Intercontinental transitions: a summary
May 12, 2007 | 3:05 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: YVR occasionally
Programs: OW Emerald (AA-EXP, BA-Gold)
Posts: 261
Intercontinental transitions: a summary
A couple of recent threads have raised the issue of inter-continental transitions and someone asked for a clarification. Here is a brief summary of the required and possible inter-continent transitions. It repeats the sticky in a slightly different way.
All ONE tickets must make the three inter-area transitions, going consistently East (Areas 1-2-3-1) or West (Areas 3-2-1-3):
Area 1 (NA, SA) Area 2 (EU, AF): the trans-Atlantic flight
Area 2 Area 3 (AS, SW): the cross-Asia (or trans-Indian ocean) flight
Area 3- Area 1: the trans-Pacific flight (except for special case shown below)
Transitions that can be done as a direct- single segment:
Area 1-Area 2: NA-EU, SA-EU
Area 2- Area 3: AF-AS, AF-SW, EU-AS
Area 3- Area 1: AS-NA, SW-NA, SW-SA
Transitions that require an indirect but single segment (has a touch down which counts as continent):
Area 2- Area 3: EU-SW (thru AS)
Area 3- Area 1: AS-SA (thru NA- only JL47/48 otherwise need two segments)
Transition that involves an indirect, single segment (but with fly-over which counts as a continent)
Area 3- Area 1: special case DEL-ORD which counts as trans-Atlantic and adds EU
Transitions that require indirect flights- two segments necessary:
Area 1- Area 2: NA-AF through EU and SA-AF through EU.
If I have something wrong or incomplete, please correct or augment.
All ONE tickets must make the three inter-area transitions, going consistently East (Areas 1-2-3-1) or West (Areas 3-2-1-3):
Area 1 (NA, SA) Area 2 (EU, AF): the trans-Atlantic flight
Area 2 Area 3 (AS, SW): the cross-Asia (or trans-Indian ocean) flight
Area 3- Area 1: the trans-Pacific flight (except for special case shown below)
Transitions that can be done as a direct- single segment:
Area 1-Area 2: NA-EU, SA-EU
Area 2- Area 3: AF-AS, AF-SW, EU-AS
Area 3- Area 1: AS-NA, SW-NA, SW-SA
Transitions that require an indirect but single segment (has a touch down which counts as continent):
Area 2- Area 3: EU-SW (thru AS)
Area 3- Area 1: AS-SA (thru NA- only JL47/48 otherwise need two segments)
Transition that involves an indirect, single segment (but with fly-over which counts as a continent)
Area 3- Area 1: special case DEL-ORD which counts as trans-Atlantic and adds EU
Transitions that require indirect flights- two segments necessary:
Area 1- Area 2: NA-AF through EU and SA-AF through EU.
If I have something wrong or incomplete, please correct or augment.
May 13, 2007 | 11:46 am
#2
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
Posts: 19,593
I'm not sure what is the point of this summary. The rules in effect at the date and place of purchase of the OWE ticket apply for the life of the ticket (this is why the ailrines must keep multiple sets of rules in their computer system).
For example, for OWE bought in SWP, a trans-oceanic surface sector is allowed. So all of the continent transitions can potentially be by surface. While this is not the rule for other OWE tickets. There are a dozen such special cases.
The real impact is that some routings can only be done westbound and not eastbound. MRU origin with MRU-LHR as the first leg must go westbound if wanting to return to MRU (as the 2nd entry into Europe is not allowed), for example.
The bottom line is that all the rules must be considered for any particular routing, and "rule of thumb" rules like this summary are indicative but not specific enough to determine whether a routing is legal or not. Adding all the exceptions makes it the same as the original rules (which are only a few hundred lines long, so not that complex).
For example, for OWE bought in SWP, a trans-oceanic surface sector is allowed. So all of the continent transitions can potentially be by surface. While this is not the rule for other OWE tickets. There are a dozen such special cases.
The real impact is that some routings can only be done westbound and not eastbound. MRU origin with MRU-LHR as the first leg must go westbound if wanting to return to MRU (as the 2nd entry into Europe is not allowed), for example.
The bottom line is that all the rules must be considered for any particular routing, and "rule of thumb" rules like this summary are indicative but not specific enough to determine whether a routing is legal or not. Adding all the exceptions makes it the same as the original rules (which are only a few hundred lines long, so not that complex).