flying_pig

So, I am posting this in the newbie section as it's something that I must admit I haven't encountered before... I hold a ticket in A class DUB-DXB[2-day stop]-Africa-DXB[2-day stop]-LHR. The first two sectors have already been flown and I am now left with the Africa-DXB-LHR portion of the ticket. Now, I am trying to change flights on the last sector and get on the DXB-STN flight instead (slightly futile reason in another thread...). The flight shows F4 A2, both when looking up DXB-STN as well as married segments Africa-DXB-STN. Plenty of availability in all other classes too. However, both the TA as wells as EK claim that when they try to make the change, the DXB-STN flight shows zeroed out in all classes. Weird.

A couple of questions for the experts:
1) Has anybody encountered this? Any suggestions on whether there is any workaround? Seems like an odd glitch rather than a married segments issue...
2) The only thing I am thinking is to try to make the change at DXB airport when landing after the Africa-DXB sector, in the hope that with only the DXB-LHR sector left in the booking the change would be easier. Of course availability might be gone by then. Does anybody think that an airport change in DXB might yield better results?

skywardhunter

Where in Africa on which dates? Perhaps the change violates your fare conditions or something? What type of ticket do you sold, is it Flex or Saver? (EK don't have separate fare buckets for Flex and Saver in F). After the outbound is flown changes are priced based on historic prices at the date of original ticketing, which often works in your favour, I'm wondering, however, if this has some impact on this. The ticket desk at the airport should definitely be able to help, but I'd also just call EK back and try again, how did you book? Corporate TA, OTA, regular TA?

flying_pig

skywardhunter

When was the flight booked? Could it be before STN fares were loaded, as STN is a new destination? This could be causing issues for the ticketing system as the fare for STN on the date you originally ticketed didn't exist, and it's trying to use fares from that date.

flying_pig

skywardhunter

Hm but you're sure there's availability? The stopover throws a spanner in the works in terms of checking on EF, as one can't specify a stopover, however married segment still applies, so you need to search Africa-STN but EF won't let you specify the stopover duration/dates (at least that I can find)

flying_pig

Yes that's a good point. I am relying on the TA who says that if booked as a new itinerary (Africa-STN) they see availability. I am also creatively looking up on EF as married segments (albeit without stopover) on +/- 1 days and it seems to indicate availability in A. Also, plugging the exact itinerary on EK's website it does give availability in first (albeit flex plus). It does seem odd that it zeroes out in all classes, and only on the STN flight (if there was an availability issue with the Africa-DXB sector I would expect it to affect also the LHR routings).

I am hoping it's some issue tied to the Africa-DXB sector and that I'll be able to resolve in DXB with the ticketing desk once the ticket only has DXB-LHR left on it, but I am also prepared for a no...

skywardhunter

Yes on ITA Matrix I can get a price in A for Africa-STN

only other thing I could think of is ticketing/adv purchase deadlines. Is the issue with availability or is it them actually making the change? If you're checked in or the first flight is under airport control this might be an issue, you'd need EK to offload you (takes a phone call, quite simple)

flying_pig

I like your thinking and I think this will list of possible issues will become useful in future to cross check items that could be causing similar problems. In my case they say the issue is availability. I started looking to make the change before check-in had opened. And then again I am able to change to pretty much any other flight, except that bl**dy STN one which shows zeroed out. Ah, the mysteries!

Arctic Troll

Thinkimg of a holiday to the Maldives from NCL, i think itll be fine amd (obviously) so does the agent at Kuoni but wife is anzious. Baby will be 8 months or so, but she's small so bassinet will be ok for her I'm sure. Stops in DXB both ways for a hotel for a night or two to break up the journey.

I've read some things about how bassinet are like Gold dust, is this still the case? If we book now for late Feb are we going to get a bassinet or will we end up with a lap baby all the way?

Any recent experience wanted.

(And yes, it'll be flying in Y!)

skywardhunter

Generally I see bassinets still available 7 days out of departure, but it isn't something I specifically look out for, so I may be mistaken. You can have a look at the seat map using a tool like Expertflyer (free trial) and see if bassinet seats on the flights you want are available, with a lap infant I believe they can be assigned after booking if you call in.

ft101

I think how it works is that when the return is rescheduled the original trip is cancelled to be replaced by the new one. The action of cancelling the booking will cause the expired miles to disappear so I would say it's not possible.

When exactly do the miles expire?

onlysuites

End of this month. Are you sure the whole trip is cancelled? What if I take the outbound in say July 19 and then call up to change the return. Personally I feel it should work. At least that's the way that normal revenue tickets work.

skywardhunter

It depends on how the agent processes the change. I believe they can "open the PNR" and then "add" and "remove" sectors, before repricing. If they first remove segments, close the PNR/revalidate, and then continue it might cause miles to expire. I'd suggest calling EK and asking them

Frequent flyer 101

How does the concourse system work in DXB? When I check-in, is there one check-in area and we can go to any concourse via train? Which has the best J lounge? Or should we just go to the one nearest our gate?