Three years into non reving and I made a rookie mistake

So me (D2R) and two friends as D3s are going to Tokyo for New Years Eve, and Hong Kong on January 3rd. We purchased tickets on Hong Kong express for the flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong. Well I made a classic rookie mistake and I hadn’t checked with the flights from Hong Kong to Dallas looks like on January 6, the day we planned on coming home. Looks like there is zero seats left on the flight that day, with a little seats in the days before and it doesn’t really open up till January 8th or 9th. I don’t know what I was thinking! Especially considering the only option is Hong Kong to Dallas. I guess I’ve been used to flying to Tokyo where I’ve got quite a few options to get there and back so I just didn’t think it would be an issue. 😯🙈


It’s not a big deal for one of my friends or me because we have additional time off from work. My other friend thinks she has to get back by Monday but I think she has a little bit more flexibility with her job then she thinks. Whoops. She’s looking into try to leave January 5 just to get an extra chance.


Just in my attempt to formulate a plan B or C, I checked every other airport in Asia that American flies to and their flights back to the US that week and almost all of them are in the red or oversold. Most alarmingly a flight from Shanghai is oversold by 30 seats! Pretty crazy. Does anyone have any insight as to why the travel in that window from Asia to US is so popular?


Anyway I’m not really worried I know we’re all going to make it work out and my friend that’s worried about her job definitely won’t face any serious repercussions from it. I just thought it would be funny to come share with you all what a rookie mistake I made!


Side note: When I was on Americans regular website to check out the Destiination list on the map just in case they had added another flight out of Hong Kong without me realizing, the Dallas to Hong Kong route wasn’t even showing up! Imagine the mini panic attack I had thinking that they might have canceled the route without me realizing! Hahaha.

Oh JayA talk about stuck between slim and none -we've all been there with our D3s. On the fifth you could have your D3 backup on the HKG/LAX flight - may...be if she's really lucky and keeps repeating the non-rev prayer.

I'm guessing going back to NRT is out.

cx hkg/lax all oversold for the 5th,6th,7th and 8th

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Originally Posted by JayAlexandra

Does anyone have any insight as to why the travel in that window from Asia to US is so popular?
Holiday season is always full

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I always make my flights, but I do not mess with the busy holiday loads. We travel in off peak times, when flights are wide open, and by wide open, I mean 100+. Therefore, in the event we have to sit in the back, at least we can have a whole row to ourselves. I will absolutely not be sitting in a middle seat in the back, ever!
Another thing we do, is we never HAVE to be anywhere, so we can go ANYWHERE. We go where and when open planes go.

Good luck!

Hey guys. Sorry I meant to come here and reply before but I was so busy with Christmas coming up and preparing to leave for this trip. I meant to thank you for Letting me know there was a Hong Kong to LA flight, that got added in the last few years I guess and I didn’t even know it existed! For some reason on American Airlines regular website Hong Kong isn’t showing up on the where we fly map from either Dallas or LA so I would’ve had no idea if you guys hadn’t pointed it out to me! Well currently I am sitting in a diner in Hong Kong, one of my friends is trying to get home on D3 tonight and the gate agent told her that immigration might ask her to buy a ticket home if she comes in and out. Do you guys know if this is a thing? My ex got stuck in Hong Kong on a D3 for one night and left and came back to the airport and didn’t experience any issues. Also the flight loads are so full we’re looking at potential he being stuck here a few more days.

So she didn’t make it, but I knew that was pretty much certain. The non-rev list out of Hong Kong the next few days are out of control. She said there were only a few people at her gate when the plane left though, yet at least 20 D1s got rolled to the next flight. Also to make things worse, she talked to a D1 at the gate that’s been trying to get out since Friday. I guess that lady’s family thought on tonight but she stayed. My friend told me that airport security escorted them out of the gate area and back through customs. The D1s that had been trying to get on all weekend just said that they hadn’t done that to her on the previous days. I’m starting to get stressed out for my friends. I should be fine with work and everything, this is only affecting my plans I had to visit my cousin in Sydney. And it might break my wallet a little more than I anticipated, but in the end I’ll be fine. I will say this is probably the most dire situation I’ve been stuck in. I’ve actually never had to stay anywhere overnight yet, lol. Oh well. I wouldn’t trade it for anything but I’m feeling bad for my little D3s.

