How much is the fee to change the return airfare?
Jun 7, 2012, 10:52 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 3
How much is the fee to change the return airfare?
I am moving to London for a working holiday on their youth mobility scheme. I plan to stay for 2 years. I would like to use my aeroplan points to book a return airfare, but you are only allowed to have your return flight to be one year from now. If I buy an airfare returning next year, how much do I have to pay extra to push back the return airfare to sometime 2014?
Thanks.
Thanks.
Jun 7, 2012, 10:59 pm
#2
Join Date: Aug 2006
Programs: UA 1K SPG Plat 75
Posts: 136
Book yourself a one-way airfare to London - the reward chart is at http://www2.aeroplan.com/static/pdf/...rdChart-EN.pdf
And then a year before your return, book your flight back to Canada.
And then a year before your return, book your flight back to Canada.
Jun 7, 2012, 11:08 pm
#3
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: YVR
Programs: AC*SE MM, Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 4,604
Welcome to FT!
One way rewards require quite a bit more points. It may be worth while to just book a full round trip now (with the return date as far out as possible), and then 11 months from now call and extend it out to 2014 and pay the $90 change fee.
One way rewards require quite a bit more points. It may be worth while to just book a full round trip now (with the return date as far out as possible), and then 11 months from now call and extend it out to 2014 and pay the $90 change fee.
Jun 8, 2012, 8:43 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 3
Thanks guys!
One-way tickets are quite expensive so I am leaning towards yvr76's suggestion.
So is the $90 change fee constant regardless of how much taxes or flight segments your return flight is?
Also, for 75K points, can you stop over in Asia twice? I was thinking YYC-ICN, then ICN-LHR, then after 2 years, LHR-BKK and finally BKK-YYC. Is this possible for 75K points? Also, if I push back the dates for LHR-BKK and BKK-YYC to what I want, it only costs $90 for both?
Thanks guys. This will be my first time redeeming points lol.
One-way tickets are quite expensive so I am leaning towards yvr76's suggestion.
So is the $90 change fee constant regardless of how much taxes or flight segments your return flight is?
Also, for 75K points, can you stop over in Asia twice? I was thinking YYC-ICN, then ICN-LHR, then after 2 years, LHR-BKK and finally BKK-YYC. Is this possible for 75K points? Also, if I push back the dates for LHR-BKK and BKK-YYC to what I want, it only costs $90 for both?
Thanks guys. This will be my first time redeeming points lol.
Jun 8, 2012, 9:19 am
#5
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: YYZ
Programs: AMEX AC CX UA AA DL
Posts: 3,008
For reward tickets, last segment must occur within 1 year of initial departure. So there is no way you can use the same ticket to go there and come back for a 2 year stay, even if you are willing to pay the $90 change fee.
As far as I know, you cannot buy a ticket anywhere that is valid for travel for more than 1 year. So your only option is one-way. Fares on "charter" airlines are quite cheap, such as those from canadian affair.
As far as I know, you cannot buy a ticket anywhere that is valid for travel for more than 1 year. So your only option is one-way. Fares on "charter" airlines are quite cheap, such as those from canadian affair.
Jun 8, 2012, 9:35 am
#6
Join Date: May 2008
Location: PHL (kinda, no airport is really close)
Programs: AA Exp, but not sure for how long. Enterprise Platinum woo-hoo!
Posts: 4,550
Thanks guys!
One-way tickets are quite expensive so I am leaning towards yvr76's suggestion.
So is the $90 change fee constant regardless of how much taxes or flight segments your return flight is?
Also, for 75K points, can you stop over in Asia twice? I was thinking YYC-ICN, then ICN-LHR, then after 2 years, LHR-BKK and finally BKK-YYC. Is this possible for 75K points? Also, if I push back the dates for LHR-BKK and BKK-YYC to what I want, it only costs $90 for both?
Thanks guys. This will be my first time redeeming points lol.
One-way tickets are quite expensive so I am leaning towards yvr76's suggestion.
So is the $90 change fee constant regardless of how much taxes or flight segments your return flight is?
Also, for 75K points, can you stop over in Asia twice? I was thinking YYC-ICN, then ICN-LHR, then after 2 years, LHR-BKK and finally BKK-YYC. Is this possible for 75K points? Also, if I push back the dates for LHR-BKK and BKK-YYC to what I want, it only costs $90 for both?
Thanks guys. This will be my first time redeeming points lol.
I'm not an expert on this stuff, but what I think is:
a) You can stop over once in each direction on an award ticket; and
b) There is a maximum permitted mileage, which is related to the nonstop distance between the two cities. So you will probably not be able to go the "long way around." To give an extreme case, you could not fly YYC-IST-YVR.
I doubt you can even book the trip as you describe, since you can't even book tickets more than about 11 months in advance. I think you are stuck booking 2 one-ways.
Jun 8, 2012, 12:37 pm
#7
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: YOW
Programs: Aeroplan
Posts: 968
This is a question coming up in our family too.
Son is going to Australia in August 2013 for 1 year. I just assumed we'd be able to book a return ticket for him when prices looked good and then pay the change fee to push the return flight further into the future after he takes the outbound. As I understand it, the amount of available cash he needs to qualify for his visa is different if he has a return ticket bought so there is financial incentive to have a return ticket in hand.
I knew this isn't possible with a reward ticket but didn't realize it wouldn't be possible with a revenue ticket as well.
Son is going to Australia in August 2013 for 1 year. I just assumed we'd be able to book a return ticket for him when prices looked good and then pay the change fee to push the return flight further into the future after he takes the outbound. As I understand it, the amount of available cash he needs to qualify for his visa is different if he has a return ticket bought so there is financial incentive to have a return ticket in hand.
I knew this isn't possible with a reward ticket but didn't realize it wouldn't be possible with a revenue ticket as well.
Jun 8, 2012, 1:49 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: YYZ
Programs: AMEX AC CX UA AA DL
Posts: 3,008
>> book a return ticket for him when prices looked good and then pay the change fee to push the return flight further into the future
This rarely works because if it's a super cheap ticket, you may not be able to find available space at the same fare class ("low price") when you want to change the return leg. That means you are stuck with the original date, or you have to pay change fee plus fare difference(could be hundreds $) to upgrade to a higher fare to get the new date you want.
So one-way isn't necessarily a more expensive option. Often you can find cheap one-way fares connecting through some exotic countries in the middle east, for example.
This rarely works because if it's a super cheap ticket, you may not be able to find available space at the same fare class ("low price") when you want to change the return leg. That means you are stuck with the original date, or you have to pay change fee plus fare difference(could be hundreds $) to upgrade to a higher fare to get the new date you want.
So one-way isn't necessarily a more expensive option. Often you can find cheap one-way fares connecting through some exotic countries in the middle east, for example.
Jun 9, 2012, 10:01 pm
#10
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: YYZ
Programs: AMEX AC CX UA AA DL
Posts: 3,008
- then there is the Maximum Permitted Mileage which this routing exceeds by a lot
Jun 18, 2012, 10:07 pm
#11
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 82
Don't use points. Use Air Transat or Thomas Cook. A one way Trans Atlantic can be had for like $300 if you're not too picky about timing, I've done YHZ-FRA for under $200.
Save your points for business class flights, or those unreasonably expensive domestic flights that have require connections to tiny airports.
Save your points for business class flights, or those unreasonably expensive domestic flights that have require connections to tiny airports.