Changing flights with oneworld explorer
 

Hi everyone
I bought my RTW ticket with Cathay Pacific in Delhi, India. I'm due to fly out from Tokyo on the 30th of June to Fan Francisco through LAX with American Airlines. Something's come up and I now need to be in SF on the 27th.
I called Cathay Pacific and they told me it shouldn't be a problem, but to call AA to get it confirmed.
After ringing AA, they told me that it is impossible to fly out any earlier than the date on my ticket. However, according to their website, there are still tickets available, though only full fare seats.
Is it possible that the representative was wrong? Should I be able to change my ticket provided seats are available?

Thanks in advance

What class (A/D/L)?

It's LONE5.

Your RTW tickets are only valid for the discount class for which they're issued, so availability of full-fare seats won't do you any good. You may implore the airline to make more discount seats available on the flight you need - sometimes that works, sometimes not. AA is fairly stingy.

Alternately, is there anything keeping you re-routing NRT-HKG-SFO on Cathay instead of taking the AA flight? There will be a change fee of USD125. That assumes Cathay has seats, of course.

Please say the class and type of tickets or more help.

There's availability on 25 and 26, nothng on 27, 28, 29, 30.

I'm not sure if I understand you... Do you mean ask them to turn a full fare seat into a discount one?

We've come from HKG, so I can't double back on myself.

Viajero, AA's site says there are some seats available ... NRT-DFW-SFO, NRT-LAX-SFO, NRT-SJC-SNA-SFO?

Thanks a million, both of you, for your help.

You really have to forget about what the website says; it is irrelevant, it does not apply to your fare. You are holding a NRT-LAX L class coupon, and unless you want to have that ticket reissued, and pay the fee, and find alternative "L" class seats available, you are just going to have to accept that there is no availability other than the dates I gave you, or AA makes available to you if you plead your case.

Sorry, I didn't realise that. When you say I must reissue my ticket and pay the fee, do you mean the $125 route change fee? I'm more than happy to pay this.

Yes, but that's only one hurdle. The real tough one is to get L availability from NRT to the US on the date you want (27th). I just looked, and there's none, to any of the US gateways. My suggestion would be to talk to CX. IF (and only if) you can re-reoute via HKG under the ticket rules (impossible for us to say without knowing what flights you have taken so far) then that would be, I think, the only possibility left to make it into SFO on the 27th, unless, of course, you are willing to fly on the 26th.

Going through HKG isn't possible as I have already flown from there to here (NRT). I'll try calling CX in the morning (It's past 23.00 here at the moment) and see what they say, unless you think I should call their US office. I guess I'll just have to plead my case. If I have to fly on the 26th then that's what I'll do. Thanks again for your help.

Going back to HKG, per se, is -not- against the rules, unless you started your trip in HKG..

I started in DEL, so if all else fails I may try this option. Thanks again. I'll let you know how it works out...

AA has so many flights out of NRT that I would be somewhat surprised to have no L availability each day on at least one of these flights. You need to check NRT-ORD, NRT-JFK as well as NRT-LAX, NRT-DFW and of course your first choice would be NRT-SJC (San Jose is 30 miles from SFO, so you don't need to fly from SJC to SFO, just drive or take a bus).

EF says this right now:

AA 170 NRT-LAX Dep 06/27/06 04:25PM Arr 06/27/06 10:10AM
F7 J7 D7 I7 Y7 B7 H6 K5 M5 L4 W4 V3 S2 N1 Q0 O0

AA 1936 LAX-SFO Dep 06/27/06 01:50PM Arr 06/27/06 03:05PM
F4 Y7 B7 H6 G1 K5 M5 L4 W4 V3 S2 N1 Q0 O0

No reissue fee would be needed, just stickers.

Hi everyone
I successfully changed my ticket to the 28th, NRT-LAX-SFO. I think maybe the original AA representative was having a bad day or just didn't know how to handle my request as she was adament it would be impossible to change flights. I had very little trouble when I called today and was speaking to a different lady. There was no need for pleading! I'm going to ring again tommorow and confirm that my tickets are reserved.

Thank you everyone who helped me!