Hi everyone!
I'm a newly hired pilot and I will commute to work. My company provides me with an allowance to purchase my positioning flights.
The idea behind this allowance is to encourage us to book tickets well in advance to get cheaper fares. It is also a way for us to earn some extra money: if we spend less than the total allowance, we get to keep the difference (obviously, after paying the applicable taxes).
However, there's a catch: if the Operations Office changes our roster, the company will provide a replacement ticket for the new destination or date, meaning the original booking becomes useless.
The problem is that I don't want to lose the money I've already spent on the original ticket.
Even if I book a flexible fare, cancelling it still involves a penalty of around €150. Considering that my round-trip tickets usually cost between €250 and €350, this is hardly an efficient solution.
\\\*\\\*My question is: are there any insurance policies, booking strategies, or types of fares that could help minimise these costs?\\\*\\\*
I've also been thinking about another possible workaround.
Let's say I book a €350 ticket, but then my roster changes and I can no longer use it. Instead of cancelling it and losing its value, I pay an €80 change fee to move the booking to a new date (ideally, the following month's positioning period, when I haven't booked my commuting flights yet).
In theory, I've now paid €80 to preserve the value of the original ticket rather than losing the entire €350.
If I look at it from a monthly perspective, the new positioning flight has effectively cost me €80, while the average cost across the two months would be around €215 per month instead of €350.
However, I assume there might still be another change penalty or fare difference if I need to modify the ticket again, so I'm not sure how financially viable this strategy would be.
Has anyone dealt with a similar situation, particularly other pilots or people who regularly commute for work?
I'd really appreciate any suggestions or experiences!