Circle Atlantic - some questions
 

Hi folks! A friend of mine is thinking about booking a Circle Atlantic and I have some questions for you. I hope you can help me out.

1) The fare rules/rule sheet cannot be downloaded from the OW site. Where can these be found online?

2) Does the fare book into L for economy like xONEx fares?

3) Are stopovers allowed in the continent of origin?

4) Is a surface sector allowed at the end of the itinerary? OW seems to sasy no, but I'm not sure (they only talk about intermediate surface sector, thus leading me to think that such sectors are not possible at the beginning and at the end of an itinerary).

5) Does the ECAA exception apply to Circle Atlantic fares as well? My friend would book in ZRH, but start from LHR. If this is possible: what's best to book the ticket? Do everything directly with AA in ZRH, book with the RTW desk and then contact ZRH for ticket issue or book and issue with AA in the UK (if they accept foreign credit cards by phone)?

Thanks in advance!

I was going to try and reply yesterday but then decided it would be better left to someone who might actually know the answers. However, as no-one has responded so far ....

The 'space' for the Rule Sheet is obviously there but I guess they forgot to post it! Send a message to oneworld and let them know it's missing. Someone here may have access to one of the airlines' files that have the rules.

I would assume yes - no obvious reason why it would be different.

Continent - presumably yes. Country - no.

The material on the oneworld site says "Only one stopover is permitted at any point (Exception: no stopovers are permitted in the country of origin). A maximum of two stopovers are allowed per region (Europe/Middle East / North America / South America). Where a passenger disembarks at one point and re-embarks at a subsequent point enroute, the points count as a single stopover. Additional stopover cannot be purchased for the country of origin. Additional stopovers restricted to two stopovers per region."

The oneworld site says "Travel must originate and terminate in the same country."

Implication is that an open-jaw at the end is ok, as long as you return to the country of origin.

For Circle Pacific tickets, the rules say -
"Travel may originate at any point for which fares are published and must terminate at the same point, except that origin-destination surface segments are permitted as follows:
(a) within country of origin
(b) between USA and Canada"

I would assume the Circle Atlantic rule is the same.

I would assume it applies (assuming ZRH is in the ECAA). However, I don't think it helps. You presumably want the SWF fare, as it is lower than the UK fare. You start with the fare from the country of origin (UK) and if that fare is lower than the country of sale (CH) then you pay the higher country-of-sale fare - except if you're in the ECAA, where you can insist on the lower fare. If you were starting in ZRH but issuing the ticket in the UK, then you could insist on the lower ZRH fare even though the ticket was sold in the UK. However, it doesn't work the other way round.

Hi tt7 and thanks for your replies! It appears that there is still little knowledge available about the Circle Atlantic product , even on FT :D.

I'll try to contact OW directly and ask them about the rule sheet.

I thought that the same surface sector rules as in the Circle Pacific apply. My friend would be interested in a ZRH-LHR surface sector at the end and I thus think that this is not possible (only surface sector in the country of origin).

ZRH is indeed in the ECAA so the exception should apply (Switzerland is not in the EU, but indeed member of the ECAA). The fare from LHR is GBP 1349 (17'000 miles) whereas the fare from ZRH is CHF 2930, i.e. GBP 1750. Leaving from LHR would thus save approximately 400 GBP, assuming that AA will issue a LHR originating ticket in ZRH. They refused to do so a couple of years ago when the ECAA exception did not exist (both BA and AA refused to issue a LONE4 in Switzerland with departure London, unless I was ready to pay the Swiss price). I guess (hope) they should accept today.

Nevertheless, I'd be interested in hearing other people's experiences in dealing with AA ZRH. Any suggestions on this?

My understanding is that Switzerland is not part of the ECAA but has a separate bilateral integration agreement with the EU (as do Norway and Iceland); for this purpose the distinction may not matter.

If AA in ZRH don't want to issue this ticket, I think Switzerland's membership of the ECAA could prove critical. Wikipedia claims that many non-EU states (including Norway & Iceland) have, in fact, signed the ECAA agreement, but that Switzerland isn't (yet) one of them.

Personally, if AA in Switzerland wouldn't play ball on this, I'd get the itinerary set up by the RTW desk for ticketing by AA in London. You'd be leaving from London anyway, if your physical presence were required for any reason. If the ticket were all-electronic, AA in London could probably remotely charge your (Swiss) credit card with the correct GBP amount. You would probably lose out on the exchange rate conversion, which is significant but not show-stopping.

After reading your comment I read the ECAA agreement and, indeed, Switzerland is not part of it, to the contrary of what I assumed in the first place. Switzerland has a bilateral agreement that makes the country equivalent to an ECAA member, but from a legal point of view Switzerland is not a member of the ECAA.

Therefore I'll try to deal with AA UK directly and see whether they accept foreign credit cards on the phone. If they don't, do you know if AA Germany or Italy or France do? I could ask them to issue the ticket, given that the ECAA exception in this case should apply.