Coming back to those incredible fares starting in TIP on EK or LH (no specific RTW's, sorry, but here are the most experienced FT's who have gone through CAI or ADD... ) like 2207.- € + tax in non-restricted F on EK TIP-DXB-SYD. Anybody with experience travelling/connecting through TIP yet? Visa req.'s, hotels, safety, handling, facilities... ?

Not only EK and LH has great fares ex TIP. BA, SK, LX and all other major airlines has great prices ex Lybia. The biggest problem with these tickets is that they can only be issued in Lybia. Then I am not sure if Lybia is the country I would like to visit. If only these fares would have been ex CAI or some other african country.

I know that we have talked about the TIP fares before but why is it so low ex Lybia when no other country in Africa is even close to match?

I've been trying to find a travel agent here in Canada who knows something about Libyan visas for months now. I'm dying to take advantage of the F fares ex-Libya and can get airfares from Europe to Libya for next to nothing. Just need the paperwork done. If anyone has a contact for this or would like to coordinate schedules, please let me know.

Jeff

I found an German agent who was able to get me a visa - though this was about 4 years. I will have a dig around and see if I can find the details.

I have flown out of TIP but only on a domestic Libyan Arab Airline. I would say the facilties are O.K, if a little ramshackle. I would NOT fancy trying a turnaround - most of the staff I encountered were pretty incompetent. Hotels were pretty poor - either v expensive or quite nasty. Prices could be reduced by playing the black market - though that is punishable by life imprisonment!

Are the savings worth all of the hassle involved?

I'm headed to TIP through MLA in July. Out through TUN in September. Obviously don't have any first hand knowledge just yet (other than with obtaining visa and other formalities). Send me a private message if you want to dialogue.

Is Libyia still off-limits for U.S. citizens or was that changed?

IIRC, the US travel embargo was lifted in February, when Libya was demoted from the 'Axis of Evil' to the 'Axis of a bit Naughty'.

This is intriguing - from poking around, you can get TIP-HKG in BA F for Ł900 or TIP-SIN in SQ F for Ł1000 (GBP). The fares are listed on opodo.co.uk, but they seem to throw an error when you try and book them.

From looking around, you can transfer at TIP without a visa, as long as you stay in the airport. This makes it very tempting to do, but I'd like to hear someone else's experience of doing the same before I try it...

I'm assuming you're getting the error on Opodo as the fares need to be ticketed in Libya in order to be valid.

OK, well, I've been poking around a little more...

I assume that you're right, virtualtroy, and that they're not ticketable in the UK due to the whole SITI thing going on there. However, if you do a search on the LH forum, there are suggestions that non-Libyan TAs can actually ticket these itineraries.

Also, the fares for BA are available on the BA website, although you need to call them for offline ticketing. I've had no problem doing this for ex-BUD fares before, and others have had no problems doing this for the famous ex-LIS fares.

Now, where it gets more intriguing...

You don't need a visa to enter Libya if you are transiting 'on the first connecting flight, within 24 hours and don't leave the airport'. This assumes the pre-requisites of having an MSA translation of your passport, and the other entry criteria (no Israeli passports, no Israeli stamps, regulations on female citizens of Arab League countries travelling alone, and more). It should also be noted that this is not allowed for German citizens.

So, this would appear to make a turnaround without a visa possible for many.

Further to this, there is a claim that, if you book a flight out of Libya on one airline, then an onward flight with another, where the two booking systems are not linked, you can get away with throwing away the first coupon. Looking at the itineraries returned, there is the possibility of getting a connecting flight from LN (Libyan Arab Airlines) to SQ or LH in IST or FRA.

Both of these schemes are rather risky. Nobody relishes the prospect of being deported from Libya, and the throwaway ticketing leaves you open to having your itinerary cancelled, or even potentially having your FF account liquidated, being retrospectively charged the ex-FRA fare, or even sued for the difference.

But now this is openly posted on the LH forum, I wonder how long the fares will stay open for? I know LH heavily restricted the ex-CAI fares, allegedly after reading about the Flyertalk 'creative routing' postings.

Any thoughts?

Are there *A RTW fares from Libya?

You can´t compare the Lybia fares with the Egypt fares !
The Egypt fares have been specials from some airlines like LH, but always going through Europe to Asia they have been more than + 25% miles! Bevore LH allowed that, and now it is restricted !
The ex Lybia fares ( BEN and TIP ) are fullfare unrestricted IATA fares ( and most routes Lybia to Asia through Europe work within the +25% milage ! The only thing is to remember the HIP rule, which allowes no stop at any Higher intermediate point!

If there are any interested in, I have contact to an IATA agent in Tripolis and Bengazi.
Some facts :!
They organize a Visa for around 120 USD
and tickets will be issued for an aditional nominal fee, which is around 200-250 USD per issued ticket !!! that called backschisch
The most important problem is they can´t take creditcards at the moment, what makes it nearly impossible to get the tickets without staying there, or to sent the money to an USD account which is in Malta ! But that´s a high risk, maybe one get never back his money when not getting a ticket!

No *RTW´s !!! But KLM RTW´s

So how much is the KLM RTW ex TIP?

price in local LYD !!! No RTW F fares es TIP !
and the following C fares are also not very interesting !
The only fares which are rely good are the full fare IATA to Asia , Australia/Newzealand and Southamerica !

CRWWJ30 6039.000 - - - + - - 12M+EK
CRWWJ25 6371.000 - - - + - - 12M+CO
CRWWJ25 6371.000 - - - + - - 12M+KL
CRWWJ25 6371.000 - - - + - - 12M+NW
CRWWJ25 6371.000 - - - + - - 12M+KQ
CRWWJ35 6959.000 - - - + - - 12M+EK
CRWWJ30 7247.000 - - - + - - 12M+NW
CRWWJ30 7247.000 - - - + - - 12M+KL
CRWWJ30 7247.000 - - - + - - 12M+CO
CRWWJ30 7247.000 - - - + - - 12M+KQ
CRWWJ40 8159.000 - - - + - - 12M+EK
CRWWJ35 8351.000 - - - + - - 12M+CO
CRWWJ35 8351.000 - - - + - - 12M+NW
CRWWJ35 8351.000 - - - + - - 12M+KL
CRWWJ35 8351.000 - - - + - - 12M+KQ
CRWWJ40 9791.000 - - - + - - 12M+KL
CRWWJ40 9791.000 - - - + - - 12M+CO
CRWWJ40 9791.000 - - - + - - 12M+NW
CRWWJ40 9791.000 - - - + - - 12M+KQ

Useful info re RTW fares, thanks. Fares to Australia/NZ... Sth America. For example???