Originally Posted by
highflier1979
Altho this thread is about upgrading govt fares, I'm going on a tangent.
When calling the (former-) 1K line, they claim to no longer be allowed to assist with any govt fare tickets. I always get transferred. Whereas the (former) 1K line gets answered in 1 or 2 mins, the wait time on the new govt-fare desk is 30-60 mins.
What experiences do others have?
I prefer dealing with the 24/7 Carlson/Federal Travel Agency line than dealing with United.
PMCO refused to bid for city pairs the last year they operated as a separate airline and thus last year the routes they trafficked often didn't even show in our travel system. Given that my flight nonstop on US from DCA to MSY was $200 and PMCOdbaUA last fall wanted $1000 via IAH, it's a no contest for me. You take the cheaper option because it's the right thing to do and it's the policy unless you have an amazing justification.
Flights from IAD to KWI/DOH we're at the back of the bus, none of this nonsense about flying in C because it's a long flight.
Originally Posted by
halls120
Our agency forbids any carrier from altering a reservation until after travel starts, even though the travel is charged to employee government travel cards. I ran into the same prohibition recently when traveling on DOD's dime.
Don't know why, but that is the way it is.
Having had an AUTH go pear shaped recently, I can give you some insight into how this works. If you're still staying in Y, but go to E+, because the fare code doesn't change, it's fine. You're only eligible for upgrades once you're ticketed, which is usually 72 hours before the flight. In some cases, you can get it ticketed early but that's rare. So what happens if POS SHARES sees you as ticketed and confirmed and the agency travel agency doesn't? Well then the agency can't repurchase the same seat/reservation, but has to back it all out and start over.
The cancellation thing too is mindnumbingly annoying. To cancel/change a flight in our system once travel has started, the original reservation is cancelled and they buy a whole new round trip ticket. That's even more fun when you're abroad and you need to talk to your employer's travel but only 24/7 is available. If it's domestic and we're talking the same day departure and it's MX or the like, then you talk to the airline and just suffer the hell when you get back to redo your travel AUTH.
To the OP:
Our fares are structured like this:
Contract carrier w/ limited availability (under PMUA this was always GCA coded) - you click on a flight and it almost always says "not available", disappears and then you go to select the next one, until you've clicked each one and they all disappear. Rarely are there any seats lately, due in large part to reduced capacity.
Contract Carrier - City Pairs or other limited flights, usually coded TCA i.e. T class fares (well T-ish) and occasionally YCA (lately this happens more than it used to because the G and T fares are gone, even 4 months out!
Alt GSA - which is always blank. No idea what it's for
GSA - fully refundable not subject to contract but still less than Other
Other - fully refundable fares, in the open market. Usually staggeringly expensive.