If not CAI - then where?
 

I've finally given up hope of getting my RTW ticket issued ex-CAI as the BA office that I have spoken so well of, is just ignoring my faxes now.

Could someone suggest where the next cheapest location might be?

Thanks!

Some have mentioned BKK...

India - cheaper than BKK

How about AA?

I issued ticket 7 January.

They are so kind and my economy 4 continent

price was $2076 include tax.


There e-mail adress is [email protected]

and phone number is 20-2-345-5707

If your route is right, you can issue the ticket fast!(It takes 2 days to me)


Sorry for my poor English.

Good Luck!

[This message has been edited by HANALEE (edited Jan 09, 2004).]

Don't mean to be rude but I don't understand the logic of doing a Y RTW ex CAI. Surely the prices ex any EC country are ok?

While this may have changed recently (see thread on price increases) OW RTW tickets purchased in Cairo were, and may still be for a short while, sufficiently less expensive than those purchased anywhere else to cover the cost of getting there.

I was going to buy a DONE from ex-CAI. If I were to do an LONE (as seems more likely) I wouldn't bother with CAI.

I purchased an AONE3 in BKK for about Bht240,000 (approx. US$6,000), compared to about US$8,500 in the U.S. I have initiated a separate thread to try to collect more information about RTW fares around the world.

[This message has been edited by Blumie (edited Jan 10, 2004).]

For premium classes yes, but for economy why bother?

Definitely a much smaller difference in economy. However, most people (it seems from the discussions here and from a few personal discussions I've had with RTW travelers) buy F or J, partly for the comfort in so much flying and partly for the added miles and/or status credits. Recent changes to the booking class of economy RTWs and (if one is in the AA program) to the mileage credit for discount economy fares on partner airlines has made economy RTWs relatively even less desirable than before in this regard.

Thanks, I will see if it is too late to issue the ticket. My frustration has been increased because had BA told me that they would charge based on travel date not on ticket date at some point before last friday, I would have flown over and purchased the ticket. Grrrrr.

I totally agree that CAI was a perfect place for buying a premium class ticket. However I think that if you really want to visit Cairo&Egypt (RTW ticket is not your only need) why not buy a LONE ticket while you're there.

What happened to prices ex-Gibraltar?

ok I have one for all of you - CCS - yes carracas - the deal here is to take advantage of the very very bizzare currency situation.

Currently the Venezuelan government has a fixed exchange rate with cuirrency controls- the current rate is 1599 bolivars to 1 US. Now the loop hole is that when you buy tickets they are priced in USD but the airlines are not allowed to accept USD cash - in fact if you pay in Cash you must pay in Bolivars - but if you change USD cash for Bolivars at the " unofficial rate" you should be able to get about 2,500 per USD - so do the math . say you buy a ticket that is prices USD 1,000 - that should cost 1,599,000 bolivars. but if you change you USD into Bolivars at the unofficial rate the ticket should cost only 1,599,000/2500 or USD 630. nice discount.

I was there 4 weeks ago and used this to buy aticket on Copa that should have cost $800 but got it for about 500.

This is not without risks but if you don't mind takign a few chances you might want to try this. i would suggest you call a OW ticket office in CCS first to confirm they will take cash but technically there is not reason that they will not. The all you ahve to do is change your money at the unofficial rate - should be no shortage of people interested in getting rid of there Bolivars for USD but again some risk here.

If you pay with credit card you get charged at the offical USD rate so don't bother tryign that.

Good luck

So, if the CAI price change is from 19/1/2004 (see other thread), does anyone know if other countries have revised (increased) pricing?

Generally ONEWORLD EXPLORER fare changes occur every 6 months, in May and Nov.

The Jan 19th schedule was to accomodate only of the fare depreciation of the EGP and to basically halt the frenzied purchasing of RTW fares ex-CAI. It shouldn't affect the other currencies for now.

After the fare increase, yes CAIRO may still seem attractive to some given its proximity to the US. But there will be another place that'll be cheaper.

eg . After 19Jan, an AONE3 ex-CAI will be US$5738. The other place will be US$5095.

But best not to discuss it here. As you know, Oneworld monitors this board and will hike the fare accordingly.

Chances are that the Oneworld carriers will insist that you pay with a creditcard.

Thanks Guy Betsy for your words on the timing of fare revisions. Your word of discretion is also most appropriate. I have been having discussions with CX and as you said previously, they are most helpful.

Do you really believe that oneworld is not able to figure out in which country they sell AONE's for USD5095 if they wanted to? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

If you guys wanted to keep this "secret" you should not be discussing the topic at all in a opublic forum.

India, Thailand and Singapore all look reasonable after the CAI price increase.

Which is frustrating for those of us that live in Asia and want to buy the tickets somewhere else so as to be able to get full use of the side-trips in Asia. (Two stopover in continent of origin limitation)

From the point of view of someone who is UK-based, GIB looks like a reasonable bet. Granted it's nowhere near as good as the old CAI price, but after taking into account the cost of getting there from the UK, there should still be a worthwhile saving on (say) an AONE4 compared to ex-UK.

