"UNLIMITED TRANSFERS PERMITTED" - how to book segment run? [Archive]

graraps

Oct 10, 07, 3:23 pm

"Unlimited Transfers" notwithstanding, the routing rules (which have not been posted) will impose other restrictions that must be met in order to price and book the itin. This will in fact limit the number of transfers possible, either explicitly (by listing the connecting cities allowed) or implicitly with a Maximum Permissible Mileage (MPM) limit.

There shouldn't be a MPM problem. There is very little detour/backtracking involved in this routing. In fact, according to the Great Circle Mapper, BHX-LYS-MAD (a connection sold by the AF website) is just one mile shorter than BHX-CDG-LYS-TLS-MAD (1125 instead of 1126)!!! MAN-CDG-MAD (there is no direct MAN-LYS flight) is 1026 miles instead of 1189 for MAN-CDG-LYS-TLS-MAD.

Incidentally I called 3 major UK TAs to try and get this itin booked

Opodo: "We are sorry, we don't do multistop trips"

Expedia: Agent didn't know what a booking class means and seemed to have no clue about flights either, as evidenced by her questions "Is that Lyón in Spain?" (I had pronounced it in as French a way as possible) and "erm, do you want first class?" (no European airline actually offers anything called first class within Europe, with the exception of Alitalia marketing their biz class as "Prima") and her insistence that (after I had given her a ton of AF flight details) I need to fly via DUS! To top it off, she was adamant that Expedia have an "allocation" of seats for each flight and the AF flights were sold out! It's bad enough for somebody's knowledge to be missing some key facts, but it seems like the training these people are given is deliberately geared towards keeping them away from understanding booking procedures. :mad:

Trailfinders:
An agent who did know what he was doing (though he was not familiar with the airport code for LYS) followed my instructions to the letter only to be confronted with a "system error" that wouldn't let him price the itin up. :(

Full fare rule text- please do have a quick look and see if there's anything I've missed:

