Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Opodo.uk: date change requires reissue and recalc. of fare?

In early May I booked the Opodo.uk mistake fare for TK LHR-SIN r/t. Today, I called Opodo.uk and inquired about a date change for my return flight in OCT. Twice I was informed that even though there is availability in my booking class (L), the ticket would have to be reissued and the fare recalculated, i.e. leading to a fare increase + TK penalty and Opodo.uk fees of almost 400 GBP :o Obviously, Opodo is trying to recover their loss, i.e. the difference between their mistake fare and the fare paid to TK, but I thought no recalculation of the fare nor reissue of the ticket was required for a date change when the booking class remains the same. The ticket has NVB/NVA dates - could this be the reason for the reissue and fare recalculation?

TK refuses to touch the booking and refers me back to Opodo, however TK is willing to change the return date once the outbound coupons have been used. Obviously, this could be a solution but there would be a high risk that the fare class is no longer available and a significant fare increase will have to be paid.

Any suggestions?

The concensus advice on FT is to never touch a mistake fare reservation. It will almost always result in a refare. You do not want to give anyone any reason to touch a reservation.

Your only option may be to try after you fly the outbound. However, you may still get hit with change fees.... especially if the fare class is sold out.

just to update the above post:

I gave up trying to change my return date with Opodo as the availability in L class soon disappeared. However, shortly before my outbound flights availability appeared again (approx 3 weeks before my return dates) I held my breath that L class would also be available after my outbound flights - so it did.

After the outbound flights, I called THY to change my return date. The new date was booked without problems - although agent at first tried to persuade me to contact Opodo; I insisted that THY (rather than Opodo) could change the booking after the outbound coupons were used. Booking class L was still available; hence no recalculation of the fare. I was told to contact any THY ticket office to pay the change fee and to have my ticket revalidated. I paid the change fee (50 GBP) at the airport on the date of my return flight (the drawback was that I was not able to do OLCI in advance as there was no valid ticket for my return flights)

In early May I booked the Opodo.uk mistake fare for TK LHR-SIN r/t. Today, I called Opodo.uk and inquired about a date change for my return flight in OCT. Twice I was informed that even though there is availability in my booking class (L), the ticket would have to be reissued and the fare recalculated, i.e. leading to a fare increase + TK penalty and Opodo.uk fees of almost 400 GBP :o Obviously, Opodo is trying to recover their loss, i.e. the difference between their mistake fare and the fare paid to TK, but I thought no recalculation of the fare nor reissue of the ticket was required for a date change when the booking class remains the same. The ticket has NVB/NVA dates - could this be the reason for the reissue and fare recalculation?

TK refuses to touch the booking and refers me back to Opodo, however TK is willing to change the return date once the outbound coupons have been used. Obviously, this could be a solution but there would be a high risk that the fare class is no longer available and a significant fare increase will have to be paid.

Any suggestions?
Airline fares usually require you to change the ticket when changing anything before departure (there are tons of exceptions and rules, but this is a general rule of thumb). This means that if there has been a fare increase between when you bought the ticket and today you will have to pay that increase on top of any change fees, even in the same fare (ie. booking class) is still used.

However, once the first flight has been flown the rule changes. Any changes now requires that the fares in effect of the date of issuance (ie. when you bought the ticket) shall be used. Thus you then shouldn't have to pay any fare increase.

I'd advise to to call TK (not Opodo, otherwise you have to pay Opodo + TK fees) once you have flown the outbound part. If they then require the fare difference from you it is most likley because they are not honouring the low fare booked and you can then argue breach of contract.

On a side note. My personal opionion is that recalculating using the fares in effect today is really silly. If I as a traveller have bought a ticket at price X with change fee Y I shouldn't have to worry about anything except change fees as long as the same booking class is available.

I'd advise to to call TK (not Opodo, otherwise you have to pay Opodo + TK fees) once you have flown the outbound part. If they then require the fare difference from you it is most likley because they are not honouring the low fare booked and you can then argue breach of contract.



Thx. This was exactly what I did. Simply skip the TA and deal with the airline directly after the first legs has been flown to avoid the excessive fees of the TA and any recalculation of the fare.