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{prem fare gone}: AF/KL/DL/VS: BUD-US from $750 R/T

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Old Mar 15, 2020, 10:29 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Maestro Ramen
FARE RULES:
I pulled down the DL fare rules (these are BUD-SEA but they all appeared nearly identical). I posted them on a share. We can easily grab the AF and KL variants if others need those.

Q: This is a fully flexible fare with free changes. Does that mean I can change the flight dates as I want without paying anything extra?
A: No. The airline simply doesn't charge a change fee. But depending on the fare rules, you will still need to pay the difference to the new price.

Q: But I read that some people could change their flights for free...?
A: The rules for this fare (linked to above) specify that historical pricing shall be used if either at least one flight from the ticket has been taken or the outbound remains the same. In other words, in order to be able to change your flights for free, you must have flown at least one flight from your booking. Otherwise, you can only change the inbound. The outbound has to remain the same or you will be charged the fare difference.

Q: Can I change the rest of the itinerary after flying the first segment without any other charges or additional fare differences?
A: Yes this is possible according to the fare rules where after completing the first segment, you can change the rest of the flights for free (with the condition that the same fare class is available- I-class - in this case. According to the fare rules, after flying the FIRST segment (in the case here BUD-XXX) the historical fare is used. Possible to use the first stopover at AMS or CDG (see post #830).

Q: But some people could change their outbound flights for free!
A: They got lucky. It was probably a bug on the website/in the app. When no flight from the ticket has been flown, the fare rules do not allow changing the outbound without repricing.

Q: Ok, ok, so I can only change the inbound for free. How do I do that?
A: You search for availability for alternative flights on ITA Matrix using "F ..I2FFHU" in the extension codes. You must search for round trip flights as this is a round trip fare. Then you ignore the outbound result (as long as you haven't flown at least one flight from your ticket) and just try to rebook your inbound on the website/app.

Q: I have found availability on ITA Matrix, but the app/website doesn't show me those flights!
A: Keep trying. Sometimes you may have to serach in a different way (split up the searches, e.g. HNL-LAX and LAX-BUD), sometimes you just have to repeat the search several times. But that's no guarantee the desired results will turn up (and without repricing).

Q: It doesn't work. Can I just call the airline to make the changes?
A: Please don't unless you need to. Calling can increase the risk for all of us that they'll change their mind and disallow all further changes, or simply cancel everyone's tickets. However, as this fare has now been running for months and has seen many calls made about it, it is reasonable to expect that calling will not cause issues at this stage. As best practice, avoid attracting attention on the low price paid, and avoid making additional demands or tempting your luck. Remember you get to fly a J ticket for the cost of a Y fare.

Q: How many times can I make changes?
A: In theory, as often as you like, but you can't make more than two changes online/in the app. After that, you'd have to call, which we are trying to avoid.

Q: I've changed my mind. Can I get a refund?
A: Yes, the fare was fully refundable. Just contact the airline or fill out a refund form online.

Q: Due to Coronavirus, I need to extend my travel plan beyond the original expiry date. What can I do?
A: For Delta tickets (starting with 006) you can travel at any point until December 2022. Changes to flights within a 10 month window can be done at any point on the app, following the rules above. If you want to fly later than 10 months from now, you can call Delta and ask them to "park" your ticket. You will receive a ticket number that ties to an eCredit which can be used later to buy tickets. As long as you keep the original itinerary, or if you have flown at least a segment, you will not be charged a fare difference. Bear in mind that the eCredit may only be refundable if your original flight was cancelled (which is very likely in those day and times). Note that only Delta in the US are able to do this so do not call the EU numbers (use Skype to save money on international calls). According to user feedback: iMessage agents seem to also be able to do this, but twitter agents not.
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{prem fare gone}: AF/KL/DL/VS: BUD-US from $750 R/T

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Old Oct 15, 2021, 11:44 pm
  #2821  
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 114
I had parked my tickets back in Aug/20 and life got busy and now I am looking at reviving/flying these tickets. I have not flown any segments yet. The wiki says:

"Q: Ok, ok, so I can only change the inbound for free. How do I do that?
A: You search for availability for alternative flights on ITA Matrix using "F ..I2FFHU" in the extension codes. You must search for round trip flights as this is a round trip fare. Then you ignore the outbound result (as long as you haven't flown at least one flight from your ticket) and just try to rebook your inbound on the website/app."