[QUOTE=JayAlexandra;83067]Hey guys. Sorry I meant to come here and reply before but I was so busy with Christmas coming up and preparing to leave for this trip. I meant to thank you for Letting me know there was a Hong Kong to LA flight, that got added in the last few years I guess and I didn’t even know it existed! For some reason on American Airlines regular website Hong Kong isn’t showing up on the where we fly map from either Dallas or LA so I would’ve had no idea if you guys hadn’t pointed it out to me! Well currently I am sitting in a diner in Hong Kong, one of my friends is trying to get home on D3 tonight and the gate agent told her that immigration might ask her to buy a ticket home if she comes in and out. Do you guys know if this is a thing? My ex got stuck in Hong Kong on a D3 for one night and left and came back to the airport and didn’t experience any issues. Also the flight loads are so full we’re looking at potential he being stuck here a few more days.[/QUO




My rule when non-revving goes bad is to get out of the city I am in. For your friend who needs to return to work, if you can get her to one of the European cities AA flys from, you can change her ticket and get her home. The only one that looked good for a D3 was MAN. Below is a flight tomorrow to LHR which has a lot of availability. I'd send her to LHR. If you're in a situation where you can wait and aren't bleeding money, then enjoy HKG, but after a few days of lodging and meals, you start to approach the cost of a ticket. She'd be a thru so she wouldn't have to pay the LHR taxes. Just tell her to hold onto her boarding pass to show to LHR. Hope this helps! BTW, if you haven't used it, the ITA matrix by google is a great site to check flights to anywhere and it allows you to widen the range of destinations 2000 miles. I tried to include all of your options but there were too many images.

One-way: Hong Kong to London, Mon, Jan 7
► Complete trips► Time bars

PRICE ▼

AIRLINE ▼

DEPART ▼

ARRIVE ▼

DURATION ▼

FROM/TO ▼

STOPS ▼

ADVISORY ▼

$800

https://www.gstatic.com/flights/airl...os/24px/CX.pnghttps://www.gstatic.com/flights/airl...os/24px/EI.png Cathay Pacific + others 12:50 am 1:30 pm 20h 40m HKG to LHR DUB http://nonrev.net/image/png;base64,i...AAAElFTkSuQmCChttp://nonrev.net/image/png;base64,i...AASUVORK5CYII=

Hey Wills. Thank you so so much for your reply! Now that I’m thinking of it I’ve definitely looked at that ITA back in the day before I non reved. So you’re saying she would buy a ticket to LHR and then fly AA non rev back home? Well as I was writing this post my friend that’s stressed out about work (and didn’t get on the first try out to LAX tonight) just bought a ticket on United from HKG-ORD-DEN. Honestly she has the money to do it, while it’s unexpected and a bit of a setback she had the cash on hand and her credit cards are mostly clear, so she’ll be fine. Also she got premium econ on the way over here so all things considered she saved a lot on that experience. Also I’m just glad the stress of figuring things out for her is off my mind. Now I just have to worry about my other D3 that is trying to get back to PHX. And me, since things are looking rough for D1s out of here (but I wouldn’t use a D1 til my D3 is gone anyway). Also I have another week off and a visa to mainland China with a friend that teaches English in Guangzhou, as well as my friend that teaches in Tokyo. So I could always go stay with either of them if I’m tight on cash (also flights out of Tokyo back to US are still rough but looking slightly better than this HK mess).

Well, I’m headed off to bed but I will certainly be back with an update lol. I’ll be repeating the non rev prayer tonight in my dreams and tomorrow too! Thank heavens for this board haha.

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Originally Posted by JayAlexandra

Hey guys. Sorry I meant to come here and reply before but I was so busy with Christmas coming up and preparing to leave for this trip. I meant to thank you for Letting me know there was a Hong Kong to LA flight, that got added in the last few years I guess and I didn’t even know it existed! For some reason on American Airlines regular website Hong Kong isn’t showing up on the where we fly map from either Dallas or LA so I would’ve had no idea if you guys hadn’t pointed it out to me! Well currently I am sitting in a diner in Hong Kong, one of my friends is trying to get home on D3 tonight and the gate agent told her that immigration might ask her to buy a ticket home if she comes in and out. Do you guys know if this is a thing? My ex got stuck in Hong Kong on a D3 for one night and left and came back to the airport and didn’t experience any issues. Also the flight loads are so full we’re looking at potential he being stuck here a few more days.

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We warned you...

Yeah I already knew it had potential to be like this, and I did warn my friends but they wanted to go through with it anyway since we had already purchased airfare on Hong Kong express from Tokyo to HK. They had never been in this situation before so swallowing the airfare on that wasn’t appealing to them. Usually I’ve been able to get myself out on a D1 also so I wasn’t imagining how bad it could get either. I’m not really crying about it over here, I know I’ll be fine in the end. I mostly came to update my post because my friend was freaked out about immigration escorting her back through customs. That probably also kind of drove her to buy the airfare, but she also takes her work really seriously and while they probably would’ve given her leeway on it and she didn’t even want to ask. Now it’s just me and my other D at three and we’re going to make moves in the next two days and maybe fly back to Narita. Those flights are overbooked to but there’s a lot less non-revs an a lot more options in on Monday there’s a lot of seats open to Las Vegas.

