Am planning an ex MRU AONE5 with the first segment MRU-JNB. Comair operate this segment only once a week. So,

1. If this day of the week is not suitable for me, can I have a surface sector on MRU-JNB as the 1st sector of my ONE ticket. (I'll buy a separate ticket on the daily SAA flight from MRU, to get to JNB.)

2. If the above is not possible, and I get MRU-JNB ticketed as the first sector, what happens in case of

a.) the route being dropped by Comair after ticketing. Will I be automatically protected on the SAA flight?

b.) flight cancellation/ long delay etc on the 1st segment
What if I have a connection to say MRU-JNB-HKG or MRU-JNB-SYD? Will they again transfer pax on the next SAA flight or wait for the next Comair flight a week later...!!??

3. Anyone know any travel agents in MRU? Or would I have to call BA/Comair in MRU?

TIA!

1) First sector cannot be a surface sector.

2) Depends on if you have open dated or not. (Not even sure you can open date the first flight). If not open dated and ticketed, then you have a confirmed seat. So normal protections should apply
2a) ie I'd expect you to be put on alternative flight

2b) you get to take the next occurence of that flight, so if it is a week later, then that is it. I've actually had this happen and was given the choice (in my case it was 2 days later) or refunding the RTW as it had not yet started (though the 1st coupon had been pulled). Comair is bitter enemies with SAA (or that was the case 2 years ago) and will never reroute you onto SAA.

I always wondered why they had that "no first sector surface" rule, obviously it is precisely to prevent what you are doing, also to prevent buying fares from countries without OW service (and cheap filed tariffs). Absolutely no way around that first sector rule and I wouldn't count on irregular ops being used (they will argue that your travel hasn't started yet). However wouldn't the flight operate the next day, if it were canceled (presumably it has to fly this route every week)?

I think AJ is possibly more worried about the route being pulled.

QG reported starting a OWE in MRU in this thread you may want to contact him. He booked through the BA travelshop I believe. ReelChief reported being in contact with the BA travelshop in other threads and was working out the details of issuing an AONE ex-MRU.

Has it started yet? It was supposed to start at the beginning of September. Comair has been having some problems the past year. In any case if they issue a confirmed ticket for a specific date, then it would be fully protected, while (as mentioned) open-dated is not protected. My experience with Comair is that they just won't issue a ticket if they are not sure a route will operate, so it may not be possible to get this issued until after they run the first flight.

I dealt directly with BA in Mauritius and found them very responsive. To date they have had very little experience with RTW tickets and so are very cautious and are more inclined to say things can't be done, when they can, rather than the reverse. But they try to be (and are) very helpful and I began my AONE5 from MRU last week. I considered waiting for the Comair MRU-JNB to be operational but went ahead with MRU-LHR. The start of MRU-JNB seems to be repeated delayed and I'm sure that BA MRU will not ticket such a RTW until this segment is flying and seems to be set. Of course, if business isn't good it may later get pulled and that is what you seem to be referring to. If that happened, I'd guess that they would require you to fly MRU-LHR but then if they allowed MRU-LHR-JNB to replace MRU-JNB, that may be what you are hoping for.

Firstly, thanks for the helpful replies everyone. ^

Correct. I'm planning to ticket now with travel on the first sector in March. Hence the worries on the route being pulled.

I would be delighted if they did an invol rerouting from MRU-JNB to MRU-LHR-JNB! But I'm worried BA LON wouldn't authorise that. It'd be more of a case of refund the ticket as travel hasn't started yet, as per number_6's experience above.

ReelChief There were some reported problems on this board about the inability to find A bucket seats on the MRU-LHR flight despite EF showing them as being available. I can't find the relevant thread.

Was it you that reported that? If so how did you get around the issue, or did some open up when you needed them to. If it wasn't you did you encounter any difficulty in obtaining A on that flight?

MRU - LHR operated by 2-class BA aircraft. That's probably why you can't book A class.

Huh?

The BA timetable tells me it is a 747 on this route.

Yep. Sample: F9 A3 J9 C9 D1 I0 W9 T9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 R5 V5 N5 L9 S9 Q9

Nope. Firstly BA doesn't operate any long-haul "2 class" aircraft. Even the 777's without F, still have 3 classes.

Secondly MRU, is always scheduled to be operated by 747 aircraft which are 4 class with the F cabin certainly being sold.

And there is A availability. But I seem to recall someone mentioning that even though EF shows these A the MRU BA guys couldn't see them.

I wish search would work!