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Asiana Award Reservation CANCELLED without even telling me!

Asiana Award Reservation CANCELLED without even telling me!

Old Apr 9, 2012, 8:14 am
  #31  
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: SAN
Programs: UA 1MM/1K, HH Diamond
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Originally Posted by colpuck
Drama, this is a confirmed problem with the OZ system that existed BEFORE the merger, IE before the change to SHARES. This has nothing to do with UA but with OZ's IT failure. There are plenty of "merger is a failure" threads to vent your spleen in. This is not one of them.
I'm going to have to beg to differ here...

While it may very well be an IT problem on OZ's end, and while I've never seen a thread about this on the PMCO board I'm willing to take your word on it...the underlying point is that we PMUA folks have been operating for years and years based on a certain set of assumptions about how *A awards are booked, assumptions that were silently changed to PMCO standards without any announcement whatsoever that such changes were made. When we behave as if everything was as it was, but it tuns out fundamental changes have taken place, it's inevitable that some people are going to get zapped. Therefore, even if we agree to put aside the issue of whether PMUA or PMCO procedures and rules are "better," the bottom line is that by failing to communicate these changes clearly and sufficiently in advance, the merger has been a failure.

In any event, the issue of "confirmed" award reservations in fact not being confirmed is entirely without justification. There's simply no excuse for it. All UA has to do is add some boldfaced language before you click purchase/book over the phone explanining that reservations are not confirmed until X, Y or Z happen and that if on confirmation is received within so many hours/days, one needs to call back to make sure it's booked properly.
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 8:31 am
  #32  
 
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I have several Asiana Awards reservations, both reserved and ticketed; through the old CO awards system.

In my account screens, it shows as ticketed and confirmed.

Are you saying that I have to double check with Asiana to make sure that they have it in their system, as well?
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 10:00 am
  #33  
 
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Originally Posted by muc2asia
I have several Asiana Awards reservations, both reserved and ticketed; through the old CO awards system.

In my account screens, it shows as ticketed and confirmed.

Are you saying that I have to double check with Asiana to make sure that they have it in their system, as well?
So I've got some VERY recent experience with this all, and past experience.

As a PMUAer, I had no issue with plenty of OZ award and revenue tickets booked with 016 stock (not to mention no SQ/NH/TG issues, either).

However, on CO award stock before the merger I had a horrible issue that lasted over a month with TK/SA/VS to get it resolved.

After the merger (just a little over a week ago), I booked an award with SHARES - REP-(oz)-ICN-(sq)-SIN.

When I called to book the ticket (you couldn't/can't online), the agent already told me that I'd need to babysit the ticket and call back tomorrow, because it probably won't ticket, and my flight was in a few days. So, I called back the following day, the agent asked if I wanted to book it - and I told them that I already tried to do it, but need it done immediately, because I need to book hotels, etc. 30 minutes later, they 'pushed' it through the swamped booking agents, and I actually had a ticket number. I figured, that was it, I have a ticket number (016) and we should be good.

Two days later, I called UA to get the PNRs. They give me the OZ reservation, but say there is no SQ PNR. Odd. I've never had a reservation agent tell me that a PNR isn't needed for a carrier.

I call OZ. They don't see the PNR. I tell them the names & dates traveled. Can't see anything. I tell them I have a ticket number and give it to them. Then they finally see it, do something on the backend system and 10 seconds later, I have seats.

I call SQ. I tell them that UA didn't have a PNR for it. Names/Dates - nothing. Ticket number - nothing. They tell me to call UA. I call UA and the great 1K agent spends 20 minutes calling SQ and somehow get everything worked out (I have NO clue what they did), but told me that I couldn't reserve a seat, but the ticket was supposedly fine.

My wife & I flew our flights (without issue, and both reservations were found) on the 6th & 7th, and things were fine - but this constant babysitting and unconfirmed reservations when UA says they are confirmed are ridiculous.

This isn't the 'biggest' airline in the world, and none of these issues ever happened to me with PMUA systems. That said, this being the 'new normal' doesn't sound good for me, and my bookings will surely decline, since their systems simply can't handle the loads of the passengers PMUA has brought over...I think there will be more JL & CX for me in the future.

-jeremy
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 10:03 am
  #34  
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
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Originally Posted by Flyingfox
At least you didn't get half way round the world, show up for your flight, and THEN have them tell you they cannot find your "segment" with them (despite your wife being on the same itenerary and having the same flight).

So she got her award ticket segment and got to board.

I got to board too, but I HAD TO PURCHASE that segment, and I got to pay full fare business. It was the only segment out of 8 that had "just vanished".

And this was an award ticket done 6 months previous.

I really avoid them whenever possible.

Flyingfox,

I had the same thing happen to me, but on Thai. I was on a first class award ticket to Asia, had a confirmed old-UA reservation, boarded a flight on Christmas morning headed to Phuket from Shanghai, with a change of planes in BKK. Had all boarding passes in hand from Shanghai.

