AC itinerary doesn't match ticket
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: YYC
Posts: 23,803
I currently have two tickets issued involving transatlantic legs with AC, and a few legs on Star airlines within Europe.
For the first one, aircanada.com misses one leg in Europe that was upgraded using SA upgrade (reminder was all in P). That corresponding airline shows the entire itinerary up to there, but misses the return on AC. Lufthansa shows precisely the same. Another web site that shows tickets based upon ticket number shows the complete itinerary with the upgraded leg still in Y, reminder in P.
Second itinerary, all in P, AC shows on each leg header "business class" but below, "Economy P." LH shows P as business and let me pick business class seats. Shows all legs.
#17
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 64
OK, I'll bite.
I currently have two tickets issued involving transatlantic legs with AC, and a few legs on Star airlines within Europe.
For the first one, aircanada.com misses one leg in Europe that was upgraded using SA upgrade (reminder was all in P). That corresponding airline shows the entire itinerary up to there, but misses the return on AC. Lufthansa shows precisely the same. Another web site that shows tickets based upon ticket number shows the complete itinerary with the upgraded leg still in Y, reminder in P.
Second itinerary, all in P, AC shows on each leg header "business class" but below, "Economy P." LH shows P as business and let me pick business class seats. Shows all legs.
I currently have two tickets issued involving transatlantic legs with AC, and a few legs on Star airlines within Europe.
For the first one, aircanada.com misses one leg in Europe that was upgraded using SA upgrade (reminder was all in P). That corresponding airline shows the entire itinerary up to there, but misses the return on AC. Lufthansa shows precisely the same. Another web site that shows tickets based upon ticket number shows the complete itinerary with the upgraded leg still in Y, reminder in P.
Second itinerary, all in P, AC shows on each leg header "business class" but below, "Economy P." LH shows P as business and let me pick business class seats. Shows all legs.
The leg you upgraded with SA got upgraded on the local SA PNR, which didn't communicate back to AC. I can only assume that SA wasn't the ticket issuer, so the ticket hasn't been reissued with the upgraded segment either on a 083 (because airlines don't reissue tickets they haven't issued, except in IRROPs), so when you pull up the ticket number it shows the ticket as it was last issued. Since the airline's PNR overrides anything on the ticket, they'll put you in J at the time of boarding because this is the space that this PNR holds for you. The fact that LH would see it also doesn't really surprise me because they use a different reservation system that AC's, and bookings on the same system do communicate with each other, so they both got updated.
Does that make sense? without seeing the whole things it's hard to say.
For the second one, I think the AC header is to distinguish your P class from actual J (business low vs business flex).
#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: YYC
Posts: 23,803
#19
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
Programs: UA 1P 1MM, IHG Plat, HH Silver, DB BahnComfort
Posts: 332
A major "Thank You" to everyone for giving me such detailed information. It is true, I am a total amateur concerning the reservations and ticketing process. I must admit, the complexity is daunting!
Please excuse me for not getting back here sooner: I have been out of WLAN range for quite awhile.
To answer the initial question from dread_specter, I booked the entire itinerary with United Mileage Plus, and made the changes with United Mileage Plus. No one else has (to my knowledge) made any changes in the itinerary.
The initial itinerary, booked by phone with United MP, had me flying STR-DUB-YYZ on EI and YYZ-YVR on AC, all that on Aug. 19, and finally on Aug. 30 YVR to LAX on AC. When I changed my plans, I changed the departure date to Aug. 16, changed the destination from YVR to YYC, and changed the carrier to STR-ZRH-LHR on LX, followed by LHR-YYC on AC, then on Aug. 30 YYC-LAX.
Upon arrival in Calgary, I went to the AC ticketing desk, where the agent looked up my reservation, saw the offending segment, said that it was an "info only" segment and would cause no problem in the reservation, and sent me on my way.
Now that I have access to the Internet again, I have read all of your replies. I must admit, I had no idea that the interchange between the various reservation systems was so complex. I can well imagine that an inexperienced UA agent did not make the changes in the exactly correct way.
Having been told by AC 3 times "not to worry", I didn't, until just now, when I read all the replies. So, my first action was to look at the AC web site. Unfortunately, it no longer finds my AC PNR. This is not good news. I guess the best I can do now is to call AC and ask what the status is.
