Redemption on Air Canada - booking reference error

[magicpies]

Hi folks, I booked a couple of J reward tickets with Air Canada, however my e-ticket has been exchanged 3 or 4 times since booking as the departure times keep changing.

The problem however is that my Air Canada booking reference is still linked(?) to the original e-ticket number and despite many calls to both VA and AC, neither support team can offer any solution (other than to cancel and book me on a different day). Trying to access my booking through Air Canada's site/app just leads me to a 'apply for refund' page if I try change any info. The details on CheckMyTrip seem to show all the correct info apart from ticket number too.

Should I be concerned at all? I have been advised to just turn up on the day and check in at the desk instead of online but they assured me there would be no problems other than the booking reference not working.

 

[Mattg]

Can you still login to manage your booking on the Air Canada website using the AC PNR (this is different to the VA PNR)? If not, Air Canada probably doesn't consider that you have a valid ticket at this point.

I've had a similar issue with an upcoming booking which was only resolved by contacting a few people that the general public wouldn't have access to. Personally I don't think that's good enough.

I tried telling Velocity that there was a systematic issue here with tickets becoming desynchronised when there is an Air Canada schedule change resulting in a ticket reissue, but Velocity didn't seem too interested.

 

[magicpies]

Can you still login to manage your booking on the Air Canada website using the AC PNR (this is different to the VA PNR)? If not, Air Canada probably doesn't consider that you have a valid ticket at this point.

I've had a similar issue with an upcoming booking which was only resolved by contacting a few people that the general public wouldn't have access to. Personally I don't think that's good enough.

I tried telling Velocity that there was a systematic issue here with tickets becoming desynchronised when there is an Air Canada schedule change resulting in a ticket reissue, but Velocity didn't seem too interested.

Hi Matt, the only thing I can do with the Air Canada PNR is to view my booking, when I click on anything within the booking such as select seats for example it just leads me to an error page.

I've been contacting Velocity since February and the only thing they tell me that it's escalated and it will be resolved in 3-5 business days.

Kinda out of ideas on what to do at this stage!

 

[Mattg]

Hi Matt, the only thing I can do with the Air Canada PNR is to view my booking, when I click on anything within the booking such as select seats for example it just leads me to an error page.

I've been contacting Velocity since February and the only thing they tell me that it's escalated and it will be resolved in 3-5 business days.

Kinda out of ideas on what to do at this stage!

Velocity and Air Canada need to talk to each other.

Hopefully your booking will be fine - when I had an issue with my ticket, I couldn’t even log onto Air Canada MMB until it was fixed.

It was all fine with my booking until Air Canada changed the departure time of my flight by 75 minutes.

Since then I’ve also had a change to the arrival time by 1 minute. Thankfully that didn’t seem to break things, but I specifically made sure they didn’t reissue the ticket (ie create a new ticket number) for that schedule change.

 

[Must...Fly!]

If VA have reissued the ticket it should in theory be easy for AC to resynch...

 

[luxury-lizard]

Have you called AC - it's surprisingly easy to get through on the phone - give them the AC PNR and they can at least tell you if there is a valid ticket. I have never booked an AC award with Velocity points - but have with LifeMiles and you cannot do "much" on the AC website with the PNR (e.g. seat selection is not available) but you can ask it to e-mail you the e-ticket.

 

[QF_Flyer]

Watching this thread, was actually talking to a mate today about this as I have the exact same issue.

I've called AC, who can see the booking but not do anything with it, and called VA, who then proactively called me back half an hour later acknowledging the issue, but that something or other was being done (I was never really clear what that something was).

Booking shows in VA and AC apps, the AC app even refreshes and shows the seat selection, but I can't access the booking (goes to the refund page, just as has been described).

To add another spanner into the works, I've added my SQ FF# to the booking too (figured Star Gold was better than VA Gold for the purposes of status benefits).

Post automatically merged: May 8, 2022

Have you called AC - it's surprisingly easy to get through on the phone - give them the AC PNR and they can at least tell you if there is a valid ticket. I have never booked an AC award with Velocity points - but have with LifeMiles and you cannot do "much" on the AC website with the PNR (e.g. seat selection is not available) but you can ask it to e-mail you the e-ticket.

Seat selection of AC awards with Velocity points is available, I've been able to do it on every AC booking I've made. But yeah, other than that it's pretty useless, just a bit unnerving that it's not working correctly!

 

[magicpies]

If VA have reissued the ticket it should in theory be easy for AC to resynch...

Have you called AC - it's surprisingly easy to get through on the phone - give them the AC PNR and they can at least tell you if there is a valid ticket. I have never booked an AC award with Velocity points - but have with LifeMiles and you cannot do "much" on the AC website with the PNR (e.g. seat selection is not available) but you can ask it to e-mail you the e-ticket.