SUPER/SPECIAL APEX
RULE APPLICATION AND OTHER CONDITIONS
AIR FRANCE APEX FARES APPLICATION AREA THESE FARES APPLY FROM UNITED KINGDOM TO EUROPE. CLASS OF SERVICE THESE FARES APPLY FOR ECONOMY CLASS SERVICE. TYPES OF TRANSPORTATION FARES GOVERNED BY THIS RULE CAN BE USED TO CREATE ROUND-TRIP/CIRCLE-TRIP/OPEN-JAW JOURNEYS. FARES ONLY APPLY IF PURCHASED BEFORE DEPARTURE. CAPACITY LIMITATIONS THE CARRIER SHALL LIMIT THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED ON ANY ONE FLIGHT AT FARES GOVERNED BY THIS RULE AND SUCH FARES WILL NOT NECESSARILY BE AVAILABLE ON ALL FLIGHTS. THE NUMBER OF SEATS, WHICH THE CARRIER SHALL MAKE AVAILABLE ON A GIVEN FLIGHT, WILL BE DETERMINED BY THE CARRIER S BEST JUDGEMENT. OTHER CONDITIONS THE FARE THAT APPLIES ON THE DATE OF PURCHASE IS ONLY VALID FOR THE ENTIRE ITINERARY AND THE SPECIFIC TRAVEL DATES MENTIONED ON THE TICKET. ANY MODIFICATION MAY REQUIRE THE PAYMENT OF AN ADDITIONAL AMOUNT. FULL AND SEQUENTIAL USE OF FLIGHT COUPONS- THE TICKET/ OR ELECTRONIC TICKET / IS NOT VALID IF THE FIRST COUPON HAS NOT BEEN USED AND WILL NOT BE HONORED IF ALL THE COUPONS ARE NOT USED IN THE SEQUENCE PROVIDED IN THE TICKET / OR ELECTRONIC TICKET / .
ELIGIBILITY
NO ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS APPLY.
DAY/TIME
NO DAY/TIME TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS APPLY.
SEASONALITY
NO SEASONAL TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS APPLY.
FLIGHT APPLICATION
NO FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS APPLY.
ADVANCE RESERVATIONS/TICKETING
CONFIRMED RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED FOR ALL SECTORS. WHEN RESERVATIONS ARE MADE AT LEAST 100 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE, TICKETING MUST BE COMPLETED AT LEAST 93 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE. OR - CONFIRMED RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED FOR ALL SECTORS. WHEN RESERVATIONS ARE MADE AT LEAST 11 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE, TICKETING MUST BE COMPLETED WITHIN 7 DAYS AFTER RESERVATIONS ARE MADE OR AT LEAST 10 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE WHICHEVER IS EARLIER. OR - CONFIRMED RESERVATIONS FOR ALL SECTORS ARE REQUIRED AT LEAST 3 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE. TICKETING MUST BE COMPLETED WITHIN 1 DAY AFTER RESERVATIONS ARE MADE OR AT LEAST 3 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE WHICHEVER IS EARLIER. NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING. DIFFERENCE COULD EXIST BETWEEN THE CRS LAST TICKETING DATE AND TTL ROBOT REMARK. THE MOST RESTRICTIVE DATE PREVAILS.
MINIMUM STAY
TRAVEL FROM LAST INTERNATIONAL STOPOVER MUST COMMENCE NO EARLIER THAN THE FIRST SUN AFTER DEPARTURE OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL SECTOR. OR - TRAVEL FROM LAST INTERNATIONAL STOPOVER MUST COMMENCE NO EARLIER THAN 2 DAYS AFTER DEPARTURE OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL SECTOR.
MAXIMUM STAY
TRAVEL FROM LAST STOPOVER MUST COMMENCE NO LATER THAN 1 MONTH AFTER DEPARTURE FROM FARE ORIGIN.
STOPOVERS
NO STOPOVERS PERMITTED.
TRANSFERS
UNLIMITED TRANSFERS PERMITTED IN EACH DIRECTION. FARE BREAK SURFACE SECTORS NOT PERMITTED AND EMBEDDED SURFACE SECTORS PERMITTED ON THE FARE COMPONENT. NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING. OR AS PER ROUTING REQUIREMENTS
