Why/How can you end in DXB instead of CAI? I thought you HAD to return to the originating city to comply with the rules?

And, after you explain that, I assume this doesn't alter the fact that you have to originate in CAI to get one of the best fares (that you can't do so by originating in DXB).

I can get to/from DXB more easily than I can get to CAI, and would prefer to go there as well, so I am just trying to understand the angles.

From the Star files here:
http://www.hardlink.com/~markdu/OWFi...eExplorer.html

113N . 4. ORIGIN-DESTINATION SURFACE PERMITTED:
114N . -WITHIN COUNTRY OF ORIGIN.
115N . NOTE: U.S./CANADA ARE CONSIDERED THE SAME
116N . COUNTRY.
117N . -WITHIN AFRICA
118N . -WITHIN THE MIDDLE EAST
119N . -BETWEEN HKG-CHINA
120N . -BETWEEN BANGLADESH AND BKK/SIN
121N . -WITHIN SOUTH AMERICA
122N . -BETWEEN MAYLAYSIA AND SIN

Egypt and Dubai are both within the Middle East in this context.

I know that's true since people here have done it but do you happen to know what other countries are considered "the middle east"? More specifically, the north african countries. I assume the near-middle east countries like Israel and Jordan and whatnot would be alright.

PLEASE go and read the Starfiles! They include this:

130N DEFINITION OF CONTINENTS
131N -------------------------
132N .
133N THE CONTINENTS AND THE COUNTRIES CONTAINED THEREIN ARE
134N DEFINED AS:
135N .
136N ------------------------------------------------------
137N CONTINENT.....COUNTRY/REGION
138N ------------------------------------------------------
139N NORTH.........UNITED
140N AMERICA.......STATES/CANADA/MEXICO/CARIBBEAN
141N ..............AREA/CENTRAL AMERICA/PANAMA
142N ------------------------------------------------------
143N SOUTH.........ALL OF SOUTH AMERICA /EXCLUDING
144N AMERICA.......PANAMA/
145N ------------------------------------------------------
146N EUROPE/MIDDL..ALL OF EUROPE /INCLUDING ALGERIA,
147N E EAST........MOROCCO, TUNISIA/
148N ..............ALL OF MIDDLE EAST /INCLUDING
149N ..............EGYPT, SUDAN/
150N ------------------------------------------------------
151N AFRICA........ALL OF AFRICA /EXCLUDING ALGERIA,
152N ..............EGYPT, MOROCCO, TUNISIA/
153N ------------------------------------------------------
154N ASIA..........ALL OF ASIA /EXCLUDING THE SOUTH
155N ..............WEST PACIFIC/
156N ------------------------------------------------------
157N SOUTH WEST....ALL OF SOUTH WEST PACIFIC
158N PACIFIC
159N ------------------------------------------------------

The basic defiunition of the countries that are in each region are the standard ones set by IATA. I can't actually find a simple list online of which countries are in which region, but you can work it out in pretty much every case from the links from this page:

http://www.iata.org/soi/reg/index

Now I see an interesting question reading that again - perhaps it is just a typo, but it seems to me that Sudan is the one country that can be considered in two continents: it is in Europe/Middle East, but not excluded from Africa... I wonder if that is useful somehow?

You can read these thing several times and still not fully understand. This is good news. So I can end in TRN and not CAI. Cool!


You guys crack me up. Always searching for the loop holes.

No you can't! How can you possibly read that into what has been said here?

In general you have to start and end in the same country. However, there are exceptions and one of them is that you may end in a different country within the Middle East. For the purpose of this type of ticket the Middle East is defined as the IATA area "Middle East" (which is what you would expect it to be) PLUS Egypt and Sudan from what you would otherwise expect to be in Africa. You could start in CAI and end in (for example) TLV or DXB or AMM, but NOT in TRN (which is in Europe).

I'm sorry I can't make it any simpler than that. If you still don't understand then someone else will have to try to explain it to you.

ChanelCinq,
How about this for something to think about:
OWE5 exCAI
1.CAI-LHR
2.LHR-JNB
3.JNB-NBO
4.NBO-JIB
5.JIB-NBO
6.NBO-JNB
7.JNB-SYD
8.SYD-NOU
9.NOU-SYD
10.SYD-CNS
11.CNS-SYD
12.SYD-HKG
13.HKG-CMB
DO OWE exCMB
14.CMB-HKG
15.HKG-JFK
16.JFK-SJU
17.SJU-JFK
18.JFK-LAX
19.LAX-LHR
20.LHR-CAI

OWE4 ex CMB
1. CMB-HKG
2. HKG-BOM
3. BOM-HKG
4. HKG-JFK
5. JFK-SCL
6. SCL-IPC
7. IPC-SCL
8. SCL-GIG
9. GIG-JFK
10. JFK-DFW
11. DFW-ANC
12. ANC-DFW
13. DFW-LAX
14. LAX-LHR
15. LHR-DXB
16. DXB-LHR
17. LHR-IST
18. IST-LHR
19. LHR-BKK
20. BKK-CMB

Keep in mind that BA is ending their NBO-SEZ service at the end of June, and going to only once a week service until then. If you are interested in visiting SEZ, MRU and Madagascar, the Indian Ocean airpass maybe worth looking into.

http://www.airseychelles.net/flightinfo/iopass.html

Sounds like a wonderful trip!

It appears that someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday. christep now that you explained starting/ending points in such a courteous fashion I am sure I will NEVER forget.

jerry a. laska thanks for the itinerary. I think the 2 DONE4s out of CAI actually work better for me. Darren was trying to get me back to the states for burning man (burningman.com) the week preceding labor day. I still have to figure out if I want to rush through Africa and the Australia continent in 2 months.

I think I need to realistically figure some more stuff out before I purchase these.

hauteboy thanks for the info on the SEZ-NBO flights. That will need a rework. The Africa part is the fuzziest part of the itinerary.