[Depends who you ask. ;) Many consider Egypt to be part of the Middle East. While the bulk of the country sits on the African continent, the Sinai Peninsula does not.]

But seriously, the definition at the top is what matters in interpreting the rules. That is the point of giving a definition.

Now your itinerary is invalid. You have five intra-Europe/Middle East sectors, when you are only permitted four in this continent.

Time to find a different agent.

It counts as travel via Asia.

Is the following routing valid? I ask because rather than going directly JNB – SYD I'm going JNB- DOH- AKL after I have already left Europe. Any comments?

CAI-xLHR-CPT-JNB-xDOH-AKL-SYD-HKG-KIX-BKK-HAN-xNRT-MIA-xHEL-KEF-VIE-AMM

I don't think so. CAI-...-DOH-...-AMM.

Looks fine to me, except ... (see below)
With regard to JNB-xDOH-AKL - this is OK because there is nothing in the rules restricting the second visit to Europe/Middle East when you start in that continent. The rule states:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...iddle-east.png

OK - I said "except..." above:
How are you going to fly KEF-VIE in one flight on a OneWorld airline?

You're right, -- my bad, pandaperth.

No problemo Doc

Does this work?
 

I don't fully understand the rule about 4 sector in each continent but can someone guide if this is possible. And if not, what rule am I breaking?


option 1: CAI-DOH-JNB-GRU-BUE-SCL-IPC-PPT-AKL-SYD-BKK-LON-DBV-(overland)-VIE-AMM
Option 2: CAI-DOH-SEZ (Overland)- JNB-GRU-BUE-SCL-IPC-PPT-AKL-SYD-BKK-LON-VIE (overland)-ATH-AMM

The total miles is just under 34000 (if I didn't make a mistake).

Also, if I book this with the Global Explorer 34000, in Business class, can I buy the Oneworld Pass in South America on a separate ticket?

Thanks..

Thanks a lot for that. With respect to KEF-VIE, AB flys several times a week non stop between a mix of KEF-MUC/TXL/VIE

Ah - I did check before posting, but hadn't thought about seasonal flights.
Interesting to know...
Iceland is on my bucket list:)

Hi holypiston
Your stopover allowance is correct for both options, the problem comes from elsewhere. There is a couple of issues with your itineraries,
Re the routing, you have to finish your trip in EG, not in JO. It’s not really a problem as you still have a spare coupon in your itinerary so you can add a RJ sector AMM CAI, even if you end up not using it. It still fits with the mileage >34K for both options. Then we have a second issue, this one is more complicated to get around. It comes from the PPT-AKL sector, operated by TN. Your ticket will be issued on QR but QR don’t have ticketing agreements with TN, which prevents you from booking these trips. So you can either keep your itinerary as is and book that leg separately (it’s quite expensive) or change your plating carrier but that will involve also changing your itinerary. Are you flexible on the routing? If so try to change the sequence of your flight and go for this combo CAI-LON-JNB-GRU-BUE-SCL-IPC-PPT-AKL-SYD-BKK-DOH-ATH (side trip to Vienna separately)-AMM-CAI – 33963 miles, BA ticket, roughly 4200USD in total (side trip to Vienna not included).

Re the OW pass, yes you can. Just note that it’s only quoted in economy and you need a minimum of 3 sectors. It’s worth comparing the cost with the normal fares first as most of the time it ends up more expensive to get a pass rather than side tickets.

Sky.is.the.limit thanks for joining us here. However I have a few issues with your answer, I hope you don't mind if I bring them out.

I don't understand why that would be the case.

Both the oneworld explorer and the oneworld global explorer permit the final destination to be in another country.

[Note that Egypt is specifically considered to be in the Middle East by an earlier provision.] Is there another provision that enforces a same-country destination in this specific case?

I agree that QR does not have an interline agreement with TN. But why does the itinerary matter to the plating carrier? Every oneworld carrier can issue a oneworld explorer ticket, although QR is not very good at it.

That's from the GLOB fare, the ONE fare doesn't spell it out explicitly, but there's really no reason ever to use QR as a ticketing carrier. BA, AA, JL and CX will be happy to ticket this if you use one of their flights. AA will demand an intercontinental AA sector.

