RTW Rules
 

I may be mistaken but under the RTW rules I was under the impression that chnages were possible after commencement of the journey with no additional fee. So, during my lates RTW while checking in at CPT I wanted to chnage my FRA-LHR flight to one departing 2 hours later. I was told it will cost me 75USD!! Needless to say I did not chnage my flight. Is this fee standard? It was a CSTARRTW

IIRC, date/time (but not routing) changes are free of change before and after departure on Star RTW tickets. I wonder if the problem was that you were trying to make a sand day change (as in, essentially standby for a later flight). That may have been treated differently (or in fact, the issuing agent (LH?) perhaps didn't know).

Or, the rules could have been changed, but I had always understood date/time changes of flights was FOC.

It is not standard - change of date - and even carrier for a ticketed leg is FOC - in fact the easiest way is simply to make a booking for the flight you want through the airline call center or a TA in assuming the correct class is availabe - D - and then just go to the booked flight and use the coupon that you have - no need to reissue / resticker.

Cheers

Thomas

So I guess it could have been possible that the fee was for a D to C class change - ie to a higher fare bucket than the CSTARRTW was booked in ?? :confused:

As stated, the change is free. My guess is that the agent with whom you spoke was unfamiliar with RTW rules and did not verify whether or not there was a charge for changing flights on a xSTARRTW.

I find it extremely useful to print off a copy of the rules and carry it with me, just in case such a situation arises.

Hi wideman - what's the best way to access and print the rules? Ask a UA CSR? go online? great suggestion, but let me/us know how if possible. Thanks!

Look in the *A Useful Reference Links sticky at the top of this forum -- you'll find links to the RTW rules.

Thanks for all the info. I thought as much but wasn't keen on arguing as I had not carried the rules with me--will do from now. Checking in at CPT was a slow process!! Of course the LH flight was no great shakes either--in Business class nonetheless.

'no great shakes' -- interesting phrase. Of course I get your meaning, from the context, but I'm curious about the expression itself. Is it regional? Any idea as to the derivation?

cheers,

Henry

henry999--no it is not a regional expression--methinks it is a very british phrase!!

No. You cannot upgrade fare classes by sector on a RTW ticket - no D to C, or D to F -not in this manner anyway. Upgrading using miles/certs etc by carrier rules is, of course, fine.. but an agent shouldn't be rebooking a D to C just to get around a capacity conterol - that's against the fare rules of the Star tickets for sure - the OP would have been told the flight wasn't available (or should have been, anyway).

Yes, having just gone through this, the LH agent was wrong to ask for a fee, and it does not surprise me that the agent might not have known the rules. I had a copy with me, but the agent I dealt with did have to call the rate desk anyway to verify no fee.

And sadly, you are out of luck if there is no booking class available--you may be able to waitlist or stand by depending on airline policy, but you can't buy up at all. I didn't think it would be a problem with the higher booking classes of RTWs, but I've already realized I was wrong about this. :(

....and also a very common American phrase.

I have a similar question:
It appears my booked flight no longer exists. It was an SQ flight, there is a LH flight leaving at approximately the same time. I was told that there was a reissue fee for making that change because it involved a change in carrier. Is this correct? It goes against my understanding, but before I call back and "demand" the LH flight instead of SQ a day later, I wanted to make sure I'm right :)

If you were already booked (for a particular date) and ticketed and the flight you were booked on is no longer flying then should be no fee to reissue (as this is involuntary). Not sure if this also applies where the segment was open (not booked for a particular date).