So, due to our own stupidity and carelessness my parents and I were too late to check in for our MXP-BUD MA flight and had to change our tickets.
I was on a oneworld visit Europe fare issued on AA paper, whilst the parents were on a regular one way fare issued by QF as etickets. In theory, any oneworld alliance member is able to issue tickets on behalf of another oneworld alliance partner. You know... "Should you require any assistance, please approach one of our ground staff or alternatively, any of our oneworld alliance partners." and all that. We soon found out that yes oneworld attempts to revolve around you, but in a rather wobbly fashion...
First... the good: As there was no QF desk at MXP, we decided to try getting the BA ticket office to change my folks' tickets, as BA are on the same reservation system, before we resorted to calling QF and incur roaming charges. To our pleasant surprise, the lovely staff member manning the BA desk happily rebooked and reissued my parents' tickets on to their own documents. All for a token admin fee. We thanked the very kind agent, as we realised that he's done us a huge favour. BA shall be getting some positive feedback about their MXP ticketing staff shortly.
The bad: MA's handling agent at MXP refused to do anything, citing that "it's got nothing to do with us."
The ugly: The AA desk changed my ticket rather efficiently for a EUR30 admin fee, and claimed that they've confirmed with MA that my new booking is all kosher and good to go. AA took away my paper ticket coupon for "auditing purposes" and replaced it with what they claim is the eticket receipt for the new flight. They further claimed to have converted that one segment into an eticket. At check in however - the MA check in agent couldn't find any ticket numbers in his system, etix or otherwise. It turned out that AA MXP had erred in issuing my ticket and the document handed to me was some kind of receipt for the change fee (the 13 digit number on it was a receipt number and not a ticket number). Unfortunately AA's counter at MXP had long shut by that time, whilst there was no one at the BA desk.
More of the ugly: Throughout the whole time, MA's handling agent wouldn't lift a finger to render any assistance or advise.
And more of the good (I think) but more of an internal AA issue: I rang up the EXP desk. and the agent on the phone was most helpful and tried to sort something out. She confirmed that she couldn't see any new ticket numbers generated by AA MXP, and that the MXP agent had erred as all that was required was a revalidation of my existing ticket. The EUR30 admin fee was refunded to my credit card whilst I was on the phone with the EXP desk, and I was advised to simply buy a new oneway ticket to BUD (which cost EUR194) and send the bill to AA after my trip.
Moral of the story: Never attempt to catch a flight before midday.
I was on a oneworld visit Europe fare issued on AA paper, whilst the parents were on a regular one way fare issued by QF as etickets. In theory, any oneworld alliance member is able to issue tickets on behalf of another oneworld alliance partner. You know... "Should you require any assistance, please approach one of our ground staff or alternatively, any of our oneworld alliance partners." and all that. We soon found out that yes oneworld attempts to revolve around you, but in a rather wobbly fashion...
First... the good: As there was no QF desk at MXP, we decided to try getting the BA ticket office to change my folks' tickets, as BA are on the same reservation system, before we resorted to calling QF and incur roaming charges. To our pleasant surprise, the lovely staff member manning the BA desk happily rebooked and reissued my parents' tickets on to their own documents. All for a token admin fee. We thanked the very kind agent, as we realised that he's done us a huge favour. BA shall be getting some positive feedback about their MXP ticketing staff shortly.
The bad: MA's handling agent at MXP refused to do anything, citing that "it's got nothing to do with us."
The ugly: The AA desk changed my ticket rather efficiently for a EUR30 admin fee, and claimed that they've confirmed with MA that my new booking is all kosher and good to go. AA took away my paper ticket coupon for "auditing purposes" and replaced it with what they claim is the eticket receipt for the new flight. They further claimed to have converted that one segment into an eticket. At check in however - the MA check in agent couldn't find any ticket numbers in his system, etix or otherwise. It turned out that AA MXP had erred in issuing my ticket and the document handed to me was some kind of receipt for the change fee (the 13 digit number on it was a receipt number and not a ticket number). Unfortunately AA's counter at MXP had long shut by that time, whilst there was no one at the BA desk.
More of the ugly: Throughout the whole time, MA's handling agent wouldn't lift a finger to render any assistance or advise.
And more of the good (I think) but more of an internal AA issue: I rang up the EXP desk. and the agent on the phone was most helpful and tried to sort something out. She confirmed that she couldn't see any new ticket numbers generated by AA MXP, and that the MXP agent had erred as all that was required was a revalidation of my existing ticket. The EUR30 admin fee was refunded to my credit card whilst I was on the phone with the EXP desk, and I was advised to simply buy a new oneway ticket to BUD (which cost EUR194) and send the bill to AA after my trip.
Moral of the story: Never attempt to catch a flight before midday.
