Originally Posted by
sbm12
#1 - not likely.
My understanding was that most H fares are refundable. Granted, the OP may have ended up with an H fare that wasn't, but I'd have thought that in most cases he would be able to get the return portion of the H refunded. It is, of course, impossible to tell for certain without looking at the actual fare rules for the OP's itinerary
Originally Posted by
sbm12
#2 - you should be able to get the seat, unless the fare rules of a r/t H fare prevent you from booking the return you want. For example, if the r/t H fare requires a minimum stay that you won't meet then you can't change your ticket to get it. Basically it comes down to both finding availability AND meeting the fare rules. If you can do both then you should be able to just pay the change fee. If not, no love for you.
Agreed. If, however, the rules were not being broken, it could very well have been a glitch in the rebooking engine; which is also why the agents weren't able to book an H fare for him - they were also trying to change the itinerary, not cancel the return leg and book a new one way return.
Flyer57, if I were you, I would very carefully read the fare rules for your existing return itinerary. If they allow a refund of an unused portion of the itinerary, and you already have a return on your new desired date booked in H, then I'd do it.