Originally Posted by
Thai-Kiwi
Well, it is tough times. TG is currently reviewing some routes (there is another thread on this) and until this is finalised sometime after a late Jan Board meeting then I wouldn't expect any change.
I think that his is less a 'silly practice' and more of a lets get the market and route structure refined exercise. Once this is sorted out, I suspect that forward fares and award availability can be set. Certainly, if fare/award data was available now for Nov 09 to various booking engines, and then changes were imposed, we'd all grizzle about it - remember the impact of the removal of the BKK-JFK?!
I note too that sometimes THAI is quite late loading 'current' fares for the following season (ie the Apr-Oct 09), and that an attempt to book early results in full Y (or C or F) fares at eye-watering prices. Hence, the current stuff you get from the THAI booking engine may well be suspect - and I agree that this, in itself, is somewhat annoying.
Cheers, TK
Airlines routinely make operational changes such as adding and cancelling flights in accordance with market condition. It's no big deal. Just contact and protect affected passengers on other flights. It happens to all airlines.
If it is the case that the Board of Directors' approval is required, flight information beyond October 24, 2009 should also not be available at the TG site.
If what you said is true, it is reflecting badly on TG's senior management.
Shutting down the third party booking engine until the end of January 2009 is effectively putting itself out of the market for 2 months, while all other airlines open for business. This is reckless!