Originally Posted by
nick5000
Normally "O" is first class, where does P come from?
Anyway, that makes sense. I spoke to two agents that both said they had exonomy extra available, so I would conclude that the SK agents aren't too skilled for *A award bookings.
Also, she said it was not permitted to fly PVG SIN MNL, it had to be PVG PEK MNL on air china. So I ended up booking this with UA miles.
Unfortunately it seems that the EuroBonus agents are really bad trained in ticketing StarAlliance award redemptions. One really needs to be a bit pushy, it always help to explain them step by step how to search. The agent shall not search in the SAS award system, but in the *system, it is two different systems. The SK system shows I = Business, P = Economy extra and X = Economy and quotes the awards accordingly. For some very strange reason the SK award system shows star alliance partner awards using the same codes, but with P = (revenue!) First instead of award space, when the agent gets to the ticketing process the system quotes a wrong price and says not able to process ticket. Usually the agent then thinks there is no space.
This link I have used to tell the agents the difference in the Star and the SK award system
http://www.starallianceemployees.com...ignment.1.html
Always ask the agent to use the StarAlliance award search system, search flights leg by leg and NOT as CPH-FRA-SIN as an example, search CPH-FRA and then FRA-SIN then the agent can melt it into one itinerary.
Always point out that the agent should look for O if you wants First class, I for Business Class and X for economy class if you want to fly StarAlliance.
Usually the agents are very happy to learn new things and appreciate that one can help them. Els ask to talk to a supervisor – even though I have talked to a supervisor before that even didn’t know the rules and told me it wasn’t possible to book First class on any partner. Told her to look at flysas.com and then she realized I were correct.
Anyways, booking StarAlliacne awards with SAS is a BIG challenge – NEVER accept a NO when you know that you are right. Ask for a supervisor or ask the agent to talk to his/her supervisor and then call you back and always ask politely for the name of the agent you are talking to.
Good luck booking StarAlliance awards in premium cabins to all of you