Originally Posted by
kwflyer
This isn't entirely correct. I've had contract staff at outstations refusing to rebook during IRROPS citing a 014 AC/AP ticket and telling me to call AP, even with an INVOL endorsement on file and within airport control. You really have to be assertive in those situations.
This is also an issue when flying on anything other than AC metal with an AE reward ticket.
A couple of months ago I was flying on an award ticket on TK, KTM-IST-YUL. I had to phone AE a few weeks before departure because of a schedule change that wasn't processed correctly due to a technical "glitch" (agent's words, not mine).
When I asked the agent, what happens if another "glitch" happens while I'm already in Nepal and I get to KTM airport on the morning of my flight and discover that I have a problem? She said, well, the only option is to phone AE... that TK staff at the airport wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Needless to say, since the AE call centre line regularly has 3+ hour wait times, closes overnight (daytime if overseas in a different time zone), and costs something like $3 USD per minute to phone from countries like Nepal, this was a less than ideal response.
Luckily, there were no issues with my flight. But knowing that this is the only recourse certainly made me think long and hard about ever booking an AE reward ticket in the future.