1353513636

Long story short, I have a TP-issued ticket purchased from an OTA with the routing LIS-SFO-YVR, with LIS-SFO as a TP flight number on TP metal and SFO-YVR as a TP flight number and AC metal. It seems what has happened is that AC has dropped the TP codeshare, so the AC flight is still valid but the TP codeshare is not, so AC says I don't have a valid ticket for SFO-YVR. TP won't do anything and tells me anything has to be done through the OTA, AC won't touch it because it's a TP issued ticket, and the OTA insists that "TPXXXX is on-time" and therefore refused to take any action. What in practice will happen when I show up to the airport? I guess best case I fly to SFO and go to the AC counter, who would presumably have control of the ticket at that point and could re-issue it properly and allow me to fly. Or would I just be SOL with no way to get to YVR if the OTA won't acknowledge that the TP codeshare isn't valid anymore and AC won't accept a ticket for it as valid for travel? Or would TP possibly be able to fix it in LIS....I could also go to their ticket office at Lisbon Airport at T-24.

Wondering if anyone has any experiences with dealing with AC at the airport with an OTA ticket....will they fix it since they have control of the ticket by that point, or will they just tell me to call to OTA who won't help?

D582

AC has absolutely nothing to do with this. You have a TP ticket for TP-marketed flights. If TP has removed its codeshare on ACs flight, then the flight you are booked on is ‘cancelled’ and only TP or the travel agency can help you.

Stranger

1. I believe it is the travel agent's job to deal with this. He/she gets paid by the airline to do the job.

2. What does the cowtool show?

3. Worst case scenario: your credit card. This is a case of TP not delivering what you paid for.

CA_Traffic

Essentially this is TP cancelling a flight. It's their responsibility to complete your itinerary or refund you, although it's the OTA's responsibility to actually process that and it sounds like they're being difficult.

How far in advance of your flight are you? There's really two options, try and get TAP or the OTA to force you through a different route (through YYZ for instance) or to cancel the whole thing and re-book. If the travel agent won't refund, that's credit card insurance/chargeback time.

In any case agreed with others, AC has no bearing here.

1353513636

The flight is in 2 weeks. cowtool shows the following:

TP 8023 (AC 8847) AC SFO YVR
J Z (D) HK XX JUN 1705 1924 XX JUN 2:19
JATEXI0C Open for use 7M8

799 150% 1,199 97

...which is confusing to me that they've left it in HK status and open for use when AC8847 is no more. I tried calling TP this morning to request that they cancel TP8023 since AC says it doesn't exist, figuring that would make the TA do something, but they insist TP8023 is a normal flight in confirmed status and there's nothing for them to do. I supposed TP would have to pay me cash if they don't get me to YVR within 4 hours of originally scheduled departure time under EU261, since it's a "TP" flight being cancelled, but I'm not sure what I should do if I turn up at SFO and TP says I should be able to fly and AC says I can't.

Quail

You didn't include the exact date, but are you absolutely sure it isn't just TP8023/AC569? Because that is how TP8023 seems to be currently filed in the schedule.
If I use a historical lookup date, it was originally filed with AC8847, which was ~30 minutes earlier. But the time and flight number was changed back on April 10/11.

canadiancow

Yeah, that seems more like an issue that 8847 was cancelled and replaced with 569. I think the most likely scenario is that you have no issue boarding 569.

1353513636

I'm only worried because I called AC to select a seat on the SFO-YVR segment and they said it wasn't ticketed....I think given the circumstances and since my primary residence is in SFO so it wouldn't be catastrophic if I got "stranded" for a day or so I think I'm just going to leave it be and report back here if there's any more saga on day of travel.

RangerNS

OP: get the TA to figure this out. It'll be infinitely easier now than after.

1353513636

Here's what went down

On the morning of travel, TP said they couldn't print me a BP for SFO-YVR and the bag tag spat out AC8847. I asked TP for help at the TP service center at LIS and the agent showed me in her system AC8847 showing as operating and said she couldn't do anything. I then called AC who said I was booked on AC569.

At SFO, I lugged my bags to the AC desk, where a bag tag for AC569 was correctly printed out and given a boarding pass with seat "SBY". The agent insisted I had to get a seat assignment at the gate "because you didn't choose one in advance".....sounds made up but ok. At the gate they told me I was selected for being downgraded to Y because "you booked today and the system shouldn't have accepted your booking". I flew to YVR in Y. They did not offer any compensation at the gate but said AC would give me some if I contacted customer service even though it's a TP ticket and flight since they are the operator and they are downgrading me, but I'm not sure if they just said that to get me to go away.

Wouldn't this qualify for EU261 downgrade compensation as it's a TP coded flight and ex-EU itinerary? Who would be responsible, AC or TP?

zorn

The EU doesn't cover flights between CA and US operated by a Canadian carrier.

You could ask AC for compensation.

You got to SFO with your stuff. I would be inclined to declare victory.

D582

EC261 does cover connections as part of a single journey from a member state even when the issue occurs outside the EU on a non-EU carrier. I’ve received EC261 compensation from AC when AC cancelled a YYZSFO flight as I had originated in the EU on a single ticket.

However, EC261 also requires properly confirmed reservations and properly issued tickets. Something went wrong here between the OTA and TP (as it was a TP ticket stock and a TP flight number) and when the operating flight number changed something was not done correctly. AC likely just force accepted the passenger on the day of with whatever space was left.