Now you are getting patronising. I have done dozens of OWEs. I know what a ticket coupon is.

And stickers are for date/time changes that don't involve a change from stopover to transit. You cannot legitimately sticker the X field to an O. If whoever did the stickering didn't spot that then you got lucky.

I have been through this with multiple airlines, multiple ports and multiple ticketing airlines. And yes reissues cost US$125 (or US$100 previously).

I don't know what to tell you... They stickered my real route changes too (the ones I had to pay for) without reprinting the ticket. So much easier.

With regards to paying for changing transits to >24hr stopovers... I guess I saved hundreds and hundreds of $$$ over the years or you got ripped off.

No. I was simply explaining to people without the experience you or I have how a paper ticket used to work. That a paper ticket used to have two coupons for a AAA-xBBB-CCC flight illustrates (from my perspective) once again the likelihood that my dozens of free similar changes weren't goofs.

So if what you say is true then presumably you booked all of your OWEs as open-dated transit coupons (except one since you have to meet a 10 day minimum stay requirement - or perhaps you got that waived too?). That way you minimise all the taxes and you just roll up at the airport, get it stickered and off you go?

Stickering a routing change (e.g taking a coupon that says HKG-TPE and stickering it to HKG-LHR) is just ridiculous. You cannot and could never legitimately sticker a routing change. Apart from anything else it would clearly break all the back office accounting necessary for paying the airlines involved.

I didn't get ripped off - I paid what was required according to the terms of the ticket. You seem to have got lucky, repeatedly.

You seem to be implying that an e-tkt wouldn't have two coupons for this, which is clearly wrong. Two flights (except single flight number service) are always two coupons, even in the electronic world.

I think the xONEx re-issue fee was USD75 until a few years ago when it increased to USD125.

Sorry, yes. It's been a while, but I think you're right. Maybe it was the GlobEx that was at $100 for a while.

As I said repeatedly before, I am not talking about recalculation of taxes. I made the change with BA (or AA or CX), got billed for the tax change (or reimbursed) and proceeded to the airport with the paper ticket. In the case of new dates (also when changing from transit to stopover) no further action was required since the data was already in the system.

In the case of a route change I proceeded to the sales desk of the issuing airline first, they stickered the ticket and Bob was my uncle. This happened 3 times over the years.

Well, again: what can I say? Seems like you got it right and all my agents got it wrong.

I might add over 20 times. I checked. Some kind of luck, wouldn't you say?

Yes, that was more or less my point. :)

EDIT PS: I am not trying to be right here. I am merely sharing my experiences*. Luckily AA still (to this day) does not charge me the reissue fee for this and since the ticket recently was reissued by CX (for complicated reasons I will not bother you with) I know for a fact that they don't either. Not their HKG office and not their AMS office. BA does not do it from MRU, LHR, USA. AA does not do it from AA RTW or AA CPT. In fact they are always almost apologetic about recalculating the tax.

* which do coincide with my interpretation of the rules by the way.

All I can say is that I find it very curious that you are in a minority of one and that all the other regulars here who have described their experiences have had the same experience as me.

Antway, there's no point in discussing this further. Just send your fairy godmother over to wave her wand for tt7 and we can move on.

Christep, you keep saying that your experience matches everyone elses in this thread. Simply not true (again). Be careful stating fiction as fact. These are the real experiences. So it is not me being the exception here. I read a lot of opinions, but only 4 experiences. Yours, mine and these ones. 4 against 2 for no reissue fee. :)

I suddenly understand the issue!

Maybe some airlines book transits simply as stopovers < 24hrs.

I didn't say "everyone else" I said "the other regulars here" - i.e. the people who have demonstrated time and again that they use and understand these products; people with thousands of posts, not tens or hundreds.

Moreover, alemdohorizonte is talking about a different issue (not being allowed to use a coupon marked O for a transit) where Qantas was clearly wrong.

Your final point may cover many of the cases here. I think, for example, that AA will always issue domestic sectors as stopovers since there is generally no tax difference.

You also get a load more flexibility when only one airline is involved. For example, AA has more than once uplifted two coupons when I was planning to do an extra sector just for the miles and allowed me to take the direct flight (say uplifting coupons for MIA-ORD-JFK as a valid ticket for a direct MIA-JFK flight).

Yes you did...

You really have a problem with facts, don't you?

Seriously? Are you now saying you have more understanding of the product than I do (or the other examples) and therefor your experience is more important?

I (and the others) understand the product so well that we do not pay for something you do pay for. Are you really unable to admit you might just be wrong???

As I have previously commented my experiences do not agree with yours but, rather, are consistent with Christep and the others. Years ago when stickering was common I sometimes found that a "tame" agent would do as you say, I also knew that this "favor" I received could be caught down the line(and it sometimes was) and the resulting questions and delay might or might not be worth it.

The others in this thread agree with me. The ones with experiences, not opinions that is.

It is now No Reissue fee 4, reissue fee 2.

A gentle reminder to please keep it civil. Those of us who travel a lot have surely experienced cases where airlines willingly bend or turn a blind eye to rules, and also cases where the airlines don't know the rules properly.

FT is a site for sharing experiences so we all learn, not to play silly games of tit for tat. Please resume normal service. I'm off for a coffee.

Kiwi Flyer
OW moderator

As I said; not trying to be right but hoping people will not simply accept a reissue fee. If I and several others did not have to pay one it is at best a very poorly enforced rule.

I would appreciate if everyone sticks to the facts instead of making them up to prove their point though. That does not help the genuinly interested traveler who wonders if he has to pay for reissue or not.

So, in an attempt to get back to the facts:

BA does not seem to charge them from MRU (and in my experience US/UK)
CX does not seem to charge them from either HKG or AMS
AA does not seem to charge them from AA RTW (US) or CPT
Finnair does not seem to charge them.

Are the other two experiences with QF by any chance or with the airlines/agents listed above?

I really would like to know since I would never buy a RTW from QF if that is the case.

All my RTW have started in Africa by the way (MRU, JNB and CPT). I have no idea if that plays a role. I understand that RTW's ex US have some different rules for changes. Can anyone confirm or deny?