Just a note to Often1: I did already see a UA reservations agent, and also spoke with a UA ticketing agent back on Aug. 16th. They cannot delete the EI segment because it has already been deleted. It no longer shows up at all in their PNR. They also cannot access the AC system directly. So calling them again won't yet help. If I call AC and they say that my YYC-LAX segment has been cancelled, then I will need to call UA and ask them to "do something!". I believe that, even with an award ticket, they have a responsibility to get me to my destination.
I'll update this when I know more. Thanks again to everybody!
Please excuse me for not getting back here sooner: I have been out of WLAN range for quite awhile.
To answer the initial question from dread_specter, I booked the entire itinerary with United Mileage Plus, and made the changes with United Mileage Plus. No one else has (to my knowledge) made any changes in the itinerary.
The initial itinerary, booked by phone with United MP, had me flying STR-DUB-YYZ on EI and YYZ-YVR on AC, all that on Aug. 19, and finally on Aug. 30 YVR to LAX on AC. When I changed my plans, I changed the departure date to Aug. 16, changed the destination from YVR to YYC, and changed the carrier to STR-ZRH-LHR on LX, followed by LHR-YYC on AC, then on Aug. 30 YYC-LAX.
Upon arrival in Calgary, I went to the AC ticketing desk, where the agent looked up my reservation, saw the offending segment, said that it was an "info only" segment and would cause no problem in the reservation, and sent me on my way.
Now that I have access to the Internet again, I have read all of your replies. I must admit, I had no idea that the interchange between the various reservation systems was so complex. I can well imagine that an inexperienced UA agent did not make the changes in the exactly correct way.
Having been told by AC 3 times "not to worry", I didn't, until just now, when I read all the replies. So, my first action was to look at the AC web site. Unfortunately, it no longer finds my AC PNR. This is not good news. I guess the best I can do now is to call AC and ask what the status is.
Just a note to Often1: I did already see a UA reservations agent, and also spoke with a UA ticketing agent back on Aug. 16th. They cannot delete the EI segment because it has already been deleted. It no longer shows up at all in their PNR. They also cannot access the AC system directly. So calling them again won't yet help. If I call AC and they say that my YYC-LAX segment has been cancelled, then I will need to call UA and ask them to "do something!". I believe that, even with an award ticket, they have a responsibility to get me to my destination.
I'll update this when I know more. Thanks again to everybody!
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
Programs: UA 1P 1MM, IHG Plat, HH Silver, DB BahnComfort
Posts: 332
Everything worked out OK in the end...
Thanks again to everyone for all your help.
I did call AC once more, 3 days before the planned flight. The agent was unable to find the PNR, but was able to find the itinerary with the E-Ticket number. She again said that I shouldn't worry, because the ticket governs everything. Although I didn't feel great about this, I decided to wait.
When I arrived at the airport, I went to the check-in counter and presented my E-Ticket receipt (didn't say a word about the PNR issue). They found my reservation and I walked away with BPs.
I am unable to explain what happened. However, perhaps I was too worried about a small glitch. Still, I generally prefer to be proactive, rather that to wait until things go wrong. Perhaps it was unnecessary this time...
I did call AC once more, 3 days before the planned flight. The agent was unable to find the PNR, but was able to find the itinerary with the E-Ticket number. She again said that I shouldn't worry, because the ticket governs everything. Although I didn't feel great about this, I decided to wait.
When I arrived at the airport, I went to the check-in counter and presented my E-Ticket receipt (didn't say a word about the PNR issue). They found my reservation and I walked away with BPs.
I am unable to explain what happened. However, perhaps I was too worried about a small glitch. Still, I generally prefer to be proactive, rather that to wait until things go wrong. Perhaps it was unnecessary this time...
#22
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: YWG
Programs: Free Agent
Posts: 1,478
Thanks again to everyone for all your help.
I did call AC once more, 3 days before the planned flight. The agent was unable to find the PNR, but was able to find the itinerary with the E-Ticket number. She again said that I shouldn't worry, because the ticket governs everything. Although I didn't feel great about this, I decided to wait.
I did call AC once more, 3 days before the planned flight. The agent was unable to find the PNR, but was able to find the itinerary with the E-Ticket number. She again said that I shouldn't worry, because the ticket governs everything. Although I didn't feel great about this, I decided to wait.