Visiting South Korea after putting it off for two years.

You're flying out tomorrow, and you're scrambling to get a COVID test and buy gifts, and suddenly you get a text from your airline saying that your one-stop itinerary has suddenly turned into a two-stop, and your domestic connection is arriving later than your international departure time to Korea, which means you won't be able to make your flight.

You panic and call the airline, but are put on hold for two hours. When you finally get through, they tell you to contact your travel agent because the ticket was purchased from a travel agent.

Ah, but is it possible to go to Korea?

It's the worst thing you can imagine, but it's a reality for many magicians these days. Airline demand explodes, and there are no employees, no airplanes, so there are schedule changes, itineraries are canceled, and there's no pandemonium, no pandemonium.

In today's post, we've summarized some ways to cope with and prepare for schedule changes.

Steps 1 through 4 are for when a reschedule has already occurred.

Tips 5 through 9 are things you can do to prepare for the ticketing phase.

0. Before I explain, I think we need to get one basic thing out of the way first.

The next question is who is responsible for the ticket change, where the The critical juncture is whether it's 24 hours before or after your first trip..

1) More than 24 hours before departure. Contact the airline or travel agency you purchased your ticket from for any schedule changes.

For airline tickets, the travel agent or airline that sold you the ticket is solely responsible for any changes, cancellations, or refunds to your itinerary up to 24 hours before you depart (usually 24 hours).

For example,

• Let's say you purchased your Asiana ticket through a Korean travel agent, and Asiana contacts you with a schedule change. In this case, if you have more than 24 hours before departure, you should contact the Korean travel agent, not the airline.
• I booked a United flight with ANA miles and was notified of an itinerary change 10 days before departure. In this case, you should still contact ANA, not United.
• If you booked a United flight with United miles, you'll need to contact United in this case because the airline that sold you the ticket is the same as the operating airline.

2) If a schedule change occurs within 24 hours of departure, contact the airline for the first leg of your flight

If you have a change of plans, such as a schedule change or flight cancellation, within 24 hours of the first leg of your journey, you'll need to contact the airline operating the first leg.

It varies by airline, but generally speaking, ticket control is transferred to the airport within 24 hours.

That's why you should contact the airline directly, not the travel agent you bought your ticket from, or if you're close to the airport, you can go directly to the airport ticket counter.

For example,

• If you purchased your Asiana ticket through a Korean travel agent and you have a change within 24 hours of departure, you can contact Asiana directly.
• Similarly, if you've booked a United flight with ANA miles and have a change within 24 hours of departure, you'll need to contact United.

Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty: how to deal with and prepare for schedule changes.

1. preview alternatives before calling your airline/travel agent

If you have a schedule change or cancellation, you'll need to contact your airline or travel agent.

If possible, it's sometimes helpful to find an alternate flight that you'd like to fly in advance, so that you can snap a picture of it when you make your request.

This is because while some airline or travel agents may know the itinerary to South Korea inside and out, most of the time they're just mechanically reciting the routes the system shows them.

So if it's not an easy itinerary to think about, for example, if you're on the East Coast and you have a one-stop itinerary through Europe, you can let the agent know about it and we'll make it mutually convenient to reschedule. (Of course, this isn't always possible.)

2. use online chat or Twitter if the phone is unreachable

I'm in the US and Korea and airline phone connections are a bit of a nightmare these days.

If you find yourself on hold for too long, you may want to try contacting the airline via online chat on their site or social media, such as Twitter.

Also, if you find that the wait time is too long, such as in the US or South Korea, it may be helpful to try calling a service center in another third country.

For example, with Virgin Atlantic, if the centers in the US and UK were unavailable, I would call the service center in Hong Kong and get through almost immediately.

3. if requesting an endorsement, find one preferably from the same airline alliance

When airlines need to reschedule, they usually do so with their own flights. In the past, this was usually for later in the same day, but nowadays, when flights are full, it's not uncommon for itineraries to be pushed back a day or two, or even three or four days.

In this case, you can try requesting an ENDORSE for an alternate flight on a different airline, not the same airline.

To endorse is to take a flight on Airline B with a ticket issued by Airline A, a practice that dates back to the days when airline tickets were more like securities.

The key here is that the airline that holds the ticket, Airline A, needs to get in touch with the other airline, Airline B, to create a new booking and agree to the process of handing over their ticket to Airline B.

Of course, there is no reason for Airline A to necessarily accept this endorse request, so endorse is not always possible.

The only way to increase your ENDORSE success rate is to find another alternative flight within the same alliance.

For example, if you have an AA ticket, you can request to be transferred to a flight on JAL Airlines, a fellow alliance partner, or if you have a Delta ticket, you can request to be transferred to Korean Air, a fellow alliance partner.

4. when an itinerary change is made, including endorse, make sure the ticket is reissued.

If you're booking a new appointment, you'll need to make sure that the ticket reissue is completed properly.

