Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus - Changes to a discount Business class ticket- have to refund?

A few months ago I purchased a low business class fare on TG from NRT-BKK round trip for JPY127,000.

I now need to change the departure date for this itinearary, which would result in a fare increase. On most airlines that I deal with, such as AA and JL, the value of a ticket can be applied toward the purchase of a new ticket along with the change fee and fare difference.

The TG ticket agents in Tokyo tell me that my original ticket must be completely refunded, and then I must purchase a new ticket separately. They say that the refund would take up to two months to process.

Does anyone have experience with this kind of situation on TG? Is it true that I cannot just have the value of the old ticket applied to the re-issuance of ticket, and then simply pay a change fee and the fare difference?

I have changed tickets before ex BKK by simply paying the fare difference, and I even recall a time when I was told that there would be no change fee since the change of my C class ticket resulted in a fare increase.

I am always very happy with the service I recieve from TG's "Contact Center" in Thailand, but am not impressed with the Tokyo office. I have found the agents to be less than helpful on numerous occasions, and these policies to be irritatingly inflexible. Unfortunately, as this ticket originates in Japan, the Thai ticket agents in BK cannot touch the reservation.

Is there any way around refunding the old ticket? I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to best handle this situation.

I think you're stuck on this one. Issuing TG tickets in Korea is the same as what you're experiencing. Japan, Korea, and other places have their own pricing and validity periods and seem to be very strict about it, unlike BKK where as you mention they are often very flexible. Being they're competing on different terms in Japan, with the Japanese airlines, I think it's only fair to them that they have different policies. For the tickets I've purchased, it's only a $30 refund fee, so for me it's not a big deal. Just refund the ticket and issue a new one at the new price and you're out 30 bucks.

Hi MikeFromTokyo, sounds very much like the air tickets from Indonesia, albeit so very cheap but they cause no end of trouble, if you want to change the slightest thing or cancel the damm things. The last one, I gave away, and that cost me too!!. I changed to another name, and that cost AU$100 then another date and trust me that cost another $100. Melbourne or Bangkok were unable to help me. I still occasionally buy one because I can't help myself, you know the feeling, I get all that for this, but I am getting better at resisting the cheap buys, but $9000 for a First class ticket from MEL to CDG is currently testing my willpower, I know it will cause me trouble, and I know that come March 2010, I will be thinking why did I do this, regards bkkrop

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I just went ahead and booked a new ticket and requested the refund. While these situations are irritating, there is still so much more that I love about flying TG than I dislike about it.

Even though the refund will take a bit of time, the change did not cost that much. At the end of the day I got TG A340 C class for about the price that JL and NH were offering in Y for my dates and times, so I am not complaining!

Cheers

Mike