Rampo

Wait until the official announcement. After it's become official it's reasonably certain that you will have the option of redepositing your FF miles without penalty or coming up with an acceptable alternative.

sfernando

I also had two J FF tix IAD-JFK-BKK for Nov 08 booked through Air Canada Aeroplan. Having seen this thread, I called today and rescheduled the whole thing with slight but acceptable schedule changes. AC didn't ask for proof of the TG flight discontinuation and were very accommodating. Now scheduled DCA-ORD-ICN-BKK but am in F for the ORD-ICN legs, and J the rest.

The AC rep did say that there was a lot of talk among themselves about major TG schedule changes coming, including this one. I also spoke with TG directly today and while they won't confirm the service discontinuation, they aren't taking bookings after June. I was advised to consider other options for my November award trip because non-revenue (ie FF) pax would not be rescheduled by TG (unlike paying folk). Bottom line: you're probably on your own.

I wouldn't wait one minute on any "official" announcements from Thai if you want to secure your award trip: this is a serious loss of face and any announcement likely will be last minute, by which time you probably won't be able to find a suitable replacement itinerary. So I'd call USAir now. There are innumerable other routings on *A carriers that don't involve LAX. You may have to pay a relatively small rebooking fee. Redepositing miles will be the final issue if you ultimately decide not to take the trip or they can't find a good schedule.

Hope this helps.

filmwill

While I agree with the sentiment, whatever carrier you redeemed your mileage award on (UA, US, etc) is REQUIRED to get you from Point A to Point B in a compromise that's acceptable to the customer.

So, folks, you're not on your own--as mentioned, I would wait until there is an official confirmation. As we know, TG has a tendency to ponder a lot of ideas than change their mind at the last minute.

Worst case, they cancel the route. And UA, US, AC and others will then be required to route their pax with award tix booked to the same destination in the same class (as available). May not be direct, but at least you won't be cast adrift.

Not the best news in the world, but not the worse either.

Nontaco

No!!!! I've got tix booked for that flight on August 22. Any idea what the protocol would be if its cancelled? I assume I'd be entitled to reimbursement or rescheduling on a different flight.....but that sounds like it could be a serious dickover and who knows what the options would be. What usually happens?

broadwayboy

I called UA to have my award ticket changed. The agent called TG to confirm, but TG rep would not confirm the discontinuation of the nonstop service. My final destination is actually DPS, so hopefully SQ seats will open up. Thing is, I don't know when I should call UA back again.

YVR Cockroach

A few months (or a couple of years) ago, I heard losses on this route was something in the order of $100mm yearly when oil was a lot cheaper. I don't see TG having the revenue power that SQ has for SIN-EWR so I imagine this loss much be much greater now.

erik123

This is correct in my view. As the flight has not yet been officially canceled (just zeroed out) it is unlike that the issuing carrier will rebook you at this point in time.

They will very likely find you an alternative (and possibly auto-rebook you) when the flight finally shows up in the various booking systems as canceled.

FromDC

I had no luck with US trying to rebook on other airlines for award travel. When the flight is officially cancelled, will TG be required to get me from the same point to point in the same class within a similar time frame (so I may have to go thru LAX?) Even if there are no official award seats left?

IsNoGood

Well Kind of funny it looks like it still in the in flight mag for June, but the miles are wrong,

Btw if TG lose USD on this, might be all the Flyertalk users are using the reward point on this flight

wcaldog

Very sad to learn this news. Add me and my companion for another set of people set to travel on this flight in November on UA FF miles. In fact I didn't want to fly with TG because I wanted a break in between JFK-BKK, but I was told that was the only one with I class available.

My question is. When should we expect the official announcement to come? I guess everyone has pretty much concluded that it is 100% cancelled. Shouldn't they announce it ASAP so that people can make other arrangement? I tried to call Thai office in NY but it got nowhere to a real person. I have never been able to talked to a real person via phone. Very nice customer service!

