Sorry anat0l,
My Departure is ZRH. My destination is BNE (i just wasn't bothering listing the unimportant QF flight as they have availability on almost every flight).
By have: I mean that they are currently what I have reserved in the On Request reservation.
These are:
October 13 CX382 (13:30-07:05+1) F
October 15 CX542 (01:00-06:25) J
October 15 JL771 (19:25-07:10+1) F
October 16 QF524 (12:05-12:35) J
They didn't mention if I would have to pay the redeposit fee if it was changed to all J.
There is a Finnair flight HEL-KIX on October 13 (AY77) in J that might be able to meet up with JL771, but it seems AA can't book the KIX-NRT flight?
Alternatively ... would you suggest booking anything as long as i maintain an F segment, and then later trying to change?
Edit:
Early Nov there are Europe-NRT direct flights on JAL. I guess i could ask work if i can spend 2 weeks working from London office.
anat0l is all over this so my only other suggestion would be that if you do accept the 80k QR option that you insist that if an F routing opens up down the track (such as ZRH-x-LHR-xHKG-BNE) that you be allowed to make that change without penalty of any kind. As noted, CX is really good at releasing availability in the days leading up to a flight.
And finally, document the names of everyone you talk to at AA including the dates and times.
Did AA specifically tell you that this was the reason your award couldn't be ticketed?
This is a bit hairy - so you have a booking on hold (i.e. not ticketed at all)... I assume this means that you got this in before the change and once you ticket it, you will still be subject to the old pricing (I hope this is the case; the hunches going around were that if you were not in the ticketing queue before the deval, you were subject to the new prices).
On the other hand, if you are changing an existing ticketed booking and simply now in "on request" limbo, then that's a bit better. It means you can fly what you have, although it may not be ideal, plus it means that some changes to the booking will not need to cancel and reticket, staving you away from the new pricing.
By and large, US DM it held and if some of the old US agents have come across (and even in the yesteryear AAngel days), the reason given (for not being able to do what not) is frequently
not the real reason, but arguing to extract the true reason is sometimes too difficult and pointless (i.e. they said "no", so you either HUACA or concede and take the hint). As I said, your friends were lucky to get the routing they did (especially if it priced at the mere base direct zone to zone cost, not a bunch of costs strung together).
I'd get something booked ASAP. It seems you are "bound" onto a F booking and any variation will cause a reprice to the deval levels, so maybe it's best to keep it that way.
The part which concerns me is that there are up to four ways to get from Europe to South Pacific: via DOH (QR only), via DXB (QF only), via Asia 1 or via Asia 2. I wonder if you ticket up and then reroute via a different free transit method (keep class, origin and destination the same), does that cause a reticket or not.
This could mean that once you choose to go via Asia 1 or Asia 2, you'd be best to process your changes along those lines only to make sure there are no surprises. At the least, concede that you'll need to satisfy yourself with what you already have ticketed, and then if you want to change, ask for the cost of change first
before consenting to any changes (i.e. if it is free, confirm it; if it will cost something, how much and if you are prepared to cough it,
then and only then ask to process the change).
What does this all mean?
- Right now, I can see KUL-SYD on 14 Oct, MH J. That might be your way to connect from HKG and back to Australia. It's not the most optimal option, but it's not being stuck. This seems to line up best with your desired date.
- Routing via Asia 2 will give you up to 2 F segments: CX F to HKG and BA F to SYD (if you can secure the latter from SIN, and will pay up YQ). Routing via Asia 1 will give you up to 2 F segments, both JL F.
- If you would like to maximise the F you can get, it might be an idea to lock in the JL F option you found later, and try and negotiate with work whether you can go around this date. You could also book that now so you have something, then try to change it to an earlier date to suit as it gets closer to the date, however then you also have to balance when you will bite the bullet and tell the boss that you'll be working a little longer in Europe. I guess you could also tell the boss right now what the situation is, and if you end up changing to a more desirable date, update the boss and say good news (as long as the boss is adaptable to this kind of situation)!
- You could do the same with CX F, but you'll have to hold out for BA F opening up on SIN-SYD, which will (in theory) still give you a free ticket change but you will cough up a fare difference due to paying BA's fuel at the time you make this change. The alternative is settling for whatever J options you can get (e.g. MH J via KUL, QF J via SIN or CX J via HKG). Of course, if CX change their mind to run a F-equipped service HKG-SYD, you could jump on that.
- In either of the above cases, if something desirable opens up via the Middle East, you could try and switch to that from your current ticket and check if that will be a free exchange of flights. If it isn't (and HUACA doesn't work), then that might be a shame but at least at that point you will have an option to fall back on.
Long story short, decide on something and ticket up -
fast. Don't wait around for the holds to expire or whatever, otherwise you may start again with nothing and forced to pay new prices.
