RTW - Transfer and Stopover
 

Just to make sure that I understand correctly, how Star RTW works, before I buy the first one:

If flight dates/times are changed in a way, that a transfer would become a stopover in one city (i.e. the time spend would exceed 24 hours in this city), I assume that I might face the fee for rerouting. However, this will not be the case the other way round (i.e. the time spend would be reduced below 24 hours).

Is this correct? Thanks for your feedback (and please let me know should I am wrong if I assume that any stop shorter than 24 hours is a transfer (wether or not I leave the airport), and any stop longer a stopover).

Technically, you could face a reticket charge or (much) worse if you change a stopover to a transit. The "much worse," in theory, is if your original RTW had exactly 3 stopovers. If you changed one of them to a transit, you no longer have a valid RWSTAR itinerary, and could be charged a point-to-point fare. Again, that is entirely in theory.

In practice, it would take a reservation agent with a very keen eye to notice such a change. No doubt there exist some such agents; however, in my experience, one is much more likely to deal with an agent who will, out of either ignorance or insouciance, simply let you make the change.

I assume that you are speaking only of changes that the passenger initiates, and not airline schedule changes.

I'm taking an FRTWSTAR1 in a couple of weeks and have the opposite situation. I would like to convert a xfer into a stopover. Specifically, I'm taking a CDG-JFK flight via FRA and it specifically says "no stopover permitted" next to FRA. I decided that I could get add a couple of extra days to my trip and wanted to spend a day in Frankfurt or Munich (or some other major hub.) A couple of questions came up:

1) I know there is a re-routing fee (something like $150/ticket/re-route.) If I was to change CGD-JFK to CDG-ZRH-JFK I'm assuming the only fee I would incur is the $150/ticket (and maybe an extra airport tax, fuel surcharge etc. just not any huge chunk of change) Is there any surprises I should look for? I am well below the mileage limit for this fare so I'm not worried about that.

2) I haven't left yet so I think if I changed this now, it would be a considered re-fare, what exactly does that mean in terms of payment? Do I have to pay the entire amount for the ticket again and then apply for a refund on the old ticket? So do I just pay a difference in the ticket? And is this a brand new ticket with a different pnr and would that screw up all my seat selections leading up to the change?

3) Finally, is it just better to start my journey and then change the flights to avoid the re-fare problem (was trying to avoid this cause I lock down changes to hotels etc. before I left)

Not sure if any of this makes a difference, but it's 2 FRTWSTAR1 tickets bought throught LH.

Thanks in advance,

--dixon

One option would be to spend a day in Frankfurt without the need to reissue the ticket at all.

You could take the LH flight from CDG that leaves at 9.10am and arrives at 10.25am. Then you could spend the day in Frankfurt, and the following morning take either the SQ flight (at 8.30am) or the first LH flight (at 10.05am). With a lass-than-24hr connection, you've got a transit instead of a stopover, and you've also got virtually a full day in Frankfurt.

In addition to saving the re-issue fee, you also save the significant hassle of getting a new itinerary approved and priced -- to me, that's worth as much as the re-issue fee.

I don't really mind the re-issue fee, this is for my honeymoon so I don't mind spending a few $100 for a nice detour. But you bring up an interesting point about the hassle. I guess I should be asking is what *are* the hassles of getting LH to re-issue the ticket?

I'm going to be at the airport and have a few hours to kill this coming weekend, so time isn't a concern. There's only one flight after then one I want to change, so it's a bit of a hassle, but really we only have to find 3 new flights that work for us.

I guess the only real deal killers would be if it added a significant amount to the cost (for example if repricing for some reason added 10% to the total cost, but since new itinerary is still RTWSTAR1, I can't think of a reason why that would be the case.) or if I had to pay for the ticket again and get a refund on the old tickets (I'd rather not tie up that amount of $$ for any length of time.)

Is there anything else that I might be missing? Also, is it any less/more hassle re-routing after we start the trip as opposed to before we start?

Thanks again,

--d

By the rules this is not a problem at all. With my TA it would take less than 5 minutes. However, if you try doing it directly through LH (or any other airline) it can become a big hassle due to lack of knowledge/experience.

Ah .. Got it, when I called LH, the CSA stated they don't see too many RTW trips and he'd have to research it. So I was on the phone for about 20 mins to get same fairly basic answers (I was able to find the same answers from the *A RTW rules, but it was good to get verfication.) Don't get me wrong, he was very pleasant and did thoroughly answer my initial question, but I see your point about lack of experience. Thanks to all that answered!