Show up to board the flight from BKK-Phuket at 10:30pm at night (last flight of the night) and was told that even though I had a boarding pass, the ticket had not been issued and I would have to buy two tickets (full fare business class to replace my business class award seats to Phuket) or I would not be allowed to board the flight. Given that it was the last flight out of the night, I bought new tickets. After returning in January, I sent a long note and receipts to UA Customer Service. I have followed up every few weeks by email to ask status of resolving this -- they always get back to me after a few days, and have said for the last month that the holdup is on the Thai side.

How did you get your situation resolved (lots of time on the phone?) and what did UA do in terms of reimbursement? I'd like the cash back for the ~$400+ I shelled out on the spot for tickets.
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 10:13 am
  #35  
 
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Originally Posted by jh6000
Flyingfox,

I had the same thing happen to me, but on Thai. I was on a first class award ticket to Asia, had a confirmed old-UA reservation, boarded a flight on Christmas morning headed to Phuket from Shanghai, with a change of planes in BKK. Had all boarding passes in hand from Shanghai.

Show up to board the flight from BKK-Phuket at 10:30pm at night (last flight of the night) and was told that even though I had a boarding pass, the ticket had not been issued and I would have to buy two tickets (full fare business class to replace my business class award seats to Phuket) or I would not be allowed to board the flight. Given that it was the last flight out of the night, I bought new tickets. After returning in January, I sent a long note and receipts to UA Customer Service. I have followed up every few weeks by email to ask status of resolving this -- they always get back to me after a few days, and have said for the last month that the holdup is on the Thai side.

How did you get your situation resolved (lots of time on the phone?) and what did UA do in terms of reimbursement? I'd like the cash back for the ~$400+ I shelled out on the spot for tickets.
I have award reservations upcoming on UA and TG in F going to HKT for myself and my family.

I have the TG PNRs and have contacted the US TG reservation folks and all seems well (have seats assigned, etc). Your post (and this thread) makes me a bit paranoid.

Is there anything else I need to do?
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 10:47 am
  #36  
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Originally Posted by palwhatsup
A similar issue happened to me. I made an award reservation. The itinerary has a SQ and a NH segment. The system cancelled my SQ and NH legs without any notification! I was then told by the premier agent that the ticket did not ticket and the partner airlines cannot hold a ticket for more than x number of days... It is a bit annoying frankly...
I also dont think this is limited to oz - i mentioned smth similar a couple weeks ago in another thread.
I had an award changed by a day for a family member (all ticketed and showing up correctly on ual site) but when he showed up at lx counter in europe they were unable to check him in. Luckily i was reachable and after a frantic call to 1k desk and half hour on the phone they were able to fix it (within 1 h of departure).
I suspect this was a similar issue but dont know for sure. I dont think its a system limitation but rather some agents not very skilled in shares forget some step of the process.
I would definitely check with the operating carrier if you have a recently booked award just in case.
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 11:05 am
  #37  
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Sounds like this should be merged with the master "why won't my reservation ticket" thread after all
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 12:12 pm
  #38  
 
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Something similar happened to me once with PMUA, on a paid ticket. IRROPS resulted in reroute on AC but somehow AC could not see the e-ticket. It took a large number of calls to UA and AC to get it fixed - they kept telling me I needed to call the other party. I finally found a UA agent who recognized what the problem was.

(At one point, one of the PMUA agents actually reprimanded me "as a travel agent, you should know" - it shows how much travel lingo/jargon I'd picked up from FT.)

Last edited by c1mth0g; Apr 9, 2012 at 12:42 pm
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 12:17 pm
  #39  
 
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Originally Posted by muc2asia
I have several Asiana Awards reservations, both reserved and ticketed; through the old CO awards system.

In my account screens, it shows as ticketed and confirmed.

Are you saying that I have to double check with Asiana to make sure that they have it in their system, as well?
Yes. UA told me everything was fine and all showed as ticketed and confirmed (and gave me an Asiana PNR) but I called Asiana to be double sure a week later and they said that the ticket hadn't been "bought" yet. Luckily I had the ticket numbers (which are the same for the entire itinerary), they entered them manually and all was fine. A sign that it's fixed is that before when I tried to select seats with my itinerary information the system said that the reservation had not been ticketed. Now it works fine.

But I'm going to call in a few days just to be sure.
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 12:34 pm
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by Boghopper
Yes. UA told me everything was fine and all showed as ticketed and confirmed (and gave me an Asiana PNR) but I called Asiana to be double sure a week later and they said that the ticket hadn't been "bought" yet. Luckily I had the ticket numbers (which are the same for the entire itinerary), they entered them manually and all was fine. A sign that it's fixed is that before when I tried to select seats with my itinerary information the system said that the reservation had not been ticketed. Now it works fine.

