don_drapper

So, I think their holding system is broken or something.

My first call at 7:01 got on hold for 2h15, then got the automated “curtesy hungup”. I don’t know if it is because I am picking the change flight reservation option, or that I am calling in French, but I am really not enjoying it.

Calling one more time in English and hoping to get someone relatively quick as I need to head to work, otherwise I’ll have to try at 9PM and hope more of my flights didn’t disappear.

Also the message about “you can change your reward online without waiting!” makes me wonder if they even tried their own website right now. Ugh.

Really, any sort of suggestion is welcome at this point.

Smiley90

Does upgrading a non-AC segment from Y to J incur a change fee if it's the exact same flight?

Pseudo Nim

If the rest of the ticket is already in J (ie you paid the J miles) then no. If this will cause a reprice, then yes. (this isn’t related to whether it’s AC or not).

don_drapper

I never thought I'd be this happy to hear this song, but I FINALLY HAVE AN AGENT ON THE LINE. After close to probably 10 hours on hold over two days. Agent put me on hold, but now I am finally hearing Opus No 1 instead of the dreadful loop.

Agent seems to know what he is doing, so hopefully we hit no real snag as I know everything is "available"... I'll update when we are done, and hopefully have a positive DP.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE A BOOKING. Almost.

Ticketing was already closed, so it will be validated and taxed tomorrow. Agent couldn't say if it seemed valid from his end (I know it is), and will call back tomorrow evening. Only one flight was not available as planned, though it was not one with too many consequences. Depending on final calculations, it seems like it will be a 15-16 CPP redemption. Once it is finalized I'll share more details, but I had no difficulty in feeding point to point to the agent.

noobynoob

Was this a new booking, or a change to an existing booking? So far, the only success I have read for mrtw seems to be modifying an existing booking. From your posts it sounds like you are modifying an existing booking which I understood is still possible.

Haven't seen or read any account of someone successfully booking a brand new mrtw trip since the amadeus switchover.

don_drapper

Yes it was an existing booking. It was essentially one booked under previous rules in August, but swapped to J, and moved beyond Europe. DP about existing bookings have also been a bit mixed with some people not getting a CSR who lets them feed the segments, though it can also be attributed to HUCA. Still waiting for a full post Amadeus booking by someone but still havent seen anything too.

canadiancow

I have. But I book something simple online for free and then call to change for free because that avoids a $30 phone booking fee.

So it was technically "a change to an existing booking", but not in a way that's relevant to your question. Mine was initially booked Dec 24, and changed on Dec 24 to a routing not available through the website.

noobynoob

So did it become a mrtw trip when you requested to change where you were able to feed segments to the agent?

canadiancow

It was initially booked as North America to South America to Africa to North America, with a European connection, so given the "one stopover" rule I'm not sure how this ever would have been anything other than a mini rtw. But I was able to use the phone to secure better flights that didn't show up online.

noobynoob

I am glad you were able to change it to something you wanted. I suppose the aeroplan agents (at least some of them) are able to see the saver availability of partner airlines. Think in prior posts some people mentioned that the agent could not see the availability.

Did you build in any <24 hr layovers intentionally? Might try this way although $100 change fee per direction seems steep for those of us who don't have the free change fee benefit.

canadiancow

All of my connections were under 24 hours. By definition...

don_drapper

For myself I did that actually, so I can do more destinations. Depending how you define a good redemption, either by the monetary value or your ability to go where you want, the fee is actually not bad. For me, it was worth it as it really allowed me to expand my trip and find some connections that wouldn't have worked otherwise.

don_drapper

Care to elaborate on this? Not sure I follow.

noobynoob

I get that, but as in, did you intentionally feed some segments so as to allow you to visit certain cities that may require detours (obviously within mpm since it was booked)

noobynoob

That's good to hear.