Originally Posted by frank_10b

The reason I didnt give all the details was because it is such a long story and I thought those were the only relevant ones....but here goes

It all started with the Thank You points devaluation...(I believe that was early 2009?)
Faced with the imminent devaluation without any itineraries in mind, I used the points to buy a ~ $800 refundable ticket. The attraction of a refundable ticket was not that it could be refunded (since it would be refunded to Citi!) but freely changeable. Then mid 2009 changed the ticket into a $400 ticket that I actually flew on, and an almost $400 refundable/changeable ticket still with the same locator #. The flight date for the latter approached in late 2009 and I was changing it over the phone and the agent mistakenly did the nonrefunable fare which was almost the same as the refundable) but I called right back and they changed it to the refundable fare but somehow this nonrefundability stuck in its "lineage" (although I didnt care bc I wouldnt want a refund going to Citi) Early 2010 date for new "refundable" ticket coming up, changed it to may 15. Forgot to cancel (was relying on the usually email inviting me to check in day before, which oddly never came).

I guess the other issue, that I didnt even think about (time flies!) is that it's been more than a year since the original ticket was bought. Did any of the actions "reset the clock"? What a pain in the a** that thank you point devaluation was!