As some of you probably know, next year my family of seven (including in-laws) is planning a trip to Japan. See my series of posts here
I can’t tell you how relieved I was to have all the flights finally booked via miles. There is a huge question mark when it comes to my father-in-law’s health, but at least I did everything that was within my circle of control.
Of course, with so many flights involved, there were bound to be some changes. Airlines constantly tweak their schedules, that’s normal. What I didn’t expect was having an award flight cancelled, period. That’s the situation I found myself in when I was browsing BA.com the other day. I previously used Avios to book our flight from Tokyo Narita airport to Los Angeles. When I logged into my account, it said “canceled” next to the reservation. What?!
I clicked on it, and the only alternate routing offered was a flight to Los Angeles via Dallas. If you have a decent grasp on geography, you know how insane that option is. It doesn’t help that we live in Florida.
To add insult to the injury, we have already booked our flight from LAX to Orlando using Delta miles. Since it’s a completely separate reservation, there was no way to cancel the tickets without shelling out some serious bucks (about $200 penalty per person). I checked and there was no schedule change on Delta flight, the only loophole that would avoid the stiff redeposit fees.
That’s the problem with using various mileage programs and complicated routings. When one piece falls, it can have a domino effect on the entire plan.
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p style=”text-align: center;”>Photo by Marco Lermer on Unsplash
Since we have elderly people flying with us, Dallas routing was totally unacceptable. There is no way I was going to add an extra four hours of flying, plus a connection. I was given an option to cancel the reservation and get a redeposit of Avios points without penalty. But that wasn’t a great alternative either. We have to get to LAX from Japan somehow, preferably without bankrupting the family in the process.
Researching various options, and my call to British Airways
After quick online search, I found the reason for the cancelation. It looks like American has added a second flight from LAX to Haneda (the airport closest to Tokyo) and dropped Narita slot. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any award availability for my date. Plus, I remembered that for some reason, Avios program added fuel surcharges on those flights.
I was happy to discover that JAL had seven award seats available. Same rate in Avios, too. Great! Of course, we would still be stuck with fuel surcharges of around $120 per person. Still, it was a better alternative compared to paying cash or flying to LAX via Dallas.
However, instead of doing everything online, I wanted to call British Airways and see if they could waive the fuel surcharges as a courtesy. It was a long shot, but worth a try. The Indian representative seemed very friendly, but couldn’t understand what I was talking about. I almost hung up, but glad I didn’t.
Once he grasped my dilemma, he was eager to find an acceptable solution. I’ve mentioned that we have elderly people flying with us, and that Dallas connection was a dealbreaker. He said that he once booked a flight for his mom, and similar thing happened to her.
I’ve mentioned JAL flight, but he said switching to it would not be possible. I could cancel and rebook, of course, but then I would be stuck with the dreadful fuel surcharges. At that point, I’ve pretty much accepted my fate, but then he said he would talk to his supervisor.
When he came back, I was told that they contacted American Airlines and that we could rebook and get a flight from Haneda to LAX at no additional charge. I’m assuming that American rep manually opened award availability as a courtesy. Yay!
It was a perfect solution to the problem, and I’m so glad I called instead of taking the easy route of doing everything online. We didn’t have to pay extra in fees, and ended up with Haneda airport which is much closer to Tokyo than Narita.
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Few takeaway points
1) “Babysit” your reservations.
Nancy has written a post on how important it is to “babysit” your seat assignments .The same logic applies here as well. Avios program is usually pretty good about sending notifications in case of cancelations or schedule changes. But in this case, our reservation fell through the cracks for some reason.
I’m glad I accidentally saw the problem in time, so I could fix it. I would be kicking myself if flying to LAX via Dallas was our only option.
2) HUCA
That means “hang up, call again.” I admit, if the agent didn’t go the extra mile, I probably would have just rebooked tickets on JAL and pay the extra $480 for four of us. So it’s a lesson for me too, in a way. Airlines have more leeway than you think, even when it comes to award bookings on partner airlines. But you may not get what you want unless you persist. A 30-minute phone call is most definitely worth saving $480.
3) Be friendly and try to find common ground with a rep.
I’m certain that if I came off as confrontational, the agent would tell me to go pound sand. Instead, I’ve mentioned that my in-laws are elderly, and that a Dallas connection would be a hardship for them. He instantly related, having had his old mother go through the same thing.
Also, in the course of the conversation, he asked me for some tips on visiting Florida since he was in the middle of planning a trip to my home state. At the end of the phone call, he mentioned how much he enjoyed talking to me, and I felt the same way.
Despite a bit of a language barrier on his part+my accent, we had a genuine human interaction, and I’m extremely grateful that he was willing to go the extra mile. We live in the time when people are angry or just don’t care. This BA rep was honestly like a breath of fresh air.
In conclusion, I sure am glad we dodged that bullet. Now if we can just get my FIL in decent shape to go Japan…
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Author: Leana
Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.
A schedule change or cancellation by the airline means you have more power to pick the flight you want regardless if paid flight or award . If an agent tells you there needs to be award space , kindly remind them they made the change, not you. If they insist there has to be award space, they are wrong , then huca.
@Forbinator I agree with everything you said, and mentioned HUCA in the post. However, it does depend on whether you redeem miles on a partner airline or not. In my case, BA program did offer me routing through Dallas at no additional cost. Obviously, it wasn’t acceptable to us, hence my phone call. But it was AA who cancelled the flight, not BA. So technically, they could have just refunded Avios and be done with it.
You can make airline schedule changes work for you as well. I once booked in March (for December travel) a flight with my wife and four small children that had two connections AND an overnight stay because it was during peak travel season (specifically, the Saturday after New Year’s) and that was the only AA flight that didn’t cost an arm and a leg in points.
If push came to shove, I was willing to suck it up and do this itinerary but I booked it hoping AA would change their schedule at some point in the next nine months and sure enough, they did. I was able to change to a one-connection, no-overnight itinerary for no cost.
@Nick Very true. American is known for making schedule changes and in the past we have taken advantage of that fact. In my case, I booked AA flights through BA program, so it complicated things. There is a definite downside to involving a third party (AKA booking trough partner) because it gives you less leverage. I was pleasantly surprised by how Avios rep handled it, but it’s a lesson learned. Next time we may not be as lucky. I’m confident we would have zero issues switching to Haneda if I used AA miles instead of Avios. But all was well, regardless.
So glad everything worked out. Award flights for a group is so stressful.
@Stephanie Thanks! Having to plan a trip for a large group is definitely stressful. I hated telling my sister-in-law that they will probably have to cough up extra money for fuel surcharges. When that didn’t happen, we all felt like celebrating!
You win, as Haneda is SO much easier to get to from Tokyo than NRT is.
Haneda is a 35min cab ride from downtown Tokyo (Shidome/Ginza area).
@Mojo Absolutely! A win, for sure. I should have probably made that more clear for those who are not familiar with Tokyo airports.