I searched and I cannot find any I class fares from BUD-SEA. I take it that the new flights do not need to be the same fare class, just have the same outbound itinerary. Correct?

TY
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Old Oct 15, 2021, 11:51 pm
  #2822  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: AMS
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Gold, TK M&S Nobody
Posts: 2,471
Originally Posted by sarpotd
I had parked my tickets back in Aug/20 and life got busy and now I am looking at reviving/flying these tickets. I have not flown any segments yet. The wiki says:

"Q: Ok, ok, so I can only change the inbound for free. How do I do that?
A: You search for availability for alternative flights on ITA Matrix using "F ..I2FFHU" in the extension codes. You must search for round trip flights as this is a round trip fare. Then you ignore the outbound result (as long as you haven't flown at least one flight from your ticket) and just try to rebook your inbound on the website/app."

I searched and I cannot find any I class fares from BUD-SEA. I take it that the new flights do not need to be the same fare class, just have the same outbound itinerary. Correct?

TY
No. I2FFHU was the full fare code - I don’t think it exists any more so the wiki is out of date. You should need space in the I buckets, which can be found by specifying “f BC=I”.
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Old Oct 16, 2021, 6:05 am
  #2823  
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 114
Originally Posted by etiene
No. I2FFHU was the full fare code - I don’t think it exists any more so the wiki is out of date. You should need space in the I buckets, which can be found by specifying “f BC=I”.

My original outbound is BUD-CDG-SEA. I can't find any I class fare on skyteam between CDG-SEA. They are all C class fares.
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Old Oct 16, 2021, 6:17 am
  #2824  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: AMS
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Gold, TK M&S Nobody
Posts: 2,471
Originally Posted by sarpotd
My original outbound is BUD-CDG-SEA. I can't find any I class fare on skyteam between CDG-SEA. They are all C class fares.
[shrug] You can't find availability, I've picked random dates in ExpertFlyer and there is a fare available:

FWIW, I wasn't held to my original routing - just the start and end points. Obviously if you insist on going via CDG you may be more limited.
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Old Oct 18, 2021, 12:12 am
  #2825  
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: VIE/PRG
Programs: FB Platinum, Marriott Platinum Elite
Posts: 1,592
Rebooked after SDC for 10th time or so, now leaving on the 9th nov from prg, we even managed to get overnight in LAX to be able to get tested in trusted lab before going to HNL.

So it looks like we will actually be able to fly and I did not believe much.
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Old Oct 18, 2021, 1:24 am
  #2826  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: AMS
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Gold, TK M&S Nobody
Posts: 2,471
Originally Posted by 747jetter
Rebooked after SDC for 10th time or so, now leaving on the 9th nov from prg, we even managed to get overnight in LAX to be able to get tested in trusted lab before going to HNL.

So it looks like we will actually be able to fly and I did not believe much.
We're not flying to Hawai'i until December, but I'm hoping that vaccination sufficient for entry to the US will satisfy the HI government. Now we have more details on the reopening, hopefully HI are revising their own rules. Otherwise I'll have to get some kind of modification to the flights to allow a trusted test - ugh.
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Old Oct 18, 2021, 2:52 am
  #2827  
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Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 4,279
Originally Posted by etiene
We're not flying to Hawai'i until December, but I'm hoping that vaccination sufficient for entry to the US will satisfy the HI government. Now we have more details on the reopening, hopefully HI are revising their own rules. Otherwise I'll have to get some kind of modification to the flights to allow a trusted test - ugh.
This is what I am worried about - hope the HI govt comes up soon with some clear requirements. My flights are now rebooked to mid Nov (could not get the AF/KL agents to move beyond 30 days without recalc - seems this is the new policy, they did acknowledge about the same class to class, which according to 3 different agents I spoke to said).

