Originally Posted by
RDUke
Is it normal that a schedule change in a multi-airline reservation cause a disconnect that the passenger - and apparently the airlines - are not aware of?
Yes to the former; no to the latter.
Originally Posted by
RDUke
The changes resulted in both tickets either being “out-of-sync” or “not issued”, which may be the same thing
It is.
Originally Posted by
RDUke
without the airlines being aware of it.
If they told you that the record was out of sync, or the ticket had not been issued, then they were obviously aware of it.
Originally Posted by
RDUke
Maybe this kind of thing happens frequently, but surely this can’t be normal.
It happens somewhat infrequently and is entirely normal.
Originally Posted by
RDUke
In such a situation, is it necessary for a passenger to disbelieve online RAs’ assurance that their flights are OK
Why would you ever believe a reservation agent who’s incorrect? HUCA.
Originally Posted by
RDUke
carrying a phone with the airlines’ numbers and hoping that call wait times will not be horrible?
If this is too big of a burden to bear, I’m not sure what to tell you, but interline, international travel isn’t for you.
Originally Posted by
RDUke
unable to check in online with UA app and unable to get an NZ BP at SFO (“That’s normal,” said the RA; it is not).
The latter is absolutely normal; the former is not.
Originally Posted by
RDUke
Three different UA RAs insisted that all was fine
One untrained agent is a bad day.
Three tells me that you weren’t communicating clearly. “ANZ changed the flight time on my connecting flight, and it looks like I’ve been rebooked, but my ticket is out of sync. Can you take a look at the record and fix it?”
Originally Posted by
RDUke
They fixed this while I was en route to AKL.
They did
what?! That seems a lot more involved than fixing it ahead of time would have been.
Originally Posted by
RDUke
Inbound. UA didn’t fix it entirely. Clue that something’s wrong: unable to check in online with the NZ app. I was unable to check in with NZ at the airport. A senior NZ RA - the only person in the airport who could fix this - very grudgingly did so, calling UA, finding that the ticket was still not in sync, and getting a new ticket number. Barely made the flight.
That’s not surprising given the… whatever… that happened on the outbound. Hindsight being 20/20, this could / should have been resolved by a call to UA when you saw that the ticket numbers on your United reservation didn’t match the ones on the NZ reservation. When you couldn’t check in with NZ, you should have called UA immediately, though.
Originally Posted by
RDUke
(paid J)
Why on earth does that matter?
Originally Posted by
RDUke
ANZ originating flight moved an hour earlier with a notification on the UA app, which I OK’d. Clue that something’s wrong: no longer able to access the reservation on the NZ app. Called both UA and NZ and was told that all is fine and even that my seat assignment on the NZ flight was preserved. Just in case, I go to XXX early to be told by NZ that the ticket has not been issued and, by the way, it is your problem; NZ refused to help in any way. Called the PL, got a competent agent, dealt with a supervisor, and the ticket was finally issued. I made the bag check-in cutoff with 3 minutes to spare. (My seat was not preserved.)
Did anything change besides the flight time? A flight number on either segment?