So I have an old booking in U class that has a 92 euro (Flex) fare. I'd like to change that flight to another date. New date also has U (Flex) availability...but the price for U has gone down to 72 euro.
Called in to make the change, twice, and was told to pay 21 euro fare difference plus callcenter fees. Their explanation is that because the price has gone down I cannot rebook into U...because this would be considered a 'downgrade'. I have to buy up to a fare that is higher value than the 92 euro already paid. In this case S-class at 113 euro.
In my opinion this does not make sense. I've already paid 92 euro, which is 20 euro more than the current price for the same class. And the fare rules are pretty clear in my opinion:
CHANGES
ANY TIME
CHANGES PERMITTED.
REBOOKING PERMITTED FREE OF CHARGE IN THE SAME RBD
REBOOKING ALSO PERMITTED ANYTIME PROVIDED THAT
THE NEW TICKETS FARE AMOUNT IS EQUAL TO OR HIGHER
THAN THE ORIGINAL TICKETS FARE AMOUNT.
Bolding mine. In my opinion this means that changes in the same booking class (U in this case) are free. Aegean seems to be refering to the second rule under the bolding?
Looking at the penalties for the change:
VOLUNTARY CHANGES
IN THE EVENT OF CHANGES TO TICKETED FLIGHTS
BEFORE DEPARTURE OF JOURNEY AND WITHIN TICKET VALIDITY
CERTAIN DOMESTIC REISSUE PROVISIONS MAY BE OVERRIDDEN
BY THOSE OF A3 INTERNATIONAL FARES
NO CHARGE FOR REISSUE CHARGE SUM OF FEES OF ALL
CHANGED FARE COMPONENTS - DISCOUNTS APPLY - NO FEE FOR
INFANTS W/O SEAT AND
REPRICE USING FARES IN EFFECT TODAY
PROVIDED ALL OF THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS ARE MET-
1. A3/OA FARES ARE USED
2. A3 FARE TYPES BR/ER/EU ARE USED
3. NEW TKT HAS EQUAL OR HIGHER VALUE THAN PREVIOUS
TKT
4. ADV RES IS MEASURED FROM REISSUE DATE TO
DEPARTURE OF JOURNEY
WHEN CHANGE RESULTS IN LOWER FARE IGNORE RESIDUAL THEN
ADD-COLLECT
ENDORSEMENT BOX - NEW ENDORSEMENTS.
I read this as: The new ticket needs to have the same or higher fare value (which is the case - higher). The difference would be ignored ('Ignore residual')... they will not pay that 20 euro that I already paid 'extra' back to me.
Am I missing something? I called twice, even asked where in the fare rules it says that the new fare amount needs to be higher than what's already paid. They couldn't show me (even though she put me on hold for 15 minutes to look it up).
I've never heard about this kind of rebooking before. It seems rediculous to ask for more money when I have, effectively, already paid 20 euros more than the current price for this flight (92 vs 72). I know that we are only talking about 21 euro price difference...but I feel that Aegean is now just trying to take advantage...