Thread: How good is ZED Light when it comes to swapping airlines?

Originally Posted by flyer146

5- You can NOT pay up the difference to 'upgrade' from ZL to ZM or ZH, as this is ticket related and is thus the responsability of your own airline.


6- You can NOT pay up the difference to 'extend' your zone, as this is ticket related and needs to be done by your own airline.

Just checked my CSA instructions about ZED - and there is written that my ZED ticket MAY be reissued to higher fare level (ZL to ZM or ZM to ZH) and zone extended (1 to 2-9, 2 to 3-9 etc...) by every carrier with bilateral ZED agreement and taxes/fare paid to reissuing carrier. BUT, here is my experience:

1) Royal Jordanian, flight from AMM to IST was full, had to fly to LON (which was one zone higher - ZM2 to ZM3) - RJ reissued my ZED ticket, collected 7 USD from me and I was allowed to fly to LON

2)I had ZED ticket SXM-AMS(ZM6)-PRG(ZM1) for KLM...flight to AMS was overbooked, after long discussion at check-in counter I was allowed to fly Air France SXM-CDG(ZM6 as well - same zone, fare level, airport taxes). But Air France CDG-PRG with KLM AMS-PRG ticket was bigger problem - different airport taxes at CDG and higer zone (ZM2 instead ZM1). Again, very long discussin at AF ticketing conuter, I asked them for ZED ticket reissue and paid taxes+higher zone...they said no...finally (I believe they were too lazy to reissue the ticket), they just took my ticket, stamped it and by pen re-wrote Amsterdam to Paris and I got to PRG....without paying anything extra (although I sould pay)

3)Had ticket LCA-WAW (ZL3) - flight was full, asked Aegean and Olympic to fly LCA-ATH(ZL2), same fare level, same taxes, lover distance and zone - that means I should be allowed fly it...It's sad that nobody at LCA airport understood ZED tickets and what means word ZONAL..no reissue allowed...I was told there is Warsaw on my ticket and it is absolutely impossible to fly another destianation then Warsaw...Had to buy full fare ticket for 150 EUR to get to ATH...

It is pretty nice there are some ZED rules, but it very often dipends much more on airport ground staff, their knoweldge of ZED rules, their actual mood, their willingness to help you...

Originally Posted by flyer146

you can ask for a ZED ticket to be issued WITHOUT specific destination and thus only pay for the milage zone. At the airport, you pay the exact taxes depending the destination you fly to. Alternatively and most commonly, you will have a destination mentioned on your ticket however, in which case taxes for that destination will be included, but you're still entitled to switch destination, so in case the taxes don't match, you can be asked to pay the difference, although most airlines won't bother.

Wow, I have never noticed that such ticket may be issued...will ask our staffticket center about it...

Originally Posted by knyta

Just checked my CSA instructions about ZED - and there is written that my ZED ticket MAY be reissued to higher fare level (ZL to ZM or ZM to ZH) and zone extended (1 to 2-9, 2 to 3-9 etc...) by every carrier with bilateral ZED agreement and taxes/fare paid to reissuing carrier.

Any ZED carrier willing to take you on one of its flight with a ticket which doesn't match the required category (ZH/ZM/ZL) or milage zone, MAY obviously ask you to pay the difference between what is needed by him and what you have on your ticket, but this is not something which you are automatically entitled to under the general ZED rules, if I understand them correctly.

That's also why you've been able to give 3 exemples of identical situations, all resolved differently.

Always good to hear such strories though.
My experience with AF has been the same: they are fairly relaxed towards ZED and don't seem to bother much about the 10 odd euro or so, which may occasionally be missing in case of a re-routing.

Originally Posted by aazed

the ZED agreement does not state that the traveler can expect to change his origin or destination, only that an airline may, at its discretion, allow that. Some carriers will not accept that at all because of the additional cost and complications it places on their checkin staff. Other airlines will allow it under certain conditions (e.g., same or greater fare is collected and the taxes do not change).

