Originally Posted by
Seattlenerd
In the (perhaps distant) past, if you purchased a RT ticket and wanted to change the return after you'd flown the outbound, there was no additional fare as long as the same fare class was available. That wasn't necessarily the same as the identical dollar fare being available.
So I can see where this might cost me more if the segment is being treated as a one-way ticket and it's based on dollar amount for the lowest currently available fare, not identical fare class. It's not the "treating it as a one-way ticket" part that's likely to bite or benefit one, since all AS RTs are effectively two one-way tickets bundled together in terms of schedule and pricing.
Anyone with a knowledge of ticketing have any insight?
You pretty much have the gist of it.
The RT "protection" of not having to requalify for the advance purchases for changes to the return no longer applies.
When we went to OW fares a few years ago, we kept that feature, even though we dropped the actual round trip requirement.
That business rule will change effective Feb 24, 2010, in part to accomodate the new "residual value" feature for my wallet that launches the same day.
So... bad news is that your "returns" no longer have that "if the same class of service is available then theres no add collect" protection.
The Good news is that now any "extra" ticket value will be deposited into your my wallet, so you won't have to deal with "faring up" your ticket to keep all the value, or losing part of the value of your non-refundable ticket.
The other good news is that now there is really no reason for MVP Golds NOT to book one-way itineraries and get that extra 1K bonus miles from your AS Visa.
and also remember, the $25 confirmed standby option through Web Check In is still available for last minute changes