Thai Airways Booking help needed please!

[epicfail]

Hi,

I booked and paid (last week) for my trip to Thailand through a discount TA (whom i have trouble understanding) and am wondering if you guys could help confirm a few things for me as i can't get an answer i understand from the TA.

1) I booked for me and my partner and was given a different thai international reference number for each person, is this normal? I always assumed you would be under the 1 reference number. Just don't want to be booked as singles.

2) I tried to check my booking via thaiair.com in the "checking your reservation" feature but it wouldn't find my reservation. I was given a link to virtuallythere via email from the TA but it's spitting out an error message "The PNR doesn't have email, please contact your travel arranger" should i be able to check my reservation on thaiair.com or is it only via virtuallythere?

3) the part i'm most concerned about is i want to be able to do an internet checkin 24 hours prior to going to the airport. since i can't "check my reservation" via thaiair.com i'm worried i won't be able to utilise the "internet checkin" feature when the time comes. Do i do the "internet checkin via virtuallythere? or is it via thairair.com and i will just have to try my luck even though i can't check my reservation?

Would appreciate any assistance!

 

[aoz48x]

To answer the first question about the 2 separate booking nbrs. Are the 2 of you both travelling there and back on exactly the same flights? If you going over together but returning home at different times this would explain the 2 different booking nbrs. If you are travelling there and back on exactly the same flights then the travel agent is working the system to get more revenue for creating 2 bookings rather than one. In either case make sure that you request the travel agent to link the bookings (or TCP them for airline jargon) so that TG know you are travelling together for seating.

Regarding the booking nbrs....The booking nbr on your confirmation may be the travel agents systems reference nbr. Ask them to confirm the TG booking nbr as well so you can check-in online if thats want you want.

Also get the travel agent to request your seating now, because if you wait to check-in to look for seats you will be left with nothing.

 

[oz_mark]

If the agent has provided you a link to VirtuallyThere, then the booking was created in Sabre. Thai, IIRC, uses Amadeus, so to access it on the Thai site you will need the booking reference from the Thai system.

Look on your itinerary, and see if there is an Airline reference number, which may be called something like 'Airline Record Locator' - which will also most likely be six characters.

 

[epicfail]

If the agent has provided you a link to VirtuallyThere, then the booking was created in Sabre. Thai, IIRC, uses Amadeus, so to access it on the Thai site you will need the booking reference from the Thai system.

Look on your itinerary, and see if there is an Airline reference number, which may be called something like 'Airline Record Locator' - which will also most likely be six characters.

On my email itinerary i have been given a Thai Airways Intl Reference which is 6 digits but when trying to use that on the thaiair.com site it doesn't find my booking.

I have also been given a separate reference number for the virtuallythere but that is also not working.

So are you guys saying the 6 digit Thai Airways Intl reference number i've been given should work on the thaiair.com site? or is there another 6 digit reference number that I need to request to be able to see my itinerary on the thai site?


Thanks

 

[epicfail]

To answer the first question about the 2 separate booking nbrs. Are the 2 of you both travelling there and back on exactly the same flights? If you going over together but returning home at different times this would explain the 2 different booking nbrs. If you are travelling there and back on exactly the same flights then the travel agent is working the system to get more revenue for creating 2 bookings rather than one. In either case make sure that you request the travel agent to link the bookings (or TCP them for airline jargon) so that TG know you are travelling together for seating.

Regarding the booking nbrs....The booking nbr on your confirmation may be the travel agents systems reference nbr. Ask them to confirm the TG booking nbr as well so you can check-in online if thats want you want.

Also get the travel agent to request your seating now, because if you wait to check-in to look for seats you will be left with nothing.

Hi,

Yes we are traveling on the same flight(s) for the whole trip. So if i check in 24 hours prior via online check in i still run a risk of not getting good seats? I assumed that would be sufficient time.



Thanks

 

[aoz48x]

Yes we are traveling on the same flight(s) for the whole trip. So if i check in 24 hours prior via online check in i still run a risk of not getting good seats? I assumed that would be sufficient time.

People can book there seating up to 12mths ahead of travel when they book their flights. If you leave it until 24hrs before yes you run the risk of not sitting together and basically whatever seats are still available.

Get the travel agent to do it now....After all that is what you are paying them to do. Otherwise you could have done the lot yourself online

 

[oz_mark]

On my email itinerary i have been given a Thai Airways Intl Reference which is 6 digits but when trying to use that on the thaiair.com site it doesn't find my booking.

Is it true for both bookings?

Can you try the Thai reference at www.checkmytrip.com? Just to see if it is in Amadeus....

and check the names carefully!

 

[epicfail]

Is it true for both bookings?

Can you try the Thai reference at checkmytrip just to see if it is in Amadeus....

and check the names carefully!

Hi,

that's correct it won't find both of my bookings.

I also tried checkmytrip and checked last name and it says unable to find confirmation number.

could there be any other valid reason for this? all i want to do is have some confirmation apart from what the TA is telling me and when reference numbers don't work on thaiair website or virtually there (given different reference number for virtually there that also doesnt work) or checkmytrip..

could it be possible that thai airways reference numbers can't be checked online? or is it just me..

