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S7 quirks -- had to split award booking for 1-stop flight; can't view on S7

S7 quirks -- had to split award booking for 1-stop flight; can't view on S7

Old Apr 25, 2016, 1:00 pm
  #1  
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S7 quirks -- had to split award booking for 1-stop flight; can't view on S7

Hopping around Russia in June using Avios on S7.

First oddity: I wanted to book PKC-(KHV)-OVB-IKT. PKC-OVB is a direct flight with a stop in KHV. According to BA, the complete itinerary (PKC to IKT) had only a business-class award seat available. But I could book PKC-KHV as one ticket and KHV-OVB-IKT as another, in economy. Didn't seem to be a BA quirk as the same pattern appeared on the S7 site. A little annoying because I had to pay an extra US$7.35 to fly the same plane "twice," but the Avios were the same, at least.

Second oddity: I can't view the itinerary on S7, whether I view by PNR or by ticket number (of course, it's a BA ticket number). It must be there, because if I try to check in it says that's not available, and if I try to check in but use the wrong ticket number it says it's invalid. But it would be nice to see it there for comfort.

I tried registering for S7's FFP (another oddity, because they kept saying "Click the link in your e-mail to complete registration" but there was never any link, until I had them send the link from the Russian page), and I used Finnair to change my BA number to my new S7 number on the reservation, but either it didn't work or it takes a while to update.

Anyone have experience with this -- viewing S7 bookings from another OW carrier? I wanted to select seats and BA and AY show me with assigned window seats toward the front (which is what I'd have chosen anyway -- I even got the same seat on both parts of PKC-OVB); should I expect them to "stick"?

Seth
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Old Apr 25, 2016, 11:01 pm
  #2  
 
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Originally Posted by sethweinstein
Hopping around Russia in June using Avios on S7.

First oddity: I wanted to book PKC-(KHV)-OVB-IKT. PKC-OVB is a direct flight with a stop in KHV. According to BA, the complete itinerary (PKC to IKT) had only a business-class award seat available. But I could book PKC-KHV as one ticket and KHV-OVB-IKT as another, in economy. Didn't seem to be a BA quirk as the same pattern appeared on the S7 site. A little annoying because I had to pay an extra US$7.35 to fly the same plane "twice," but the Avios were the same, at least.

Second oddity: I can't view the itinerary on S7, whether I view by PNR or by ticket number (of course, it's a BA ticket number). It must be there, because if I try to check in it says that's not available, and if I try to check in but use the wrong ticket number it says it's invalid. But it would be nice to see it there for comfort.

I tried registering for S7's FFP (another oddity, because they kept saying "Click the link in your e-mail to complete registration" but there was never any link, until I had them send the link from the Russian page), and I used Finnair to change my BA number to my new S7 number on the reservation, but either it didn't work or it takes a while to update.

Anyone have experience with this -- viewing S7 bookings from another OW carrier? I wanted to select seats and BA and AY show me with assigned window seats toward the front (which is what I'd have chosen anyway -- I even got the same seat on both parts of PKC-OVB); should I expect them to "stick"?

Seth
1)S7 uses a different booking system (Galileo). BA Manage my booking page should contain 2PNR references: BA PNR (6 digits) and S7 PNR (5 digits),only the latter will work for check in/manage my booking on S7.

If for any reason it's not there,pull up your booking on checkmytrip,S7 PNR should be displayed there too.

2)From experience,the AY trick will only update the FFP number in amadeus and therefore only for the "relevant" part of the journey (eg:if you had LHR-DME-OVB ticket,it would only change the FFP number for BA operated LHR-DME).

You can change it for S7 FFP number via the S7 MMB. I am not sure why would you want to do it though,since it's a reward booking?

3)Sometimes what happens with those multi sector routes is airlines block seats on a particular sector,because they want to sell tickets for those flying "both sectors" or vv. So in your case,despite there being physical availability on both sectors,they probably wanted to sell tix for PKC-KHV and KHV-OVB to different pax,as that brings more revenue.

This is what often happens with RJ and HKG-BKK-AMM,not sure if this is what happened here,or is it just a IT problem.

4)Do you have OW status (Ruby/above?) if so you can get those "extra space" seats for free at OLCI or by emailing [email protected],they always reply within a few hours.

5)Not sure about the link,would you mind uploading a screenshot from the email? (obviously deleting all the personal info)?
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Old Apr 26, 2016, 10:46 am
  #3  
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Originally Posted by Rami Tamimi
1) ...pull up your booking on checkmytrip...

2) ...I am not sure why would you want to do it though...

5) ...would you mind uploading a screenshot from the email? (obviously deleting all the personal info)?
Thanks for the thorough reply. BA didn't show the 5-digit confirmation, but CheckMyTrip did. Now I can view it in S7 (including the changed FF number).

I only changed the FF number in case maybe that would make S7 see it.

I don't have any status, but I'm satisfied with the seats I was assigned, assuming they stick.

Here is the complete e-mail they sent. No personal information at all! And the links are invalid -- they lead to "404" errors!

When I had them send the e-mail from the Russian page, I got a very long, obvious link and not much else. So it was a completely different message.

