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I booked a round trip ticket, say A <--> B. A --> B is used. Now, can I change the return date of B --> A?

PS: The ticket is bought on an agency and its airline is operated by Alitalia.

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    It depends greatly on the airline and their terms when you bought the ticket. Have you asked them ? – blackbird Jul 16 '15 at 12:35
  • @Blackbird57 Yes, I did it. The agency told me that it is impossible. And I didn't receive any reply from the airline Alitalia. – SparkAndShine Jul 16 '15 at 13:24
  • If you can provide more detail about what A and B are, when you are travelling (just the months, don't need exact dates) and when you bought the ticket (approximately) I will try to find the fare rules for you. – Calchas Jul 16 '15 at 17:16
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    I can say however unless you have an excellent travel agent it is wise to buy directly from the carrier. This kind of inflexibility ("it's impossible [because there's a bit of work for us to re-issue the ticket]") is precisely why they should be avoided. – Calchas Jul 16 '15 at 17:16
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It depends.

I've often changed my return date, due to work; with Alitalia, it was a minor charge. With KLM, it once actually refunded me some of the cost of the ticket, because it was a cheaper return date. However, many airlines have restricted tickets that don't allow changes. You can always call them to verify.

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  • thx. I will contact them to verify Outside of Italy, contact the nearest Alitalia office, or call +39 06 65649 – SparkAndShine Jul 16 '15 at 12:46
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    @SparkandShine I have found that restricted tickets can be changed (with a good reason, at least), by paying an additional change fee. That fee has ranged from USD 150 to USD 250, but I haven't done it recently, so the fees may have gone up. – phoog Jul 16 '15 at 15:40
  • @phoog is there a link about it? – SparkAndShine Jul 16 '15 at 15:43
  • @SparkandShine no, I invariably did it either in the airport after missing my flight or by calling the airline's customer service center. – phoog Jul 16 '15 at 15:47
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You can ALWAYS change the flight, but the more important question is: "how much do you have to pay for it". This depends heavily on the conditions and fare class of the original ticket. Cheaper tickets typically come with higher change fees.

In some cases it may turn out that just forfeiting the original return and buying a new one way is cheaper then changing the existing one, so you need to run the numbers.

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    This is not strictly true. You can always throw a ticket away and buy a new one, but many fares (particularly cheaper ones in premium cabins, where they are desperate to protect their higher tier revenue), will contain a provision in the voluntary changes category such as "CHANGES//AT ANY TIME//CHANGES NOT PERMITTED". For instance, all longhaul "I" class fares issued by BA originating in the United Kingdom have this provision. – Calchas Oct 15 '15 at 8:17

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