In short: it seems that the more you deviate from what is stated on the ticket, the more airline dependent it becomes.

One thing is for sure, contrary to category upgrades (ZL -> ZM -> ZH) or zonal upgrades (1 -> 9), a simple route change within the same milage zone definitely is the easiest ticket 'deviation' of them all and I know of several airlines which have simply made it a rule to ALWAYS accept this.

I think much depends on the gate agent though: the more familiar he/she is with the concept of ZED, the more flexibility you will be allowed.
If he's unfamiliar with ZED, he'll likely be reluctant to deviate much from what is written on the ticket as he'll likely think of ZED as a kind of ID90, or so, but then airline independant.

A final hint:
try not to have the exact name of the airport mentioned and simply have the city mentioned (NEW YORK, LONDON, MOSCOU, etc): the least is written, the least can be deemed wrong.
For any other more radical changes from what your ticket says, it seems it all depends on the operating carrier's policy towards ZED as well as the gate agents familiarity with the system.

Seems to be a deep discussion.

Appears NW, or DL as it now? has a strict policy.

A ZED fare, like an ID90 has monetary value. If you approach another carrier with a ZED L, where your agreement is ZED M - should the other carrier accept the ticket, so be it.
They cannot bill the issuing carrier for a higher value than paid ( Contrary to what AAZED wrote ), likewise with an ID90 or ID75. Without getting into the nitty gritty of interline billing with sample vs non sample, a request for a higher value can be declined by the issuing carrier since the accepting carrier did not obtain an endorsement from the issuing carrer as a blank endorsement, or as we would often use in the ' old days ' endorsed at face value only to BA or YY if it's going to be any IATA carrier ... it is highly unlikely an ID percentage will be declined by the issuing carrier for payment due to lack of endorsement, unless the billing is for a higher value, but since Interline billing is boring and not what people on this forum are generally interested in, the mechanics of it aside ........

Since these tickets are subject to load, an employee will be boarded if there is an empty seat. Better to receive some revenue than let the seat go empty. Where a carrier provides meals - ordinarily the meal you will be given would otherwise have been wasted, or as many gate staff advise, there may not be enough meals.

I fail to see how an employee could potentially be placing their job at risk under the umbrella of abusing their benefits if another airline voluntarily accepts the coupon - regardless of the agreement. One could ask the question, with say, 100 IATA carriers that a carrier could possibly have an agreement with, are they expected to know the agreement for each carrier in advance of approaching the other airline?

The only time I was declined occured while returning from a short New Year trip to VIE by BA. My ZED with OS was a ZED L and upon checking, declined to accept the ticket since our agreement is a ZED M.
However, they did inform me that they were soliciting for denied boardings, had the DB situation not arisen, the Duty Manager may have permitted me to use the OS ticket.
I must admit, it's the first time another carrier has not accepted a ZED for a parallel routing, so begs the question on whether the DB situation had not arisen, would the DM have accepted me with the knowledge I was in possession of a slightly lower fare ....

By the same token, I could have been in possession of a ZED M issued to BA and travelled on OS where we have a ZED L. I would not have been entitled to a refund for the fare difference since that is our company's policy, OS would have received a higher value than our agreement.

I will certainly accept that taxes are an issue. The fare goes to the airline, taxes are paid to a local government or airport authority. If the taxes paid on your ticket do not equate to the leg you are flying on, said carrier is potentially out of pocket since they may be required to remit a higher tax than you were originally ticketed for.
However, that comes back to my initial point - The carrier has voluntarily accepted your ticket, it's their call for a potential loss of revenue.

I would advise if anyone feels they could potentially be placing their travel benefits at risk in such a scenario, contact your Interline/Staff Travel Dept and ask them for clarification. The other alternative is to simply arm yourself with backups & plan for the ever increasing eventualities that are part of travelling sub load .... Good Luck !