Vietnam Airlines Premium Economy codeshare - beware!

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the response. The OLCI working with the VN PNR is an interesting theory/observation, if that works and I get a bit more time to deal with it, that would help.

Secondly, haven't even thought of EU261 yet, good call out! But given my contract is with VN, wouldn't they be on the hook for any compensation? Or is it the operating carrier?

It’s the operating carrier.

Hopefully this is just a case of different IT systems needing to sync.

The other thing… on the day of travel, is there a VN metal flight to Vietnam? If AF rejects the PEY ticket can you go to a VN ticket desk at the airport, or even get yourself put on a VN aircraft, in PEY (even if its via another city in Vietnam)

 

[jsoprano]

It’s the operating carrier.

Hopefully this is just a case of different IT systems needing to sync.

The other thing… on the day of travel, is there a VN metal flight to Vietnam? If AF rejects the PEY ticket can you go to a VN ticket desk at the airport, or even get yourself put on a VN aircraft, in PEY (even if its via another city in Vietnam)

Yes there are, two even! CDG-HAN leaves at the same time as the AF flight I am booked on, and CDG-SGN leaves about 2.5 hours earlier. I already thought about that as a fallback, hence why OLCI would be important, to have the time to, worst-case, escalate with VN and get re-booked on their own metal. Not ideal but would take that over AF Y any day.

And yeah, maybe I am just seeing shadows and worry about nothing. That would be the best case. And your earlier observation that there are not really any reports of actual downgrades is a good one. One would think if that would then happen weekly then they would have fixed it since. But who knows.

 

[sudoer]

What date is the trip? It would be worth looking at the seat map reported by EF for both AF flight number and VN codeshare (happy to do this for you)

Or if you have your own paid subscription, you could set an aircraft change alert.

 

[madrooster]

VN2106/2107 are VN blockspace codeshares operated by AF so it is not a regular run of the mill freesale codeshare.

There will be a separate AF operating carrier PNR, with its own record locator, but it does not get created until T-48h. Therefore at the moment there is no AF PNR at all. VN will not be able to tell you what the AF record locator is within T-48h, but AF will be able to find you by searching by ticket number or name against the prime flight number AF258.

The seat map loaded for VN2106/2107 is correct - it is this config: https://www.aerolopa.com/af-359-1

 

[jsoprano]

What date is the trip? It would be worth looking at the seat map reported by EF for both AF flight number and VN codeshare (happy to do this for you)

Or if you have your own paid subscription, you could set an aircraft change alert.

22 September. Don't have EF atm so thanks in advance if you wouldn't mind.

I got the below off seats.aero for AF258 on that day, as I said before AF shows a different config:

 

[jsoprano]

VN2106/2107 are VN blockspace codeshares operated by AF so it is not a regular run of the mill freesale codeshare.

There will be a separate AF operating carrier PNR, with its own record locator, but it does not get created until T-48h. Therefore at the moment there is no AF PNR at all. VN will not be able to tell you what the AF record locator is within T-48h, but AF will be able to find you by searching by ticket number or name against the prime flight number AF258.

The seat map loaded for VN2106/2107 is correct - it is this config: https://www.aerolopa.com/af-359-1

Thanks so much, that's what I was suspecting, they work off their own inventory (the seat map snapshot they included in the email specifically showed rows 11 and 12 only, not even row 10). And thanks for the insights on the PNR - this is helpful.

With the seat map, but how does this then marry up eventually? Because the actual flight AF258 that VN2106 is placed on shows this config: https://www.aerolopa.com/af-359-2

So all over that is good news re PE cabin, but still confused about how seats will be allocated eventually.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks so much, that's what I was suspecting, they work off their own inventory (the seat map snapshot they included in the email specifically showed rows 11 and 12 only, not even row 10). And thanks for the insights on the PNR - this is helpful.

With the seat map, but how does this then marry up eventually? Because the actual flight AF258 that VN2106 is placed on shows this config: https://www.aerolopa.com/af-359-2

So all over that is good news re PE cabin, but still confused about how seats will be allocated eventually.

Aircraft are subject to change I guess? I just picked a random date for September and it’s showing the same seat configuration posted by Madrooster… ie three rows of premium economy in rows 10, 11 and 12.

So that configuration does operate on that route. And I wonder how often they’d switch would switch between them?

Either way… it seems the main issue, that you’re seated in PEY has been resolved. It’s likely at 48 hours prior your AF PNR will be created and you
may have some ability to view and manage your booking.

You scored a good deal

 

[jsoprano]

Aircraft are subject to change I guess? I just picked a random date for September and it’s showing the same seat configuration posted by Madrooster… ie three rows of premium economy in rows 10, 11 and 12.

So that configuration does operate on that route. And I wonder how often they’d switch would switch between them?

Either way… it seems the main issue, that you’re seated in PEY has been resolved. It’s likely at 48 hours prior your AF PNR will be created and you
may have some ability to view and manage your booking.

You scored a good deal

Yes, I agree! And with the different layouts: from what I read the one showing by VN is the older and worse PE seat, but I have window-aisle allocations already. If it is indeed the one showing for AF258, I get the better cabin hard product, but seat allocation will change. So a bit of give and take either way. For having saved quite a bit of money overall, I am not complaining indeed

 

[sudoer]

Can replicate the mismatched seat maps for AF258 / VN2106.. really strange!