AHHHHHH - Please Help, 20 calls later no solution

[paul4471]

OK, So here goes in a nutshell:

I am EXP, I have 59 X 500-miles and 4 VIP's. I am travelling on DONE4 in US in July.

I have just booked my colleague a LONE4 which follows the same flights/routes/date throughout the US as me. I asked the TA to ticket it using AA but to no avail, she inadvertently left it till less than 21 days (despite my warnings on this) and QF were the only one's she could convince to ticket it.

He is on a paper ticket. Paid for last week - yet to arrive

I have called the Indian call centre and the EXP desk about 5 times each and they keep telling me they cannot see the ticket despite my TA telling me that it is in the booking and it is ticketed. They say it needs to be on AA stock in order to use the upgrades for both the domestic US flights and the VIP for JFK-LHR. They have no idea how to get this ticket on to AA stock and they suggets my best bet is to just ask at the airport for each of these upgrades (of course that puts him further down the queue).

Do any of the gurus (Dave, NM etc) - have any idea how to rectify this. It just seems crazy to me that AA can't do this. The Indian call centre is diabolical, they appear to have no idea what they are doing, they didn't even know what 500 mile upgrades were, they disconnected me at least 3 times and regular 10-15 minutes on hold while they played around in the system. The EXP desk is always very friendly but unable to help unitl the ticket numbers appear in their system.

My TA seems to not have too much interest or care about resolvig this and unless I can tell someone exactly what they need to do in order to solve AA's problem for them I fear my ability ot finally actually use some of my 500milers is fast dissapearing in smoke.

Actually, even just some soothing words, even if you don't have the answer would be helpful - and the name of a good TA in Perth for next time. Not one that tells me "why don't you use *A they are so much better!"

Sorry - I just have to vent this is driving me insane!!

 

[Keith009]

Well, I'm neither Dave nor NM but I'd try...

In order to apply sticker upgrades or EVIPs, the ticket needs to be issued by AA. As your colleague is now ticketed on QF stock, it is not possible to apply sticker upgrades or EVIPs.

The only way for AA to 'take over' the ticket would be to reissue the ticket on to AA stock. Now I'm not sure if this could be done anytime or if you need a reason for the reissuing, such as a reroute. And I'm not sure that it could be done before departure. Otherwise - any AA ticketing location can handle the reissuing. Maybe call the ATW desk to explain the situation and organise the reissue - and bring the paper ticket to a CTO or ATO to be reissued [or mail in the case of AA SYD] when the ATW/rates desks have prepped the record. However they would first need the appropriate information from QF/your TA - the ticket numbers and an image of your paper ticket. Make sure the ticket numbers are in the PNR already - sounds like they're not. I'm pretty sure you have a machine printed ticket, but in the event that it's handwritten - make sure the TA has manually entered ticket numbers into the system for every segment.

Or you might want to try getting your colleague on the airport standby upgrade list, where the ticket stock used might not matter as much, but you also risk the chance of not getting the upgrade that way.

Good luck.

 

[NM]

I do not think you can have a non-issuing airline re-issue the ticket until the journey has commenced. Until the first flight has been taken it can only be changed by the booking agent (only the TA and not even QF can make any changes).

Once the first flight has been taken, you can then have AA re-issue it. But since its a paper ticket, you are going to need to take the paper ticket to an AA ticket office to have that done. They are likely to charge you US$125 for the process of re-issuing a xONEx ticket (per the fare rules).

However, AA should be able to see the reservation in their system. You need to ask the issuing TA for the Sabre booking reference number, which will be different to the Amadeus booking reference as used by QF. With the Sabre reference, you should be able to ask AA to apply the upgrade request subject to the ticket being re-issued before the AA flight segment, at which time the booking class can be changed.

The reason AA cannot process the upgrade without the ticket being issued on AA (001) ticket stock is because the way the process such an upgrade is to change the booking class, and they do that by adjusting the ticket details. They can only do that if the ticket is an AA-issued ticket.