But I'm going to call in a few days just to be sure.
Interesting - sounds very similar to my post (#33) from my award purchase a week and a half ago, and my OZ flight (Friday night)...

OZ only recognised my ticket when I presented them my 016 ticket number. They couldn't find my rez with the OZ PNR. They couldn't find it based on my (or wife's) name and flight date/number, either.

SQ was even worse - but this all isn't OZ or any partner's systems fault - it's clearly UA's SHARES ticketing system - easily not a classy system to say the least...and one that you have to babysit everything for.

-jeremy
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 4:33 pm
  #41  
 
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I've had several OZ award booking long ago using either UA or CO miles, and there was no issue. But recently, whenever I try to book OZ award online, it always gives me an error. (Is it only me?) If I make a call, some agent says there's a seat, some says no, although united.com (as well as flyasiana.com) says yes. Eventually I could book on the phone, though.
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 4:55 pm
  #42  
 
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Originally Posted by Boghopper
Yes. UA told me everything was fine and all showed as ticketed and confirmed (and gave me an Asiana PNR) but I called Asiana to be double sure a week later and they said that the ticket hadn't been "bought" yet. Luckily I had the ticket numbers (which are the same for the entire itinerary), they entered them manually and all was fine. A sign that it's fixed is that before when I tried to select seats with my itinerary information the system said that the reservation had not been ticketed. Now it works fine.

But I'm going to call in a few days just to be sure.
Had the same thing happen to me a couple weeks ago. Though when I called up OZ, the agent said that everything was just fine and I had nothing to worry about. After another day of not being able to select seats on their website I called back and that agent asked for the ticket number. After that I could bring it up on the OZ site. That would have been annoying if they said it was ok and then the ticket ended up getting cancelled.
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 5:18 pm
  #43  
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Originally Posted by DaveSFO
Had the same thing happen to me a couple weeks ago. Though when I called up OZ, the agent said that everything was just fine and I had nothing to worry about. After another day of not being able to select seats on their website I called back and that agent asked for the ticket number. After that I could bring it up on the OZ site. That would have been annoying if they said it was ok and then the ticket ended up getting cancelled.
May I ask how/where you can look at your UA-award reservation on the OZ site?

The only place I know of on flyasiana.com (US Site) is the 'Online Seat Assignment' which is really online checkin(?) and can only be done starting at 48hours prior to departure, and even then, cannot be done with a UA-issued ticket.

If one has an OZ FF# (I do) and uses the Asiana booking reference, I get "Seat reservation and check-in for codesharing flights are not available"
If put in the itinerary information, I get "We are unable to search your booking record."

If I call Asiana, they tell me a seat cannot be selected - have to do it at checkin, but the reservation (the one that OZ has the ticket for) is OK. In the past, when I made OZ award reservations pmUA, I had no problem to call OZ and get a seat selection. Something to do with SHARES....?
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 5:35 pm
  #44  
 
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Originally Posted by vrichard
May I ask how/where you can look at your UA-award reservation on the OZ site?

The only place I know of on flyasiana.com (US Site) is the 'Online Seat Assignment' which is really online checkin(?) and can only be done starting at 48hours prior to departure, and even then, cannot be done with a UA-issued ticket.

If one has an OZ FF# (I do) and uses the Asiana booking reference, I get "Seat reservation and check-in for codesharing flights are not available"
If put in the itinerary information, I get "We are unable to search your booking record."

If I call Asiana, they tell me a seat cannot be selected - have to do it at checkin, but the reservation (the one that OZ has the ticket for) is OK. In the past, when I made OZ award reservations pmUA, I had no problem to call OZ and get a seat selection. Something to do with SHARES....?
I do it under the online seat assignment. You can use it either for selecting seats or checking in. My flights are in July and I had no problem selecting seats via this route. I just put in my itinerary information and it comes up. I can even use the 016 ticket number on my eticket receipt. This is my third award reservation with them and I have been able to do this each time.

I'm not sure about the codeshare issue, but it wouldn't surprise me if that is what's causing them to say you have to do it at checkin. I've never booked a codeshare with them so I can't say for certain.
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Old Apr 9, 2012, 6:46 pm
  #45  
 
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Originally Posted by DaveSFO
I do it under the online seat assignment. You can use it either for selecting seats or checking in. My flights are in July and I had no problem selecting seats via this route. I just put in my itinerary information and it comes up. I can even use the 016 ticket number on my eticket receipt. This is my third award reservation with them and I have been able to do this each time.

I'm not sure about the codeshare issue, but it wouldn't surprise me if that is what's causing them to say you have to do it at checkin. I've never booked a codeshare with them so I can't say for certain.
+1. I've accessed my reservation by entering my details (flight and name) through seat assignment. Now that OZ has my ticket number it works fine for a flight in February 2013.
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