Revalidation vs Reissuance for date change, post points cost change

[Ads22]

I have upcioming flights in F MEL-SIN(stopover)-NRT then NRT-SIN-MEL. I want to change the date of the outbound flight from SIN-NRT to 2 days earlier which would remove the stop over.

Initially I was told will cost USD$25 per passenger only as we’re only changing the date which is what I expected. Now got a message from the ticketing department saying as this is a change after the points devaluation the change will cost 20k points per passenger!

Few questions here
1. my impression was this would be a revaldiation (rather than needing a reissuance of ticket) for a simple date change only without changing the routing so shouldn’t involve more points
2. is the removal of the stop over the issue here??
3. if extra points unavoidable, can you ask them to cancel the outbound flights on the original booking keeping the return flights, then book a one way reward outbound with the new dates which would be half of those miles ie. 10k per passenger

Many thanks for any advice how to proceed, planning on calling the Aus call centre number to sort this out as I hear better experiences with that ‘02’ number?

 

[Kangol]

The term stopover in international itineraries usually means >24 hours. Less than that is a transit/transfer.
Looks like what you believe to be the right language is wrong and maybe that's why there is confusion.

Guessing you have an overnight transit in SIN from MEL to NRT.
That means the origin to destination is MEL to NRT for the outbound.
To make the MEL-SIN 2 days earlier will change the itinerary to create a stopover in SIN, change the origin and destination for the outbound (now two journeys rather than one, MEL to SIN and SIN to NRT) and change the ticket type.

If you cancel the outbound on the original booking, are you asking about whether booking MEL-SIN and SIN-NRT separately will be a more economical way of using points?

 

[zenyattamondatta]

The term stopover in international itineraries usually means >24 hours. Less than that is a transit/transfer.
Looks like what you believe to be the right language is wrong and maybe that's why there is confusion.

Guessing you have an overnight transit in SIN from MEL to NRT.
That means the origin to destination is MEL to NRT for the outbound.
To make the MEL-SIN 2 days earlier will change the itinerary to create a stopover in SIN, change the origin and destination for the outbound (now two journeys rather than one, MEL to SIN and SIN to NRT) and change the ticket type.

Would it change your response if you were to note that the OP mentioned changing SIN-NRT, not MEL-SIN?

 

[zenyattamondatta]

I have upcioming flights in F MEL-SIN(stopover)-NRT then NRT-SIN-MEL. I want to change the date of the outbound flight from SIN-NRT to 2 days earlier which would remove the stop over.

Initially I was told will cost USD$25 per passenger only as we’re only changing the date which is what I expected. Now got a message from the ticketing department saying as this is a change after the points devaluation the change will cost 20k points per passenger!

Few questions here
1. my impression was this would be a revaldiation (rather than needing a reissuance of ticket) for a simple date change only without changing the routing so shouldn’t involve more points
2. is the removal of the stop over the issue here???

I think, but am not sure, that the taxes might change depending on whether or not it’s a stopover, and hence the need for reissuance. You could test that hypothesis by trying to shorten the stopover by just one day.

 

[Kangol]

Would it change your response if you were to note that the OP mentioned changing SIN-NRT, not MEL-SIN?

Whoops. My bad!
It would still change the origin-destination but in the other way.
So no. MEL-SIN, stop, SIN-NRT is different to MEL-NRT

 

[Ads22]

Thanks all for the replies.

To clarify the original booking was indeed for a stop over on the way from MEL-NRT in SIN for 2 days. I changed that flight to remove the stopover changing it to a transit, arriving in the morning from MEL and leaving the same day that evening for NRT.

By way of update, I called the ‘02’ Singapore number yesterday afternoon and after a short time on hold the very helpful operator confirmed there were no points required for that modification and only charged the USD $25 per passenger. Got the confirmation yesterday afternoon. Hope that’s helpful for anyone else looking for date changes on the same route booking post the points change late in Jan 2019.

There’s an official quote from a SIA ‘spokes person’ and some information on this website also which seems to be accurate;
One week left to book KrisFlyer awards at current rates

 

[Kangol]

What a surprise. Well done. Hard to believe there are no changes to the taxes?

 

[Ads22]

There was certainly mixed information from the few people I spoke to over the last few days and I think I got pretty lucky yesterday with the outcome. I suspect they’re not 100% across the implications of the points increase themselves