I am using my ATW passes later this month. I need ideas on a situation I put myself in. I listed on a 540am when I thought it was a 540pm flight. It is a kick off flight, and I can't leave until afternoon. There are several other flights with seats for later in the day. I am within 21 days of the trip, so I may be out of luck. I asked employee services if I could non-rev on a later flight, and they said I would forfeit the rest of my trip if I did. Can I contact the ticket counter and pay a change fee to cancel the first leg of the trip?
ATW reward Passes
- Thread starter Steel Curtain
- Start date
As I understand the rules as posted on the employee travel site, you can not make a change to your reservation within 21 days of initial departure. If you do attempt to change, the rules say you will forfeit the ATW coupon completely.
However, since they are one-way passes, it seems to me that you could non-rev on the outbound and use the return coupon as originally scheduled. The outbound and inbound trips are not connected to each other in any way that I know of other than your name and employee number, so there would be no way for them to cancel your return positive space pass just because you had to change the outbound leg which then got cancelled.
Last month I used two of my ATW passes. One to fly DFW-PHL-BUD to join a Danube River cruise. The cruise ended at Mainz, Germany (nearest International airport is Frankfurt), and I used the other pass to fly FRA-PHL-DFW. BUD to FRA is quite an open jaw on a roundtrip ticket, but no problem with these passes. I had to check-in separately for both, and on the outbound they asked no question regarding how I planned to get back home, nor did anyone ask how I got to Frankfurt. It was a non-issue to them. In fact, I got upgraded to First Class for the FRA-PHL leg. FWIW, PHL-DFW was a nightmare. Thanks to the TSA in PHL, I missed my connecting flight to DFW and had to fly AE to MEM, sit for 2 hours, then fly AE MEM-DFW. My checked luggage and I did not arrive on the same flight. It did make it to DFW, though, and I was able to retrieve the checked bag the next day.
Before forfeiting your pass, ask yourself why you can't leave until the afternoon. I would try to figure out a way to leave on the early morning booked flight. These coupons are worth their weight in gold (from a guy who got upgraded to F/C on an international flight.).
However, since they are one-way passes, it seems to me that you could non-rev on the outbound and use the return coupon as originally scheduled. The outbound and inbound trips are not connected to each other in any way that I know of other than your name and employee number, so there would be no way for them to cancel your return positive space pass just because you had to change the outbound leg which then got cancelled.
Last month I used two of my ATW passes. One to fly DFW-PHL-BUD to join a Danube River cruise. The cruise ended at Mainz, Germany (nearest International airport is Frankfurt), and I used the other pass to fly FRA-PHL-DFW. BUD to FRA is quite an open jaw on a roundtrip ticket, but no problem with these passes. I had to check-in separately for both, and on the outbound they asked no question regarding how I planned to get back home, nor did anyone ask how I got to Frankfurt. It was a non-issue to them. In fact, I got upgraded to First Class for the FRA-PHL leg. FWIW, PHL-DFW was a nightmare. Thanks to the TSA in PHL, I missed my connecting flight to DFW and had to fly AE to MEM, sit for 2 hours, then fly AE MEM-DFW. My checked luggage and I did not arrive on the same flight. It did make it to DFW, though, and I was able to retrieve the checked bag the next day.
Before forfeiting your pass, ask yourself why you can't leave until the afternoon. I would try to figure out a way to leave on the early morning booked flight. These coupons are worth their weight in gold (from a guy who got upgraded to F/C on an international flight.).
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One other thought on the passes? Do they consider canceling it a change? Could you cancel the entire trip if something came up and rebook it more than 21 days out? Or since you have booked them in the Travel Planner is that consider a lock in at 21 days no matter what?
The way the rule reads, it is a lock-in at 21 days prior to departure. There did not appear to be any exceptions; though I'm sure if there were a medical emergency on your part or a death in the family, exceptions could and would be made.
It's the only way to get home unless you buy a ticket. All of the ATW passes are one-way. You can not book a round-trip on one ticket. I'm considering going to Australia in October or November to use my other two passes.
UPNAWAY, I sent you a note about my experience with my cruise. Mine was the reverse version of Frankfurt to Budapest. I did Budapest to Frankfurt. Budapest and Vienna are both beautiful cities. One of the things that most impressed me was how clean both cities are. You don't generally see trash in the streets (unless you run across a hoard of American tourists) or soot stains on the buildings. And, keep in mind that 20% of Austria's population lives in Vienna. It is not a small city. I particularly would like to go back to Budapest and Vienna and spend some time there.
- Thread Starter
- #8
*UPDATE*
I was able to get my flight changed by calling employee services at 1-800-447-2000. I talked to the right person, and she was incredibly helpful. Thank you employee services!!!
I was able to get my flight changed by calling employee services at 1-800-447-2000. I talked to the right person, and she was incredibly helpful. Thank you employee services!!!
Based upon what's stated on the website about the ATW passes, there would be no way to change your reservation at this late date. Congratulations! Didn't cost nuthin' to ask, and you got what you needed.
Acting under the admonition that if you don't ask, the answer is automatically NO, it is once again proven that you just never know.
( Of course, that understanding employee may get transferred to Timbuktu, but that's not your problem.
)
Acting under the admonition that if you don't ask, the answer is automatically NO, it is once again proven that you just never know.
( Of course, that understanding employee may get transferred to Timbuktu, but that's not your problem.
)