Everything is a learning experience in this definitely is another one!

It won't help your D3 friend but zed tickets are an option as well for you. JAL being in oneworld would be zed low. I have bought backups on them in the past but never had to use it. Domestically, I think I've nonrevved more on my backup zed tickets last year than I did on AA.

The security escort in HKG certainly is something I've never heard of before. HKG, like a few other airports such as DUB and ATH clear at the check in counter and not the gate so I'm surprised your friend made it to the gate without a seat assignment. (Dropped my prescription sunglasses in ATH running to the gate for the last seat on the last BA flight of the day to LHR once).

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Originally Posted by JayAlexandra

I will say this is probably the most dire situation I’ve been stuck in. I’ve actually never had to stay anywhere overnight yet, lol. Oh well. I wouldn’t trade it for anything but I’m feeling bad for my little D3s.

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Oh Jay we've all been there. You paint the bleakest of pictures for your D3's, explain what happens when Murphy Laws meet non-rev travel gremlins - but all they hear is "....…………...BIZ class!" *wink* A thread about some of my 3D's adventures- keep smiling it gets better.

http://nonrev.net/general-discussion...-d3-style.html











http://nonrev.net/general-discussion...-d3-style.html

Well hello everyone, I’m back from the depths of non rev hell! �� I didn’t have time to update, but after my D3 friend bought a 1,300 one way home from HKG-DEN, my other D3 and I bought airfare for 550 bucks to... Honolulu! We left the same day we bought it, and had a 20 hour layover in Osaka which we made the most of by getting a place for the night and seeing the city for about six hours the next day before we left that night for Honolulu. We flew Jet Star to Osaka and then Scoot to Honolulu. Luckily my friend had a friend in Honolulu, who accommodated us for three nights which was amazing because she saved us a pretty penny! Then on the fourth night my poor D3 tried to get out three times that night and then spent the night in the airport to try again the following morning. After her fourth flight she didn’t get on, she bought airfare home to Phoenix. Which freed me up to use a D1 to get out of Honolulu! But honestly she was still really happy about the whole thing, she really wanted to go to Hawaii. What was funny is we landed with a suitcase full of winter clothes and had to go buy swimsuits and sandals and other supplies like sunscreen! It was a wild ride and cost me a little more than anticipated but it was just the kind of thing I live for. But honestly I was bleeding money by the time I left Hawaii so it’s good to be back home for a little bit at least. I’m already probably going to go out to Denver on Sunday to see my D3 that bought the 1,300 airfare home lol.

The entire trip was quite fun, despite the hiccups, but it has certainly been a lesson about D3s on overbooked flights lol.

As as an aside here isppilot you mentioned the possibility of ZEDing, but it seems to me when I’ve looked that most airlines require that my aunt the retiree be present with me for us both to take the flight on the other airline. Just curious if this is the standard or not, because it would be amazing to ZED but I’m often not with her.

Hahaha Mig I just peeped your D3 thread, it was so funny! Poor little D3s... when it works it’s amazing but when it goes south oh boy does it go south. I hadn’t yet heard the term “non-rev gremlins” yet either, I love it lol.

Oh yeah, Non-Rev Gremlins, where the unexpected meets best laid plans. *laughing*

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Originally Posted by JayAlexandra

As as an aside here isppilot you mentioned the possibility of ZEDing, but it seems to me when I’ve looked that most airlines require that my aunt the retiree be present with me for us both to take the flight on the other airline. Just curious if this is the standard or not, because it would be amazing to ZED but I’m often not with her.

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Glad you made it back the scenic way, via Hawaii. Not too familiar with zed retiree rules. If you are a registered companion, you are limited to having zed privileges on oneworld carriers. As far as the requirement for your aunt to travel with you, I know BA requires this but not sure about others. If you access myidtravel, you can review the id agreements to see if you can travel by yourself or if you would have to travel with your aunt.

Safe travels!

Attention with JL, you must list at list 24h in advance if you are not originating in Japan, at least it is what myIDtravel says. I was in HKG 10 days ago, you get a priority verification to clear immigration once the flight is closed and it is determined that you will have a seat then you get a seat at the gate.

BTW, it seems that there often some weight restriction on flight 126 HKG/DFW.