Any views on this?

I'm confused - currently GIB is showing at GIP4160 for an AONE3, which is US$7646, vs US$5700 or so for CAI. As far as I can see, CAI is still the cheapest in E/ME (at least for AONE3 which is what I tend to do). Do you see it differently?

[This message has been edited by christep (edited Jan 18, 2004).]

My son in law who is from Venezuela and was just there with the family over xmas clearly remembers a traveler paying Bs at the AA counter for a Miami ticket.

There are some pretty strict currency requirements about the purchase of USD and they can only be for specific needs and he did not recall that travel was one of them. Another point is that Venezuelean credit cards are not valid outside of Venezuela. One of the reasons the unofficial exchange rate is so high is that travelers need a currency other than Bs for travel outside the country but are restricted from acquiring officially.

He is going to email the question to his sister who lives in Venezuela and ask the question of whether an rtw can be purchased with Bs or if a credit card must be used.

[This message has been edited by magic111 (edited Jan 18, 2004).]

Sorry, christep.

I was basing my thinking on increasing the cost of the AONE4 I bought last summer by 40%. This brings it sufficiently close to the ex-GIB fare (imho) that many people might question the extra effort involved in getting to CAI.

What I seem to have missed is that the EGP / GBP exchange rate has moved since last summer!

But now I'm confused. If CAI is still in with a shout, despite the increase, why the search for somewhere else? Are we being far too hasty in appearing to consign CAI to "RTW history"? After all, CAI-LHR and LHR-CAI are not bad starting and finishing sectors, with F available on the route.

Maybe I should just concentrate on enjoying my current ticket instead of worrying about the next one http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Right on. The cost of an OWE is not the selling price converted to your favorite currency, it's that plus the cost (in money and other personal factors) in getting to the required starting place. For whatever reason, they've done a decent job of keeping CAI competitive for many of us.

Is there any way to get in touch with you out of band to verify that my perception of the other place is the same as yours?

If you happen to be based in the UK, then the CAI fare still seems pretty good - especially if you already have a ticket to CAI...

The BA Amex card I use converts all foreign transactions via USD whether you like it or not. My last AONE3 in October 2003 was billed by BA as USD 4,493 and converted accross to sterling as GBP 2,693. However, I also had to get to Egypt in the first place, so I bought a BA economy return which I recall costing circa GBP 300. So the whole thing cost crica GBP 2,993.

Since then the dollar has continued to fall from roughly GBP1=USD1.65 to GBP1=USD1.82 today, so the raw (pre-airport taxes) price of of an AONE3 as it would appear on my Amex bill would be approximately GBP 3,151. The whole thing would probably be circa GBP 3,300 with taxes, based on a similar routing. And on this occasion, I can use the stub ticket off my previous RTW and return to CAI in comfort in F at zero additional cost.

An increase of approximately 10% overall certainly doesn't kill CAI as a RTW starting point for me. Particularly when you consider the egregious price of RTWs ex-UK - approximately double the cost of the ex-CAI fare.

I also quite like hanging out in CAI!

[edited for arithmetic]

[This message has been edited by J-Class (edited Jan 20, 2004).]

Enough of OWE and Star Alliances for now. My next RTW will be VS. Basically something like a 4 Cont, for something like US $2800 in Business Class.

Who do they partner with?

OK, I'll ask it -- how do you get across the Pacific on VS? If on partners, which ones are usable on this fare and is this based on a US (or Canadian) origination? Inquiring minds need details on this deal.

I believe MS codeshares with VS trans pacific and they have joint RTW fares...

there is also CX-VS rtw ticket routing either 3 continent or 4 (via JNB)

VS partners with sooo many odd partners that its no wonder that people often wonder who is their preferred partner and eventual alliance. I mean, BR, KE, TG, MH, NH in addition to SQ and NZ.

My question was regarding the specific fare mentioned above. VS may be different, but in my limited experience, the non-alliance rtw fares that a carrier publishes in concert with one or more specific partners vary a lot, so the price you tossed to the group must have been more specific than 'pick one from the list.'

You're getting to be the master of tease. Is this another one of those "if the airline realizes they're charging so little, they'll raise the price" secrets?

The information are readily available and to those who know where to find them... through their travel agents.

Let them work a little... as I have.

Oh great. I cannot think of anything I'd rather not do than go on Egyptair ever again

Dave

How many times have you flown Egyptair transpacific?

Flew them JFK-CAI in F last summer. While they won't embarrass Cathay (or practically anyone else) it would be a disservice to pan them that badly. In perspective (the unrestricted JFK-CAI F fare was USD1500) it was okay.

Once. From SYD-SIN-CAI in "1st class" . It was dire. The seats were uncomfortable and didnt recline that well, the staff had obviously done their customer service course at a prison where they had also learn how to do meals. Added to the BYOB element , it is an experience I will not repeat.

Dave

[This message has been edited by Dave Noble (edited Jan 23, 2004).]

Hardly in the FT spirit!