Seth
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Old Apr 26, 2016, 11:21 am
  #4  
 
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Originally Posted by sethweinstein
Thanks for the thorough reply. BA didn't show the 5-digit confirmation, but CheckMyTrip did. Now I can view it in S7 (including the changed FF number).

I only changed the FF number in case maybe that would make S7 see it.

I don't have any status, but I'm satisfied with the seats I was assigned, assuming they stick.

Here is the complete e-mail they sent. No personal information at all! And the links are invalid -- they lead to "404" errors!

When I had them send the e-mail from the Russian page, I got a very long, obvious link and not much else. So it was a completely different message.

Seth
I can read Russian,this is a confirmation that your company has been registered with S7 Profi,their corporate reward scheme (kind of simmilar to OnBusiness@BA).

This is a valid link for S7 FFP (S7 Priority sign up):
https://www.s7.ru/home/personal_acco...gistration.dot

As for seats,actually they should not stick,because S7 charges for seat selection prior to check in (and during check in too on some restricted fares),unless one is Ruby or above. They should not stick,but they might.

That said,I would not be too woried about it,there are very few people who book seats prior to OLCI (only status holders and those who pay for seat selection),so getting a window seat towards the front should not be a problem.
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Old Apr 27, 2016, 11:36 am
  #5  
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Originally Posted by Rami Tamimi
They should not stick,but they might.
Thanks again for the help -- and the reassurance! We shall see about the seats.

Seth
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Old Apr 28, 2016, 6:24 am
  #6  
 
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No problem,hope you enjoy the flights with S7
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Old Jun 23, 2016, 8:58 am
  #7  
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Update

Having good flights so far with S7. They've fed me more than expected, and I love that at PKC you walk down the stairs from the plane and out the gate to the real world -- you never have to go inside! I don't like having to clear security at every connection, though. And IKT wouldn't let me into the lounge without an onward boarding pass.

The seats have been sticking. When I check in on-line, I get a message that my seats have been automatically chosen, but they're always the seats I was expecting.

The only glitch was that on the day I went PKC-(KHV)-OVB-IKT, I hadn't checked in on-line, and I got to PKC and they didn't have me on the passenger list. At PKC you go through security before you check in; they match your ID to the roster at security.

First they said I had to buy PKC-KHV. But I showed them a print-out from CheckMyTrip with the ticket number, and someone called someone else and verified that the ticket was valid. It took about an hour, though, and they only resolved it once they checked in everyone else. But it wasn't full; I didn't get my original seat but I ended up with a whole row to myself.

Since then I've been checking in on my phone, even though I can't print a boarding pass, just to make sure everything is в порядке (in order).

Seth
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Old Jun 23, 2016, 9:31 am
  #8  
 
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Originally Posted by sethweinstein
Having good flights so far with S7. They've fed me more than expected, and I love that at PKC you walk down the stairs from the plane and out the gate to the real world -- you never have to go inside! I don't like having to clear security at every connection, though. And IKT wouldn't let me into the lounge without an onward boarding pass.

The seats have been sticking. When I check in on-line, I get a message that my seats have been automatically chosen, but they're always the seats I was expecting.

The only glitch was that on the day I went PKC-(KHV)-OVB-IKT, I hadn't checked in on-line, and I got to PKC and they didn't have me on the passenger list. At PKC you go through security before you check in; they match your ID to the roster at security.

First they said I had to buy PKC-KHV. But I showed them a print-out from CheckMyTrip with the ticket number, and someone called someone else and verified that the ticket was valid. It took about an hour, though, and they only resolved it once they checked in everyone else. But it wasn't full; I didn't get my original seat but I ended up with a whole row to myself.

Since then I've been checking in on my phone, even though I can't print a boarding pass, just to make sure everything is в порядке (in order).

Seth
Thanks for coming back and feeding back on the experience.
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Old Jul 6, 2016, 10:26 pm
  #9  
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Originally Posted by Rami Tamimi
Thanks for coming back and feeding back on the experience.
You're welcome...and the final episode: Flying out of Yakutsk, I was armed with a boarding pass printed at my hotel. The officer at the security checkpoint had never seen a home-printed boarding pass! He tried to get me to go back to the check-in desk, but then he noticed that it really did say "Boarding pass" on it and had a bar code, and after checking with his co-worker, he stamped it and let me through.

And that Yakutsk airport is surprisingly nice -- sparkling-clean with glass and tile, one of very few Russian airports I encountered that had jet bridges, good for sleeping a few hours upstairs after a too-early arrival, and there's even an aviation museum!

Seth
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Old Jul 14, 2016, 10:33 pm
  #10  
 
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Actually many major and a few smaller Russian airports have gone thru major upgrades.

As for being surprised about OLCIed BPs,well it's much much better now. When OLCI was just introduced by S7 and UN we would consistently have arguments with the gate agents and security staff.

And as for security checking your name against the passenger list,it's a Soviet feature. In the past when all tickets were paper tickets,you would present it to security,they would stamp it and you would then proceed to check in.

It all changed when a new law was passed banning liquids over 100ML in hand baggage. Immidiately after that most airports placed counters with staff after check in (but before you get airside) who made sure that your hand baggage did not have any liquids. Most airports since then moved to the so called "check in island" systems,where you would check in and then go thru security. There are a few exceptions though (like PKC).

Glad the flights with S7 went smooth
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