percysmith

I've been trying to redeem a QR HKG-xDOH-GRU in J on 15 Oct with AM. The individual segments are available, but whenever a MPO agent tried to book the whole thing through the availability disappears.

I can book the through flight on BAEC if I want to. But it's part of a larger redemption so I can't use BAEC.

As part of troubleshoting I also tried booking HKG-xDOH-FRA and HKG-xDOH-MAD with the same HKG-DOH segment and different onward connections. Again the individual segments are available, the through flight is available on BAEC but not MPO.

I've been told QR marries segments but I haven't been able to break that. Any thoughts?

Guy Betsy

Yep. That's exactly what they do.

Try this - book HKG-DOH on one date, and DOH-GRU on another date, say a month away. End the booking. Wait a few hours. Then retrieve booking, and change the DOH-GRU booking to the date you want.

I can't guarantee that that will work but its worth a try.

Otherwise you might need to put the bookings on a NN basis and ask MPC to queue their QR representative to ask why BA can book it and they can't.

percysmith

Thanks GB

Actually my plan had been the reverse. I have HKG-(CX)xDOH-(QR)xGRU-(JJ)oAEP
I want to switch HKG-DOH from CX to QR for better timing (10 hours overnight transit --> 4 hours).

I have the QR DOH-GRU as a ticketed booking already (no more new seats). My plan A was to simply switch CX HKG-DOH to QR DOH-GRU.
This would be sort of what you've suggested right? Thanks but no luck here.

What I asked in post #1 is my plan B - put in QR HKG-DOH-xxx then take away the DOH-xxx segment. I've tried HKG-DOH-DXB, HKG-DOH-FRA and HKG-DOH-BCN. I can't have MPO book any of them, let alone put them into my itinerary and truncate (divorce) the DOH-xxx.


Thanks anyway. Anything else I can try? Not a trip killer to camp in DOH for 10 hours but just curious/frustrated why QR-QR is so difficult.

QRC3288

gents, despite frequenting this board for years I still have an elementary question....

when you say HKG-xDOH-GRU, what does the "x" denote in the middle of an itinerary like the one you post?

percysmith

I thought x is transit, o is stopover and // is open jaw.

If it's a mixed airline itinerary I also include the segment carrier in brackets.

I'm not 100% sure this is the best way to put it, is there a better way to state a routing?

QRC3288

ha mate, you are far more expert than me! I didn't know the proper lexicon thx.

Psychiatrist

I've redeemed QR-QR (HKG-DOH-TXL) with no problems in J.

Perhaps I was just lucky?

MichaelBaku

Open Jaw should be indicated -/. Surface sector on a through fare is //

percysmith

Thanks...but what would be an example of a surface sector (isn't that just an open jaw?)

MichaelBaku

No. A surface sector is when you have a through fare, say London to Sydney. You might stopover over in Kuala Lumpur and then take a train to Singapore and pick up a flight from Singapore to Sydney. It's used when fares permit only 1 stopover or it's cheaper to charge a through fare than breaking the fare en route (ie. a LON/KUL and then a SIN/SYD. It's not always permitted. The fare rules must state that 'surface sectors permitted'. Open jaw would be London to Sydney and the flying back Melbourne to London. Again the fare rules must say 'open jaw permitted'.

percysmith

Thanks but I'm reluctant to follow your advice. // has some history of being the symbol for open jaw in this forum, even if it's incorrect.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...-reward.html#3
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...-can-go.html#5

I don't think CX has surface sector. Perhaps that's why we've been a little incorrect about // usage.

Guy Betsy

Obviously you can't get HKG-x/DOH-GRU all on QR because the thru award availability is simply not available and you have to accept that.

As you already have the seat available on CX abeit with a 10 hour layover, I'd just suggest you take that and plan a layover in DOH.

Otherwise my suggestion is to keep trying ..

AA_EXP09

At least DOH is open 24h so you don't have to pay for the Qatari visa as well.

percysmith

I cant open jaw HKG-DOH, won't be a return itinerary this way.
DOH's always a transit for my CX and QR HKG-DOH-GRU itineraries and my dummy HKG-DOH-FRA itineraries.

I always thought you can add and drop segments just as long as they are available with AM, in fact the last time they forced it on me - qf87 got terminated from the timetable and I had to take qf127 instead, I had a relatively free pick of which Mel-syd flight to connect to the qf127 with, no need to consider whether it is available as through redemption or not.

Probably not applicable to qr

But I still can't get my head around why alternative routing HKG-DOH-FRA cannot be booked on QR with AM. The through routing was available on BAEC (it and QF FF are the only ways we can figure out what to ask for with AM).

It stumped a brainy MPO agent "I can see 2 for Hkg-doh, 4 for doh-fra, but none when I tried to book Hkg-doh-fra. Same result whether I do it segment by segment or as one through trip. I can't explain this."

I don't know how to proceed so I'm leaving it for now too, see if more through availability becomes available later.

percysmith

OK I made the test work. Moved dates:

19Nov HKG-DOH-FRA

HKG-DOH: 3U
DOH-FRA: 4U
HKG-FRA per BAEC: 3U
HKG-FRA per MPO: 2U

There's obviously some marrying going on. And I can only book a through flight if and only if QR has somehow designated the two segments can be married, not just only because the individual segments are available.

I doubt my DOH-GRU and HKG-DOH will ever be allowed to marry (sounds so Romeo and Juliet). Probably leave it for now.