You're so far ahead of me here, I'm not even sure I understand all your suggestions! But I really do appreciate your attempts to help a greenhorn. :)

The last time I booked (through the HRE office) the local office was adamant about not helping me at all. I guess I could keep trying various agents - it's a small office and I could end up putting the phone down a lot if the same person keeps answering. :o Even if they did relent and book one (or more) leg(s) for me, how would they transfer the booking to MRU for issuing? (BTW it's not a free call in SA - not that I would mind paying for a call that solved my problems.)

I don't have the seats! I don't know how to do that without the help of BA, or a TA, in MRU. Am I missing something obvious here?

And I've given up on MRU-LHR as no A seats are available within ages of my required dates. I'm happy to to MRU-JNB-LHR instead. But even those are evaporating like the morning mist. :(

They changed my itinerary back after I told them what the rules were :rolleyes: . At least they fixed their mistake.

I was also lucky to get MRU-LHR A availability for 4 people - that didn't seem to be a problem although LHR-YVR A availability didn't match EF for some reason so one of the 4 are waitlisted on that route.

They are not open on weekends, but I did receive an email (auto generated itenerary) on Saturday morning 4 AM EST. I guess they just submit the request and the computer does the rest based upon its queue.

Also, I did change the route at least 4 - 5 times over the last couple of weeks for a variety of reasons and they have been very cooperative each time. I am going to call them Sunday night from here (NYC) for final ticketing.

My point is that a ONE trip usually begins with making the bookings, followed days to months later with the purchase of a ticket, so you should have been given bookings the day you first presented your travel request to BA/MRU.

Unfortunately, BA has their own anti-ONE rules, and their distant outpost in Mauritius seems more than anxious to follow them. In particular, BA seems anxious to restrict ONE traffic ex-MRU because of the low prices. I have no idea who other than BA set those prices, but they're obviously doing everything they can to keep travelers from using them. The oft-discussed topic that MRU-LHR seats appear in the CRS's of the world, but simply cannot be booked by the MRU outstation is a case in point.

Many agencies around the world have the right to book seats on BA aircraft on your behalf, and designate them to be held for a length of time before money changes hands. Normally, one can include such an existing booking into an ONE trip simply by giving the person doing the ticketing the PNR number.

My first step would be to use Expert Flyer or a similar tool to find availability for flights you can accept for the beginning of your trip.

Second, I would find a BA office that would lend a sympathetic ear to your difficulties booking out of MRU, and who would make that booking for you. Assure them that you just need them to grab the seats, because the folks in MRU, wonderful though they might be, are having some sort of difficulty doing so, and you would like to know there will be space for you when they sort it out. Make it clear that you're not asking the office for anything more than the booking, and ticketing will of course be done in Mautitius.

Some BA offices (e.g. North America) have specifically been told to refuse wannabe travelers such a favor. Others in Europe have specifically been mentioned as going much farther in being helpful. Hopefully the community here will PM you with their favorites.

Third, I would make sure my ticketing request to BA/MRU was totally uncontroversial. It will only cost USD125 extra to have some less restrictive airline re-issue it the way you really want it, once you leave BA's proprietary turf. My request to IBL Travel was nothing more than MRU-LHR-LAX-HKG-JNB, although I certainly planned to ultimately fly 20 segments.

The only problem I see is that MRU will fuss about not being able to price your ticket without having that first segment defined. I suggest you tell them to wait-list you for first class and confirm you in coach for the purposes of issuing. Make sure they show the segment ticketed in A class for "when the wait-list clears" - they sometimes make the ticket match the res, not the fare class.

PM if I can further confuse the situation ... I had that AMS contact once, I think, and if so can dig it out of my own mail. Meanwhile, it would be nice if the OW experts would throw water or support on my suggestions on how to go forward.

[BTW I personally would be quite anxious to get this done in the next few days - the suggestion "by Nov. 30" may have been more of a warning. However OW sets fares, MRU sticks out as too much the bargain, probably highlighted by all the traffic from there engendered by this very forum - the other edge of the "we're so helpful to wannabe OW travelers" sword.]

Thanks, JohnAx. ^ I think I'm getting the message. But I don't hold out too much hope for local agents being prepared to go "beyond the call of duty". Maybe I'm selling them short. I take your point about a straightforward routing. Though there was nothing very fancy about mine, I thought a good strategy might be to get the ticket issued, come back to CPT and sort out anything unresolved from here.

But here's some progress I've made to date. Phoned the charming lady at BA in MRU and she was "just about to reply" (I believe her! ;) ) because she had to wait for London to respond to her as MRU have never seen a *ONEWC* before. (Totally plausible. Am I the only person in the world who likes this product?)

Unfortunately it's not the reply I wanted: they can't sell the *ONEWC3. :( At first I thought she said they only sell the *ONE*. But when I said I didn't really want to route via N America it turns out they can sell a *ONEWC4! But do I really want to add on a gratuitous leg via SYD on a routing that already totally underutilises this ticket?! (SO already thinks I'm completely mad.) We'll see when she sends me the price.

She also said my routing of MRU-JNB-LHR had to be MRU-LHR! I politely queried the basis of this given the allowance of 4 legs in continent of origin and she quickly realised something didn't add up, conferred with a colleague and came back agreeing it was perfectly legit.

So, I can confirm that the BA office is delightful to deal with, but needs a lot of patient coaxing through the byzantine complexities of these fares.