We get so much advice on buying tickets further I advance in order to cash in on the cheapest options available to us. This is a great idea EXCEPT when, like myself, you leave to kinda the last minute nd decide to buy your ticket while you are 3 days into a 7 day vacation and at least a 6 hour drive away from the passport you need for that ticket.
I fan only speak for Emirates but apparently even after paying for your fare completely, you o ly have 72hours to provide your pasportdetail or you lose the booking an te fare already paid in.
I found absolutely no metion of this on their elite or during the booking process t all and I personally think thi is a massive misstep but it's not something only one person can do.
Here's how I found out. And solved the problem:
I went I to "Manage a Booking" on the website just to confirm that the booking had been made.
I saw that the reservation had been made but "not ticketed yet". As it was almost 11pm, I decide to phone my local ticketing office in the morning when they opened for business.
I pho Ed and asked what the difference was and they informed me that until the passport info was provided, they could not confirm the booking or issue my flight ticket.
Thinking I had about a week to do this(because I personally think taking a week to provide passport deets for a flight only happening at the END OF January is reasonable), I just asked the customer services agent to confirm my thoughts. THIS is where I was informed that I had only 72 hours and no recourse after that period, my option were forfeit the R8200 fares, cancel with a R2500 penalty or provide my passport details using magic. I was blessed with my housesitter being willing to help me out by sending me a picture of my passport so I would have the info needed to confirm my booking ithout losing it.
I have been a little anxious since then which leads to me checking to ensure my booking is still there whenever I wake up but so far no issues.
Basically, this long ass post is me saying, make sure you have your passport on hand when booking your tix so that you don't even have to wait 1 hour, let alone 72hours.