Pre April purchased OWE6 - Can I make changes
 

Help. We purchased a OWE6 ex AKL pre April 15.

Firstly: The exchange rate of the country we are working/earning in has plummeted meaning we can't afford the trip we thought we wanted a few months ago. If we downgrade to a OWE5 continent (drop Africa) will we have to pay the OWE5 continent price now or pre April 15?

Second: Are changes still free for us to make before departure?

Third: We wanted open dated (except our leaving date) - our travel agent said we had to have dates so he could paper ticket the deal - so we've provided him a rough itinerary and he's dated the tickets. I want to be completely flexible - is our travel agent right to do this? Will this cause flexibility problems on our travels? Also he can't book more than 10 months ahead so our Itinerary dates are being squashed into the next 10 months even though our year-long journey doesn't start to November. He said he'll push the dates out as time moves along. This seems like a hassle for him - which makes it uncomfortable for us when we want to request minor additional changes to the route/dates -AAAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!!!

You should get the OWE price that was applicable when the ticket was originally issued, i.e. the pre-April 15 price and rules should apply if you downgrade to a OWE5.

Changes are free before departure but do not change the first segment or you will lose the pre-April 15 pricing and rules.

Your TA should have given you an open dated ticket (except for the first segment). Let him do the work of changing the reservation dates. There shouldn't be a problem doing so. Note that route changes are chargeable but date/time changes are free.

Given your description of what your TA has done, it seems he may not be totally familiar with OWE ticketing and rules. Watch him closely.

The Kiwi dollar is very strong now so I gather that you are dealing in another currency.

Thanks for the info, good news for us.

Just to clarify - we can make route and date changes (apart from the first segment) prior to departure, for free?

Our route is: Australasia - Asia -
Nth America - South America - Australasia.
Is there anyway we can do this on a OWE4, or do we need to go through Europe to get from Asia to Nth America and therefore it is OWE5???

And yes, we're in South Korea now NZ, so we lucked out on the strong dollar there.

Yes, you can change the routing at no charge prior to taking your first flight.

You need to cross both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Thus, you must cross one between Asia and North America and the other between South America and Australasia. In either case, when you cross the Atlantic you will stop in or transit Europe, therefore, you need a *ONE5.

Tottenham, I'm in Korea dealing with a travel agent on an AONE4: it's not the travel agent who seems to have the problem, it's the ticketing offices in Korea that don't quite get it. You need to get a copy of the rules for the fair, and become very very familiar with it in order to do this right. Email me, and we can talk about Korean travel agents:

[email protected]

I thought that once a OWE was ticketed, any routing changes involved a ticket reissue with the requisite change fee regardless of country of origin. That would be too good of a deal where one would only need to commit to a begining date, with free itinerary changes before the 1st segment is actually flown. Is this another benefit of buying a ticket in area 2 or 3 ?

Yes. Also allowed to purchase tickets up to 1 hour before 1st flight (instead of 7 day advance) and no minimum number of days if I recall correctly. The point is that all of these rules vary by region and sometimes by country. Almost all of the rules outside of the US are more favourable, for some reason.

I bought my ticket before April 15th.

They told me I had to fly my first segment as ticketed, otherwise it would force new rules and prices on reticketing.

If the first segment was flown as originally ticketed, then after that I could change anything and grandfather (keep) the pre-april 15th rules.

So the idea conveyed to me was yes you can change flights before you fly your first segment, but it'll force ticket reissue at the post-april 15th rates and rules. So better to change after you fly first segment. Perhaps I was given wrong info, just passing along what I was told.

Okay. I now know I DON'T want to downgrade my OWE6 to a lesser number of continents. BUT I seem to have conflicting info from you guys. Can I change my OWE6 route and dates (excluding first sectors) PRIOR to departure for no cost and still pay the pre-April 15 price?

Benoit you said "So the idea conveyed to me was yes you can change flights before you fly your first segment, but it'll force ticket reissue at the post-april 15th rates and rules. So better to change after you fly first segment. Perhaps I was given wrong info, just passing along what I was told."
-But route changes after departure date inccur a a charge.

