<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by susieQ:
When booking and ticketing through a travel agency they may validate the ticket on whichever airline offers them more commission or bonus.
I had a problem with a UA/SQ RTW, which had been validated on SQ even though all flights were UA except for the last two. When UA misconnected in Chicago they would not put us on the next flight with LH, without getting the ticket endorsed by SQ. This was not possible due to the time involved, and we had to wait 20 hours for the next UA flight.
Next time I'll insist on the ticket being validated on the airline where I believe I may want to make a change or that there is more chance of a problem. </font>
With the above situation, you wouldn't have been able to travel on LH anyway because it is a special fare restricted to only UNITED and SINGAPORE AIRLINES. If it had been a STAR ALLIANCE RTW ticket, no endorsement is required as all STAR ALLIANCE members do not need endorsements when travelling on another member's flight. In the case of the UA/SQ ticket, the UA staff obviously had no idea what to do in this case and just wanted to brush you off. If a reissue had been required, note:BOTH UA or SQ can do the job again, irrespective on who issued the original ticket.
Some airlines require the agency to ticket on the first outbound flight. ie in the case of Singapore Airlines for all flights ex-SIN, irrespective. It is not necessary based on 'commission' issues.
Back to headinthecloud's questions:
It seems that CX may be less strict with applying the rules than say BA/AA/QF. I would prefer to start a South African OWE in Capetown rather than Jo'burg, but CX only flies to JNB. Thanks.
CX can issue the ticket for originating in either city. You'd just have to be specific as to where you'd like to have your ticket issued.