BigFlyer

I want to make sure I got this right.

I have an existing reservation. If I go into my itinerary at klm.com and try to change to a different return flight, (as I would expect) it seems to refare the entire reservation presumably based upon fares in effect today.

Am I correct that once I fly the outbound leg, I can change the return flight for no cost whatsoever as long as there are seats available in the same fare class (V) and my new flight doesn't run afoul of any restrictions in the original fare?

Ditto

I've never noticed any sort of "re-faring" as you describe, if for some reason you can't change it now at no cost, I wouldn't expect you'll be able to after.
KL website is pretty good at telling you what the extra charges are for, so should be easy enough to figure out.

BigFlyer

It is refaring or something strange.

I paid $509 for the RT ticket from SFO to AMS. The current fare for the identical itinerary (same fare class) is $1,798.79. If I change my return to the same fight the next day the cheapest flight is is an additional collection of $1,009.37.

That's still less than booking from scratch ($1,798.79), but a lot more than the $509 fare that I presently have.

Anyone have any idea how the system comes up with that figure? It's slightly less than a refaring/rebooking, but a lot more than the fare I am booked on.

feederflight

If you change your itinerary before your first flight, the itinerary will get repriced entirely based on the fares available & applicable on that date. This means the fare can substantially increase if you initially booked a cheaper and restricted fare with an e.g. 7 or 14 days advance purchase requirement.

If you change e.g. your return after your outbound flight, the historic fare conditions (of your originally purchased fare) will apply as long as you are meeting the conditions of that fare (e.g. minimum stay) and as long as the RBD defined in your fare is available.

Ditto

It's odd, if as you say booking in the same fare class has now tripled, AF/KL do have promos sometimes but even then I don't think the difference should be 3 fold.
Are you sure you still meet all the criteria of your original booking? i.e. some fares may require ticketing X amount of time before departure or min/max stay requirements etc.
For example checking SFO-AMS, there is a cheap V fare for 500$
Now try to book your flight for the 23rd of October and you're already up to 875$, and different fares for weekend vs. mid-week flights which can easily bring it up.
If you already had a R/T and try to change your return after your first flight you'd still have to match all the criteria of your original booking for it to be at no cost.

BigFlyer

The "normal" fares in the SFO-AMS market can be very high. Right now, the cheapest fare SFO - AMS is $1,798 for late September. I bought a ticket for $510 for late September a few days ago.

It was interesting watching the dance between UA and KLM/DL for this city pair. For at least the 5 days prior to purchase when I was watching, they would each move up (separately) to the $1800 range then down do the $500 range. Finally, on August 25th, they both landed and stuck at $1800.

The changes were so quick that Expedia would display fares that turned out to be not available when you clicked to book. So Expedia would display, e.g., $560 RT, but when you clicked through it would tell you the fare had just gone up to $1800 - and to hurry up and book that fare because prices can change!

I'm still unclear on the change prices I was quoted and referenced earlier in this thread. They were certainly much closer to the $1800 fare then in effect than the $510 fare I had previously booked, but were about $300 less than the $1800 in effect that day for new bookings.

Xandrios

My impression has always been that when rebooking before flying the outbound leg, the whole itinerary would be repriced to the fares available on that day. When rebooking after having flown the outbound leg they do not reprice that leg already flown, but only the unflown portion of the ticket.

Do you know the fare classes that are currently booked, and what fare classes are being offered when you try to rebook?

BigFlyer

The original booking is in V, and it does not tell me the fare class of the substitute.

The inexplicable thing is that it offers me a change for $1,000 - which would make the entire fare $1,510. That is less than the $1,799 quoted by KLM.com for a new booking made with those same flights. So while the system is clearly not offering me the historical fare if I change the return - it also is not charging me the fare I would pay if I booked today -but is offering me a fare ($1,510) which is approximately $290 less than today's fare.

It will be interesting to see what it offers me when I get to Amsterdam and try to change.

CyBeR

The difference may be taxes that you've already paid regardless, and the $1000 is just the actual fare difference?

Ditto

So it sounds like it might only be the difference for your return leg.
You could try and make a dummy booking with e.g. ITA matrix and see if the number match.