COMBINATIONS
END-ON-END END-ON-END COMBINATIONS PERMITTED WITH DOMESTIC FARES. VALIDATE ALL FARE COMPONENTS. FARES MUST BE SHOWN SEPARATELY ON THE TICKET. TRAVEL MUST BE VIA THE POINT OF COMBINATION. ADD-ONS COMBINATIONS PERMITTED. ADD-ONS NOTE - VALID WITH AF ADD-ONS ONLY. OPEN JAWS FARES MAY BE COMBINED ON A HALF ROUND TRIP BASIS -TO FORM SINGLE OR DOUBLE OPEN JAWS. OPEN JAWS NOTE - IN CASE OF COMBINATION THE MOST RESTRICTIVE CONDITIONS APPLY TO THE WHOLE JOURNEY. PROVIDED - WHEN THE OPEN SEGMENT OCCURS -WITHIN EUROPE COMBINATIONS ARE WITH ANY ROUND TRIP FARE FOR CARRIER AF IN RULE 2102/2103/2104/2105/2155/2156/ 2157/2158/2182/2187/3478 IN TARIFF IPREURP - WITHIN EUROPE-INTERNATIONAL. WHEN THE OPEN SEGMENT OCCURS -WITHIN EUROPE COMBINATIONS ARE WITH ANY INSTANT PURCHASE NONREFUNDABLE-TYPE FARES/2ND LEVEL INSTANT PURCHASE NONREF/2ND LEVEL ADVANCE PURCHASE/SUPER/ SPECIAL INSTANT PURCHASE-TYPE FARES FOR CARRIER KL IN ANY RULE IN TARIFF IPREURP - WITHIN EUROPE-INTERNATIONAL. ROUND TRIPS/CIRCLE TRIPS FARES MAY BE COMBINED ON A HALF ROUND TRIP BASIS /ROUND TRIPS/CIRCLE TRIPS. ROUND TRIPS/CIRCLE TRIPS NOTE - IN CASE OF COMBINATION THE MOST RESTRICTIVE CONDITIONS APPLY TO THE WHOLE JOURNEY. PROVIDED - COMBINATIONS ARE WITH ANY ROUND TRIP FARE FOR CARRIER AF IN RULE 2102/2103/2104/2105/2155/2156/ 2157/2158/2182/2187/3478 IN TARIFF IPREURP - WITHIN EUROPE-INTERNATIONAL. COMBINATIONS ARE WITH ANY INSTANT PURCHASE NONREFUNDABLE-TYPE FARES/2ND LEVEL INSTANT PURCHASE NONREF/2ND LEVEL ADVANCE PURCHASE/SUPER/ SPECIAL INSTANT PURCHASE-TYPE FARES FOR CARRIER KL IN ANY RULE IN TARIFF IPREURP - WITHIN EUROPE-INTERNATIONAL.
BLACKOUT DATES
NO BLACKOUT DATES APPLY.
SURCHARGES
THE PROVISIONS BELOW APPLY ONLY AS FOLLOWS - WHEN TICKETS ARE SOLD IN UNITED STATES/MEXICO/PERU/ ARGENTINA/URUGUAY. FUEL SURCHARGE OF EUR 65.00 PER DIRECTION WILL BE ADDED TO THE APPLICABLE FARE.
ACCOMPANIED TRAVEL
ACCOMPANIED TRAVEL NOT REQUIRED.
TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
NO TRAVEL DATE RESTRICTIONS APPLY.
SALES RESTRICTIONS
NO SALES RESTRICTIONS APPLY.
PENALTIES
FARE RULE CHANGES BEFORE DEPARTURE CHARGE GBP 30.00. CHILD/INFANT DISCOUNTS APPLY. NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING. -1- BEFORE DEPARTURE OF JOURNEY AND BEFORE ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FLIGHT -------------------------------------------------- THE NEW BASE FARE AMOUNT MUST BE RECALCULATED USING CURRENT AND APPLICABLE FARES IN EFFECT AT THE DATE OF REISSUE UNDER FOLLOWING CONDITIONS - CHANGE OR REROUTING WITH SAME FARE BASIS -- SEASONS/MIDWEEK/WEEKEND MAY BE DIFFERENT THE NEW BASE FARE AMOUNT MAY BE LOWER - EQUAL OR HIGHER THAN PREVIOUS - CHANGE OR REROUTING OR UPG TO ANY SPECIAL FARE THE NEW BASE FARE AMOUNT MUST BE EQUAL OR HIGHER THAN PREVIOUS - CHANGE OR REROUTING OR UPG TO ANY NORMAL FARE THE NEW BASE FARE AMOUNT MAY BE LOWER - EQUAL OR HIGHER THAN PREVIOUS ------------------------------------------------ BEFORE DEPARTURE CHANGES NOT PERMITTED IN CASE OF NO-SHOW. NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING. -2- BEFORE DEPARTURE OF JOURNEY BUT AFTER ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FLIGHT /NO-SHOW/ -------------------------------------------------- CHANGES OR REROUTING ARE NOT PERMITTED REFER TO REFUND