Well, finally got AA to grant the trip from SYD back to HKG to make the cxn to LAX after a forced overnight! All it took was two calls the first agent said no way it can be done the second had absolutely no problem and the rate desk agreed! Next battle - I miss a great flight in LAX because of the minimum coxn time which is 120 minutes and I only have 113!

Hello MikeFly,

Good for you that you found an agent that would accomodate your request for the SYD-HKG flight. I guess it proves that, since the extreem complexity of the OWE rules inconsistently creates room for multiple versions of interpretation, in order to cope with it the best solution is to find an agent that is most fitting for your itinerary.

Anyway, regarding MCT, you should be able to book the flight with the 113 minute connection if you declare the connection is at your own risk. Worst case, if you miss that flight, you can take the same flight the next day at no penalty, since your OWE is date changeable. The only situation that I will be sensitive about MCT is when I am flying with a restricted ticket that doesn't allow date changes, or when there are no alternative flights at reasonable proximity. For example, if you miss your PPT-SYD QF flight on Monday, your next flight is next week!

Sorry guys. Party's over. Ex-BUD OWEs are up by 41%-55%.

C F
3 1,070,000 1,625,900
4 1,250,000 1,773,800
5 1,420,000 2,062,900
6 1,590,000 2,358,700 (HUF)

It went up way beyond my expectations. I don't know what the direct cause of the surprising amount of raise was, but I'm sure it wasn't global inflation (ha-ha). Could be the devaluation of Europian currencies, but if higher demand caused OW reluctance to continue to offer this product at a reasonable price, I feel sad. I have had no opinion about mileage run OWEs (10/15/00 post)), but I'm having second thoughts... Sorry, no personal offense...

Silver san,

Well, what a surprise! I guess I made the last party as my ticket was issued on Nov 21.

The agent was very nice yet the ticket issueing machine kept jamming up in order to print out my 20 so pages ticket! When I came back from late lunch and a stroll along the river, the agent was about to finish 'hand-writing' the ticket! Sure glad I had decided to spend overnight in BUD. But now, with these new prices, I wonder if I really will go back to BUD, though the view from the Hilton atop Castle hill was truly memorable.

Well, I could reroute my ticket to add extra
20,000 miles or so.....I was hoping to make EP on AA with a couple of OWE ticket next year. ( I did make Platinum on AA this year without comp, finally, thanks largely to UA/CX RTW fare.)

[This message has been edited by Kaoru Kanetaka (edited 11-30-2000).]