tublet

Have you had issues with non AC carriers due to this?
I have a multisegment trip and am worried about a name mismatch, especially if I want to take a layover in a city, tag a bag to a layover before a destination

erik19283

In my case, I often use the French version of Aeroplan and it gives me only an "m", as in "monsieur", rather than "mr" at the end of my first name and I often have to explain what it stands for at checkin counters in Asia, and sometimes they need to check with a supervisor and whatnot but I have never missed a flight. I've never had an issue in Europe or North America, though, never had to explain anything there as I guess they are more familiar with "monsieur" in Europe than in Asia.

To make things easier check in online if you can; otherwise, arrive a bit earlier at the airport in case you can't check in with the self-service kiosks, which happened to me exactly because of the name discrepancy, but then at the check in counter things were sorted out and I always got my boarding pass.

w000t

does anyone have any data points on booking mini RTWs or perhaps booking something more "complicated" by calling? i've been trying to feed the agent flights but getting a lot of push back and basically "what you see online is what you get"

tracon

That's the correct interpretation.
However, I was changing an itinerary today and I got better than what I saw online.

BKK-PER was only showing two J seats available.
The first two agents I spoke with said that wasn't available and mentioned "phantom availability."
The second agent transferred me to the help desk. They were able to book three of us BKK-PER in J!

don_drapper

Not sure what you mean by this: as in it is always gonna be "what you see is what you get" or that it is the ongoing state until they get it together?

It is starting to be ridiculous as I have a mRTW to update, as I am switching the scope, but if we had known it would be broken with the Amadeus switchover, I would have called a LONNNGGGGG time ago instead of edging my bet.

xanderz

Tried calling in today and book for myself,
Took me 1.5 - 2 hrs in total and NOPE.. Agent checked with couple supervisors and can't book the segment-by-segment at this point..

If you already have some mRTW booked then you'll have no problem if you need to change some of the segments (from the DP's that I read),
It will just take a LOONGGGG time to wait til the agent picked up your call lol! Good Luck!

seks

Original itinerary: SGN-ICN-SFO-YYC, all on a thursday
.
AP had to revamp part of my above one-way itinerary because AC changed my SFO-YYC to an earlier time, causing my ICN-SFO to arrive after SFO-YYC. And there were no other SFO-YYC later on that day.

I suggested to the agent that I would be willing to stay in ICN for a night. So my new itinerary:

SGN-ICN thursday
ICN-YVR-YYC Friday

22.5h total or so in ICN

So that leads me to believe that AP can still piece together segments if they want. Then again, it may only be for situations like mine.

don_drapper

See, the thing is I am looking to change not just some, but ALL of my segments! My booking was mostly a placeholder until I had enough points to turn it into a proper mRTW instead of "Mini Europe" tour. All I need really is an agent that can book segment per segment, and understands that bookings made before September 1st still have the old rules. I am willing to wait for hours if I can get an agent that can get it all done for me.

canadiancow

They definitely have the ability to do anything they want. They just don't have it in the normal process because it was too complicated (i.e. time+money) for a system that's only going to last 4-16 months.

CanadianMike

So, what's the solution / workaround then for those looking to book a mRTW now?

HUCA and hope you get lucky with a good agent?
Force them to speak to a supervisor?

Or is there some specific wording / phrasing to guide them to be able to do it?

lemmeTAN

I have a somewhat relevant recent DP for this. TL;DR: HUCA for sure.

Currently in the middle of a mRTW (booked under old rules with 3 stops and at the 1st stop right now). Availability opened up on J ANA on the return trip, so wanted to get on that. A decent route showed up segment-by-segment on AP website, but when searching the destination-origin, only phantom availability appeared.

Called in. Got to an agent who seemed very aware of what she was doing and acknowledged that I was booked under the old rules. Understood what I was wanting, confirmed availability was showing up on her end, and just said "Okay, I just have to check the milage to make sure we're still okay and then I'll go ahead." Unfortunately, while she was doing that, the call dropped.

By the time I could get through again the next day, I got a different agent who was very much the opposite of the above. Once he saw I was on a 3-stop mRTW he said, "Oh I won't be able to change anything on this one... We aren't allowed to book these kinds of things anymore." Multiple times 'explained' basic mRTW rules to me... Tried to feed him the segments and he refused saying "If it doesn't show up when you look up the destination-origin on our website, then I can't book it. We can't book segments." After some back and forth, I finally convinced him to just connect me to a supervisor. Was on hold for a bit then got a hold of a supervisor. Supervisor initially repeated what the agent said. However, once I explained that the only thing showing up on the website was phantom availability, the supervisor said "Oh that's weird. I'll have to report that. Okay, I can book this by segment for you as a one-time exception." In the end, was able to book what I wanted. They held the seats and confirmed the bookings, called me back a few hours later to confirm the pricing (same story as previous DPs: they have to call into ticketing, etc.)

My takeaways from this:
1. Yes, agents are still able to book segment-by-segment, but some agents either: a) don't know how to, or b) have been told/taught not to do so.
2. Supervisors can also book segment-by-segment but seem reluctant to do so, potentially due to additional workload. He explained multiple times that "I have to search on one computer and then try and book on another."

Hope this helps...

don_drapper

Interesting DP lemmeTAN . Eitherway, I will have to call and see how many HUCA I'll have to do.

CanadianMike

Read it all. Appreciate the info!
Sounds like persistence paid off...

Post up after and let us know how it goes!

don_drapper

You have no idea how much I am dreading the task. I love the point earning / finding flights part, but booking them, oh boy.

First time around, it took 1 hour to get everything sorted in August, including wait time. If I am spending 2 hour waiting, then another on the phone getting it done, I better find something to occupy me in the meantime!

I know it is part of the game and roadblocks are there to stop "everyone" from doing it, but my god sometimes they really push the definition of "challenging"...

xanderz

Yep I know! since I already expecting this; my last call took around 1.5 hr until the agent actually picked it up,
I was making a call on my laptop and just doing house chores in the meantime LOL! I even get to play switch while waiting haha..

And just be polite & kinda keep expectation low at this time around I guess..
From my 3 attempts to book mRTW post-migration, it does seems like all the agent I've spoken too had really little to no knowledge regarding the new system.

Cheers & let us know!