Denis Carlin

I have the following flights booked:
14 Oct 2022
LX160 ZRH-NRT 13:00-08:55 (Premium Economy E)
OZ 101 NRT - ICN 13:10'15:40 (Economy Y)
05 Nov 2022
WE565 HAN-BKK 20:25-22:15 (Premium Economy - U)
08 Nov 2022
LX181 BKK-ZRH 13:20-19:25 (Premium Economy - N)

Everything was booked via Swiss.com and at a great price in the current climate for PE ($1500)
I still have to book separately my ICN-HAN connection but was planning on approx 11 nights South Korea, 11 nights Vietnam and 3 nights in Bangkok.

However, I booked our flights having given up on Japan this year (my preferred option) but as it now seems possible I'm wondering if I should change my plans.
The options I see are
1) Leave flights as is, shorten time in SK and Vietnam and go to Japan in the middle.
2) Modify flights to remove NRT-ICN segment and book flight to HAN from Tokyo instead of Seoul (Medium time in Japan, reduced time in Vietnam, same in BKK )
3) Modify flights to remove NRT-ICN and HAN-BKK segments and change BKK-ZRH to NRT-ZRH (whole trip in Japan)
4) Modify flights to remove NRT-ICN and HAN-BKK segments and book NRT-BKK segment (all Japan except for few days in BKK)
5) Stick to original plan and forget about Japan for another year.

I was notified by Swiss of a schedule change so the HAN-BKK segment will be 15 minutes later and I have to confirm my itinerary changes or cancel flight
("Your current booking will be cancelled but the ticket and booking code will remain valid to book new flights.")

So, my question is, would any of options 1-4 be viable at all or likely to involve paying out shitloads?
I haven't contacted the Service Centre yet but would like to know if there is any point beforehand.

Thanks in advance.

Denis Carlin

So, from reading more, it sounds that any change such as removing segment(s) will result in the fare being recalculated and as the price has increased (for my existing flights) since I booked, I'd be looking at a heft increase, is that right?

My CHF1500 flights are now CHF2100 so I imagine we'd be out quite a bit of cash.
So, I suppose if we do decide to go to Japan, only option 1 would make any sense with ICN-NRT flights being CHF120?

Unterwegs

It is my understanding that changes to the ticket (like leaving out sectors or changing a connection to a stopover etc) before the first flight triggers a reprice plus change fees.
You need to decide if it is better to pay the new fare or buy two extra flights (and the lost time for extra travel).

What about just doing the trip as originally planned? Both Korea and Vietnam offer so much to see/do that you will run out of time there quickly.

Denis Carlin

Thanks unterwegs,
It would be too expensive I think, looking online the price difference between my original and potential routes are 600 or more so additional flight would be much cheaper.
I think it's very likely that we will do the original trip and hopefully get back to Japan next year but I really miss Japan so the temptation is strong.
I've been to Vietnam 11 years ago and know it's great but South Korea will be completely new.

Denis Carlin

I called Swiss
Removing NRT-ICN segment costs CHF500
Removing HAN-BKK is free as they've changed the schedule (by 15 mins).