Originally Posted by
San Gottardo
Is that the way it's done? The full ticket is repriced even if you only touch one leg?
It is normally spelled out in the fare rules (likely with lots of complicated jargon and unclear formatting), but yes, typically the entire ticket is repriced at
current fares if you change the
first segment of the ticket.
If you are changing a
subsequent segment, the ticket can be repriced at historical fares, which effectively means it's not re-priced and you just pay the change fee. IME, agents aren't always aware of this and may try to reprice at current fares, although once you've flown the outbound the system will default to not repricing the ticket, so it can be much easier to get done.
ETA: here's sample language from the Penalties section of a JFK-CDG fare. It's surprisingly more straightforward than what I've seen from other airlines where it can be one long block of text
:
Code:
--WHOLLY UNUSED TICKET--
I. CHANGES TO OUTBOUND PORTION OF UNUSED TICKETS
A. ISSUE A NEW TICKET - CANCEL AND START OVER
1. MUST USE CURRENT FARES
2. VALIDATE ALL FARE RULES
3. VALUE OF ORIGINAL TICKET LESS CHANGE FEE
MAY BE APPLIED TOWARD THE PURCHASE OF A
NEW TICKET
II. CHANGES TO CONTINUING/RETURN PORTION OF UNUSED
TICKETS
A. REPRICE USING FARES IN EFFECT WHEN TICKET
WAS ORIGINALLY ISSUED - USING HISTORICAL
FARES
1. NO CHANGES ALLOWED TO THE FIRST FARE
COMPONENT
2. WHEN SAME FARES USED - ALL RULES AND
BOOKING CODE PROVISIONS MUST BE MET
3. NEW TICKET MAY BE LOWER OR EQUAL OR
HIGHER VALUE THAN PREVIOUS TICKET
4. VALIDATE ALL FARE RULES
5. ADVANCE RES IS MEASURED FROM ORIGINAL
TICKET DATE TO DEPARTURE OF PRICING UNIT
-OR-
B. ISSUE A NEW TICKET - CANCEL AND START OVER
1. MUST USE CURRENT FARES
2. VALIDATE ALL FARE RULES
3. VALUE OF ORIGINAL TICKET LESS CHANGE FEE
MAY BE APPLIED TOWARD THE PURCHASE OF A
NEW TICKET
.
--PARTIALLY USED TICKET--
I. CHANGES TO PARTIALLY USED TICKETS
A. REPRICE KEEPING FARES FOR FLOWN FARE
COMPONENTS AND REPLACE UNFLOWN FARE
COMPONENTS USING HISTORICAL FARES
1. NO CHANGES TO FULLY FLOWN FARE COMPONENTS
2. WHEN SAME FARES USED - ALL RULES AND
BOOKING CODE PROVISIONS MUST BE MET
3. NEW TICKET MAY BE LOWER OR EQUAL
OR HIGHER VALUE THAN PREVIOUS TICKET
4. VALIDATE ALL FARE RULES
5. ADVANCE RES IS MEASURED FROM ORIGINAL
TICKET DATE TO DEPARTURE OF PRICING UNIT
6. USE HISTORICAL FARES IN EFFECT ON THE
DATE OF THE ORIGINAL TICKET ISSUE DATE
-OR-
B. REPRICE REPLACING FARES FOR FLOWN FARE
COMPONENTS WITH HISTORICAL FARE/S IN AN
EQUAL OR HIGHER BOOKING CLASS AND REPLACE
UNFLOWN FARE COMPONENTS USING HISTORICAL
FARES
1. NO CHANGES TO FULLY FLOWN FARE COMPONENTS
2. NEW TICKET MAY BE LOWER OR EQUAL OR
HIGHER VALUE THAN PREVIOUS TICKET
3. VALIDATE ALL FARE RULES
4. ADVANCE RES IS MEASURED FROM ORIGINAL
TICKET DATE TO DEPARTURE OF PRICING UNIT
5. USE HISTORICAL FARES IN EFFECT ON THE
DATE OF THE ORIGINAL TICKET ISSUE
DATE
6. REPLACEMENT FARES FOR FLOWN FARE
COMPONENTS MUST BE OF EQUAL OR HIGHER
BOOKING CLASS THAN THE ORIGINAL TICKETED
FARE
7. USE BOOKING CLASS HIERARCHY WHEN
REPLACING FARES FOR FLOWN FARE COMPONENTS
THE HIERARCHY IS
ECONOMY CLASS - Y B M U K H L Q T N R V
PREMIUM ECONOMY CLASS - W S A
BUSINESS CLASS - J C D I Z
FIRST CLASS - P F
-OR-
C. ISSUE A NEW TICKET
1. APPLY RESIDUAL VALUE /IF ANY/ LESS THE
CHANGE FEE TOWARD THE PURCHASE OF A NEW
TICKET
2. CALCULATE NEW TICKET USING CURRENT FARES
3. VALIDATE ALL RULES
REISSUE IS PERMITTED WITH ANY BRAND EXCEPT LIGHT
FARES.