Originally Posted by
nihonto
Definitely keeping calm.
I know I will not have a direct anymore, 30 hours and 2 connections is out of the question though.
Possibly HUCA is going to get a different result here but I think it is going to have to go to a supervisor. The only one connection flight within +/- 1 day is via Munich, so they're going to want to add more fees (I already paid $800 in fees on this ticket), plus it has a 9am departure from Moscow.
With the hell that is Moscow traffic (can be traffic jams at 3am) it means departing minimally at 5am in order to get onto a 9am flight at DME.
I suggested Swiss as I know, no extra fees, plus they have a good overnight flight to BKK, and I could depart in the afternoon from Moscow.
*Edit*: looks like Swiss also leaves at 9am so that is no win, argh.
Schedules can change I think on the ticket legal language is about just that, changing schedules. If they would have told me about this 3 months earlier when it happened then I'd have had more "a la carte" options to pick from as well and maybe not be in this situation.
So I think they should do something, or I hope they will anyway, as there are no decent options.
They suggested going through Cairo but I have not experienced Egyptair and I have zero desire to go through Cairo.
There should not be any additional fees or points. Like a schedule change that creates a missed connection, they should reroute you through to a reasonable alternative without additional fees. On that level, to my knowledge, an AE ticket is the same as a paid ticket.
If you look up flights on EF for the dates you want, there should be alternatives on NH, OZ, SQ, LH, LX, SAS, etc. or a combination thereof. Maybe even BR or the other Chinese airlines. I find it very improbable that an alternative flight cannot be found.
That being said, in this case, you should not be limited to R space (what is available on AE website) but to any J seat available. A quick search in this forum should offer you many, many examples that support this.