CX award (booked w/ AS points) - schedule changed - what to do?

[pangwen]

Hi all,

I recently booked my folks on a CX award using the current AS points sale. They were to be flying BNE-HKG (stop)-xyz (onwards destination isn't really important here, although it may be important to note that the entire trip through to xyz and back is on the one booking/PNR) and vice versa mid next year.

They've recently noticed that Cathay has cancelled their original BNE-HKG and HKG-BNE flights, as per Cathay Pacific NS14 Brisbane / Cairns Operation Changes as of 20DEC13 :: Routesonline.

They were on CX146 (day flight with a stop in Cairns) on a Friday, and on CX103 (overnight direct) leaving on a Sunday, arriving on Monday. With their luck, both of these have now been removed from the schedule. They have been rebooked on CX156 leaving Brisbane at 0055 on the Friday (about 8-9 hours earlier), and on CX157 leaving Hong Kong at 1250 on the Monday (about 15-16 hours later).

Now, they're generally fine with being rebooked on CX156 on the way there (they have a penchant for red-eye flights). However, being rebooked onto CX157 on the way back is inconvenient for two reasons:

- It's no longer overnight, and they need to get a taxi or get picked up at 11:30pm from the airport (they were planning to take the Airtrain home originally)
- They had already booked their hotel stay in Hong Kong, and now they need to book another separate night (effort and more cash)

I was wondering if there was anything they could do about the change? I had thought of a couple of potential options, and was hoping the AFF community could provide some feedback as to how viable each would be:


1. Call AS or CX to rebook us onto QF98 leaving at around the same time without fees
2. Call AS to rebook us onto CX157 a day earlier, without fees
3. Call CX to rebook us onto CX157 a day earlier, without fees
4. Do 2 or 3, pay the fee, and claim back from travel insurance (I had got them to start their TID annual policy before the flight schedule was changed)
5. Call CX to see if they'll sort out the one night hotel stay for my parents
6. Do 5, and if CX says "no", go to TID and claim a night at a hotel+meals under the "Travel Delay" clause
7. Sit back and just accept the changes quietly

Thanks for your help!

P.S. The wording of the TID travel delay clause is "If your pre-paid scheduled transport is cancelled, rescheduled or delayed for a reason outside of your control, whether or not caused by a carrier, we will pay you up to $2,000 for a single policy or $4,000 for a family policy..."

 

[MEL_Traveller]

did you read the exclusion on page 16 of the TID product disclose statement? a rescheduling by the airline is NOT covered, except in the event of a delay. the section implies it is a delay that occurs whilst your are travelling... not a schedule change that occurs in advance.

the exclusion clause says this:

11. Delays, rescheduling or cancellation of scheduled transport services
caused by the carrier or related to the carrier, including maintenance, repairs, rescheduling, service faults or industrial activity other than a strike or corporate takeover. This exclusion does not apply to Section 6: Travel delay (page 13) and Section 9: Special events (page 14).

i would check with TID if you are actually covered.

 

[pangwen]

Yes I did read that exclusion, and the fact the exclusion does not apply for claims under the "travel delay" section. However, as quoted in my original post, that is the section I would be claiming under. It mentions covering delays due to rescheduling by the airline, but does not exclude rescheduling made well in advance of travel.

 

[pangwen]

Ps I understand that it is a bit of an odd claim, that's why I've put it further down the list.

PPS. I was going to attempt the list going from 1-7 on Monday or Tuesday, but would skip some steps if people have gone through the same before

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes I did read that exclusion, and the fact the exclusion does not apply for claims under the "travel delay" section. However, as quoted in my original post, that is the section I would be claiming under. It mentions covering delays due to rescheduling by the airline, but does not exclude rescheduling made well in advance of travel.

if you agree to the schedule change in advance of travel then you are not delayed, and that is the standard interpretation of that clause: it covers delay on the day of travel (weather, rescheduling, ATC etc etc). however, if TID have confirmed it to you otherwise then you're fine

 

[pangwen]

Thanks MEL_Traveller. I'll have to see if they've "agreed" to the change yet. I suspect not, as I don't think they've even been officially notified of the schedule change (just saw it by chance on the airline route site).

I believe I'll have to contact CX (or AS?) to attempt to get them to compensate for the schedule change and get them o deny us in writing first (as per the TID terms) before I can contact TID.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

the other option would be to select another CX routing - say to sydney, and then connect back to BNE?

 

[pangwen]

True, I hadn't considered that. Might ask for that as an alternative to qf98..

 

[pangwen]

Just to close this off, they managed to claim on TID for the hotel stay in the end.