Spotwelder,
Great advice about ticketing in WAW.
Do you have information to share about what travel agency in WAW to use and who I should ask for?

best,

You're all probably quite sick of mewbies like myself, but maybe you could just give a quick response for people like me; I understand that the tickets are siginificantly cheaper when purchased in other countries, such as Egypt and Poland than they are here in The States (and central america for some odd reason) My question is this: If I'm going to buy the tickets in Poland, lt's say, what do I need to have ready when I hand the money over? Should I have an itinerary already planned with the OW desk, and then I just pay for it in Warsaw? Is there a way to reserve the ticket from here in America? Do I need to call someone in Poland to book it, or can they do this on the american 1-800 number? Can I just show up at a ticket office for BA in Warsaw and hand them some money for the ticket on the spot? Do they take Traveller's Cheques? Does anyone know some reputable contacts in other countries, like Egypt or Poland to buy the tix with? Is there alreasy a forum for this that I should be reading?
Help! Mike

Mycombs,
If you use the search feature for this forum you will find a great deal of information about purchasing rtw tickets in Egypt complete with the names and phone numbers of the TA we have used. Those threads even detail the procedure you go through in making the reservation. Other threads detail the various rtw products offered and the arcana of the rules. The easiest way is to come up with your itinerary, call the AA rtw desk, they will review it, and send it off for approval. If approved you can then take the reservation to whoever you want in the country of origin for issuance of the ticket.

Mike, you can see a recent experience with a DONEx ticket sold in Poland on this thread - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352773

Oh, and if you haven't been welcomed to flyertalk yet, consider it DONEx.

I have a DONE3 on hold, to start in Japan on
Oct 12. I don't arrive in Japan until Oct 6.

AA has said that I can purchase my ticket from
AA ticketing in NRT on Oct 6. I am a little
nervous about waiting this long. Do I have anything
to worry about, or should all be OK?

Also, can I get seat reservation on CX and BA while
the reservation is on hold, or do I have to wait
until it is ticketed.

Oh, and if you haven't been welcomed to flyertalk yet, consider it DONEx.[/QUOTE]

You guys rock! I'll talk to the AA desk and get my itinerary together after looking through the forums as much as I can. Thanks! ^

Mycombs (and any others also considering buying a xONE), a quick word of advice re booking, based on my own experience. Both AA and CX use a different reservation system to the other OW airlines. Drawbacks are that sometimes segments booked on one system can't been 'seen' by the other; in a worse situation still (again, based on my experience with AA) it can lead to segments which you intend to fly being erroneously cancelled. There's another major drawback for tickets issued by AA: any itin involving more than 16 segments has to be handwritten - don't underestimate how long this can take.

My advice would be to think very carefully about which OW airline you intend to ask to issue your ticket. You may find that making the reservation with that particular airlines to be more efficient.

Sounds like a good tip. What are some American contact phone numbers for other airlines in the alliance, and is there any company you prefer over others? Chances are, since I have to make the reservation within 7 days of purchasing, that I'm going to do the telephoning in England. Does anyone have the toll-free British numbers for some of the alliance companies? Also, when I pick up the ticket, either in Cairo or Warsaw, can I pay for it at the ticket desk in the airport?

Thanks!

Mike,
Regarding CAI, your only real option anymore is EMECO which is the agent for AA in Egypt. A search will provide you with the information you need to contact them.

Mycombs what I did last time round was make the booking with BA, via the UK reservations centre, then get EMECO to take it over and issue tix. EMECO are happy to accept a fax of your credit card and passport.

BA used to allow you to do the same thing and then pay for / collect tix at the airport counter on the day of departure, but the shutters came down on this arrangement a little while back.

Both agencies (BA/Emeco) seem to change their minds periodically on what they will and will not do. I did a c/c with Emeco, then six months later they insisted on wire transfer. BA seemed happy enough with c/c and pickup, and these days (based on a posting in the Warsaw thread) might be willing to let you buy at x-country rates and pick up tickets at a local BA station. Ms. Sobhi has email now and I've asked what their present situtation is.

Both Emeco and BA in Cairo produced hand-written tickets without much backup detail in my case(s). When it came to changes, BA was about a million times easier to work with than AA, so it will be a very cold day in a traditionally hot place before I use AA tickets again. Of course it's a big YMMV.

It is a lot different for my hand written BA ticket. AA won't touch a reissue because it can't 'see' the ticket. So, after my first BA reissue I swore never to do it again. Well, I am doing a 2nd reissue and BA does not have the tax calculations. So, please fax your entire ticket to Toronto with tax/fee details. Well, BA lost that 4 page fax and told me to fax both original and reissue to them. Luckily I had not discarded the original receipts for that BA Cairo ticket. YMMV a lot!!!

Thanks be to Allah.

Ms. Sobhi did indeed quickly and positively reply to my inquiry about ticketing rtw. If anyone wants to explore that route, she can be reached at Nabila.Sobhi@(you know)airways.com. My impression was that she's most anxious to generate some rtw revenue for her station. Gotta justify that computer, perhaps.

Anying going forward may wish to be reminded that BA has, in the case of one traveler's WAW origination, been willing to hand over the tickets in London, for a gbp 26 fee.

Oh dear, an email address posted on the web. Mrs Sobhi can look forward to an inbox full of invitations for penis extensions, fake university degrees and people doing things I'd long thought anatomically impossible.