I think I'm becoming a believer in the fix-your-dates v. open-dated argument. I was browsing through the screens on availability for SYD-JNB in August and kept seeing D0, D0, D0... yikes. So booked the best available, which is 4 days sooner than I wanted (hence dominoes fall up/downstream.) Guess I should put off procrastinating for the time being, and look at other segs to make sure we don't end up in the back of the bus.

I can hear it now... "told ya so..."

With tickets, I have been a believer in this approach ; if I have an idea when Im likely to want to travel I'll book it rather than risk it not being available later; I can always change later subject to availability

Dave

I don't think anyone has ever advocated not reserving flights that you know you want to take - of course you should do that. The question is should you make the ticket open-dated or fix the dates on the ticket? Making a reservation for a specific flight is completely independent of whether there is a date on the corresponding ticket coupon. Historically, a good travel agent will be able to hold flights for quite a while even when you haven't had any ticket issued, although this is getting harder to do as airlines move towards exclusively electronic ticketing.

As I see it the primary argument for getting the ticket issued with specific flights is to protect you in the event of a route being withdrawn by OneWorld - in this case you would then be carried on alternative carriers, even if that breaks other xONEn rules.

The trouble with the xONEx product for recreational travel is that it presents a serious case of kids and candy shops. We could go here...no wait...here...no wait... Eventually the $75 change fees and sold out flights will bite you I assume, so calendars at the ready, off we go...

Date changes do not incur the change fee. Neither does rebooking in a lower fare class. Only routing changes do. In any case, there is such a thing called "Waitlist".