Originally Posted by
MiamiBeach
...One thing I don't understand about your comment on open segments is... Let's say I book a segment on UIO-EZE, confirm a date in FEB2009 now, but the service is discontinued starting in APR2009, and I really want to fly in MAY2009. In that case having a confirmed segment is absolutely no help to me right?
Also, what happens if I book UIO-EZE as open for now, then in 4 months I end up confirming for a particular date in MAY2009, then in SEP2008 LAN discontinues the service. Am I still protected?...
If the service is discontinued and your segment is dated (see below) the protection means that the airline will take you there via another route. In the case of UIO-EZE, for example, it would most probably take your coupon and give you two BPs: UIO-SCL and SCL-EZE.
AFAIK the only way to be fully protected is if your ticket is dated from the start. If you leave a segment open dated at time of issue it does not became automagically protected by virtue of a later booking. This, however, I have not run into, so you should wait for others to confirm/correct.