 

[koonyaflyer]

I would suggest that a phone call to TG would be your best solution, at least if the RELOC's you are working with from the TA are not correct TG should be able to look up the booking by the flights you are on.

Whilst I am not suggesting that there is anything dodgy here....I can do think that sometimes cheap is not best, demonstrated by challenges you are experiencing here

 

[epicfail]

I would suggest that a phone call to TG would be your best solution, at least if the RELOC's you are working with from the TA are not correct TG should be able to look up the booking by the flights you are on.

Whilst I am not suggesting that there is anything dodgy here....I can do think that sometimes cheap is not best, demonstrated by challenges you are experiencing here

Hi,

May I ask what TG is?

Understandable about the cheap comment but as i'm flying during the high peak or whatever it's called (christmas/new year) cheap seems to be the only viable option.


Cheers!

 

[oz_mark]

Hi,

May I ask what TG is?

Understandable about the cheap comment but as i'm flying during the high peak or whatever it's called (christmas/new year) cheap seems to be the only viable option.

TG is Thai Airways (their flight numbers start TGxx_). Give them a call, and they should be able to locate your booking.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

You won't be able to pull up the booking on thaiair.com if it was made in Sabre until online check in opens. Even with the airline record locator. I don't know why this happens but it has never ever worked for me.

Virtuallythere.com requires the EMAIL address used in the booking as a kind of password. This is most likely the agent's email address. Ask your agent what email address is in your PNR so you can view it at virtuallythere.com.

 

[Smudge]

My bookings with Thai are done by my company's corporate travel agent and my itinerary contains both a "Booking Ref" and "Reservation No." - both 6 digit alphanumerics. Booking ref is the TA's ref and Reservation No is the airlines ref.
Any doubts ring Thai's reservation desk.

 

[JohnK]

Yes we are traveling on the same flight(s) for the whole trip. So if i check in 24 hours prior via online check in i still run a risk of not getting good seats? I assumed that would be sufficient time.

Do not wait until OLCI is open to select seats. If you can't view your booking online then call Thai and request seats and to be seated together.

I booked Thai flights online and without status I was able to select the 1st row of economy for 1 flight and the 2nd row of economy for the other flight. There has been an scheduled aircraft change for the 1st flight and I was automatically allocated the 2nd row of economy for that flight.

 

[an*g-bne]

My wife & I regularly fly TG (combined, probably 30+ sectors a year), with the bookings either made via a local TA, or by a foreign client's TA.

Regardless of how it is booked, you should receive two reference numbers per booking (and each booking can have multiple passengers as long as every flight is the same). There will be a GDS PNR (Global Distribution System Passenger Name Record), and a RELOC (airline record locator). I would have expected from what you have described, both passengers should be on the same booking, thus sharing the same PNR and RELOC. There are uncommon reasons why two passengers travelling together would be on different bookings (and thus having different PNRs and RELOCs) - for example, if only one seat was available in a cheap fare bucket and the TA elected to use different PNRs to minimise costs by getting the one cheap seat and a second slightly more expensive seat, or if one booking was made first, and then at a later time, a second booking was made.

Anyhow, you will have the PNR (in your case, it would appear that your TA is using Sabre given the link to Virtually There) and the RELOC (airline reference number - specific to each airline in a booking - if your PNR has 5 different airlines, there will be 5 different RELOCs).

To look at each of your issues in turn, firstly the PNR. The error you are describing makes me think that your TA has neglected to put in any email address at all in your PNR. VirtuallyThere has a small safeguard, in that to view a booking, you must have the PNR, the surname of one of the travellers, and one of the email addresses associated with the PNR (a passenger or TA email address). If you want to view your booking on Virtually There, you will need to contact your TA and ask them to insert your email address (PE1) into the booking (both bookings if you want to view both PNRs as they exist in Sabre).

Next, each airline also has their own separate copy of the booking, stored in the RELOC (airline record locator). In the case of TG, you cannot retrieve a TA generated booking via the Thai Airways web site (Check Your Booking link), even if you have the RELOC. The "Check Your Booking" link only works with bookings made directly with TG. As someone has already suggested, if you are uneasy as to whether your TA has done the right thing, ring Thai and give them the RELOC and ask them to check it for you.

However, there is a little trick - there is a hidden and unlinked web page that does allow you to retrieve your booking as TG sees it, regardless of whether it was a TA booking or direct with TG, as long as it has been ticketed (usually means, after it has been paid for in full). As this is not, as far as I can tell, a publicly advertised link, I'm not posting it here, but you can PM me for it. It is not the most reliable, and it is often unavailable for several hours at a time, but if you are persistent, you should eventually get on.

As far as OLCI goes, as you are travelling at peak time, many/most of the good seats will be pre-allocated by the time OLCI comes around. Worse still, as you are both on separate PNRs, you will most likely not be seated together by the system, and to find two good seats together will be difficult. You *could* ask your TA to link the bookings with a TCP command (Total Complete Party), but I'm not getting a very good feeling about the competency of your TA, from what you've said so far. Note: the TCP is only advisory and is not interpreted automatically as far as I know, and the airline can choose to ignore it when assigning seats.