No. Once you have started your journey you are fine . The only issue could be if your wanted to add a continent

Dave

Great, thanks Dave. Not adding continents, just flights within the normal allowances. BA did try to whack me for the 10% last week but it was before my first intercontinental flight. They said if I waited until I had started they 'couldn't guarantee there won't still be a fare difference' which I interpreted as perhaps being a rule change I wasn't aware of. From what I've learned here it looks like being more an attempt to blag me 800 quid I didn't need to pay.

I'll call them again today and let you know if they contradict you.

Guess what? BA charged me a 3 pound fare difference (in addition to the reissue fee and tax). Seems bizarre but it's a distinct improvement on the 800 they tried to charge last week - perhaps it's their way of collecting a service fee. They insisted it was a fare difference though.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Thanks Bukhara, that explains it. There's more wierdness going on now but I'll start a new thread for that.

Cathay reply
 

After waiting a few weeks I got this reply today from CX:

Thank you for your comment.

Cathay Pacific follows IATA general rules in fare application. Since your ticket was reissued after the promotion period, "Passenger Air Tariff" General Rule applies and is published as follows:

"In the event of voluntary change to the originating flight, the fares and charges for the passenger's journey shall be recalculated in accordance with the fares and charges in effect on the date on which the change is made and is reflected on the ticket."

We regret if you were not aware of the above fare rule and should you have further enquiries with regard to your ticket, please kindly contact respective travel agent or our worldwide reservations who shall be able to assist you.

We thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention, and as always, we look forward to being of service to you soon.

They have missed the point completely regarding the Oneworld rules and merely parroted out the IATA regulation line.

To be honest, I didn't expect anything better for the 1st round of correspondence from CX.

I will now try and get them to focus on the specific issue.

IATA ticketing rules applies to all international tickets irrespective of fare rules.@:-) CX is correct.

To the best of my knowledge, IATA is nothing more than a trade organization comprising most of the worlds airlines. IATA specifically states on their website that they do not involve themselves with passenger issues.

What would be good to find out is just where do so-called IATA regulations obtain their "force of law" from? And just how do IATA regulations bind passengers?

Seems to me that the ticketing regulations are nothing more than internal guidelines for members and travel agents. They are certainly not freely available to the public, unless you want to splash out on US$119 for a Book and CD-ROM.

Jay pee:

I just got finished changing the date of my first segment on an AONE4. The agent "re-validated" the ticket and sent me a new e-ticket. There was no "recalculation of the fare." I purchased the ticket during the 10% off period.

Several years ago I changed the date on a previous STAR 4 (UA) ex BKK. The ticket was "re-validated" and I did not have to pay the new higher fare. It was NOT re -issued. Someone is way off base.

Just an aside. CX is a difficult airline to purchase a RTW ticket from. Last year I purchased a RTW ticket from CX JNB. I refunded the ticket after CX JNB refused to disclose the tax break down of the ticket. The taxes charged were much higher than usual. ( $700-$900 more than a previous ticket) I had AA issue and identical ticket that was $800. less that CX charged. I was fortunate there was no refund charge in the rules at that time. I find that the overseas CX offices are difficult to do business with. I will never attempt to ticket with CX ever again.

Where does your journey begin?

Sadly for us our DONE4 journey begins in HKG with CX as first carrier.

And to rub salt into the wound they have reissued on paper.

Dealing with CX is like dealing with a pre-programmed robot and the TA is too scared to take them on.

CX have done nothing incorrectly. Not liking their response does not make it wrong and is perfectly normal

Perhaps the TA is less scared rather than not believing them to be wrong

Dave

Dave

What I don't like about their response is the fact that it goes against the published xONEx published rules. Furthermore the contract framed by oneworld states explicitly that I am bound by the xONEx rules.

One can only play by the rules as notified at the time of contract and not by rules imposed ex post facto.

It is all very clear. The IATA rules trump the xONEx rules. Communication could be better, but they are right. The agent that issued the AONE4 ticket was wrong and found a very interesting way to beat the computer system (assuming it really happened).

I can tell you why I am so sure it is impossible for agents to reissue like was suggested.

Recently I was delayed (by CX) on my way back to JNB (on an AONE6) by so much that I could no longer make the first flight of my next ticket (a DONE4). CX and AA are still fighting who will have to pay for the reissue since neither company is able to reissue without extra cost. It is in the computer system and there is no work around.

The only thing I know is that I will not be paying for it but after some interesting discussions with both AA, CX and even BA on the matter I know for a fact that the proposed reissue scenario is impossible.

Your problem is not with the rules, but with the communication of them.

The biggest rip off is the 180 pounds fuel surcharge they charged during the prmotion while the oil price was USD$40!!!!

What airline issued the ticket?