Changing outgoing date on reward flight?
 

I have a long haul biz reward flight middle of 2009, for self and partner. There is availability showing on ANA for same outgoing flight a day earlier. If ICC can see the availablity and I move the booking to day earlier, what will I have to pay? :confused:
Thanks.

£20 per person change fee, together with any increase in taxes/charges since your original booking.

Reminder: Always book 2 oneway flights instead of one return !

Are taxes and charges likely to be higher than when I booked around Oct/Nov 2008?

It is booked as one ways, will that help?

Will I have to cancel existing outgoing flight and rebook (I do have enough miles if required)?

Thanks.

Probably not in their base $ or € amount. However, with the continued weakening of the £, you may find the charges are now slightly higher when translated to GBP. It will depend on which airlines you're looking at.

In this instance it won't make any difference as you're changing the outbound before the date of departure. Where it makes a real difference is if you want to change your return journey after you've taken the outbound. In such a case, you can only do that if you've booked as two one ways.

Shouldn't be necessary.

Why so?

You lose any flexibility in your trip after you take your first flight in your itinerary. If booked as 2 one ways, you retain your flexibility to make changes to your return..

Also, one stopover is allowed on each itinerary, one on a return booking, and one on each of your 2 one way bookings.

Return booking your charged for the highesst level of service you received, even if one of your long hauls is in Y. One ways, your charged for your longest sector.

Disadvantages:

Two £25 canx fees if you want to cancel your whole trip.

Certain countries taxes are very expensive in comparison to return bookings - I'm not sure which these are, possibly India?

Because once you've flown the first leg of an itinerary, it's fixed and you cannot make any further changes. If you have booked 2 one ways, and your plans change, you can change your return booking for the usual change fee.

For example, my holiday was booked as 2 one-ways. The return BKK-FRA was canx by TG and we were inconveniently rebooked by the call centre to a later flight. Whilst we were away, seats became available on a suitable flight and we were able to change. Had we booked the whole itinerary as a single return, we would not have been able to make any changes.

No, not always. It depends on your origin and the taxes involved in having a one way ticket issued. Mexico and Argentina for example.

Those mentioned, plus other places like Peru I think, add a luxury tax based on the price of the full fare ticket, so if you book a one-way in a premium cabin, ex one of those places you get very heavily stung. In those cases, definately better to book a return, as long as you are pretty certain that nothing will change and that you can stick to your original plans.

... and to give an example:

On a one-way First-class flight originating in India, the tax comes to over £350!

Click: here