Changing date of the first segment
 

I am looking at changing the date of my first segment, possibly. I am looking at the rules, and see several that look like they might apply. Can you change this date, or is it set in stone? Never had to do so in the past.

Thanks.

I have asked before on this and got an outright No. Only possibility is if the ticket has not yet been issued (which with business ones I tend to do as close to the time I actually travel as possible).

However if the ticket is already issued and with the state of affairs at the moment I would ask the carrier on the first segment if they would allow this. Recent experience I've had asking for an exemption to some of the other rules (because of forced changes in travel plans) are: AA - quite flexible, BA - fairly inflexible, QF very inflexible.

If anyone has recent experience with the other carriers on granting exemptions to some of the rules I'd be interested to know.

Best of luck.

According to the rules this depends on your originating area:

For Area 1, changes to the first intl flight and preceding flights are not permitted after tkt deadline, which is seven days before departure. Date/time changes to other flights permitted at no charge.

For Areas 2/3, after tkt issued, unlimited date/time changes permitted; changes other than date/time permitted once at no charge anytime prior to departure.

Now, the big question is how are these originating areas defined? I would really appreciate if someone could shed some light on this.

[This message has been edited by R2 (edited 10-01-2001).]

I had a OWE issued by AA with ARN-LHR on BA as the first segment in early August. The day before departure (and after ticketing) I called AA to change the date of departure and had no problems at all. When I got to the airport BA put a sticker in my ticket reflecting the change. I believe this was done by the rules, not an exemption. But, like R2 said it seems to differ depending on the "area" of origin.

In these particular cases, the cities are from MRU and STO. I read the rules like R2, but I know in the past that people have said that you can't without a reissue. And I *think* the AA RTW desk said no because the fare is dependent on the first segment, but I know that they are far more familiar with the rules from NA than Europe or Africa. I can understand if you change the date so that you are going into the next economy "season", but if not, then I don't see the big deal.

i remember vaguely:
area1: americas
area2: europe & africa
area3: asia & australasia

i also remeber in the past you can reissue wihtout penalty as long as you do it before the ticketing deadlines. i.e 7 days for areas, 2 hours (or 1 second theoretically) in all other areas. however, most agents do not understand it well and may have their own interpretation.
if your booking is via aa/rtw desk, call them to clarify, and have them put a note to your locator about reissuance before going to aa or your agent

The question of date changes ... basically yes you can change, BUT.

Usually if the date change is too significant, then the validity of your ticket will change to from ONE year from original date of departure TO ONE year from date of ISSUE. But then , find a lazy agent who will just sticker the ticket!

Thanks guys for the information. I just postponed my ex-ARN OWE trip already ticketed with first flights booked for next week. The very knowledgeable BA agent at Schiphol said there is no problem at all in leaving all flights open for the moment. The validity is one year from date of issue and should I wish to cancel alltogether, I would get a full refund.

Pegasus, it seems you're right about Europe being in area 2.

Thought I would bring this one back up as it may help with some of the questions being asked about ex-South Africa issued OWE's.

Like many others I will be buying my next RTW ex-JNB. The problem I have is that the trip is not due to start until 15 December 2002. I cannot book the first leg until around mid-January, however, it seems likely the airlines will try to cut their currency losses and bump up the prices.

If my understanding of the above is correct I believe I can purchase the ticket now with a 1st segment (JNB-SYD) date sometime in November 2002 and have all the other legs left open. Sometime in January I coud then amend the date to my preferred December date without any charge or penalty? Is this correct? I realise that the VALID TO date may stay as November 2003 but this should not be too much of a problem.

Gaza,

There is no requirement in the rules that require JNB originations to commit to a date of the first segment. The only requirement seems to be a reservation must be held prior to departure for the first international flight.

rich

that is great news.
in the past (2 years ago) it was stated that rebook on first date is 'reissued"
now that the wording has changed, and it seems (as confirmed by case with BA) it is just a sticker. i thk we will all issue a "open" ticket NOV/2002 http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

now back to the question of validity, just to confirm. if my tkt start date is 11/2002, but i changed it to 6/2002, i might be able to steal 5 months of validity if the agent is lazy? it in reverse, i might lose 5 months instead? is this what it is?
(and i assume that is why they insisted on re-issue at the beginning?)

by the way, to answer an earlier question. i peeked over some travel industry guides on a train.
TC=travel conference
TC1/2/3 are as i said earlier, the 3 bulks of land masses roughly divided by time zones.
TC2 also includes middle east (as OWE has divided teh continents)

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 12-22-2001).]