ex-Cai or ex-Ist for DONE4?
 

I'm looking at buying DONE4 ticket. It appears the cheapest place that is easy to get to is either Cairo or Istanbul. The price seems to be about the same either place. What about taxes? It seems lots of people start in Cairo but few in ex-Ist - why is that? The negative of Cairo is that it will eat my long European destination for both tickets (I will arrive on a LONE4 from South America) and thus reduce my chance to earn mile by going to DBX. Are there any other things I should consider in this decision. I am also open to other suggestions on where to star my DONE4 trip. Thanks.

Ex-CAI experience
 

Once the communication lines opened up with Emeco, ticketing ex-CAI was a breeze for me last week. Maybe others can comment on the ease/difficulty of ticketing ex-IST.

If I understand correctly, you can still get to DXB on the DONEx starting from CAI if you start the trip using IB to MAD. From there, get to LHR on a separate ticket that is not part of the DONEx, and then fly BA to LHR-DXB-LHR. The middle east restrictions is for flights from the UK only. A CAI-MAD start and MAD-CAI finish do not prevent you from flying LHR-DXB-LHR.

Once I booked an itinerary and got a PNR/Locator from BA in N. America, I contacted the IST BA office (email address kindly supplied by a fellow FTer in a PM. PM to me if you want it - I would hate to inundate a small CTO with unsolicited emails). I gave them the locator, asked if they could ticket it, they said yes, I asked them if I could use my US-issued credit card for the charges; they said yes, fax the front and back of the card, and the tix could be waiting at the BA counter at IST.

Our plans are in flux and it now looks like we won't have the time to go all the way to IST to start the RTW, so we're reverting to WAW, where prices are one USD more for a DONE4 than ex-IST. There, we can go either to BA at the airport or to AA's GSA (Tal Aviation) to pick up the tickets. We'll probably use BA because they will likely be the first over-water carrier, but I frankly prefer the AA RTW desk's competence over BA, so may still change our minds. BA quotes ex-WAW fares in Zlotych (star file says USD - what's with that?) which makes me nervous; AA says USD.

I believe the taxes have more to do with the itinerary than the point of sale, but I could be wrong. On a DONE4 Eur-NA-SWP-Afr-Eur with one LHR stopover (but three passes-through) and a full 6 segments in NA including one ex-Canada, total taxes quoted last month came to $400 on my ex-WAW itinerary. YMMV.

One reason is the equipment. ex-CAI, BA has 3 (4?) class long haul planes. Ex-IST, they only have 2 class. Whether you buy a First or Biz ticket the long haul configuration is vastly more comfortable than a CE seat.

In another post Jonnny said the zloty price was about PLN 19160, which translates to USD 6200 at today's interbank rate. So does this mean that BA will sell the ticket for that much vs. AA at USD 5000? If so I'd say it's a no-brainer, but since I'm looking to do the same thing I'm more than curious as to what the actual situation is!

Thanks,
Chris

True, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised when I did the IST turnround MR recently to avoid wasting the segments. It was immediately after a CX F leg from HKG, and there was plenty of time to freshen up in the BA F lounge in T1 first, so I was feeling good.

It's a fairly short (3 and a bit hour) daytime flight so the CE seat is fine (*) if you get the A or C seat so you have the "half seat" space beside you, and the meals were much better than I expected (particularly the early dinner on the way back) with copious wine etc.

(*) I am 6'3" and 250lbs and it was fine for me. Obviously this wouldn't be true for wider physiques.

I'm trying to get to the bottom of this at the moment. My ex-WAW DONE4 priced by BA is around PLZ 21,500. Taking the base cost of PLZ 19,160 (GBP 3,297.21) for the base fare this means that taxes and charges are PLZ 2,340 (GBP 402). I've asked them for clarification of the base amount in PLZ and why the official prices say USD 5000.

If AA's GSA (Tal Aviation) are charging USD 5000 then I will be GBP 634 better off! The only issue I will have is trying to transfer some flights to a new reservation that are already book and where there is no further availability.

Just this morning I went through this drill - again - with both the BA and AA N. America RTW desks. The price quoted by BA (through their Toronto center) was PLN 19,180, or around US$6,200 using today's exchange. I said the starfile shows it at US$5,000, and that the conversion (or mis-conversion) to PLN appeared to be something that was happening within BA. Well, she said, let's put the itinerary together and queue it to Dublin for pricing. I said I'd phone back with the itin.

I then phoned AA and asked basically the same questions, and they said, no, it's US$5000. If need be for purchase (wasn't clear that it was necessary at all) that sum would be converted to PLN using the then-current exchange, which she computed (today) would be around PLN 15,000+.

So I went ahead and gave her the itinerary, which she is now sending off to... Dublin, since my first two segments (WAW-LHR-YVR) are going to be on BA metal. Still, she said that as far as AA was concerned the price was $5000 plus whatever, and that's what I'd need to give to TAL at the time of pickup. It appears, though, that if I use AA for the first over-water flight it might go to the AA rate desk instead, so I'm holding my breath and may need to recompute the itinerary. Pity because the YVR or SEA nonstops from LHR save a ticket.

I will hear back from AA in a couple of days to see what transpires. This is pretty silly IMO.

One way round this might be to buy through AA, together with the undesirable routing, then pay the 75 bucks to change the transatlantic back to BA. As you say, this is silly, but for 1125 bucks I'll jump through a hoop or two :rolleyes:

Chris

Yes that would make sense except (a) it couldn't happen in WAW because the BA CTO there doesn't have the ability to rewrite a 20-segment ticket; and (b) our pass through LHR coming home is <24hr so as to avoid a stopover with attendent fees and taxes, so we wouldn't have the time there either.

Logic should prevail; if it says US$5000 in the star file, it should be five grand, not a figure derived from some currency churning on the part of BA's revenue management mavens.

I'm confused by this. Does the airline you use first have to ticket it? :confused:

I'm confused by this. Does the airline you use first have to ticket it? :confused:

I guess it's somewhat traditional that the first over-water carrier does the ticketing. With some products, like the SQ/VS/NZ Escapade, it's mandatory. In this case AA was reluctant to issue the transatlantic ticket on BA metal (you know about that rivalry) but their reluctance was short-lived when I explained the difference in price quotes.

I don't understand this comment. A good ATO (eg. CX's at HKG) can reissue a xONEx ticket in less than 30 mins. Most (e.g. the BA transit desk at LHR T4) can do it within 90 mins or so.

Timing is a problem - we currently have 2h 20m to connect ex-WAW (T1) to YVR (T4), so that option is not too good. There's an early morning flight (ugh) WAW-LHR but if the change can't be completed by the time YVR leaves we will have been in London >24h when the next day's AA flight to LAX (our alternate plan) leaves. Seriously goofs up scheduling back across the water too. But worth considering I suppose. Thanks.