Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[sojourningtemporarily]

Yes this should be easy, and you can't make this change after your first flight leaves (I'm sure you already knew this!).

Actually it would need to be altered to:

SYD-NAN-SFO-JFK-MAD-AMS-HKG-BKK- some random segment/s -MNL-SYD

Since you said I can't cut the married SYD-NAN segment which is part of the SYD-NAN-SFO initial flight, correct?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Actually it would need to be altered to:

SYD-NAN-SFO-JFK-MAD-AMS-HKG-BKK- some random segment/s -MNL-SYD

Since you said I can't cut the married SYD-NAN segment which is part of the SYD-NAN-SFO initial flight, correct?

Depends if SYD-SFO are married. If they’re not they could short segment the ticket. But if NAN-SFO is generally not available otherwise, it suggests married segments.

Are there any other options? Could you start your ticket from SIN… so SIN-HKG-LAX etc, or even DPS

 

[sojourningtemporarily]

Depends if SYD-SFO are married. If they’re not they could short segment the ticket. But if NAN-SFO is generally not available otherwise, it suggests married segments.

Are there any other options? Could you start your ticket from SIN… so SIN-HKG-LAX etc, or even DPS

Just to clarify how is “married” defined for the OWA?

It would be most ideal to be able to alter syd-Nan-sfo to Nan-sfo, but I really don’t want to mess up the booking.

But I definitely need to get this ticketed by later this evening

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just to clarify how is “married” defined for the OWA?

It would be most ideal to be able to alter syd-Nan-sfo to Nan-sfo, but I really don’t want to mess up the booking.

But I definitely need to get this ticketed by later this evening

Married segments applies to award and revenue tickets. It’s a form of inventory control employed by airlines to restrict sales or availability on certain routes.

For example, Singapore Airlines may not want to give away award seats SIN-SYD, because it thinks it can sell them for $$$. However, if someone is starting in Bangkok, they may well allow that person to fly BKK-SIN-SYD, and make an award available.

In that case, BKK-SIN has been married to SIN-SYD. You cannot get SIN-SYD by itself.

So it depends how FJ has constructed their awards. They may not want anyone to only fly NAN-SFO, but are haply to allow pax to originate in other cities and fly NAN-SFO.

Generally speaking you cannot break married segments (or divorce them). Award systems simply won’t allow it, and for revenue fares, if travel agents atte ot to break the married segments they usually get a telling off and are billed the higher fare!

The sure fire way to find out is to call and ask if you can drop the SYD-NAN sector. Hiwever… given there’s no availability NAN-SFO, you can probably assume the sectors are married And do you want a call centre agent playing around with the booking? And potentially mucking it up? It’s a big risk unkess you have alternative award space somewhere else.

That’s not to say the agent that mucks it up isnt technically responsible to fix it… but getting them to fix it, in time, can be problematic.

 

[sojourningtemporarily]

Married segments applies to award and revenue tickets. It’s a form of inventory control employed by airlines to restrict sales or availability on certain routes.

For example, Singapore Airlines may not want to give away award seats SIN-SYD, because it thinks it can sell them for $$$. However, if someone is starting in Bangkok, they may well allow that person to fly BKK-SIN-SYD, and make an award available.

In that case, BKK-SIN has been married to SIN-SYD. You cannot get SIN-SYD by itself.

So it depends how FJ has constructed their awards. They may not want anyone to only fly NAN-SFO, but are haply to allow pax to originate in other cities and fly NAN-SFO.

Generally speaking you cannot break married segments (or divorce them). Award systems simply won’t allow it, and for revenue fares, if travel agents atte ot to break the married segments they usually get a telling off and are billed the higher fare!

The sure fire way to find out is to call and ask if you can drop the SYD-NAN sector. Hiwever… given there’s no availability NAN-SFO, you can probably assume the sectors are married And do you want a call centre agent playing around with the booking? And potentially mucking it up? It’s a big risk unkess you have alternative award space somewhere else.

That’s not to say the agent that mucks it up isnt technically responsible to fix it… but getting them to fix it, in time, can be problematic.

Thank you for the clear explanation. I was aware of this, just not that it was considered "married" for OWA purposes, but clearly I was mistaken.

You're right, I definitely do not want them messing up the booking... so likely I will replace the CDG-PER with AMS-HKG-BKK- some random segment/s -MNL-SYD.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thank you for the clear explanation. I was aware of this, just not that it was considered "married" for OWA purposes, but clearly I was mistaken.

You're right, I definitely do not want them messing up the booking... so likely I will replace the CDG-PER with AMS-HKG-BKK- some random segment/s -MNL-SYD.

I mean it should be a simple case of you asking if you can drop the SYD-NAN and the agent doing a couple of click and saying ‘no’. But unfortunately sometimes the agent will do things like try and delete the segment, or delete the whole thing and try and rebook NAN-SFO… and of course by the time they’ve done that there’s no getting it back!

Yeah, married segments and other inventory control are applied to award and revenue bookings, and a OWA is just a series of award trips cobbled together.