HaikalS

Hi All,

Wanted to get your opinion on this...

I have an "overlooked" booking: it was booked over a year ago (Aug 2017) and it remains half unused. The ticket confirmation says it is valid until 31 Mar 2019 and right now the ticket is confirmed for Feb 2019.

When I tried to move this flight to an earlier date, the CX agent told me that the ticket has in fact expired already this Aug. To be honest, that makes sense since I think tickets are at most valid for 1 year.

However, what annoys me is that I have been shuffling around tickets based on the info in their confirmation emails (the "NVA" field) and this IT mistake is costing me money. I fly this route every week so if I had known it would expire in August I would have used it before.

What recourse do you think I can hope for?

Thanks!

ernestnywang

Is this an Asia Miles redemption ticket or a revenue ticket?

If redemption ticket, I think before the recent change there was a clause that says the ticket validity can be extended for another month (13 months total) by paying some fees. I can't find it anymore, but since your ticket was issued before the change, you may be eligible for it.

If revenue ticket, the max validity should be 1 year from the date of the first segment. Therefore, even if you bought the ticket on Aug. 2017, if the first sector was flown on 31MAR2018, the ticket might have a validity till 31MAR2019, depending on which fare you bought. Even if you didn't buy a ticket that allowed 1-year validity, you should be able to up-fare. If you didn't use the first segment until 21MAR2018, it may be possible you got a clueless agent.

Do you know why the NVA was put on 31MAR19? Did you buy a ticket in Aug. 2017 with the first segment on Mar. 2018, but subsequently changed the first segment to Aug. 2017, but the ticket was not reissued to reflect the change of NVA?

In any case, if you have a flexible ticket, I will stress on the contractual obligation (NVA date).

HaikalS

Thanks for the quick reply.

It is a revenue ticket - D-fare exTPE ticket. Interesting question about the first flight sector .Will need to track it down because I can't seem to find it on my calendar .

Thanks ernestwang!

ernestnywang

Ex-TPE D class can have a variety of validity: 14 days, 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, etc., so it all depends on which kind of ticket you bought.

fakecd

i found HK tixket center their global hotline is pretty competent with ticket validty for any ticket types.

HaikalS

So I checked... and apparently I did fly the first sector in Aug 2017. This looks like a combination of IT and agent error? (as I shouldn't have been able to extend my ticket booking so far in the first place)

FlyPointyEnd

I think the ticket validity kicks in when you fly the first segment. From what I recall some promo fares only have 3 months validity but not from the time I purchased the ticket but after my first sector.

brunos

As ernestnywang said,tickets are generally valid for one year from date of first segment flown. Some have more restrictive validity. As mentioned by FlyPointyEnd the NVB/NVA printed are strange until you fly the first segment. Then the remaining segments show as NVA the first segment date (unless validity is not one year)

I would be surprised that the system would let you book a February 2019 flight if your first segment was in August 2017. I doubt that an agent could easily override the ticket validity. Did you make the change by phone? When you say "The ticket confirmation says it is valid until 31 Mar 2019 and right now the ticket is confirmed for Feb 2019." do you see it on the email that CX sent? Can you still use MMB on CX website?

You state that you shuffle tickets and maybe you got confused about the flight that you use for that ticket. I would suggest that you double check. Maybe you only flew on 31 March 2018 with that ticket. I suggest you call CX and ask them to review the history of the PNR.

tfung

Curious what happens if you tried to take the Feb 2019 flight that you originally booked.

ernestnywang

If it is already validated to the ticket, OP can fly on the flight booked. It is possible to validate a flight outside of the NVA/NVB range. I've seen this kind of mistake before. It the ticket were issued by an agent, the agent would get in trouble after all flights were taken. If issued by CX itself, nothing CX can do. However, yes, when you try to change date, the agent might catch the previous mistake.

There are three possibilities:
1) OP bought a trip commencing in Mar. 2018 in Aug. 2017, and later changed the outbound to Aug. 2017. During the change, there was no re-issue the ticket was merely revalidated for the outbound, leaving the inbound NVA in Mar. 2019.
2) OP bought a trip commencing in Aug. 2017 in Aug. 2017. The fare's departure range runs till Mar. 2019 (which would be weird), and the first segment's NVA was mistakenly applied to the entire ticket.
3) OP bought a trip commencing in Aug. 2017 in Aug. 2017. The fare's departure range runs till Mar. 2018 (that sounds more likely), but for some reason, it was mistakenly written as Mar. 2019, and the mistaken NVA further mistakenly applied to the entire ticket.

cxfan1960

All three possibilities sounds impossible though. However, given my experience with CX's booking IT, anything is possible. OP flies this segment very often. Can OP check the tickets again? It is also possible that the agent got confused with another ticket.

HaikalS

Thanks all for the input.

They said that it would depend on the airport and would not guarantee I can fly (a completely unacceptable answer IMO)

Triple checked - it does seem that I flew the first sector in 2017. How would I check the tickets again?

I called MPC and they suggested that an agent had make a mistake in changing the booking to 2019. They are now insisting that it has to be refunded - and that there may not be much funds returned (one-way vs. return pricing)

garykung

I would say you can hope CX can honour the last modification, i.e. you should be able to fly out based on the Feb 2019 booking.

I would say CX could be in serious trouble with Hong Kong Customs by allowing you to change a ticket that shouldn't be changed.

Not true. It is based on the date when the ticket is first issued.

Just because your first segment is 6 months from now, your ticket will be only valid by then.

ernestnywang

This I agree, and I think CX can't invalidate your booked flight now if the change (revalidation) was made by CX staff, but I don't understand...



Why is customs involved here?

This logic only applies to mileage redemption tickets. On revenue tickets, validity is calculated from the date of the first segment, be it 6 mo. or 1 year, or something else.

HaikalS