Reissuing woes
 

Well, after deliberating on whether to bother or not, I headed along to the CX ATO at HKG to reissue my AONE4 ex-CAI. I wanted to change one segment, add a new one and remove an existing one. The CX agent was not overly impressed, especially as there were still 18 segments left and it would involve excessive handwriting. However, he had a look at it, asked me how I wanted to change it and - DISASTER. According to him, the fare calculation does not match up with the itinerary: for example, I am flying from HKG-JFK yet there is no mention of JFK on the calculation.

Now, I have absolutely no idea what a fare calculation should look like. All I did was check the routing was correct. So, after checking in for my flight today, the CX agent walked me to the BA desk to see what they could do. They are sending a telex to BA Sydney (my next stop) and seeing if they can sort it out.

So, it looks like I will be spending some hours in a ticket office in beautiful Sydney. Moral of the story: not sure there is one. If this was incorrectly issued then make sure your fare calculation matches up ex-CAI in the future. Of course, this assumes you know what it should look like.

Still, despite the extra hassle, an early morning glass of champagne in The Wing is soothing my furrowed brow...

Just curious, how many segments did you have originally?

From what I know, fare calculations on manual ticket vs. printed tickets are different. On a manual ticket it is very easy to miss handwriting into the "fare ladder" (or there is simply not enough room to do so...)

Since Irish lad is in HKG and started in CAI I reckon 20 would be a good guess, and the first two were CAI-LHR-HKG.

Am I correct in assuming that this ticket was issued by BA in CAI, not Emeco/AA?

My recent experience with Emeco is that, after a steep learning curve 3 years ago, they are now pretty good with these tickets, and always print out and staple the full fare calculation to every coupon if it can't be fitted on the printed/handwritten coupon itself. That makes reissues a lot easier.

Agree.
I was most impressed, when I got my tickets from Emeco last month, to see the printed slips detailing the fare calculation etc.

I am sure this will make life a lot easier if I need to make a routing change later in my trip.

Yes, it was 20 segments of which I have now used three. I have called BA Australia and all their ticketing is done through QF. I imagine going to the airport and attempting a reissue with them will be a total waste of time and energy. It is looking very likely that I will need to give up on any reissue. However, is my ticket still valid? It has worked well thus far and my suspicion is that only a reissue will cause problems; actually using in the intended manner will be fine. Anyone have any experience?

Oh and yes it was issued by BA Cairo, not EMECO.

Potentially until you get to JFK and they realise that taxes haven't been paid
[assuming the CX agent was correct]

No need to go to the airport, just go to any Qantas Travel Centre and see what they can do for you; remember that there will be a AUD75 fee on top of the USD75/125 reissue fee

Dave

I took Dave's advice and popped into a Qantas Travel Centre here in Sydney. Well, they were fantastic: told them of the changes I wanted to make, they also noticed the fare calculation omitted details and said they would investigate it overnight. I went back today, they had indeed done so, and were able to reissue the ticket with my required changes. Could not have been more helpful.

The only issue was my embarrassment at having forgotten about the two stopovers rule in the continent of origin. Having stopped in London after CAI-LHR, I was planning to fly back to London at the end of the trip, stop, and then take another weekend away in Europe later in the year. Clearly, my Europe segments are now being done as a mileage run!

Anyway, thanks for the advice - and I am very impressed with how QF handled it.