Here's another fun one for the file. I couldn't check in the other day on an AF-issued ticket with a codeshare on WS metal as the first flight. But this was a new problem! OLCI was erroring out, so I decided to call the Platinum desk. They told me the problem was the PNR didn't match the ticket.

The itinerary was a YYC-YVR-CDG-VLC round trip. An AF schedule change caused it to be re-booked with different dates in both directions. Yet WS claimed the PNR was (a) out of sequence (CDG-VLC appeared before YVR-CDG) and (b) was missing the VLC-CDG segment on the way back. I confirmed she had the correct dates, the reissued ticket number, etc, which she did, and the ticket looked correct. Everything looked fine on the AF site and e-mails/PDFs I had gotten from them, but WS insisted it was a problem on AF's end.

I called AF, and they said the PNR was 100% correct on their end, properly sequenced, coupons each associated to the right segment, etc. The WS agent was surprised to hear this, but agreed to go talk to her support desk. They manually fixed their copy of the PNR to put the outbound flights in sequence, and OLCI I worked.

After getting off the call, I noticed the VLC-CDG segment was still missing from the WS PNR, but I figured on the return it might not be an issue since I'd check in with AF. And thankfully it wasn't a problem.

But man, if I weren't someone with a pretty in-depth understanding of how these things work, and priority access to the call centre at both airlines, I shudder to think how this would have gone. If I just showed up at YYC and tried to check in in person, would this even have been fixed? How many hours early would I have had to get there to make sure it got sorted in time for me to fly?

WS, as usual, blamed the other airline, claiming something was not sent properly by AF/Amadeus. I've flown a lot fewer multi-airline bookings involving WS than many others, but the absolute number of issues like this that I've run in to is concerning, and as a percentage, it's off the charts. It's also a variety of different issues - not like I keep hitting the same roadblock again and again.

So once again, I'm going to direct my suspicions at WS for their Sabre implementation and how they're handling whatever gets sent over from the OAL, because the common denominator in all of these problems is WS.