Programs: CX Gold (OW Sapphire), former SQ Krisflyer Gold
Posts: 1,765
Lead Times for Redemption Ticketing
I've booked a redemption ticket for a few months out, and I've given MPC the go ahead for ticketing. The MPC rep gave the the mileage requirement and an estimate (not exact amount) for the taxes+fuel, and said that they will pass a message to the ticketing department to issue the ticket.
I asked how long it would take. They said they do not know how long it will take, only that the ticketing department prioritises ticket issuance based on travel date.
Since the reward ticket is for a few months out, does it mean that I have to wait months for ticket issuance?
Luckily in this case a visa is not required for travel, otherwise what would I have done if I needed to show an eticket for a visa application? Most consular officers probably wouldn't put much faith in a statement that "the airline has promised to issue the ticket when they have some free time to do so".
Also, doesn't this give Cathay free license to charge whatever fuel surcharge they want? If I give the instruction to issue the ticket in August, but they don't issue the ticket for a few weeks, will I have to pay the September or October surcharge? What if it's higher? It doesn't make sense that they should be allowed to give an approximate tax/fuel amount and then charge whatever they want later.
I also realise that this topic has come up before on FT - but I can't find the previous references at the moment and I'm looking to see if anyone has any current information. I know in Feb/March around the time of system migration lead times for redemption ticketing were horrendous but I'm hoping things may have gotten better by now?
Last edited by midlevels; Aug 21, 12 at 10:58 pm..
Reason: Edited for content
I've booked a redemption ticket for a few months out, and I've given MPC the go ahead for ticketing. The MPC rep gave the the mileage requirement and an estimate (not exact amount) for the taxes+fuel, and said that they will pass a message to the ticketing department to issue the ticket.
I asked how long it would take. They said they do not know how long it will take, only that the ticketing department prioritises ticket issuance based on travel date.
Since the reward ticket is for a few months out, does it mean that I have to wait months for ticket issuance?
Luckily in this case a visa is not required for travel, otherwise what would I have done if I needed to show an eticket for a visa application? Most consular officers probably wouldn't put much faith in a statement that "the airline has promised to issue the ticket when they have some free time to do so".
Also, doesn't this give Cathay free license to charge whatever fuel surcharge they want? If I give the instruction to issue the ticket in August, but they don't issue the ticket for a few weeks, will I have to pay the September or October surcharge? What if it's higher? It doesn't make sense that they should be allowed to give an approximate tax/fuel amount and then charge whatever they want later.
I also realise that this topic has come up before on FT - but I can't find the previous references at the moment and I'm looking to see if anyone has any current information. I know in Feb/March around the time of system migration lead times for redemption ticketing were horrendous but I'm hoping things may have gotten better by now?
1. I think for most visa applications a print-out of the itinerary suffices?
2. It also has benefits - you can change or cancel an award booking with no penalty if done before TKT issuance.
3. AFAIK, CX will honour the fuel surcharge at the time you give the consent to issue the TKT if it goes higher later.
Programs: CX Gold (OW Sapphire), former SQ Krisflyer Gold
Posts: 1,765
Quote:
Originally Posted by ernestnywang
1. I think for most visa applications a print-out of the itinerary suffices?
Depends on country to country. Singapore, for example, asks for a ticket. As I said, it's more of an academic question in this case as I don't need to apply for any visas.
It's just more of a frustration and poor customer service issue. If I ask the airline to issue a ticket, why can't they just issue it instead of making customers wait for an indeterminate time. It's the complete lack of any timeframe that is a bother.
Just checked - no ticket number showing. However, as the miles haven't been deducted yet I'm guessing there's no chance that the ticket could have been issued anyway.
Programs: CX Gold (OW Sapphire), former SQ Krisflyer Gold
Posts: 1,765
By way of an update, I contacted MPC today to ask for an update, they said that it would take around 7 days more to issue the ticket. I inquired why, as I had asked them to issue a ticket around a week ago.
The agent on the other end didn't really know what to say, and after a bit of silence decided to revise her estimate for ticket issuance to 1-3 days instead (), and that she would pass the request on.
Within an hour, the ticket was issued.
So there does appear to be some level of manual control over the process as well where an human can expedite the issuance of award tickets.
By way of an update, I contacted MPC today to ask for an update, they said that it would take around 7 days more to issue the ticket. I inquired why, as I had asked them to issue a ticket around a week ago.
The agent on the other end didn't really know what to say, and after a bit of silence decided to revise her estimate for ticket issuance to 1-3 days instead (), and that she would pass the request on.
Within an hour, the ticket was issued.
So there does appear to be some level of manual control over the process as well where an human can expedite the issuance of award tickets.
Hope this info is useful to others.
Crazy, just forces everyone to be agro, whether they like to be or not.
By way of an update, I contacted MPC today to ask for an update, they said that it would take around 7 days more to issue the ticket. I inquired why, as I had asked them to issue a ticket around a week ago.
The agent on the other end didn't really know what to say, and after a bit of silence decided to revise her estimate for ticket issuance to 1-3 days instead (), and that she would pass the request on.
Within an hour, the ticket was issued.
So there does appear to be some level of manual control over the process as well where an human can expedite the issuance of award tickets.
Hope this info is useful to others.
I think the agent did so by putting your PNR to the "urgent" (maybe <72 or <24 hours of departure) queue number in the reservation system instead of the "non-urgent" one.
Regarding the ticket issuance, the airline will prioritize based on the departure date, since yours in months away there's probably others more urgent so they will process those first and get to yours in due time.
But yes, it's somewhat of a manual process and if you want yours ticketed really fast for whatever reason you can probably ask the agent to bump yours up and probably won't be an issue as you saw.
Regarding fuel surcharges, yes it's charged based on month of booking, but I assume if you reserved it in Sept and it got delayed 4 weeks and booked in Oct and the fuel surcharge was higher, you can probably argue it back down to the Sept charge without much issue, though hassle. On the other hand, maybe it'll go down!
And the fuel surcharge is not whatever CX deems, it's whatever the Civil Aviation Dept approves, which can be found here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by midlevels
Since the reward ticket is for a few months out, does it mean that I have to wait months for ticket issuance?
Luckily in this case a visa is not required for travel, otherwise what would I have done if I needed to show an eticket for a visa application? Most consular officers probably wouldn't put much faith in a statement that "the airline has promised to issue the ticket when they have some free time to do so".
Also, doesn't this give Cathay free license to charge whatever fuel surcharge they want? If I give the instruction to issue the ticket in August, but they don't issue the ticket for a few weeks, will I have to pay the September or October surcharge? What if it's higher? It doesn't make sense that they should be allowed to give an approximate tax/fuel amount and then charge whatever they want later.
Programs: CX Gold (OW Sapphire), former SQ Krisflyer Gold
Posts: 1,765
Quote:
Originally Posted by Noodlesz
And the fuel surcharge is not whatever CX deems, it's whatever the Civil Aviation Dept approves, which can be found here.
I'm aware, but it's probably an academic distinction. Is there any reason to believe that the CAD does anything other than approve all the applications it receives?
), and that she would pass the request on.