CONDITIONS. -------------------------------------------------- AFTER DEPARTURE CHARGE GBP 30.00. CHILD/INFANT DISCOUNTS APPLY. NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING. -3- AFTER DEPARTURE OF JOURNEY -------------------------------------------------- THE NEW BASE FARE AMOUNT MUST BE RECALCULATED BY USING HISTORICAL AND APPLICABLE FARES IN EFFECT AT THE ORIGINAL TICKET DATE UNDER FOLLOWING CONDITIONS - CHANGE OR REROUTING WITH SAME FARE BASIS -- SEASONS/MIDWEEK/WEEKEND MAY BE DIFFERENT THE NEW BASE FARE AMOUNT MAY BE LOWER - EQUAL OR HIGHER THAN PREVIOUS - CHANGE OR REROUTING OR UPG TO ANY SPECIAL FARER THE NEW BASE FARE AMOUNT MUST BE EQUAL OR HIGHER THAN PREVIOUS - CHANGE OR REROUTING OR UPG TO ANY NORMAL FARE THE NEW BASE FARE AMOUNT MAY BE LOWER - EQUAL OR HIGHER THAN PREVIOUS CANCELLATIONS TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE IN CASE OF CANCEL. NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING. ---------------- REFUND ---------------------- -1- BEFORE DEPARTURE OF JOURNEY AND BEFORE ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FLIGHT TICKET IS NON REFUNDABLE -------------------------------------------------- -2- BEFORE DEPARTURE OF JOURNEY BUT AFTER ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FLIGHT /NO-SHOW/ TICKET IS NON REFUNDABLE ------------------------------------------------- -3- AFTER DEPARTURE OF JOURNEY TICKET IS NON REFUNDABLE GENERAL RULE - APPLY UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING. AT ANY TIME - IN CASE OF REFUND - PAPER TICKET SURCHARGE IS NOT REFUNDABLE WHEN APPLIED.
HIP/MILEAGE EXCEPTIONS
THE HIGHER INTERMEDIATE POINT RULE DOES NOT APPLY FOR CONNECTIONS. AND - THE HIGHER INTERMEDIATE POINT RULE DOES NOT APPLY FOR STOPOVERS.
TICKET ENDORSEMENTS
THE ORIGINAL AND THE REISSUED TICKET MUST BE ANNOTATED - NONREF/APEX - IN THE FORM OF PAYMENT BOX. AND - THE ORIGINAL AND THE REISSUED TICKET MUST BE ANNOTATED - CHGES RESTRICTED/NO REFUND - IN THE ENDORSEMENT BOX.
CHILDREN DISCOUNTS
CNN/ACCOMPANIED CHILD PSGR 2-11 - NO DISCOUNT. OR - INS/INFANT WITH A SEAT PSGR UNDER 2 - NO DISCOUNT. OR - 1ST INF/INFANT WITHOUT A SEAT PSGR UNDER 2 - CHARGE 10 PERCENT OF THE FARE. TICKET DESIGNATOR - IN. MUST BE ACCOMPANIED ON ALL FLIGHTS IN THE SAME COMPARTMENT BY ADULT PSGR 18 OR OLDER. OR - UNN/UNACCOMPANIED CHILD PSGR 5-11 - NO DISCOUNT.
TOUR CONDUCTOR DISCOUNTS
TUR/TOUR CONDUCTOR PSGR - NO DISCOUNT.
AGENT DISCOUNTS
AGT/AGENT PSGR - NO DISCOUNT.
ALL OTHER DISCOUNTS
NO DISCOUNTS FOR OTHERS.
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING. THE FARE THAT APPLIES ON THE DATE OF PURCHASE IS ONLY VALID FOR THE ENTIRE ITINERARY AND THE SPECIFIC TRAVEL DATES MENTIONED ON THE TICKET. ANY MODIFICATION MAY REQUIRE THE PAYMENT OF AN ADDITIONAL AMOUNT. FULL AND SEQUENTIAL USE OF FLIGHT COUPONS- THE TICKET/ OR ELECTRONIC TICKET / IS NOT VALID IF THE FIRST COUPON HAS NOT BEEN USED AND WILL NOT BE HONORED IF ALL THE COUPONS ARE NOT USED IN THE SEQUENCE PROVIDED IN THE TICKET / OR ELECTRONIC TICKET / .
FARE BY RULE
NOT APPLICABLE.
GROUPS
NO GROUP PROVISIONS APPLY.
TOURS
NO TOUR PROVISIONS APPLY.
VISIT ANOTHER COUNTRY
NO VISIT ANOTHER COUNTRY PROVISIONS APPLY.
DEPOSITS
NO DEPOSIT PROVISIONS APPLY.
NEGOTIATED FARES
NOT APPLICABLE. IC.INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION NOT A CONSTRUCTED FARE