londontraveller

Hi there,

just a caution to you guys who sometimes call up the Gold Line to help you with availability on star alliance awards. Given there was the 100% bonus released today, I was eyeing a pair of business class awards between Asia and Australia on Singapore airlines which I saw had availability on the UA site. I did not have enough miles at that time to check on the wonky Aegean website so I called in and the agent (despite calling a few times to different agents) insisted there was no availability.even for 1 seat. I was in a dilemma on whether to purchase the miles but took the plunge and bought the miles and managed to snag the pair of tickets on business class that I saw was available on the UA website.

I tried dummy bookings again for quite a few other routes on business class which showed availability once I got the miles credited on the actual Aegean website and tried calling the agents which again came back with no availability. Not sure what the issue is - might be a problem if you are trying to change the dates of an already ticketed award which you see as available but you are stuck as you are not able to initiate the change but via the call centre.....

Xandrios

When you are trying to book with A3 you will have to check availability with A3. Whatever availability MileagePlus shows will be different than what other FFP's will show/have access to. This is not only for A3 but applies to all FFPs.

Reason being that every airline that has award seats available can (and will) filter which partner FFPs will get access to those seats. In your example SQ has decided that United is allowed to book those, and Aegean is not.

LondonElite

Exactly!

londontraveller

I guess there is a misunderstanding of what I tried to convey. To simplify the scenario:

I tried book a flight from DPS - WGN and I saw availability on the UA website. I understand that different airlines get different access to partner awards especially business class awards. What I was emphasizing was that when I called the Aegean call centre, they said there was no availability but when trying to book the same set of flights on the same date (where they repeatedly said was not available), I could see availability on the Aegean website and could book it. My other colleagies have also experienced this problem. They made a booking SIN - KIX on business class on SQ online in the Aegean website and tried to change it to a different date after ticket issuance but after checking on the Aegean website there was availability, the agents said there wasnt. GIven that changes to award tickets cannot be initiated online by the member and there was an insistence there was no availability (again calling a few times to different agents) , he had to cancel the ticket and rebook on his own as a new ticket on the online Aegean website. It is such inconsistencies of availability of what the Aegean Gold line can see and what we can see on the Aegean reservation website that I am trying to bring other's attention to.

sokolov

That's not the issue here. What the OP is saying: The A3 callcentre claimed there was no availability, although the very awards were bookable on the Miles & Bonus website with A3 award miles.

Texxo

Exactly!

irishguy28

I'm just wondering why you were calling them if you could just have booked it online?

In other words - why would this "issue" be an issue? I'm struggling to see any valid scenario where someone is thwarted by calling up to book something that they could more easily and quickly have booked without assistance online. Usually, you call in when you can't do/get something online....

londontraveller

The other reason why I called them was also that i tried to change the date of a star alliance award i made obline which you cant change online on your own. I checked online and there was availability and calling the agents several time to initiate the change always drew a no availability response despite me seeing the award seats online on the aegean booking portal. I dont call the centre to waste my time needlessly.......

irishguy28

Ah - understood.

so you had them cancel and then just booked yourself again online, right? It would have the same cost - the change fee and cancellation fee are identical, €20. And I don't believe you can cancel an award booking online either, so it would require a call.

sokolov

That can be a solution, but not necessarily.

Example: A-B is booked for the 1st of May, B-A on the 15th. Now the passenger wants to fly back on the 16th instead - award seats are available online for the 16th for B-A, but there is no more availability for A-B for the 1st of May.

Of course if The booking is cancelled, the seats should be become available again, but that may take a bit and they may be snatched by somebody else.

So of course it would be better to just change the booking. I can totally understand OP's frustration.