AONE5 - flexibility
 

Collected our AONE5 tickets (paper) from ARN yesterday having purchased them from AA Sweden back in May to get the 20 sectors on paper ticket.

We arrived at about 1115 and were booked on the 1540 flight back to LHR, however we saw there was a 1240 flight and asked if we could change. "Certainly not" we were told as the first sector ARN-LHR was in D class and there is a 24 hour notice period and a charge.

My reading from the FAQ and the fare rules is that as we were travelling from TC2, we should have been allowed to change there and then, assuming there was availability. Is this correct?

Best regards,

Marcus.

PS - At 1115, after we were told we couldn't get the 1240, we were told the 1540 had been accidentally closed for check-in. We were asked to come back at 1300 (after lunch). I argued to be let through to the lounge and collect boarding passes airside and they did this but only after we had been made to stand around for another 45 minutes.

When on our DONE4 trip last year, we were at NRT, awaiting a CX flight to HKG, and when we checked in, we were asked, since we were in time, would we like to get the earlier flight!

We had just collected our tickets from the AA ticket desk at the airport a few minutes before, so were at the airport very early for our afternoon flight.

I also changed at LHR from CX to BA flying LHR-HKG (for a flight the next day). Easy to do, and less than 24 hours notice, using the AA ticket desk at the airport.

Changing the first flight after ticketing is a reissue, so that is a special case. "Local service fees may apply" for a reissue, although there is no charge in the fare rules. If it were not a reissue then I suspect many people here would use this facility freely in order to get in ahead of price changes, fuel tax increases, etc without knowing when they actually wanted to start the trip.

On all other segments you can change without charge.

Can they re-issue 20-segment paper ticket?

Thanks.

Christep - I see, I agree that it was a reissue, before embarkation on the first leg, and technically they could have reissued at the new fare which is actually about £1500 more each!! (110000SEK to the 85000SEK we paid).

The easiest thing for the desk to do to keep their customers happy though would have been just to issue us boarding passes for the earlier flight, especially as we had just spent £14500 with them. I wonder if this is possible without a corresponding paper ticket.

I think I should note here that I think the desk at the airport is a generic desk serving all airlines, and that the service provided by Margit at the AA office off-airport has been excellent.

All the best,

Marcus.

Even if changes to the first segment require a reissue; they should be FOC when commencing outside TC1.

There will always be the random chance of a miscellaneous service fee being applied.

Free of charge, yes, but subject to the prevailing price and surcharges for the ticket when it is reissued. If this were not true there would be a lot more advance purchasing going on...

I jolly well hope so, just in case !