Quote:
Originally Posted by jimworcs
I think there may be a way to do this, but it will cost you $150. Phxflyer is good on this, but he is currently suspended or banned I think, so hopefully some of the other frequent flyers might be able to help. I think what you do is you buy and full fare open ticket fully refundable ticket with the money through to travel within the timeframe they require. Then just before you travel you change it for another ticket for the journey you really want. I am not fully sure the details on how this is done, but the change costs you $150 I think. Hopefully one of the other frequent flyers or Delta employees who come on here regularly can advise you the best way to do this properly.
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yes Jim, however if it was an international itinerary it can be anywhere from $200 all the way up to $450 to reissue the ticket, depending on how restricted it is, and if it was booked through a travel agency etc.
but basically your ticket expires one year after the date of issue. if you call and reissue your ticket today. we'll use December 29, 2009 as an example. you pay the fees, etc. the first rep you get should put in your new itinerary hit the go button and it will reissue your ticket for the new trip AND give you a new expiration date of 1 year from today Dec 10, 2010. since you're just putting in "dumby" flight days. make sure you pay for a refundable ticket. because if you go with what's cheapest you're probably going to get another restricted fare, so when you go to reissue the ticket for your "real" flight days you'd get hit with another charge. with a refundable ticket you wouldn't get charged for another reissue charge. and you'd get the difference back on your credit card (however the original 1200 you paid remains non-refundable).
there is only one downside to doing this, the above scenario isn't guaranteed. that's only if all of the automation works correctly. which it does 90% of the time. some travel agency tickets won't work, and if the ticket has been reissued several times it won't work. if the automation doesn't work and it turns into a "manual" reissue. where the representative has to store the fare manually, etc. then the original expiration date will remain. this is a completely one sided policy, but reps don't have a way to change the expiration date of a ticket.
the other more costly way to get everything. is to find a cheap fare if you do enough searching you can sometimes find a cheap $99 fare. i'd try the NY to FL markets for those cheap fares. and book a one way ticket for $99. pay the reissue charges, so you're paying reissue charges plus the $99. and the remainder comes back to you as a travel voucher that must be booked prior to the expiration date. sometimes it will be given to you with the original expiration date. and sometimes the travel vouchers will have an expiration date from the date of reissue (reffer to the two above scenarios)
however, all of this is considered "throw away ticketing" and is written into the contract of carriage somewhere. I don't know what the consequences are if any when it comes to this. I just figured i should throw that out there for your information.
I hope all of this information helps you with your situation. it sucks you were sick.