Originally Posted by
Bandicoot
In my nervous haste, I did not call FCM to try to get rebooked, which I think (?) would have been the right thing to do since the ticket was booked through them.
Yes, the "correct" thing to do is to contact your travel agent/agency. Airlines and other travel companies pay travel agencies commissions in part because it reduces labor costs. In theory, travel agencies are solely responsible for handling any and all aspects of that ticket. Often, you'll hear the phrase "the travel agency owns the ticket" and is therefore in charge.
As Often1 notes, on the day of travel, that restriction is lifted.
Originally Posted by
Bandicoot
Also the agent implied that those would all be blocked for the travel agency if he took control of the ticket, but clearly he was unable to tell himself whether or not there were car or hotel reservations attached to the booking. So what would have happened if I had had a car rental, for example - would it have gone into a black hole where nobody, not the travel agency, nor the airline, nor the car rental company would be able to see it? And if that's the case, how can an airline get control of a ticket 24 hours before the flight - what happens to the non-flight portions of the booking? Or was the agent simply making stuff up for me?
Admittedly, it's been quite a few years since I worked in a GDS system. GDS stands for Global Distribution System. These GDS connect the separate computer systems run by different companies to create a network.
I used to work at the Central Reservations Office of a travel company. We sold multiple products through packages: hotels, airfare, car rentals, and attraction tickets. We sold directly to consumers as well as through travel agencies. All of our products were bookable via those GDS.
The Delta agent you spoke to was not making anything up. Once an airline or other travel provider takes control of ticket, that action essentially locks the record. The travel agent will be able to see the record but will be unable to make changes.
In that situation, other companies (car rentals, hotels) not be affected. They only get the part of the itinerary that deals with their business. They wouldn't even know if an airline "took control" of the overall reservation.
As long as the travel agent doesn't need to make any changes to the car rental or hotel, it doesn't matter. But, if they did need to change or cancel, the only way to do it would be to pick up the phone and call. Calling always takes longer than making a change via the GDS. Sometimes, it can take a long time to get through to a person if the hotel/car rental company is busy.
Trust me when I tell you, travel agents get rightfully angry when a company takes over a reservation without cause.
Originally Posted by
Bandicoot
What is the advice for such situations in the future - call the travel agency and hope they have access to other seats that might be available for rebooking, or call the airline (who may access to more seats?? or not?), and how does the 24-hour cut-off play into all this?
Whenever schedule changes happen, the travel agency is notified via GDS. Frankly, I'd question why you were notified by the airline and not the travel agency. Although I suppose Air France might be offering super special service by contacting you the instant your itinerary changed, I think that's probably unlikely.
Chances are decent that your travel agency knew about the schedule change for hours or even days before Air France notified you. As your flight approached, the airline decided to contact you directly because it knows fixing a problem the day prior is easier than trying to find a solution at check-in.
If you run into a similar problem in the future, I'd do the following. 1) Definitely call your travel agency first. 2) If they aren't responsive, call the airline. 3) After the trip, consider finding a new travel agency.
Originally Posted by
Bandicoot
Minor question - when Air France notified me that the BOS - CDG flight would be delayed, should they not have tried to rebook me anyway?
No. That's the responsibility of the travel agency.