Question: Changing to earlier flight mid trip?

[neon_crossing]

Hey guys,

I have my 5th USDM J Award trip coming up on Tuesday and my very first on Oneworld carriers.

Routing:
ADL-BNE-HKG-NYC-ORD-MSP
MSP-ORD-HKG-SIN-KUL-ADL

I have a 10h layover in HKG and a 15h overnight layover in NYC. (going to attempt to make it in to see a show at the comedy cellar).

My question:
1. Has anyone ever successfully been moved onto an earlier flight mid award?

I have one been moved from a UA to NZ flight when a Mel-Lax flight was cancelled on my morning of departur but that was just pure luck.

I wouldn't mind trading some HKG hours for some NYC hours and jumping on one of the 2-3 earlier HKG-NYC flights on the same day.

Is it worth having a chat to the transit desk or is it too risky and might screw up the rest of my award?

Cheers,
-NC

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hey guys,

I have my 5th USDM J Award trip coming up on Tuesday and my very first on Oneworld carriers.

Routing:
ADL-BNE-HKG-NYC-ORD-MSP
MSP-ORD-HKG-SIN-KUL-ADL

I have a 10h layover in HKG and a 15h overnight layover in NYC. (going to attempt to make it in to see a show at the comedy cellar).

My question:
1. Has anyone ever successfully been moved onto an earlier flight mid award?

I have one been moved from a UA to NZ flight when a Mel-Lax flight was cancelled on my morning of departur but that was just pure luck.

I wouldn't mind trading some HKG hours for some NYC hours and jumping on one of the 2-3 earlier HKG-NYC flights on the same day.

Is it worth having a chat to the transit desk or is it too risky and might screw up the rest of my award?

Cheers,
-NC

Unless the airline has a good reason you should expect to fly on the flights as ticketed.

USDM specifically prohibits changes once travel has commenced, so you can try calling USDM in advance of departure if you find better connections (USD150 change fee), or you could ask in the lounge in HKG. But I suspect unless the flight is full and they need you to move to an earlier flight for their convenience, or if the flight you are scheduled on is delayed, you would travel as planned.

 

[ms1]

I'm actually interested in this discussion also as I have a GUM trip next month and have a 5 hour layover in HKG before flying to NRT. I rang US Airways and was happy to pay $150 to change to the earlier flight but they came back and said the original itinerary is invalid and it took a bit of smooth talking from me for them to leave things as they were.

I'm planning on requesting at the Wing for them to put me on an earlier flight to NRT but don't want to jeopardize the rest of the itinerary.

 

[thechung]

ms1, what did you say to the rep that convinced them to leave things as they were?

I am always paranoid about calling after things are ticketed and ticket numbers locked in with the respective airlines.

 

[ms1]

ms1, what did you say to the rep that convinced them to leave things as they were?

I am always paranoid about calling after things are ticketed and ticket numbers locked in with the respective airlines.

Actually, I tried my luck twice. First time the agent put through all the changes then put me on hold to process payment. She then came back and said she had spoken to the rates desk who advised that the entire itinerary is invalid (Being charged 30k miles instead of 90k, routing via Asia even though origin and destination is pacific etc etc). She apparently had to talk the supervisor into leaving the itinerary the way it was ticketed instead of cancelling the whole thing.

Second time more or less the same thing happened but after I hung up I checked the CX website which told me my ticket had not been issued. Went through another harrowing phone call to US Airways waiting to see whether they would reissue the ticket. I decided it's not worth risking getting the whole thing cancelled to make some minor changes.

I would say if your itinerary is valid and you've been charged the correct number of miles then you shouldn't have any issues calling and making changes. If you've been on the good end of one of their errors (wrong mileage, illegal routing etc) I'd recommend keeping quite.

 

[nickykim]

ms1 - How did you check the CX website to see whether your ticket had been issued? Struggling with this at the moment.

 

[ms1]

ms1 - How did you check the CX website to see whether your ticket had been issued? Struggling with this at the moment.

Used the manage my booking function of the CX website. Booking confirmation number should be the same as Qantas. As soon as I logged in it prompted me that the ticket had not been issues. It said I should call CX however they said I need US Airways to reissue the ticket.

 

[nickykim]

Tried to get the PNR from Qantas over the weekend and found them less than cooperative. Will try again when I have a moment. Thanks.

 

[neon_crossing]

remember with CX to put both your firstmiddle name as your name for the manage booking link.

Also I was able to change to earlier flights mid trip but only the first class domestic portion with american, they were more than happy to put me on 2 earlier flights when I got to the airport early!

 

[exceladdict]

Also I was able to change to earlier flights mid trip but only the first class domestic portion with american, they were more than happy to put me on 2 earlier flights when I got to the airport early!

Did this affect any later flights - particularly any that were on other carriers?

 

[exceladdict]

Bump - also wondering if anyone has experience with USDM tickets amidst snow Storms, etc, particularly any bookings on alliance partners.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Bump - also wondering if anyone has experience with USDM tickets amidst snow Storms, etc, particularly any bookings on alliance partners.

my experience with irrops during bad weather is that on the day, the operating airline will make arrangements to transport you to your destination, usually by any available carrier (not restricted to OW/star/skyteam).

I don't know the procedure for changing prior to travel (ie whether seats would be subject to award inventory).

 

[exceladdict]

my experience with irrops during bad weather is that on the day, the operating airline will make arrangements to transport you to your destination, usually by any available carrier (not restricted to OW/star/skyteam).

I don't know the procedure for changing prior to travel (ie whether seats would be subject to award inventory).

Thanks, much the same for me but only on non award tickets. Hopefully I won't be bumped to far down the list due to lower revenue from the booking...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks, much the same for me but only on non award tickets. Hopefully I won't be bumped to far down the list due to lower revenue from the booking...

I odn't know how much difference it makes in the states? There are literally dozens of connection via any number of hubs. Gate agents are pretty good at sorting things out. If you have an international connection you will usually get priority on the next available flight, regardless of what sort of ticket you seem to be on.