aceman

I've just flown my outbound flight and now have no idea when I want to take the return, all I know is it will be within then next 2 weeks. When I do change it, I'll need to fly pretty much next day (its to collect an urgently needed passport). Instead of picking a random date and having to change it twice, can I call and have it open dated and then call to pay the fees when I know my actual date? I've done this on a couple of the american carriers, but never here.

Its a cheap CE fare LGW-JER.

Ldnn1

I don't think you can open date it, but I recall a thread from a few months ago which noted the possibility to upfare to a fully flexible J (or Y) fare, which then of course has fee-free changes, but crucially also the ability to downgrade to a lower fare at the time you pick the new flight with entitlement to a refund of the difference.

Thus in effect you'd end up only paying the initial change fee and whatever the fare difference is between your original and final fare.

You'd have to fork out the cash for the full fare in the interim though. Also note the refund wouldn't take you below the original fare amount.

denner51

In theory yes it is possible depending who you speak to at BAEC to put in a dummy sector until you decide. Just depends how nice they are feeling on the day.

Often1

I am not sure how BA does that on a ticket that has already been partially flown.

Why not simply leave it alone until you know when you want to fly and then call and make the change?

gm_dwivedi

I believe there is no such facility. You need to put at least a certain date for your return.
You may change it, but it is subject to availability and additional fee.

Globaliser

IIRC, this depends on the fare rules, and BA has very few fares that allow open-dated sectors.

When is your inbound half currently booked for? If it's already at or beyond the end of the two-week period during which you will need to travel, I would have thought that you'd be better off leaving things as they are and simply changing the ticket once when you know when you actually need to use it. If the currently-booked date is earlier than that, then you simply need to watch out for the possible "gotcha" of no-showing for the booked flight and losing the remaining value of the ticket - it is possible that you may have to change it twice, but seeing as you very probably can't have an open-dated sector on the cheap fare that you've bought, that is your worst-case scenario in any event.

If you have to change it twice, it goes without saying that you should make sure the first change is as cheap as possible, ie looking for a flight on which there is availability in your original booking class, so that you can use historical fares for that change and you are only paying the change fee (plus any adjustments in TFC since the original ticketing date).

When you change to the date on which you're actually going to fly, you will inevitably be at the mercy of whatever availability looks like at that time. It could be expensive; but if the travel really is urgent, then that won't matter.

EsherFlyer

If you're flying the route at all regulalry would it be easier / more cost effective to nest a new JER-LON-JER? Or if getting the new passport is for a journey make that as JER-LON-XXX and use 24h transfer to pop in and pick up passport?

aceman

Because the way things stand at the moment, I wont know when I need to fly until after the current date.

This is unfortunately the case. I wouldnt particularly mind, since JER is relatively cheap, and picking up an avios flight too is easy enough, but I'm somewhat loath to discard a CE paid flight (especially at the start of my new tp collection year!)

It is indeed a semi regular route for me, though currently only about 4x a year, though funnily enough the flight in question is already part of a nested itinerary! Thanks all, looks like a call in will well be in order....

Calchas

The D-, C- and J- fares on LON-JER appear to allow open-dated tickets.

aceman

Its an 'I' class fare.

Either way, when I spoke to them they said they can't open date tickets, I didnt get the impression that it was due to fare class, it seemed that it was just something they didnt do.

In addition it turns out that the change fee for my ticket is £100 so its not particularly worth it. I can get about £50 back so will do that and just book a one way either avios or cash.

Cheers for all the suggestions, I was expecting a £25 change fee, on this price change for a flight that in itself cost £100 it isn't exactly worth it!

JAXBA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calchas

The D-, C- and J- fares on LON-JER appear to allow open-dated tickets.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aceman

Its an 'I' class fare.

Either way, when I spoke to them they said they can't open date tickets, I didnt get the impression that it was due to fare class, it seemed that it was just something they didnt do.

They do do it at the right fare level, as Calchas listed, but very few people will upgrade the fare simply to leave it open. It'd be so rare, that the automatic answer would (incorrectly) be that they can't.

You're right though, not worth it in your case.