 

[Keith009]

However, AA should be able to see the reservation in their system. You need to ask the issuing TA for the Sabre booking reference number, which will be different to the Amadeus booking reference as used by QF. With the Sabre reference, you should be able to ask AA to apply the upgrade request subject to the ticket being re-issued before the AA flight segment, at which time the booking class can be changed.

I think in this case AA was able to see the booking - but they don't seem to have received ticket numbers despite the OP's TA claiming that the booking has been ticketed.

 

[paul4471]

Thanks,

I'm feeling a bit better that at least we may be able to re-issue after the 1st flight (thanks NM).

Thanks to you both for the quick and expert response.

In the meantime I called the TA again and have asked her to look at a completely new mirror image booking but this time doing as asked and using AA to ticket it. Of course expertflyer is now showing a couple fo legs that need to be wailisted but I have told the TA to call the AA RTW desk and explain the situation that we will be cancelling the QF booked itinerary and can we have the same seats (hopefully you know what I mean). As far as I am concerned the TA should be bending over backwards to fix this. Achieving this has 3 advantages: 1) upgrades will become possible 2) should be a cheaper price since no fuel surcharges 3) wont have to pay $125 re-issue fee 4) should be able to be an e-ticket. Disadvantages are that 1) travel commences 30 Jun so she only has 3 days to sort this mess out and I really hope they can 2) I hope there are no cancellation fees from QF and I don't have to wait 3 months for the refund.

Paul

 

[NM]

I hope there are no cancellation fees from QF and I don't have to wait 3 months for the refund.

last time I cancelled a DONE4 that had been ticketed but not commenced, the refund from QF took about 3 weeks. Came through just before my credit card was due for payment.

 

[simongr]

4) should be able to be an e-ticket.
Paul

Why will this e an eticket now? Is 16 segments or less?

Out of interest why dont you call the A RTW desk yourself and them to take on the challenge

I am sure that they could find you eventually on the flight - I found them very helpful. Dont rely on the indian desk for anything - go to the source!

I have instructed the US TA for one of my trips that f CX cant make a change then get AA to do it - bt of a big call but I am confident in them

 

[Keith009]

Why will this e an eticket now? Is 16 segments or less?

That includes surface segments too.

A friend working for Amadeus told me that Amadeus can handle etickets of 20 segments tops. Unfortunately AA is not an Amadeus airline, but I guess if etickets are absolutely needed one can look for an Amadeus TA or go to QF, BA or IB to issue ONEs. Then again I'd rather deal with paper tickets than go to QF/BA/IB for my tickets - all bureaucracy, incompetence, invented rules, fines and other nickel and dimes.

OT: Further, aforementioned mate said that to support RTW products after the compulsory eticketing deadline beyond the eticketing segment limits, airlines can simply take advantage of their interline e-ticketing links and issue conjunction tickets on a single itinerary across each other's ticket stocks. Hmm - I wonder if this will mean that the part of the ticket issued on another airline's ticket stock will result in that bit of the itinerary exposed to the fuel fines of the plating airline...

 

[NM]

A friend working for Amadeus told me that Amadeus can handle etickets of 20 segments tops.

Then someone needs to tell Qantas that they should be able to issue e-tickets over 16 segments. I am currently carrying a big book of paper tickets on my 17-sector DONE4 that was issued on 081 QF stock. I was told by the TA that the QF system could not issue it as an e-ticket due to being over 16 sectors.

 

[Keith009]

Then someone needs to tell Qantas that they should be able to issue e-tickets over 16 segments. I am currently carrying a big book of paper tickets on my 17-sector DONE4 that was issued on 081 QF stock. I was told by the TA that the QF system could not issue it as an e-ticket due to being over 16 sectors.

Well - in the world of QF - the 'travel cannot be via point of origin' rule still exists for ONE...

 

[NM]

Well - in the world of QF - the 'travel cannot be via point of origin' rule still exists for ONE...

Not in the world of QF that issued my current DONE4 ticket. That part was never queried. Seems that it depends on just who issues the ticket. In my case the TA (our corporate travel centre) made the booking and they certainly know the rules (it was them that told me about it when that rule changed several years ago) and they have never had any problems issuing the ticket on QF stock.

 

[simongr]

Has your TA got a phone number?