Useful indexes can use qualifiers Matching index scans can use qualifiers that further restrict the result set. Qualifiersin matching index scans

Remember that a WHERE clause that contains at least one optimizable predicate is optimizable. Nonoptimizable predicates can be useful in other ways.

Consider the following query:

SELECT * FROM FLIGHTS WHERE orig_airport < 'BBB' AND orig_airport <> 'AKL'

The second predicate is not optimizable, but the first predicate is. The second predicate becomes a qualification for which evaluates the entries in the index as it traverses it.