This is usually straightforward when it comes to the same airline, but when it comes to itinerary changes across airlines, it's not uncommon to have a reservation created but not be able to board at the last minute because the tickets don't connect properly.

That's why when you receive confirmation from Airline A that your itinerary change is complete, you must contact Airline B to make sure your tickets are properly attached.

5. If the price is the same or there is no significant difference, the ticket purchase should be made on the airline's official website.

As mentioned earlier, for airline tickets, the travel agency that sold you the ticket is solely responsible for any changes, cancellations, or refunds to your itinerary up until the day before you depart (usually 24 hours).

That's why it's best to buy tickets through the airline's official website, not through an online travel agency or card company booking portal, unless the ticket price is the same or significantly different.

• In this case, the liability is clear because the airline = the ticket seller.
• Airline = The ticketing outlet is the same, so you don't have to waste time contacting two different places.
• And when it comes to schedule changes, I'd say (while it's hard to generalize) that airline agents generally have more power than travel agents and are more likely to get you the schedule you want.

In addition to this, Some people are directly affected by online travel agencies that sell itineraries with no connections at all..

Go to the message board: "Never book flights to South Korea on Kiwi.com (especially itineraries that include ZIPAIR)"

Given this, it's best to purchase tickets through the airline's official website whenever possible, unless you have a specific reason to do so.

6. for mileage redemptions, use airline miles with direct flights to Korea if the difference in value is not significant

In the event of a schedule change, the travel agent or airline that sold you the ticket should be able to find you an alternate itinerary.

However, there are obviously big differences between airlines in how far they will go to help you.

For example, let's say you're using Alaska Airlines miles to book a ticket on Japan Airlines (JAL) for the New York-Haneda-Kimpo route.

• Then, two weeks before my departure, I received an email saying that the Haneda-Kimpo route was no longer operated and this itinerary was no longer valid.
• In this case, Alaska Airlines is supposed to find me a replacement, but the likelihood of an Alaska Airlines agent contacting Japan Airlines or Korean Air, Alaska's partner airlines, and then specially opening a non-existent mileage fare class to create the itinerary I want and ticket it for me is practically 0%. The typical response is that they'll just cancel the ticket without a fee.
• Rather than saying that Alaska Airlines employees are irresponsible, I think it's more accurate to say that there's nothing Alaska Airlines can really do because they don't have flights to South Korea.

However, let's say you booked the same JAL flight using AA miles and had the same schedule change.

• While we can't say for sure that 100% will always work in this case, there are several examples on the boards where itineraries that include AA's nonstop route DFW-ICN have been able to be changed.
• This is possible in the case of AA because they have their own metal (as they call it) and will make exceptions to create and issue seats even when there are no mileage seats available for ticketing.
• I guess you could say that's a big difference from Alaska Airlines, which has no international routes.

So if you're in a situation where you have a lot of different miles in different places and you're able to ticket with similar redemptions, I think it's a good idea to use miles from airlines that have direct routes to Korea like AA, Delta, and UA whenever possible.

7. Avoid the last flight of the day

I'd say this is a tip that applies mostly to US domestic flights.

If you have multiple flights to choose from and the price is the same whether you use miles or cash, it's best to avoid the last flight of the day if possible.

If my last flight is delayed and finally canceled, I have no alternative but to spend the day at the airport ;);

8. for domestic connections, go one day in advance

If you live in a city that doesn't have direct flights to Korea, you may need to purchase a domestic connection to your international flight's departure city.

We've heard a lot of stories lately about people missing their flights to Korea because of flight delays, mostly because their first leg domestic flight was canceled or delayed and they missed their international connection.

So I would say that if possible, flying the domestic leg the day before your international flight to reduce the uncertainty of delays is the best way to avoid the worst case scenario these days.

9. make a purchase with a card that includes trip delay protection

It's common sense to use a credit card to purchase airline tickets, but not all credit cards offer the same benefits.

For example, credit cards issued by Citi used to have very good trip delay and trip cancellation protection, but in a 2019 revamp, they completely eliminated travel-related coverage.

And even where there is coverage, there are significant differences in benefits between card companies, such as trip delay protection, with some cards only covering delays of 6 hours or more, while others cover delays of 12 hours or more.

So I would say that unless you have an immediate need to fill a spending gap, a card with good travel benefits = a card with a higher annual fee is usually a better choice.

For example, for the popular Venture X card, which is now available in

• I paid for all or part of my ticket with my Venture X card.
• If your flight is delayed for more than 6 hours or you need to stay overnight
• They say they'll cover the necessary expenses up to $500 per ticket.

Insurance has a lot of restrictions and complicated regulations, so take the time to learn about the We recommend that you read the Terms carefullyfor you.

Let's wrap up today's post.

Schedule changes are unexpected and often impossible to prepare for. However, there are a few basic principles that can help you stay on top of things.

We hope everyone is traveling safely this summer.

Featured image by @eyeidea / depositphotos