Cheers!
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Old Oct 18, 2021, 5:17 am
  #2828  
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: VIE/PRG
Programs: FB Platinum, Marriott Platinum Elite
Posts: 1,592
LAX TBIT is 199 USD and you get a result within an hour, should work on XXX-AMS-LAX-HNL when there is longish layover.
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Old Oct 18, 2021, 5:45 am
  #2829  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: AMS
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Gold, TK M&S Nobody
Posts: 2,471
Originally Posted by 747jetter
LAX TBIT is 199 USD and you get a result within an hour, should work on XXX-AMS-LAX-HNL when there is longish layover.
I hope that's PCR for that price! We're currently on AMS-SLC-OGG with only two hours on the ground - seems unlikely if the testing requirement remains.
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Old Oct 18, 2021, 8:59 am
  #2830  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,344
Quick question. I am trying to move my return leg on AF to CDG a day early. When I called in they said they need to reprice/recalculate the ticket and I should hear back in a week. Does this seem right? I do see I availability on one of the two flight options I provided. I would be leaving my CDG-BUD leg as is for a day later.
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Old Oct 18, 2021, 9:40 am
  #2831  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: AMS
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Gold, TK M&S Nobody
Posts: 2,471
Originally Posted by nas6034
Quick question. I am trying to move my return leg on AF to CDG a day early. When I called in they said they need to reprice/recalculate the ticket and I should hear back in a week. Does this seem right? I do see I availability on one of the two flight options I provided. I would be leaving my CDG-BUD leg as is for a day later.
I think that should be ok according to the fare rules. Hopefully the people doing the calculation pick that up. The front line people are basically “computer says x” bods, so they send anything where the computer fails off to the experts assuming it will reprice - I don’t think they generally look at the fare rules to see if it should or not.
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Old Oct 18, 2021, 11:04 am
  #2832  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Programs: Flying Blue Platinum, Le ClubAccor Gold
Posts: 776
Been told by delta on iMessage that my parked ticket originally issued March 14th, and then May 12th (2020) reissued because of cancelled flight and then parked because of other flights cancelled is not eligible to bulletin 6 because it is the new date that is taken into account… And they dont want to make it under EU261 as well???
Will have to get another chance in a few days.
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Old Oct 18, 2021, 11:39 am
  #2833  
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: VIE/PRG
Programs: FB Platinum, Marriott Platinum Elite
Posts: 1,592
Originally Posted by etiene
I hope that's PCR for that price! We're currently on AMS-SLC-OGG with only two hours on the ground - seems unlikely if the testing requirement remains.
There is definitely no time to do the test.

And..At the end I did not change my flights. As the flights were loaded into the system but I only got recalculation today. They did not allow to change because of a few SDC +-15 minutes. So now we have end of NOV, doing PRG-AMS-LAX-HNL in one day with 5h 10min connection. Should be okay to get tested, agent refused to rebook me for a day later (1 hour SDC on that LAX-HNL flight). Will try my luck personally at the counter in Paris on Wednesday.
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Old Oct 18, 2021, 11:52 am
  #2834  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: AMS
Programs: BAEC Silver, Flying Blue Gold, TK M&S Nobody
Posts: 2,471
Originally Posted by canadavid
Been told by delta on iMessage that my parked ticket originally issued March 14th, and then May 12th (2020) reissued because of cancelled flight and then parked because of other flights cancelled is not eligible to bulletin 6 because it is the new date that is taken into account… And they dont want to make it under EU261 as well???
Will have to get another chance in a few days.
The end date for eligibility on Bulletin 6 is 31st March 2021, so you might just need an agent with a better grasp of how numbers work.
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Old Oct 18, 2021, 12:01 pm
  #2835  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Programs: Flying Blue Platinum, Le ClubAccor Gold
Posts: 776
Originally Posted by etiene
The end date for eligibility on Bulletin 6 is 31st March 2021, so you might just need an agent with a better grasp of how numbers work.
Yes, they were however only looking at the last ticketing date (which was after April 17th) and that is how they have justified the exclusion. Basically they said that i have already used my right for bulletin 6 on May 12th 2020 (moving flights from June 20 to February 21)…

March 2021 is « date of travel » = flights scheduled which was also ok.
Anyway, i will try again.
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