Both are valid Global Explorer itineraries, and both are just under 34,000 miles (according to gcm.com)
The Global Explorer allows the PPT-AKL flight (using the QF codeshare on the TN flight)
The Global Explorer does not have the rule regarding maximum number of flight segments in a continent; instead it restricts the number of stopovers (to four per continent)

Except for the PPT-AKL flight, both itineraries are also valid 5-continent Oneworld Explorer itineraries. Since a 34,000 Global Explorer uusually costs the same as a 4-continent Oneworld Explorer, you are better of purchasing the Global Explorer.
Perhaps this explanation will make it clearer to you what the 4 flights per continent means:

• taking your visit to South America as the example
• you arrive in the continent flying JNB-GRU and you leave the continent flying IPC-PPT (IPC is in Sth America, PPT is in South West Pacific)
• between those two flights, you are allowed up to four flights within the continent of South America - you have three in your itineraries (GRU-BUE-SCL-IPC)
• you can also have surface segments in the continent if you wish
• you are still restricted to a maximum of 16 segments for the whole itinerary

For further reading, this thread discusses the differences between the two ticket types - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...rld-explo.html (BUT note: the list of additional airlines in the first post is way out of date; the post is from 2013)

Other points:

• Egypt is in the Middle East; both ticket types therefore allow you to end your itinerary anywhere in the Middle East
• Both tickets only allow two stopovers in the continent or origin; to comply with this you will have to make either LHR or DOH a transit
• As Calchas has just pointed out, you can ticket with any airline on the itineray; it does not have to be the first. For the Global Explorer that PPT-AKL flight is the issue, but any of the major airlines will have a ticketing agreement with TN (perhaps QF would be the most logical choice for you)

Hi Calchas
Thanks for spotting this,
Re the routing, I agree, O and D may be in different countries but those countries have to be within the same sub-region and that’s not the case here (EG is Africa – JO is middle east). The provision you are referring to (assuming the ones on the first page of the fare sheet) only stands for the counting of stopovers, not for the O and D. I imagine the screenshot you posted came from a GDS or something similar, if you decode the country code you should come up with the same conclusion as me:
EG EGYPT/AFRICA TC2
JO JORDAN/MIDDLE EAST TC2

Re the plating carrier, you’re right all the carriers listed on the fare sheet can potentially issue such fares but it depends on the itinerary as well. If I trust the below rule from the ATPCO, in this specific routing the ticket will have to be on a QR stock
ATPCO validating carrier selection logic:
Round the world
If the itinerary crosses between Traffic Conference (TC) 3 and TC2 and between TC2 and TC1, then the selected validating carrier is the carrier from the first sector that crosses between TC2 and TC1.
http://www.amadeus.com/corp/xml/docu...tion_logic.pdf

Welcome to the forum also Sky.is.the.limit but I have the same doubts as Calchas and pandaperth regarding your answer about Egypt being in Africa for purpose of the origin/destination exception. Egypt is clearly within Europe/Middle East for purposes of these tickets and is part of the Middle East. You say that the Middle East provision that refers to Egypt only applies to stopovers and doesn't apply to where a ticket originates (you state that Egypt is Africa) then why don't we have to pay for Africa when we purchase an xonex starting in Egypt? While normally Egypt is part of Africa for most ticketing purposes (as are other North Africa countries), for purposes of an xonex it is not. By the rules of these tickets they are part of the Middle East and the Middle East is part of the continent Europe/Middle East.

In any event, I have flown on xonex tickets originating in Egypt and ending elsewhere in the Middle East without issue from any carrier either at time of issue or when making changes to the segments after commencing travel on the ticket.

I believe that the screenshot Calchas posted came from the oneworld explorer rules which are available at oneworld.com.

WRT Egypt being in Africa

• My understanding is the the fare rules trump any other rules
• And the Oneworld Explorer fare rules explicity define Egypt (plus Libya and Sudan) to be in the Middle East (and they further define Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia to be in Europe:))
• The Global Explorer defines these six countries to be in Europe/Middle East
• And I'm pretty sure FTers have reported getting ticketed itineraries that commence in Egypt and end elsewhere in the ME

WRT what you've written about ATPCO

• this is over my head
• but if I'm reading it correctly, then it says my current Explorer ticket could not have been issued
• because it is on QF stock, and my TC2-TC1 flight was on QR (only the last six flights in the itinerary are on QF, which include a TC1-TC3 flight and a TC3-TC2 flight)