Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles - Unable to upgrade tkt because it not issued by TK

Hi,

I have an unusual predicament and wanted some advice. Earlier this month I bought a fare for $642.00 RT SFO-IST via LAX on TK through Cheapoair.com and I wanted to upgrade the return segment to Comfort Class. Tkt was issued under stock 001 which is AA.

Called TK reservation and was advised that I need to pay $275.00 to upgrade the return portion. Later when I called from home I was told that because tkt was not issued by TK they could not process upgrade and contact AA or Cheapoair. I called TK back and spoke to different agents and was told the same thing. Finally I gave Cheapoair a call and they couldn't do anything either. So I can already see that I am the unwilling participant in a "ping pong" game.

Here are some possible alternatives:

a- ask Cheapoair or AA to put a remark releasing the PNR to TK and call them back to request upgrade again.

b- wait until the day of dept. which is in mid Nov. and try to upgrade at the airport with TK. (a bit risky IMHO)

c- call AA and request them to process the upgrade through rate desk by contacting TK and pay the extra charge. I don't even know if AA is willing to do that since this is a TK flight and the difference I was quoted was based on a promotional A fare and not the full one.

Any other suggestions? Thanks.

Neither options A or C will work. AA or Cheapoair can't "release" the ticket to TK. AA would need to refare and reissue the ticket to go to Comfort Class, if it was bought through AA. Option B is the only practical option.
You purchased a ticket through a third party provider on AA stock on an itinerary that involves TK -- a trifecta of difficulty for making changes and also if you run into irrops along the way.

True but at that price, it is worth every penny of aggravation. If the same fare was available through TK, I would have purchased it through them without a second thought. Your comment is appreciated.

Then the onus goes to cheapoair for mucking it up in the first place. They issued the ticket under AA ticket stock cos the first sector is on an AA flight. They should have issued it under TK's ticketing stock as is the correct procedure when issuing an international ticket.

Cheapoair CAN reissue the ticket under TK stock. And they should.

Your c) won't work cos the fare is not under AA's fare but under TK's fare which they have no access. Your TA should clear this up...

That is the biggest issue when trying to book tickets on on line agencies that have no control of issuing tickets. I once had a flight longhaul on QF, and shorthaul on VN.. and the ticket issued by Expedia issued it on CI ticketing stock where the latter had no flights on the res! Expedia should have issued it on QF ticketing stock.

Keeping mind that TK is a pain to work with in a first place i always book directly from their website. Always.

Guy Betsy - I agree. Intl tkts should be issued on the stock of the long haul carrier of the itinerary. In my case, the itinerary gets more complicated. Originally my outbound SFO-LAX was booked on an AS codeshare operated under DL.

Since I am AA PLT and the tkt was already issued under their stock, I called AA to change the outbound to one of their flights. I thought that in case something goes wrong on the dept. date I would be better protected with AA due to my status as a mid tier elite. In addition, I can have the flexibility to standby for an earlier flight to LAX at no charge if I want to.

At this point I am hesitant to make any more changes to the ticket and I am willing to play the upgrade lottery at the gate. The worst that can happen is I get stuck in Y on TK, and we all know that Y with them is pretty decent (at least the hard product - food, amenity kit, IFE). I will travel around Thanksgiving in Nov. and hopefully the loads will be light. Most folks will be traveling domestically in the US and I doubt intl flights are full to capacity.

joorinaine - I already found out how frustrating it is to deal with reservations. A few of them have unintelligible English pronunciation which compounds to the problem.