gpb_croppers63

We’re due to fly back from RHO on Saturday but would quite like to extend our holiday by a few days so I rang A3 and was quoted over €300 per passenger to change. I know many airlines use historical fares for repricing when rebooking the return flight but it seems A3 do not. Is that correct or should I call again to see if I get a different price? Any advice much appreciated.

KATERGOO

I would call again. In any case, I would check the price for a completely new ticket on Aegean or any other airline; might be cheaper than 300 €.

gpb_croppers63

It has to be A3 due to the segments and a new ticket would be over €600 each so the price difference sounds about right based on current fares. I may ring again tomorrow just out of interest to see if I get the same quote or something wildly different, which has happened to me before. Thanks!

sokolov

Which airlines use historical pricing?

You want to book a flight today, you pay today's price (minus any credit from your earlier booking plus any change fees).

Chiller3333

UA, LH, BA, ...
But this is (usually) on the case when there is a distinction between one-way and round-trip fares.
On round-trip ones after the first coupon has been flown, the remaining ones can be rebooked using the fares at the time of booking.
Changes made before any coupon is used trigger a repricing using current fares.

I don't know how A3 handles it, but it should be simple enough to check the fare rules of the original ticket.
My hunch is that the ticket consists of two one-way fares which do not allow for repricing using historic fares.

gpb_croppers63

Thanks for the clarification. I suspect you are right. Probably still worth one more call to A3 to see what whimsical figure they throw out but it looks like we’re stuck with going home on Saturday.

giorginho

I can pretty much guarantee you, that at least in the past 7 years Aegean has always used "current day" prices for re-bookings with two exceptions that had to do with the pandemic and their efforts to gather some cash (I'm saying this to show that it was "advertised" like a big offer, this is by no means standard practice) and they've also waived the re-booking fee (only that) on a few more occasions that also had to do with the pandemic. If Lufthansa allows the 2nd leg to be re-booked basically free of charge after the 1st leg is flown this shocks me (and I'm sure it will shock quite a few people at Lufthansa if they pick up on it), since that airline would even charge your 1st leg as a one-way when you skip the 2nd and send you the bill later etc.
300€ per person is certainly a possibility, if your purchased tickets foresee a 60€ change fee (very likely) and there's a fare difference of 240€ (also likely if you booked P or some heavily discounted T-S fares back in the day and the tickets now are at M, H or higher fares. What I can't imagine being the case is the price being applied on all possible (say +- 2-3 days) around your intended new date of travel, so since you're already looking to extend your stay, just be a bit more flexible and you might get it for 100-150€ p. p.
Can't you try to re-book yourselves online on Aegean's website with the PNR?

gpb_croppers63

We’re on Z class fares. Unfortunately, we have to use the call centre, as the tickets were upgraded with coupons originally and then rebooked so many times that the website can’t handle them at all.

We can’t be that flexible with dates, as we have commitments back home next week and the flights that leave at 09:45 instead of 06:45 (not happening with a 4 year old!) only operate on a couple of days per week

Knobbgb

I agree that doing this online would be the best way. You'll be able to see all the options with prices and how they are calculated. You might find a cheaper fare the day after or before what you've already requested from them.

The price you've been quoted doesn't surprise me at all. They have always used current pricing (plus fee) for re-booking and changing so close to the time is always going to be very expensive. Tourism levels are already very high this year and there are still fewer flights than pre-pandemic. From my experience of five domestic flights at the end of May, everything is PACKED and I wouldn't have been surprised if there were no seats at all available for you to re-book.

Being a bit more technical: The way Aegean price fares with a connection is that the whole ticked has to be in the same booking class, so at least as 'high' as (and often even higher) than the individual flights would be. It could be that just your RHO-ATH flight is full and thus forcing the entire ticket into the highest booking class, even if your ATH-xxx international flight isn't so busy. That's just an example of course, but if you look online you might find a different connection on the same day that is cheaper but involves an extra few hours at ATH. I know that's no consolation in your situation, but just something to bear in mind for others. I nearly always book the international and domestic legs separately, even though this loses me the safety of a guaranteed connection, because it's nearly always cheaper.

Xandrios

I think that there may be a misunderstanding about what historical fares are. This means that the price for the fare remains the same as it was originally. It does not guarantee that if you have a Z fare, that you will be rebooked into Z. If you are rebooked into a higher fare, you will still have to pay the fare difference. Its just that the price of that new fare is according to the historical price list.

giorginho

Given the amount of details you provide I can't be certain, but I get the feeling you're being quoted the difference from the originally purchased economy class fare to a new full-fare business class ticket! How did you end up in Z class (which is cash-paid business class!) by upgrading with coupons? Regardless, if there isn't I availability on your desired dates to get upgraded to again with vouchers (if they would still be valid today / if you have some available), then you're being asked to pay for the whole business class fare coming from you economy class purchased fare.
Xandrios well Aegean rarely makes changes in pricing, I noticed some fares on some routes going up since 2022 arrived, probably to compensate for higher fewel prices, but it's also not much more than what the raise few airports imposed on the taxes and fees they collect (which also drove the prices on some Aegean issued tickets up). I mean a Z fare today would only be a handful of euros more than 8 months ago, of course the issue of paying up for a different fare bucket remains

Chiller3333

Exactly! Sorry if I didn't make this clear enough.
It also means that if you change to a flight that violates some of the requirements of the original fare (minimum/maximum stay, blackout dates, etc), you'll have to pay the difference to the fare available at the time of original booking that would've been valid for the new flights.
All of that only after the first coupon is used though.

danielflyer

Tickets are very expensive right now. I was searching BER - BCN for next weekend and found 400+ EUR fares on Ryanair.

gpb_croppers63

Wow, I go to Rhodes Town for the day and have so much to reply to!

Sorry for not being clear. The outbound flights were the upgraded ones. Inbound, we booked in Z class outright. The lack of Z availability is what is causing the issue here it seems.

Unfortunately, I can’t change the ticket online, as it was originally upgraded with coupons and had lots of manual intervention.

I would have booked the domestic legs separately had I been travelling alone but with the family, the security of 1 ticket was better. It also worked out well, as A3 cancelled our BER-ATH and ended up rebooking us via MUC and SKG. On separate tickets, I’d have been in trouble!

Ah, yes it seems that I did misunderstand how historical fares worked. I thought that they would rebook you in the original booking class once the ourbound was flown regardless of availability. You learn something new every day!

Thanks for the extra clarification. I am now much wiser.

Thanks to all for your contributions. We’ll be going home on Saturday as booked then.

gpb_croppers63

Looking at prices on the app, it seems I can get a Z fare on the SKG-BER flight on Tuesday but would need to connect in ATH to get to SKG. The app puts the connection to SKG via ATH into H class, which wouldn’t be too dramatic. What are the odds of A3 pricing that correctly over the phone? Can’t ring them tonight any more, as the family are asleep and I can’t make a noise but will try first thing tomorrow. Wish me luck!