<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SPN Lifer:
...they can no longer pull up the reservation by record locator for an expired passenger name record (post-48 hours, or so, after the last segment).
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As mentioned, PNR's disappear into Never, Never Land after 48 hours and at that point, can no longer be retrieved.
However, often times when I travel on a premium award, I want to retain the PNR because there will be critical info in the record which allows me to make changes quickly, etc. Without this information readily available, it becomes very time consuming to make a change.
Therefore, I often ask a res agent to initially book the return flight WAY, WAY far into the future... then immediately change to a sooner date. Due to the distant initial return booking, the PNR will remain alive til 48 hours after that date.
This little trick to preserve a PNR has come in handy, many, many times in my flying career.
Furthermore, if I forget to cancel a reservation for whatever reason, ie, laziness, etc., the PNR lives on - even tho the reservation may have been cxld by the airline.
Food for thought, and nothing more!
[This message has been edited by tvl4free (edited Dec 30, 2003).]