Originally Posted by
needHelp
....
I am trying to my out of pocket expense for this trip, so I thought of the following:
Buy a W class ticket for IAH-PEK (to use GPU) and B or M class ticket from SHG-IAH. (Y is above the budget set by the firm).
Here is the part I am not sure.
1. Suppose if I do return on lower class (say W) and W is still cheaper than my M class tix, my OOP would be [$300- the price difference]?
2. When they calculate the price difference, would they count outbound trip too? In other words, would buying M class round trip actually minimize my OOP?
3. Suppose if I decide to return from PEK-IAH instead of SHG-IAH. This round trip ticket would become a ticket with openjaw. When they price the ticket, would it be more expensive? {I know it's nearly impossible to predict. I just want to know what happened if I change the origin of the inbound flight). ....
Much of this depends on WHEN you make the changes. Generally when you change a ticket, the
entire ticket is repriced. You can force fare classes (if available) but you will pay the prices at the time of the change for what is unflown.
As for refunds, the change fee is "new money", it can not be funded from the refund. The refund is separate (and make should you know who will get the refund).
Ticket prices depend on fare rules and fare classes -- so would have to look at the specific routes, very few generalizations will work. Try pricing the various version of the ticket today to get an idea of what might happen. Realize as you get closer to travel dates some fares will not longer be available or available only at higher prices.
Also you need to decide if it is appropriate for you to purchase a higher more flexible fare class with your employer's money and than use that to reduce the flexibility terms for personal reasons.
On domestic routes, the use of OWs can help make this a clearer, cleaner issue but the lack of reasonable international OWs on most routes eliminated this choice.