euslaner

I flew last week from IAD-PEK-CKG (Chongqing). When I booked the ticket through UA, they got me to CKG fine. But it would have cost an additional $1500 to fly from CKG-PEK, so I just booked IAD-PEK-CKG, PEK-IAD and booked the CKG-IAD via Expedia (for $278). (I tried calling Air China but they said that they could only do a reservation by fax, not over the phone or online). So I was booked on CA1420 CKG-PEK on Friday 6/15. I got to the airport in CKG in plenty of time (1.5 hours before departure), received my boarding pass for CA1420 with an exit row seat. Went to the lounge where I was informed that the flight would be delayed half an hour. Went to the gate anyway. They told me to come back later. Both the lounge and gate agents saw my BP.

Even though boarding was now at 11:30 rather than 10:30 I went back to the gate at 10:40. No one was there. At 11:15 an agent showed up. So did other passengers. We were told (in Chinese, I had to ask) that boarding would now be delayed another 15 minutes. At 11:50 we were told of a gate change. Everyone ran down to the other gate. As I was boarding, the GA told me that this flight was CA1423, not CA1420 and that I would have to go back past security to get a new reservation on a later flight.

I was worried about connections since the other flights (PEK-CKG, CKG-NAN) I took on this trip were delayed by between 1 - 2 hours. So I went to the lounge, where the agent told me that CA 1423 was full, asked me why I didn't take CA1420, and then told me that there was another flight, CA1430 that would leave at 1:30 (it had originally been scheduled for 1 pm). An agent at the lounge went to speak with the manager (after a kind young Chinese man helped me explain to her). After 20 minutes of uncertainty, she came back and told me that they had cleared a seat for me. I was thrilled but still stumped. She continued to ask why I didn't take CA1420.

I finally make it to PEK and go to the CA lounge. I opened my email and found this:

Air China confirmation code: ML9L85


Dear Expedia Traveler,

Air China made the following change(s) to your itinerary:

* Cancelled 1 of your flights.

If this change was not initiated by you or you believe there has been an error, please contact us at 1-877-787-7145 or at 1-404-728-8787 (collect calls accepted).


Your updated flight schedule is below, and you can always view your itinerary at Expedia.

Chongqing to Beijing
Flight Details Friday, Jun 15, 2012 at 11:00 AM Cancelled Flight
Air China Flight Number: CA1420
From: (CKG) Chongqing, China Depart: 11:00 AM
To: (PEK) Beijing, China Arrive: 1:25 PM
Status: CANCELLED Class: Coach
Equipment: Boeing 737-800 Jet Seat:



So: (1) CA gave me a boarding pass on a flight that had been "cancelled"; (2) but CA1423 was scheduled to depart at the same time as CA1420.

So the mystery of why I did not find CA1420 was resolved, but not why the flight had simply been renumbered, why I got a BP for a flight that had been cancelled, and why agents at the lounge and the gate indicated that all was in order until I actually tried to board a plane.

If I hadn't been so persistent and hadn't found a helpful local (and called my own contact in Chongqing), I'd still be in China after missing my UA connection to IAD. Not to mention out a change fee (at least) and perhaps the loss of my upgrade on UA.