Also - Can the flights (excluding first sectors) be open dated? My tavel agency hotly disputes this

Help as I am sort of at war with my Travel Agency.

A change of route does require a ticket reissue. If you don't change the first segment you should not lose the pre-April 15 rules, however, the agent/airline could be viewing this as a cancel and new purchase in which case you'd be subject to the current rules. This is a matter of interpretation and, as Darren recently reminded us, regardless of what the rules say, you are stuck with the way the person issuing the ticket chooses to interpret them.

As far as open segments, your T/A is just wrong. There is nothing in the rules specifically allowing or denying this so, again, you are stuck with the way the person issuing the ticket chooses to determine the rules. Specifying segments isn't going to hurt you but might cause a hassle later on when you want to change them. The rules do specifically allow time/date/carrier changes without charge (or ticket reissue).

If you want to pursue this further, you should find out what airline the T/A is using to issue the ticket and contact that airline's RTW desk to discuss these matters with them directly.

The rules as published by CX (see here:
http://www.christen.demon.co.uk/CXRule/ )
are clear:

Rebooking

Before departure: 1st coupon - permitted (reissue ticket); other coupons - permitted (validate ticket)
After departure: other coupons - permitted (validate ticket).

Reissuing the ticket causes the new rules to be applied, revalidating it does not.

The CX Rules do not explicitly forbid or allow open dating.

The * file here: http://www.hardlink.com/~markdu/OWFi...eExplorer.html

says:

85N RESERVATIONS
86N -------------
87N .
88N RESERVATIONS FOR THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT, AND
89N ALL PRECEDING FLIGHTS, ARE REQUIRED AS FOLLOWS:
90N .
91N ------------------------------------------------------
92N I ORIGIN IN AREA 1 I ORIGIN IN AREA 2/3 I
93N ------------------------------------------------------
94N I 7 DAYS I ANYTIME PRIOR TO I
95N I I DEPARTURE OF THE FIRST I
96N I I FLIGHT. I
97N ------------------------------------------------------
98N . * ALL OTHER FLIGHTS MAY BE OPEN.


and

106N PRIOR TO DEPARTURE
[...]
145N TRAVEL ORIGINATING AREA 2/3:
146N .
147N . * UNLIMITED CHANGES PERMITTED WITHOUT CHARGE.


Debates such as this continue to convince me that there is no value in dealing with Travel Agents on ONE tickets unless you can find one who is clearly expert. Why not just deal directly with your local OneWorld ticketing office?

>Why not just deal directly with your local OneWorld ticketing office?

Finding a good TA is as difficult as finding a good doctor or lawyer, and I don't generally defend them as a group (and won't this time) but there can be significant benefits to using one to book an OWE. Most important to me is that they're your personal contact who immediately knows you and what you need when you call. The AA exp's used to crow about getting that kind of service from their explat desk, but the rest of us get potluck when we call an airline.

If you're not used to dealing with a TA, remember that some airlines give them zero or near-zero commissions, while others are somewhat fairer.

My last RTW ticket had commission of over USD 500 (not sure how much over, but I know it was more than that). Issued by QF who does pay good commissions (same ticket issued by AA would have been USD 10 commission!). Interesting how Oneworld works.

My understanding is that they may need to make a definitive booking to confirm the routing, and taxes. That's what Qantas Australia had to do. They made definite reservations, but then when they ticketed, they left it open. So double check with your agent. He may think that since he needs to make reservations with dates, that the ticket also has to show these dates. But I know that the Qantas office didn't need to.

No - it really depends on the CRS the agent is using. Some will not issue a ticket without a date.. ie SABRE. But to override this problem, you put in a date with the words OPEN. The ticket is still open. Your agent should know what to do but obviously he doesn't. Or else maybe he is hoping that each change you do will require a reissue and hence the service fees will roll in.