Interestingly, this is the 2nd time Thai has screwed me. In 2003, I was flying LAX-BKK on that old 747 and they decided to change it from daily to only a few days a week and I had to cancelled and fly with ANA b/c they day i was flying was cancelled. Because of their fault, I was expecting to receive 100% refund but they deducted some cancellation fee in the hundreds and would not repay me those. I booked it via Expedia and they also could not help because they tried to call the airline and they had 1 (ONE) person doing the refund for the whole USA and he/she was on vacation for a few weeks. I just gave up on that in the end after playing their phone game. I thought this NY route was promising, but after this, NEVER Thai Again! How is it that Cathay Pacific has 3 flights a day HKG-JFK and Thai can't even sustain 1?!? CX economy flights are quite cheap as well... in the 3 digits if you look hard enough!

flyr16

Based on my experience with Singapore Air, no TG is not required to get you anywhere if the TG flight you are on is canceled and your ticket FF ticket was written by US Air. US Air are the ones who owe you something. This is precisely what happened to me when, after the SIA change, I asked SIA what I could do with my FF ticket that I had booked via US Air. They said "we have no control" over that ticket and that, even to check availability on another carrier with that ticket, I would have to go through that other carrier, i.e., US Air. Of course, they (TG and US Air) should, I think, credit back your miles and your monies spent for having bought the ticket. As in my case, I imagine that isn't what you want to do.

Concerning when TG will let people know, again I felt that SIA's handling of the situation in this regard was the worst aspect of the entire experience. I fully understand SIA's (and any other carrier's) decision to revise their flights based on economic concerns. Yet, the fact they kept ticketed passengers in the dark for so long, months even after they stopped writing tickets for the non stops, is what was so disheartening. Plainly, internally, they had made the decision to switch the flight yet, for whatever reason, held back that announcement until long after it was made. And, even if for business purposes they didn't want to announce the switch, when paying (even if via FF, though I had both paying and FF seats) passengers call with a direct question about the flight, can't they at least concede the switch is "under review," or some other innocuous language?

Also, for those with purchased tickets, one piece of advice may be to print out some of the ticket prices you can purchase today for the same route, via other carriers. In the event TG cancels, and you have then to purchase other tickets, these print outs may be valuable. When, after I was switched to the one stop and cheaper flight I asked for a refund of the difference between the higher price I paid for the non stop, versus the cheaper ticket previously available on the one stop (amounting to hundreds of dollars), I was told by SIA that they could not "recreate" those price structures. After some additional back and forth, in person at SIA's NYC headquarters, I received back the grand total of thirty dollars. Dollars, not Euros.

Obviously, I'm a bit chastened by my experience but, for that reason, I urge other FT's to be proactive and cover your bases. If you can "reserve" but not ticket some other flight routes I think you should do so, unless of course this cancellation is all a rumor, as it was about 18 months ago..............

A_Lee

CX uses the 773 for two of those flights and a 744 with a stop for the other. Based on what I've heard there will be a huge difference in fuel costs between CX's flights and TG's longer flight using a 345. I believe the 345 isn't nearly as fuel efficient as what TG and other airlines were expecting when they added these routes and with the rising fuel prices just makes it all that much worse. They tried to make it work but simply can't with the economics involved. I think we'll have to wait for more fuel efficient aircraft before we see a return to these ultra long haul flights.

transpac

I believe you are mistaken, at least in the case of UA/MP. They are not required to do any such thing. There have been many, many first-hand reports, in the case of schedule change/cancellation on award tickets, where UA/MP have simply canceled the award ticket, redeposited the miles (without any applicable fees) and refunded any associated fees. Please review the terms and conditions of your award ticket. You are setting yourself, and others, up for a huge disappointment. I would not wait to find alternatives or re-arrange my trip.

If you had a paid ticket, issued on 016 stock, which included BKK-JFK on TG then UA would probably be more willing to offer alternatives.

BKKROP

Very good advice transpac.

If you are using TG points, if or when they cancel, you will find they are easy to handle and they will look after refunding the mileage into your account, or swinging them over to YOUR next choice.

It will not be up to any airline, and that includes TG, to make alternative arrangements if an award flight is cancelled and you or your airline have been notified. They may help, but at the end of the day, this is your responsibility!!!

If you have a paid ticket, TG or your own airline will offer a solution.


OT. The Australian Westpac Bank has joined with SQ Krisflyer program, allowing redemption of 2 of their points for 1 SQ. This is importantant news for many of us in Australia/New Zealand as we have been unable to get a backdoor entry into the TG or and any *A program for our day to day spending. regards bkkrop

filmwill

I think you are misunderstanding me...the post I referenced mentioned having the tix canceled by a partner award and not being notified by the carrier--just having the miles redeposited directly without an opportunity to rebook another routing, if available.

That, as far as I know, does not happen. If it did, wouldn't the carrier face a decent amount of liability for potentially purchased connecting tix to the original award ticket? If not, how on earth are people supposed to plan a trip using an award tix that involved any other flights other than the origin flights?

My intention is not to set anyone up for anything (heck, I don't even have a ticket on the JFK route)...just asking questions/putting out opinions...so I'm not sure where that came from...