Other Asian, Australian and South Pacific Frequent Flyer Programs - Award travel on Air China

I just booked a *A award, the first segment of which is on CA from KWL to PVG. I have a few questions for the experts on here:

1. Currently there is only one F award seat available; I need two F seats. Cabin looks empty. Anyone have any experience on when the other F seat will open up? Currently about 3 weeks away from departure.

2. I have an overnight layover in PVG, before continuing on to ICN on OZ (and then on to America on OZ), all in business class. Same itinerary. Will Air China check my bags all the way through to America, even with the overnight, or will I have to claim them at PVG and re-check the next morning?

3. What kind of baggage allowance will I have if I'm in Y on CA, then after the overnight, connecting to C international on OZ? Will I get the international C allowance or just domestic Y?

Thanks!

I just spent some time looking at availability on several domestic routes on CA that week (the week of May 6, 2012). I could find hardly any flights with two F seats available for award travel. Is that normal on CA? Do they ever open up?

IME, Air China opens up one F seat at a time. There's a good chance that you'll book seat #1 and as you do a new seat will pop up.

Just a word of caution that you want to make sure this gets ticketed. I ticketed award travel through UA last year and though I received ticket numbers and a confirmation, it was never pushed through to Air China. This created huge hassles in China, including being denied boarding since they did not have the ticket. Call Air China a few days after you get the award to make sure they see it too.

IME, Air China opens up one F seat at a time. There's a good chance that you'll book seat #1 and as you do a new seat will pop up.

Just a word of caution that you want to make sure this gets ticketed. I ticketed award travel through UA last year and though I received ticket numbers and a confirmation, it was never pushed through to Air China. This created huge hassles in China, including being denied boarding since they did not have the ticket. Call Air China a few days after you get the award to make sure they see it too.

Thanks! Right now they're part of the same US Airways itinerary. Does that mean we have to break apart the itinerary in order to book one F seat at a time? Are there any negative consequences to doing that? (I.e., getting separated in case of irregular ops, etc.) Or is there any way to grab one seat at a time while keeping them as part of the same itinerary?

Just a word of caution that you want to make sure this gets ticketed. I ticketed award travel through UA last year and though I received ticket numbers and a confirmation, it was never pushed through to Air China. This created huge hassles in China, including being denied boarding since they did not have the ticket. Call Air China a few days after you get the award to make sure they see it too.

Seconded this. Always verify with partner airline (especially with Air China, apparently it's pretty common).
Though my case is not as extreme as this.
Booking award with united, then made change. Air China never got the updated itinerary (even though united swore up and down it's all good).
A lot of hassle going back and forth, but finally settled.

On a recent CA award, a second seat never opened up and I had to buy the second ticket. So don't count on it.

On a recent CA award, a second seat never opened up and I had to buy the second ticket. So don't count on it.

True. I could have worded it better. Obviously, the number of F award seats (or F seats at all) is finite so another is not always going to come open. I have not seen they they release more than 1 at a time though. YMMV

3. What kind of baggage allowance will I have if I'm in Y on CA, then after the overnight, connecting to C international on OZ? Will I get the international C allowance or just domestic Y?

Thanks!

We got a little distracted on question #1 and I still can't get a straight answer out of question #3 (baggage allowance). I called CA, who said 1 piece/20 kg per pax. US Airways (who booked the ticket) said I should get the international C allowance. Who is right? Thanks!

We got a little distracted on question #1 and I still can't get a straight answer out of question #3 (baggage allowance). I called CA, who said 1 piece/20 kg per pax. US Airways (who booked the ticket) said I should get the international C allowance. Who is right? Thanks!

US is right.

US is right.

Thanks for the good news! Is there anything I can point them to when I'm checking in? I don't speak Mandarin so this might be especially difficult.

I think it might have been hard enough to convince them to give me the international C allowance if my layover were just a couple of hours, but it will probably be even more difficult since my layover is overnight (~ 15 hours). I would love to be able to point them to some specific rule or something like that. Any magic words to say?

Also, in order to get this allowance, do I need to check my bags all the way through to the final destination? Will they even do that with such a long overnight connection?

Seconded this. Always verify with partner airline (especially with Air China, apparently it's pretty common).
Though my case is not as extreme as this.
Booking award with united, then made change. Air China never got the updated itinerary (even though united swore up and down it's all good).
A lot of hassle going back and forth, but finally settled.

How did you get your case settled? I had similar experience recently: it's UA award ticket with last segment on Air China, however the reservation had never been confirmed with CA, though at UA's side everything's fine. Called UA several times and get the ticket reissued, CA still could not confirm it.

Luckily OZ ran same route, so changed flight from CA to OZ..

I am glad that I read this post as I have an upcoming itinerary that I booked via UA that includes portions on AC, CA and OZ. When I checked online, AC seems to show my reservation but I have not called CA or OZ yet. Hopefully they show my res as well. If not, how do I go about this? Just call UA over and over until they force it through?

How did you get your case settled? I had similar experience recently: it's UA award ticket with last segment on Air China, however the reservation had never been confirmed with CA, though at UA's side everything's fine. Called UA several times and get the ticket reissued, CA still could not confirm it.

Luckily OZ ran same route, so changed flight from CA to OZ..

After several calls with UA (they maintained it's fine on their end), they finally reissued the whole ticket.
They generate new PNR and new eticket#.
After that, CA does see it.

I am glad that I read this post as I have an upcoming itinerary that I booked via UA that includes portions on AC, CA and OZ. When I checked online, AC seems to show my reservation but I have not called CA or OZ yet. Hopefully they show my res as well. If not, how do I go about this? Just call UA over and over until they force it through?
Verify with the partner airline (most definitely CA, apparently it's very common with them) first. See if you can get seat assigned.
If partner don't see your reservation, then hound UA to get it resolved. Ask them to reissue ticket if needs be.

I just spent some time looking at availability on several domestic routes on CA that week (the week of May 6, 2012). I could find hardly any flights with two F seats available for award travel. Is that normal on CA? Do they ever open up?

For future reference: the first week of May is a National Holiday in China and that is a particularly bad time to find award availability, as there is a good chance seats can be sold (all classes of service) at full price. Anything April 28-May 10 is in the iffy zone.

After several calls with UA (they maintained it's fine on their end), they finally reissued the whole ticket.
They generate new PNR and new eticket#.
After that, CA does see it.



Got it, I need UA to generate new PNR rather than only simply reissue the ticket. However, it seems very hard to get a smart agent to do so.

Also wondering is this situation possible that, current reservation is cancelled but could not get a new reservation due to the seats are withdrawn or for some reason not available in such short gap between two reservations?

Also wondering is this situation possible that, current reservation is cancelled but could not get a new reservation due to the seats are withdrawn or for some reason not available in such short gap between two reservations?[/QUOTE]
It's entirely possible i suppose.
I imagine they would try to book new seat first, and see if seat's available before cancelling your existing one.

But from my experience, CA F is quite plentiful.
During the time i was panicking, i keep checking and always saw extra award seat still available on CA F (but i was booking just for 1 though).
Good luck!