Yep... you'd think it should be fairly straight forward! I've spoken to AC quite a few times - I think it's just the one guy that always answers, he's generally pretty helpful but he tells me that since the ticket is issued by VA and not AC he doesn't have much control over it.

I'm thinking of just throwing in the towel and booking on a different day, just a shame that I'll be swapping from A330 to 737 MAX.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I've just received a change for a BNE-YVR redemption. Change of time and date. Will update with my experience, hopefully since it's a date change as well there will be no issues...

 

[QF_Flyer]

I've just received a change for a BNE-YVR redemption. Change of time and date. Will update with my experience, hopefully since it's a date change as well there will be no issues...

I’ve just had a change for YVR-YYZ, few minutes time change. Accepted and now same thing as my SYD-YVR, can no longer access on AC’s website but VA say all is well.

We’ll see.

 

[Mattg]

I’ve just had a change for YVR-YYZ, few minutes time change. Accepted and now same thing as my SYD-YVR, can no longer access on AC’s website but VA say all is well.

We’ll see.

Have you called Air Canada? What did they say?

 

[QF_Flyer]

Have you called Air Canada? What did they say?

Not yet for this booking, but I did for the SYD-YVR originally. They said all looks well but they can't do anything with it because it's stuck with VA (looks like VA haven't sent the ticket number through to AC or something). I'll have to start hassling them eventually.

 

[QF_Flyer]

Any update from anyone on this? I called VA again today and was just told it would be fixed once check in opens - this doesn't fill me with optimism.

Using Tripcase I can see all the history, including all the reissued e-tickets, but on Checkmytrip the PNR is only linked to the initial ticket number, so looks like the SABRE side is fine but it's not communicating with Amadeus. Not sure what to do here, just wait? Is it going to be a problem?

 

[Must...Fly!]

I seem to be getting an SMS and email every couple weeks from AC about a change but no action required. Email shows new date and time, can't look up on AC website. Not til November so I'm not worried, I figure worst case (lucky as I'm Plat) I end up on the phone to VA on the day.

But I imagine a few people may come unstuck before then if there really is a problem so they'll probably fix it up one way or the other...

 

[QF_Flyer]

I seem to be getting an SMS and email every couple weeks from AC about a change but no action required. Email shows new date and time, can't look up on AC website. Not til November so I'm not worried, I figure worst case (lucky as I'm Plat) I end up on the phone to VA on the day.

But I imagine a few people may come unstuck before then if there really is a problem so they'll probably fix it up one way or the other...

Yeah same, I’m getting regular updates about changes of a few minutes now…I’m flying in a week, so hoping it all goes well. Hoping others can reassure me but either way I’ll report back haha.

I’m VA Gold and SQ Gold (for *A help by AC, maybe ), so fingers crossed I guess!

 

[magicpies]

So a while ago I gave up and cancelled my flight, opting for a booking the day before instead. Just received the dreaded flight change email from both Virgin and Air Canada, however my booking is still working (for now). Virgin even emailed me the new e-tickets without me having to call up!

The only difference I can see between this and my previous booking is that the departure time has remained the same, only the arrival time has changed.

As above, exchanged tickets updated in TripCase but not CheckMyTrip

 

[QF_Flyer]

I called both AC and VA today. AC on hold for ages (almost two hours) and the guy I spoke to didn’t seem to know a thing nor be very interested in anything, but couldn’t attach the new eticket to the PNR. They couldn’t see an issue until I pointed out that the eticket number was incorrect, he just told me it was a floating ticket

VA answered in minutes, but can’t see a problem. They did acknowledge that there is one, it’s widespread with AC bookings and they don’t know what the issue is (looks like it’s at AC’s end) but that people are still being able to fly…it’s definitely ticketed.

Both parties did confirm the reso was intact. Interestingly when I try OLCI (on the AC website) using the PNR or original ticket number it errors out, but when I use the new ticket number it changes to “your flight is not departing within 24h”, so it clearly recognises something.

This is stressful and I wish I’d stuck with Oneworld…

 

[N860CR]

This is stressful and I wish I’d stuck with Oneworld…

Because there’s never dramas with qantas issuing tickets

 

[QF_Flyer]

Because there’s never dramas with qantas issuing tickets

Fair point

 

[Mattg]

So a while ago I gave up and cancelled my flight, opting for a booking the day before instead. Just received the dreaded flight change email from both Virgin and Air Canada, however my booking is still working (for now). Virgin even emailed me the new e-tickets without me having to call up!

The only difference I can see between this and my previous booking is that the departure time has remained the same, only the arrival time has changed.

As above, exchanged tickets updated in TripCase but not CheckMyTrip

There don't seem to be any issues when the arrival time (only) changes.