GJS - yow

My family of five flew on CA the week before last, and had no (few?) issues. I confirmed the booking and the seats with CA a couple of times - shortly after ticketing, and then a month before departure. Despite all the warnings here, the tickets had actually issued and were valid.

When I went to do the online check-in, I got a message that "no valid booking could be found" or something similar. I headed to the airport early, but there was no problem at the airport. No idea why the online check-in failed.

In the Air China thread, I noted that the AP agent told me the secret to booking on CA was to perform a "direct" booking, whatever that means.

RealHJ

Probably means long-sell. Requesting CA to manually confirm availability, when it comes back as HK (hold confirmed), then ticket it manually and not through whatever automated systems AP is using (though that could also be a problem...I had an CA ticket with UA that online just wouldn't ticket, had a phone agent manually force it through, only for it to be invalid and not properly done and canceled by CA later...so really CA awards are risky).

darkchild

Thanks everyone for your comments.

I finally have had this sorted out. After the 1st supervisor told me my options were: 1. full refund; 2. they get me to Beijing then I am on my own.

I called back and quickly got escalated to another supervisor. Again she asked how did I ever manage to book Air China segments in the first place because they were instructed not to. Despite being super frustrated by the situation, she managed to book revenue tickets for the exact same domestic flights on Air China.

And I just called Air China to confirm these seats.

A few points:
1. Yes, supervisor is just another agent with more authority/ability to do "things"
2. Be polite and persistent
3. Don't think whatever they tell you is really the best they can do
4. Don't accept anything on the spot and call back even if you have to go through the long wait again

I feel like it's the same for all call centres. They are just trying to get you off the call as fast as possible. Sure you can add notes to your file, but next time you call in it's going to be with a different agent.

Because I was feeling empowered, I tried to stretch my luck more and asked to be move to a later domestic flight because they now give me AC32 to replace the CA PEK-YUL and YUL-YYZ. I did not want to spend that long at the lounge. And she was very firm: you ask us to honor this ticket, so we are honoring the ticket by not changing it.

canadiancow

If AC 32 arrived later in YYZ than your original flight (I'm assuming it does not), I think you would have had a stronger argument, but I'm glad things worked out for you.

whatchamackallit03

Is this only with CA?
I booked a reward ticket this Fall for OZ, NH, BR, SQ and TG.
After reading this thread, it makes me worried with this award booking.

24left

The CA problem is a bit different. There is a thread on the LH site with posters complaining about them and similar issues.

I had originally posted my recent adventure with a SQ segment on a multi-part Aeroplan booking, where SQ claimed there was not ticket, despite me having it.

I will PM the details, just in case you find some helpful.

whatchamackallit03

Thanks, dude!

whatchamackallit03

So, I was worried about my mini RTW coming up. I called ANA..

History: I did my reward booking with Aeroplan.. mind you, I got timed out couple of times. Aeroplan really needs to invest with their programming and IT.
OZ-BR-SQ-TG-NH-UA in F and J.. And end product was a reservation code with ANA.

They were able to give me the e-ticket number starting in 014.. it says all flights are okay.

Called Air Canada and we used that e-tickets as locators and they were able to issue me flight itinerary with e-ticket numbers attached to it.

Is there anything else I should do to cover my bases?
Or this should be enough.

I got the AC Agent send it to me on my email.
Thanks everyone in advance!

zoobtoob

Call each airline that you have a flight on.
Give them your AC ticket number 014...
Ask them to look up your reservation code.
Ask the reso agent if everything looks alright to them.

Transpacificflyer

Yes, Aeroplan needs to reconsider its relationship with Air China, as does Star Alliance. More importantly, Air Canada needs to distance itself from the airline. However, the powers that be are convinced that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Like suckers who join the ponzi schemes, they all think they are smart enough to get out with easy money. It will not happen and will instead leave a legacy of costs and of brand damage.

The issues/problems detailed on this thread detail how Air China operates, and no matter how much wants to make excuses and offer political correctness, it doesn't change the fact that this is the reality. It is a quasi military controlled profit center that generates profits and perks for its controlling special interest group. The best interests of customers, and undertakings with other parties who are not part of the Chinese network get short shrift.

Aeroplan is right: At this time do not select Air China rewards. If something goes wrong, you will not be treated in the same manner as you would on United or Swiss or Air Canada. Aeroplan needs to remove any and all Air China options until the (intentional) deficiencies and failure to honour agreements are resolved. If Aeroplan continues to offer the options then it has a responsibility as an agent who intentionally sells a defective product, knowing that the product is defective, The error and omission is compounded by the fact that Aeroplan does not warn potential purchasers of the Air China option deficiencies.

