Originally Posted by Frequentflyer99
I am even more curious why the system is not programmed to ring bells and blow whistles when 'illegal' changes are made. I have noticed this with a number of other bookings, most notably certain of the old ex LIS fares which only permitted a 7 day London stopover, but which could be booked with unlimited stopovers.
By way of computer curiosities, the 1st Euro leg did not post at all in terms of miles / points, whereas the 1st longhual leg posted correctly as T/U with the correct miles and points. How does this come about ? It certainly seems to defy any logic.
As I understand it, 'traditional airline' reservation systems are pretty 'dumb' in terms of applying rules and if an operator has the authority/ability to do something then they can do it whether appropriate or not. Much of it, I suspect, comes down to the sheer variety and complexity of the fare rules. Booking class means little - as maybe 50+ different fare types may book into a particular bucket, each fare type having it's own rules, thus what may be legal for 1 'U' fare may not be legal for another.
In due course, I suspect the airlines will get it together and simplify/streamline their fare rules. Administering and understanding what they current have must take an immense amount of time, and from a beancounting view the leakage must be substantial.
If you look at any LCC their fare structure is invariably much simpler.