)

And your belief is correct except that the additional segments are in all except the continet of origin, not country.

Can we stop these nonproductive arguements and revert to the original theme of this post?


[This message has been edited by drbala (edited Dec 03, 2003).]

I'm planning on buying ex-India early in 2004 and would like names of travel agents to use who are already familiar with these RTW tickets. I'd appreciate names of recommended agents to use to purchase these tickets.

Depends on the city. In Delhi I have found www.primetravels.com quite good. I usually buy mine from Madras from Travelmasters who gives 5% cash back and will mail the ticket to you. They need credit cards physically presented. Which cities are you planning to visit?

[This message has been edited by drbala (edited Dec 04, 2003).]

Thanks very much for the info. Chennai (Madras) will be one of the cities I'll be visiting. I'm quite familiar with the city. Besides Chennai the other cities are Kochi (Cochin) and Bangalore.

I got the contact names, telephone numbers, of Travelmasters by Googling the net.


[This message has been edited by ROW2Aisle (edited Dec 04, 2003).]

How about buying the ticket from Egypt. How would you buy a ticket? Any recommended travel agent? Or it can be bought via BA.com or BA ticket counter at the airport?

Cheers..

BA appears to be the best Do a search "Egypt" and you will find lots of info