Link two separate NW PNRs?

mlsrar · May 4, 06, 1:22 pm

I'm debating on doing a HNL MR. With a 10% discount cert, I could conceivably save about $40 by booking a separate MKE-LAX itin, and a LAX-HNL itin.

Booking MKE-DTW-MSP-LAX-HNL-LAX-DTW-MSP-MKE as one itinerary is more expensive.

If I booked each separate, the cost goes down. My fear is that, in the event of an interruption, I would be SOL if I did not get to LAX in time, so I am leaning towards booking it as one itin.

My question is, if I did book them separately, could I have them linked, with NW having responsiblity to get me to HNL, or would it just be one res., with my original problem?

Thanks!

sbagdon · May 4, 06, 3:10 pm

Sounds like you're trying to combine two end-to-end PNRs into one. I believe the general rules is that you can split pax of a same PNR (two travelers into different PNRs, say for upgrade purposes), but you can't split a single PNR itinerary into two PNRs, and you can't combine two PNR itineraries into a single PNR.

Steve B.

themicah · May 4, 06, 5:14 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbagdon

Sounds like you're trying to combine two end-to-end PNRs into one. I believe the general rules is that you can split pax of a same PNR (two travelers into different PNRs, say for upgrade purposes), but you can't split a single PNR itinerary into two PNRs, and you can't combine two PNR itineraries into a single PNR.

I think there are three separate issues here:

You cannot link two different passengers' PNRs together. You can separate a passenger from a multi-passenger PNR, but once a passenger has his/her own confirmation number, you cannot combine them into one.
You cannot split a single ticketed itinerary into more than one PNR, since the fares, taxes and fees are all calculated based on the original reservation.
I believe you can somehow "link" two PNRs end-to-end. You'll still have two PNRs with unique confirmation numbers, but there will be some sort of note alerting NW to the fact that you're traveling "through" on the two itineraries as one. That said, two "linked" PNRs do not give you the same flexibility as buying one ticket, particularly when it comes to things like schedule changes. Read about BOS-NWA's New Year's PDX rescheduling snafu a few years ago to see what I mean.

milwaukeeclassic · May 4, 06, 7:11 pm

On a sorta unrelated note, NW told me today that I cannot merge two PNRs where one is an award ticket and one is revenue...has anyone ever gotten that to work?

themicah · May 4, 06, 7:13 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by milwaukeeclassic

On a sorta unrelated note, NW told me today that I cannot merge two PNRs where one is an award ticket and one is revenue...has anyone ever gotten that to work?

Are you talking about two PNRs for two different people? If so, you cannot merge them. Period. See the first bullet point in my post above.

If you're talking about an inking two end-to-end lPNRs like the OP's question, only with one award ticket and one revenue ticket, that's another matter. I would think you would still be able to do that regardless of what kind of tickets they were, but I have no experience.

fti · May 4, 06, 8:44 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by milwaukeeclassic

On a sorta unrelated note, NW told me today that I cannot merge two PNRs where one is an award ticket and one is revenue...has anyone ever gotten that to work?

"Merge" as in make one PNR from two. No. That will never work as mentioned above - once each reservation has its own unique record locator you can not combine/merge them. It doesn't matter if one is a paid ticket and the other a FF ticket, both FF tickets or both paid tickets.

But "link" is possible if by that you mean just putting a note in each PNR cross-referencing it to the other PNR.

If you purchase two separate tickets, whether the reservations are or are not linked, merged, cross-referenced or whatever, I don't think the airline has the obligation to accommodate you on things like weather delays.

mlsrar · May 5, 06, 7:57 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by fti

If you purchase two separate tickets, whether the reservations are or are not linked, merged, cross-referenced or whatever, I don't think the airline has the obligation to accommodate you on things like weather delays.

Thanks, that answers my original question.

yogimax · May 5, 06, 9:01 am

One of the drawbacks is the use of ecerts for yourself and your traveling companion. If you want to use two ecerts, you have to book separate reservations. Of course, this is a negative for a platiunum traveling with a non-platinum. So it comes down to the money or a better upgrade possibility for both.

milwaukeeclassic · May 5, 06, 5:27 pm

Thanks guys...it is clear that you cannot merge two passengers PNRs now. I had gotten confused because the agent said she could have done it if they were both revenue tickets. I think that she was planning on cancelling and rebooking the reservation together because it was within the 24 hour window since I booked them.

beckoa · Nov 4, 09, 7:31 pm

I'll drag this up this thread for my own situation...

Booked an ANC-SEA-HNL flight for two pax since it was much cheaper then the AS equivalent

with ANC-SEA on AS, and SEA-HNL on NW...

Bought on 012 ticket stock... and on the same PNR...

Last night was looking and freaked out as only my friend was on the one I booked, finally looked up each PNR (1 digit off) and found mine - whew! But, we were no longer linked together

messing up checked luggage options / irrops/ upgrades, etc...

Is there no way to force the two PNR's back together, as they were booked together and for some reason its now mysteriously split?

Thanks

tcook052 · Nov 5, 09, 2:17 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by beckoa

I'll drag this up this thread for my own situation...

Booked an ANC-SEA-HNL flight for two pax since it was much cheaper then the AS equivalent

with ANC-SEA on AS, and SEA-HNL on NW...

Bought on 012 ticket stock... and on the same PNR...

Last night was looking and freaked out as only my friend was on the one I booked, finally looked up each PNR (1 digit off) and found mine - whew! But, we were no longer linked together

messing up checked luggage options / irrops/ upgrades, etc...

Is there no way to force the two PNR's back together, as they were booked together and for some reason its now mysteriously split?

Thanks

None that I know of.

Also dunno how a PNR locator could be one number off and it was more likely your e-ticket number was one digit off.

Lastly, airlines don't just randomly split folks on the same file up without a reason so you sure you didn't change the return to travel separately after the initial reservation was made, which is one reason they could've divided the PNR and created two separate ones.

beckoa · Nov 5, 09, 3:33 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcook052

None that I know of.

Also dunno how a PNR locator could be one number off and it was more likely your e-ticket number was one digit off.

Lastly, airlines don't just randomly split folks on the same file up without a reason so you sure you didn't change the return to travel separately after the initial reservation was made, which is one reason they could've divided the PNR and created two separate ones.

Correct- was not very clear that it was my ticket number...

I know it shouldn't be split off randomly... but it seems it was... no changes have been made...

Oh well...

tcook052 · Nov 5, 09, 9:39 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by beckoa

Correct- was not very clear that it was my ticket number...

I know it shouldn't be split off randomly... but it seems it was... no changes have been made...

Oh well...

While the two PNR's can't be recreated as one again, you can ask the airline to cross reference the two which should help GA's see you are travelling together. It's not foolproof as we know nothing with airlines ever is but it's worth the call IMHO.

Happy travels!