Originally Posted by
LHR/MEL/Europe FF
Just out of interest - does CX have to take legal action against the passenger for a reprice if you drop the last leg, or can they just calcualte and bill the credit card with no passenger consent?
(Legally I'd be questioning whether any such repice would actually be valid as it might be considered a 'penalty' - at least in places like USA, UK, Australia etc. But whether that concept applies in Viet Nam I have no idea.)
Depends on the wording of clause in contract of carriage but a reasonably good draft will allow CX to charge without having to sue. This seems to have been what BA did also and this is what hotels etc do when they discover that guest broke things in the room or removed certain items. The card holder can dispute the charge of course and there are procedures and a burden of proof to discharge. As for whether it is a penalty, I do not think it is. It will be viewed as the passenger opting to change the route / itinerary to a more expensive one (which is precisely what happens) and therefore a more expensive price is charged. Penalty is when one charges a super-normal price to repel / discourage a customer, a price that is not anywhere else charged. Here, if CX only charges what a normal HKG-JFK return route costs or whatever the passenger actually flies, how can that be a penalty? That is in fact reality!