I'm not an airline or IATA insider so all I have is an opinion based on what I see from the perspective of a passenger. In my view the whole OWE pricing structure is based on nothing more than market rules, and probably even less than that. I find it extremely hard to believe that the airlines are the reluctant slaves of a powerful IATA master that tells them what to charge. Instead, I see the Canada exception as simply the result of one government passing legislation that forbids abuse and the airlines having to comply, reluctantly, in this case.

As for ex-NRT cheaper than ex-US being great, well, I see the glass half empty and say that ex-US being more expensive than ex-NRT sucks. :)

I would also note that the Canadian exception is really just a convenience in ticketing factor.

One still has to start the xONEx product in whatever country one has bought the fare for (as distinct from purchasing the ticket itself), it just may make it easier to pay for it / collect tickets

No you don't! That's the whole point. You can purchase a ticket in Canada at the local price for anywhere in the world that you want to take the first sector. (So if, for example, you want an xONEn that starts in South Africa, you can purchase that in Canada for the South African price)

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It is much more than simple ticketing convenience or ease in payment. Doing away with the "higher fare" rule in Canada means you can save real money.

For an example let's take a RTW which originates in South Africa (say the first segment is JNB-LHR) and takes advantage of this exception:

• Convenience: Purchase 'locally' (for some) in Canada, pay in Canada, get ticket in Canada.
  
• Savings: Pay the South African price, which is much lower than the Canadian price.

Without this exception one would be forced (in the example above) to either purchase in South Africa (inconvenient) or pay the Canadian price (more expensive). What the Canadian exception does is remove the airlines orchestrated restriction that forces one to pay the higher of the two fares.

In summary, if purchasing in Canada one can now choose the cheapest origin and go there to start the OWE with ticket in hand, without penalty.

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Must admit I had wondered why canucks had been singled out for special treatment:)

BUT, if this exception was being imposed by the Canadian government, then one would expect it to be allowed for all such products - eg *GLOB* and *CIRC* in addition to *ONE*. However the rule for *GLOB* and *CIRC* is more restrictive, namely:

When travel originates in a Country for which a specific local currency fare is published and the ticket is sold in another country, the fare will be that published for the country of origin converted into the currency of sale at the bank selling rate, the resultant fare must not be lower than that from the country of sale.
Exception: For travel originating in the United States and sold in Canada, the applicable USD fare converted to CAD at the bank selling rate shall apply.

Just wondering, that's all

Good point. I would expect, however, that if push came to shove the Canadian exception would have to be applied to all fares. Just guessing though.

The "Canadian Exception" has been around for quite some time. While it was reintroduced into the xONEx rule text late last year; I conject it has been applicable for many years and could be enforced with some pushing, even when it was not specifically mentioned in the rule texts. This Law applies to most if not all fares booked in Canada.

I typed "Re"-introduced as, according to posts in this forum, apparently it was included in the rules around five years ago but was subsequently removed. Same people have considered that the re-inclusion was enforced by agent(s) of the Canadian Government.

More here:

• http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...t=#post5775167
• http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...9&postcount=14
• http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...3&postcount=13
• http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...t=#post7831585
• http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...3&postcount=25
• http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...461&highlight=
• http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...445&highlight=

I am now lost.. Are you saying that I can pay an exSouth Africa rate for a trip that starts in say Canada?

No, what christep means by 'local price' is local to the country of origin of the RTW, not local to the country of purchase. A trip that starts in Canada will always cost ex-Canada prices (or higher, if the ticket is purchased in a country with an even higher base price).

I have finally had the RTW ticket issued by BA. Now after reading what you have put forth in the last few days I will go through my logic, and eventually my sheer perserverance. Misplaced sometimes I have realized. So - the reason I did the ex LHR LONE4 ticket is because it was much cheaper then the US based one. Also I had to use a Canadian credit card to pay for this ticket Without it they were very clear they would have not done this ticket. Now initially I did this because I thought I would be in Toronto this weekend and I had thought I would have to show up in person for this ticket. On hindsight I was not thinking this through. Secondly I was in too deep before I could pull out. A slight exaggeration but yes I now need this ticket by tomorrow to get my Chinese Visas and this way was almost finished. When I attempted to do this ticket by calling the UK and paying in pounds the agent said he felt my fare could not be matched and to go through the Canadian channel. The UK agent was also helpful but exacting when he said I had to use a UK credit card. Now after reading other info on the sticky this seems to not be the case but I am not sure. So frankly while I am now more knowledgeable about this system I am nowhere near the level of the average FT'er. By the way - yes I am going to Guilin. Now I think in my first RTW foray I have left tons of miles on the table and prob. did some things that made this process harder. On the other hand BA were at times helpful (esp. UK based) and not.

I have to admit I wish I could have asked a few more questions but being a newbie in this world can be an intimidating place to be. I feel that asking questions albeit "daft" ones are normally done honestly and not to annoy or bore people. A few times here I have done unacceptable practices and asked about something that was similar in tone to a question asked previously (or I admit I asked the forbidden "Help me with a cheap fare?") but I am learning. On another thread I gathered that some newbies get up and leave or quietly lurk. I hope that one day I will reach your knowledge. Sadly I will be doing it from cattle at the back because I choose to grin and bear it and there is no business that pays for F when you raise two girls but at least we see a lot that way. I will also hope to get savvy enough that the lingo trips off of my tongue as I plan trips. All in all this site is useful and brilliant. I will continue to learn with all of this info that is here for the reading and I am thrilled that it prompted my foray into RTW and and I'll be back.

Thanks Viajero for confirming what I thought all along... Reading these posts is getting to me :)

3galsontour, congratulations on succesfully having the ticket issued. You certainly needed persistence, and it's very unfortunate that you had to go through it all when these things should be simple. As you will have seen if you've perused the various forums on FT, no matter how much knowledge one has, the airlines will at some time (well, often actually) do something to make your life difficult.

I hope you and your daughters have a fantastic trip - travel is one of the best forms of education we can give our kids. Don't forget to discuss with them the "Canadian exception" and all things frequent flyer - it will give them a big head start on the way to becoming frequent flyer gurus so they can continue to travel their whole lives.