Ticket changes - advice
 

Good day all!

I have an existing ticket (JFK-PVG-JFK) for the trip "in progress" (i.e. first leg already flown). The return flight is in a few weeks. I was trying to change it to a later date (+10 days) and return from Tokyo.

Online roundtrip JFK-NRT with return on the required date is priced something like $2000. Finnair agents on the phone quoted $2300 for the change (presumably due to low availability).

This seems to be not quite right (the return leg NRT-JFK shows as $1200 online, and I probably should have at least some residual value in the current reservation for the return flight as well?)

Have you had any experience with ticket changes with AY? Is this the usual pricing? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

What is the fare bucket of your original ticket?

O - there is a $200 change fee, but that still does not explain it.

If there is no O availability on the flight you want to move to, your new ticket will be priced according to different fare bucket.

I understand that. But whatever fare is available now is only $500 more for the roundtrip (and a lower bucket I think)

Finnair online change tool often misprices changes. Has happened to me 2 times. Last time my return ticket was in Oxxxx fare bucket and there was O fares available, however, online tool priced changed at ~500e. Both cases I called helpline and they were able to sort it out at normal 100e change fee.

One example more of great working IT :D

Maybe someday they will even fix app login:)

I don't actually see the option to change these flights online. I had to call the CS line.
Is the option to change normally available under "manage your reservation"?

[QUOTE=reflektia;25109043]Finnair online change tool often misprices changes. Has happened to me 2 times. Last time my return ticket was in Oxxxx fare bucket and there was O fares available, however, online tool priced changed at ~500e. Both cases I called helpline and they were able to sort it out at normal 100e change fee.

QUOTE]

Thank you. This was valuable info, I haven't thought to call in before. Have skipped a few changes due to pricing but next time will call. What a mess...

On plus side, help line was very helpful and process was easy (even if ~10min hold was involved). Apparently not exactly the first time;)

Ok, so hours on hold - and the answer is still the same, any change to the ticket (even the date) is $2000 or more. No coherent explanation of why the change is more expensive than a whole new roundtrip or how that price is based on change rules ($200 change fee + fare difference, with cheap fares available for all requested dates).

So - throwing away AY ticket and buying a one way with another airline (AA of all things).

I liked AY service, but this change fiasco is a show stopper in terms of further flying with them (and quite unusual tbh - didn't have an issue like that even with low cost carriers). Oh well, that'll learn me.

Just thinking out loud - but could it be that the only availability left for the homebound is in a fare class not combinable with the outbound? And they are re-pricing the whole ticket, including already flown segments, in new costlier fare class?

I am not surprised that switching from China to Japan is not smooth. The respective pricing structures should be completely different because of the JL/BA/AY trust.

Oh, I didn't notice OP tried to change dest. And yes, the Japan pricing structure is terrible. Infact, they are not combinable - at least online AY won't sell such an openjaw ticket (orig-PVG NRT-orig). AFAIK, there are no publicly available fares to allow it.

-- Added
Just one more reason to be careful when buying tickets from the Japan-JV.

Actually, destination didn't matter. I asked to change to a different date (10 days later) while keeping the same destination (i.e. PVG-JFK, and I'd get myself back to Shanghai) and the quoted change price was over 2000 euro.

Nothing to do with Japan.

Currently available inbound fare is N, it's a cheaper fare than O that I have (and I've seen N and O combined in a single ticket).

From what I understood from agents on the phone - they are repricing the change as a "full price economy". They could not coherently answer the question as to why they can't reprice this ticket based on any of the fares available online (there are more than one, all quite close to what I paid).

FWIW I had better experience with discount Y tickets with EZJet and Hong Kong airlines just in recent memory. Purchase rules for AY ticket stated "fare difference and change fee" - I had no reason to expect anything different. There does not, however, appear to be a way to get the rules enforced.