ArnoldB

Hello,

Suddenly today in the NZ App my booking was gone and when I try to re-add it, an error message comes "Unable to add booking".

So I went to the homepage to check there and now there it says "Your booking cannot be managed online".

What is going on???

nzkarit

Can you still make a new booking on the flight?

My guess:
* Cancellation incoming or schedule change
* Glitch in the matrix and will be fine in the morning.

ArnoldB

So from the Qantas Homepage, where I can still log in, I can see that the first of three flights was cancelled.

NZ7127 CNS-BNE op by Qantas CANCELLED
NZ146 BNE-AKL
NZ902 AKL-PPT

NZ7127 was instead rebooked to NZ7164, which is at 9:10am instead of 6:00am. This leads to the minimum connecting time in BNE undercut (only 55min connecting time instead of minimum 90min) and I guess kind of "destroyed" the booking for NZ.

Qantas seems to have changed the 6:00am flight to one operated by itself to one operated by Alliance Airlines. The flight is now QF1899. Is there any way to see if there is also a NZ codeshare for this? That would be very helpful in order to tell the travel agent what to rebook to (NZ of course refuses to do anything directly). Of course them instead rebooking me to a later flight operated by themselves does not instill a lot of confidence that the Alliance-operated flights also have codeshares...

Currently on the NZ homepage the cancelled flight is still bookable, so looking there does not (yet) help.

nzkarit

IF you are using a travel agent it is fully up to the travel agent handle this. The travel agent is getting a cut of money to handle this, not AirNZ.

It isn't AirNZ refusing to do anything directly, but the ticket belongs to the travel agent at this point not AirNZ (this is standard procedure worldwide). Once that ticket goes to Airport Control (t-24h ish) AirNZ will then talk to directly to you about the booking, but until then the Travel Agent looks after the ticket not AirNZ.

ArnoldB

Ok, but does not really help me much...

sbiddle

You booked through a travel agent which means you have nominated them as your agent for this booking. There is nothing QF or NZ can (or will) do to help you directly - you can only deal through your travel agent who will deal with the airline(s) for you.

I would be asking them what they are going to do for you since it seems the booking doesn't meet the MCT. I would certainly never accept a booking where a MCT is below the minimum as an airline could be well within their rights to simply tell you to go jump in a lake if you didn't make a flight.

ArnoldB

My issue isn't really so much who to talk to, but rather what to do and especcially how to find out if QF op by Alliance Flights have NZ codeshares as well

raznz

what to do - talk to your travel agent lol

PLeblond

Repeating to talk to the TA isn't really helping, me thinks.

If I understand OP correctly, they want to know what options are available before taking to the TA, just like I want options before calling an airline or get to a connections desk. Its best practice to have a preferred solution then rely on those of others.

ArnoldB what date is the departing flight?

MEL-World

The TA should have been informed of the change, proactively either secured a seat on the Alliance flight or informed you about the MCT issue and suggested alternatives for you to consider. Well that's what my TA of 30 years would do. But then again, if you are using an OTA, good luck.

PLeblond

So many helpful people in this thread... wow

ArnoldB

Well from my second post onwards my question was mostly if there is a way to see all codeshares of a particular flight, and/or whether someone knows if NZ/QF codeshare also includes respective partners such as Alliance Airlines in this case. Because if not, then they will not be able to rebook me to the "new" 6am flight on Alliance Airlines and I'd have to rethink the whole booking.

I did already contact the OTA, but they did not seem particularly competent regarding codeshares etc. and their reaction was to just try to rebook me on the cancelled flight again lol. NZ on Facebook took some pity with me I think and responded a bit more substantially, saying that that definitely isn't gonna work as the flight does not exist anymore.

So now I asked the OTA to request a full refund for the whole thing, which hopefully shouldn't be an issue given the cancellation by the airline, and then we're gonna book the CNS-BNE flight separately the night before and then book BNE-AKL-PPT directly with Air NZ. Even costs a bit less total and is more relaxing to get a proper night in a BNE airport hotel rather than getting up at 3:30 for the 6am flight in Cairns.

Generally speaking I usually avoid OTAs, but in this case the CNS-BNE-AKL-PPT route wasn't available directly with them. Which was weird because it is all on one (NZ issued) ticket so they do issue that but not on their own homepage.

PLeblond

Dealing with OTAs, less experienced TAs and Airline call centres, I strongly recommend getting a subscription to Expert Flying and finding all of the options available before calling in. Set up preferred itinerary #1, #2 & #3 etc. and ask them proactively if each option is available.

Before asking for a refund, perhaps there are options connecting in SYD or other cities that could work?

globalwanderer84

It will all be updated eventually - no need to do anything at this juncture until NZ picks up the illegal connection and changes the reservation - you'll either be protected on a new CNSBNE service (codeshare is irrelevant), or the moved to the next day.

Until these changes are reflected by the airline, any change you attempt to make will trigger the associated change fees - yes, even if the connection is illegal.

Chill, it'll be fixed up in due course Once this happens, and if you don't like the outcome, then you can call and request a change to something that is amenable to you.

ArnoldB

It already was updated - on the Qantas homepage. On NZ it is simply gone because there is no alternative connection within the MCT. Not on any other day either.