The problems associated with Air China are not a secret to FT readers. I still see some comments on various threads from people who will say, well, "I flew Air China and it went well". Good for them. Some people win at the slot machines too. Unfortunately, most people playing the slots lose. The general public is unaware of the issues of Air China and Aeroplan, and the typical Aeroplan customer will not know and most likely not care. This however, does not relieve Aeroplan of its duty to warn clients of the hazards of transacting with Air China.

The simplest advice? Avoid Air China and do not use Air China until it operates in an appropriate manner.

24left

A few of us have posted in multiple Aeroplan ticket problem threads, what to do once you are actually able to GET your ticket.

I PM'd whatchamackallit03 with essentially, the step-by-step list or Must-Do list.

I had mentioned to a few FTers that it would be great to have ONE SINGLE centralized Aeroplan thread with a wiki. I didn't care if it was titles "How to Book Tickets with Aeroplan and Not Lose Your Mind" or "Aeroplan Tickets and Partner Flying 101"

While I was pretty lucky to go relatively unscathed for the last few years by Aeroplan ticketing issues, all of my prep and organizational skills were not able to prevent the recent experience I had with Aeroplan changing a ticket number for a single segment of a 3-partner ticket.

I didn't care that they did it. It has happened before but I had quite a few days to reconfirm that the partner airlines has the same info.

It was not the case this time - as I have repeatedly posted, despite some not reading what I wrote.

Nonetheless, I was very lucky thanks to a LH person in FRA. It was the middle of the night in Aeroplan's time zone, so calling them was not even an option (which is a whole other idiocy).

----

So, I am interested in a single Aeroplan thread that can be a resource for FTers, FFers and anyone else who stops by.

There are more than a half-dozen individual Aeroplan problem threads and there are some useful bits of info in each that should be collected in one thread.

I.M.H.O.

jerryhung

Called Air China (LONG wait)
but did confirm my PNR is good/ticketed (booked Sept 2015 for next week TPE-PEK)

RealHJ

The fix to be done is on the Aeroplan side though, so AP is in the wrong here just as much as CA. United had the same problem. They took the time to fix it and take care of it and are now ticketing CA awards properly, properly creating the CA PNR, etc. and it is no problem at all to fly UA awards on CA, as of earlier this year. Aeroplan is just incompetent and/or purposefully keeps refusing to do whatever updates it needs to make to its systems/processes to be able to ticket CA awards correctly. (LH/Miles & More and Avianca/Lifemiles also currently have taken the same stance as Aeroplan: block CA awards and do nothing to fix their end problem. Shameful..)

Transpacificflyer

I do not disagree with you. Aeroplan's behaviour is rather poor. There is more than a "fix" to be done. The issue with Air China has been long standing. Unresolved after 12 months+. it is now the status quo with Aeroplan. Aeroplan should cease and desist from offering the awards with Air China until such time as the issue is resolved.

In fairness to Aeroplan, it has no way to influence Air China. Aeroplan is a nobody.Air Canada isn't helping is it? The airline can't even get its proposed JV sorted out with Air China. Mileage Plus can count on the support of United Airlines. United can and will play hardball with the Chinese. The only reason Air China is in *A is because it needed a "Chinese" representative. The quality airlines of China Southern, Cathay and even Hainan were unavailable. I find it rather telling that I have no issues obtaining a reward ticket with mainland Chinese carriers through my SkyMiles-SkyTeam membership.

The takeaway message is to avoid Air China. I last flew the airline a few months ago and saw what a bucket shop operation it is. Never again, no matter how cheap.

RealHJ

No problem to book SkyTeam tickets on MU, FM, CZ and MF, that is true. But, there's a reason why it's so easy.

It's not any better on China Eastern (MU). Every single MU flight to and from HNL, at least, the pilots and crew are always smoking, literally just 2-3 minutes after takeoff, while the plane is still flying over Waikiki, and likewise just before landing, and intermittently throughout. If you are sitting at the front, you'd better get used to the cigarette smoke odor throughout the flight (ugh). Some MU flights have been even worse: full of blue smoke throughout the flight, due to a chain-smoking crew (such as SHA-HKG flight once, I recall; I was in the middle part of the A330 and the blue smoke got all the way to back there).

At least on CA you get proper lie-flats guaranteed on its A330s: product consistency and predictability. With MU there's three configs of A330s, and while 33E and 33H both have a very high quality hard product (among the best of any airline) true lie flats (far superior to Delta, Air France, etc.), the 332 has ancient steeply angled lie flats, and the aircraft are frequently subbed in and out, so you never really know what product you are going to get. You can see the aircraft changing from one type to another in the months before your reservation, having to reselect your seats as a result.

And China Southern (CZ), well, just hope that you do not suffer from any irrops. You'll be left before immigration/transit stuck in no man's land (I'll spare the long story here on that, on how useless CZ is in irrops).

(I think that MF (XiamenAir) is the only real quality Chinese carrier in SkyTeam. At least their long-haul product looks really good.)