I recently purchased Oneworld Explorer tickets (Business Class) during the Anniversary 10% discount period. Paid for and tickets issued.

Due to business commitments I was obliged to amend the dates of travel by 1 week - no change to routing, just dates! This was done shortly after the Anniversary 10% discount offer expired/

I was horrified when TA informed me that according to CX I would forfeit the 10% discount and therefore had to pay the difference before tickets would be reissued.

This appears to be completely contrary to the the Oneworld Technical Rule Sheet:

[i](a) Rebooking/Rerouting
(1) Prior to departure
(a) Origin TC1
(1) After ticket issuance - changes to the first international flight and preceding flights are not
permitted less than seven days prior to the date of the first ticketed flight. Date/time/oneworld
carrier/inventory changes to other flights permitted provided ticketed points remain the same.
(2) Changes other than to Date/time/oneworld carrier/inventory permitted at a charge of
USD125.00 per transaction.
(b) Origin TC2/3
(1) After ticket issuance - date/time/oneworld carrier/inventory changes are permitted provided
ticketed points remain the same.
(2) Changes other than to Date/time/oneworld carrier/inventory permitted at a charge of
USD125.00 per transaction./I]

Is this a CX scam or just ineptitude on the part of CX ticketing department ?

If you are changing the start of the whole trip, then they are perfectly correct

Dave

I think you'd have a case if you want to go legal - the terms of your contract as I read them say it's a free of charge change, but nobody has yet pushed them on this as far as I am aware. If it's ex-HKG then the amount in dispute is likely to be less than HK$50K, so you could take it to the HKG small claims tribunal.

If you let them reissue then not only will you lose the 10% discount, you'd also have to pay the current price, which could be substantially higher again (depending on where you originate).

I'm not sure how CX can be right?

On the one hand their (CX) rules are not in the public domain. The Oneworld rules appear to allow change of 1st coupon according to rule 16 without charge.

The only reference to changing the date of 1st intercontinental sector is in, the rather oddly numbered "0" of the technical rule sheet which states:

[I]The date of the first intercontinental sector determines the applicable seasonal fare for the entire journey.
Seasonality will be determined by the country of commencement of travel. If the outbound intercontinental
sector is open dated charge the peak season fare./I]

Once again according to Oneworld's website, seasonality only applies to Economy fares.

In my case, the fare is still the same (as I had ticket reissued before 1 May), only the discount no longer applies.

So I guess one is faced with 2 sets of rules that apparently contradict each other - one is in the public domain and the other is not, and the one that seems to apply is the unknown one.

Furthermore, when the ticket was issued, there were absolutely no conditions that you would expect where there are restrictions on amendments etc.

Above all, it certainly is not within the spirit that Oneworld announced the 10% discount.

Changing the 1st coupon is a complete reissue and repricing and is a normal standard ticketing activity and not part of fare rules

If the fare has changed, then c'est la vie

Dave

But that needs to be in the terms of the contract, and I don't see it anywhere. You can't just say "that's how it works" - contract tyerms are contract terms. I really hope someone will test this in court.

What if I am invol downgraded by CX (as mentioned in my other thread) and I need to change the date to get myself back to F?

I am talking about the 1st sector being downgraded.

It is an IATA rule that trumps the OW rules. It is not in their TOC because it does not have to be. First flight change means reissue against the conditions at that point in time. It is the law of the air and not a decision made by OW or your carrier. They can not make an exception. Something you could have taken advantage of if you purchased the ticket just before the 10% discount period. In this case: tough.

And involuntary downgrades are also no excuse since the ticket is for travel and not for a specific class. But that has been discussed to death already. Sometimes CX will compensate though, but only if it is last minute.

Dave

Thanks for the comment which raises a further issue:

The Oneworld Anniversary promotion offered 10% discount on fares. In this instance the fare has not changed, it is still the same fare that was in existence when the discount offer was in operation.

A discount is a reduction on the normal price, so what CX have done is remove the discount, not apply a new fare (because there was no new fare).

In the IATA world your logic does not work. It was a discounted fare, not a fare with a discount. Not logical maybe, but true.

By the way: it is in the TOC

Rebooking of the first coupon.

"Permitted without charge, the fares and charges shall be calculated in accordance with the fares and conditions in effect on the date on which the change is made"

balding theirs...

Rerouting the same but with the additional US125

Fair enough.....although grossly misleading.

Based on the Oneworld offer and their own Explorer Rules the consumer has a legitimate expectation that he will be treated in a particular manner which, at the end of the day, turns out to be the exact opposite due to a set of rules and regulations that hide in the murky waters to be used by airlines when it suits them.

So why publish fare rules if the alliance members have absolutely no intention of being bound them.

I suspect there may be a good case to argue, legally, that Oneworld has used their own rules (and advertising) to induce people to enter into specific contracts on specific terms - which the airline members have absolutely no intention of honouring as they regard their own rules as being subsidiary to IATA regulations.

I added the extract from the rule sheet later, so I suppose you haven't read that yet. It is also the responsibility of the purchaser to know what they are buying. Sellers cannot be expected to take every possible misinterpretation of the rules into account.

Besides: if you had reissued a ticket from before the discount when the 10% discount was in effect you would have gotten that discount too. It works both ways.

I understand your frustration but that is just the way it works. xONEx tickets are a bloody good deal so no sense complaining.

I suspect we may not be singing from the same "hymn sheet", so to speak!

I lifted the rule sheet from the Oneworld website and I must say that Rule 16 would appear to support my contention. I certainly cannot find the rule you showed, although I am now aware that it exists. Additionally, I can find little in Explorer rules that rebut my view.

I also agree with you on value and in this case the ticket is paid for by my employer. Nevertheless I do feel that there is an argument of principle involved

Here you go

I agree you have to really dive into it and most people learn by making the mistake. They could communicate it better, expecially for a ticket that is mostly issued long before it is used. So I agree with your frustration but it is in the rules and if you had asked before issuing they would have told you so.

I would suggest you take this up with OneWorld4U and see if you can't get the rules communicated better. Legally you have nothing though.

Of course, that's the CX version of the rules; applicable when departing from HKG.

Here's what ExpertFlyer has to say:The killer here is "UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED" - right at the start.