Issues with SDC and MCS upgrade (VX flights on AS stock)
Dec 3, 2017, 3:30 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: SFO
Programs: AS 75K; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Hilton Gold
Posts: 52
Issues with SDC and MCS upgrade (VX flights on AS stock)
**Mods, Feel free to move if you think this is better placed in the MCS upgrade thread (or elsewhere).**
Had a frustrating experience with SDC and MCS upgrade the other day and wanted to share and see if others have experienced something similar or have a take on how various things should have been handled.
My partner (AS MVP) was flying SFO-LAX-MCO on VX (and back MCO-SFO on VX), booked through AS. First leg was at 8AM. I wanted to SDC her to the direct SFO-MCO flight, which also departed at 8AM. I was hoping this would fall under VX SDC policy because even though it is $50 instead of $25, it does not require the same routing like AS.
At midnight I called VX but was auto transferred to an AS agent. The AS agent transferred me to VX since they were VX flights. The VX agent said it would need to be done through AS because it is on AS ticket stock. I asked if he was sure because I had just been transferred over. He checked with his supervisor and confirmed he could not do it and transferred me back to AS. The AS agent was able to do the SDC. It only cost $25 and there was no mention of the different routing. All said, this took 20 minutes but I was happy because I got an outcome a little better than expected, or so I thought...
After hanging up, I went to check-in and noticed two things. First, her flight now had 3 segments: SFO-LAX-MCO; SFO-MCO; MCO-SFO. Second, while both segments of the original flight had been upgraded to MCS, the new flight was still MC even though there were a few available MCS seats on the flight at the time.
I called AS back and eventually they resolved the first issue and they had me check-in while on the call to make sure it was resolved.
For the second issue, the AS agent said I would need to speak with a VX agent and I was transferred. The VX agent said a comp upgrade to MCS had been requested but it would not confirm at this time. The agent offered a paid upgrade to MCS instead. I said that I thought if there were any available seats in MCS, that as an MVP the ticketholder should be able to select it. I also inquired as to whether perhaps they needed to check-out the ticket in order for the upgrade to correctly process. On both points I was denied, so I just decided to thank them, hang up and call again. The next agent I spoke with basically repeated the same thing. Does anybody know who was correct here? I probably should have asked before doing the SDC if my MCS would remain, but I figured there would not be an issue since there were still MCS seats on the new flight. In any case, it would have been nice if the agent had alerted me of the potential of losing these MCS seats.
At this point it was after 1:00 AM, so I decided to send a quick tweet to VX asking if they could help and then I went to get some sleep.
I woke up at 4:00 (having bad dreams about this ticket, lol) so decided to give it another try. I had received a response to my tweet from VX saying they were trying to reach the VX agents but hadn't been successful yet (?!?!?). I called and a VX agent again told me they could not get my companion cleared for an MCS upgrade but offered a paid upgrade. I again asked if perhaps they needed to check the ticket out first, but was declined. I was a little more firm this time about my belief that since there were available MCS seats, I thought the ticketholder was entitled to one for free. The agent said perhaps AS could help since it was on AS stock and transferred me to AS. This time the AS agent actually seemed to take an interest in the issue and put me on hold for awhile while we she directly conferred with VX. When she came back, the ticket had been upgraded to MCS. She told me I would need to go back online and re-check-in (which led me to believe perhaps I had been right all along...). Great!
I hung up and went to check-in. Kept getting an error and could not select a seat (even outside of check-in process). At this point there was only one MCS seat left (and the rest of the flight other than F was sold out) and so I did not want there to be a potential issue when my partner got to the airport. I called back yet again. At first the VX agent said the seat would just need to be assigned at the airport but when I told him usually if that is the case one can still check-in without a seat assignment, he took a closer look and realized something was wrong. I was then on hold for quite awhile (over 30 minutes) while he got this sorted out. I asked him what the issue was, but he couldn't really elaborate (other than something about booking codes). Eventually he got it sorted and I was able to check my partner in. Oh, and while he was working on it, I received a credit certificate for about $30 from AS. I have no idea why this was; he did not mention it and I did not see it in my email until after we hung up...
In any case, by about 5:30 AM everything was resolved and I was able to get back in bed for 20 minutes before having to get up to take my partner to the airport. Quite a frustrating experience!
Had a frustrating experience with SDC and MCS upgrade the other day and wanted to share and see if others have experienced something similar or have a take on how various things should have been handled.
My partner (AS MVP) was flying SFO-LAX-MCO on VX (and back MCO-SFO on VX), booked through AS. First leg was at 8AM. I wanted to SDC her to the direct SFO-MCO flight, which also departed at 8AM. I was hoping this would fall under VX SDC policy because even though it is $50 instead of $25, it does not require the same routing like AS.
At midnight I called VX but was auto transferred to an AS agent. The AS agent transferred me to VX since they were VX flights. The VX agent said it would need to be done through AS because it is on AS ticket stock. I asked if he was sure because I had just been transferred over. He checked with his supervisor and confirmed he could not do it and transferred me back to AS. The AS agent was able to do the SDC. It only cost $25 and there was no mention of the different routing. All said, this took 20 minutes but I was happy because I got an outcome a little better than expected, or so I thought...
After hanging up, I went to check-in and noticed two things. First, her flight now had 3 segments: SFO-LAX-MCO; SFO-MCO; MCO-SFO. Second, while both segments of the original flight had been upgraded to MCS, the new flight was still MC even though there were a few available MCS seats on the flight at the time.
I called AS back and eventually they resolved the first issue and they had me check-in while on the call to make sure it was resolved.
For the second issue, the AS agent said I would need to speak with a VX agent and I was transferred. The VX agent said a comp upgrade to MCS had been requested but it would not confirm at this time. The agent offered a paid upgrade to MCS instead. I said that I thought if there were any available seats in MCS, that as an MVP the ticketholder should be able to select it. I also inquired as to whether perhaps they needed to check-out the ticket in order for the upgrade to correctly process. On both points I was denied, so I just decided to thank them, hang up and call again. The next agent I spoke with basically repeated the same thing. Does anybody know who was correct here? I probably should have asked before doing the SDC if my MCS would remain, but I figured there would not be an issue since there were still MCS seats on the new flight. In any case, it would have been nice if the agent had alerted me of the potential of losing these MCS seats.
At this point it was after 1:00 AM, so I decided to send a quick tweet to VX asking if they could help and then I went to get some sleep.
I woke up at 4:00 (having bad dreams about this ticket, lol) so decided to give it another try. I had received a response to my tweet from VX saying they were trying to reach the VX agents but hadn't been successful yet (?!?!?). I called and a VX agent again told me they could not get my companion cleared for an MCS upgrade but offered a paid upgrade. I again asked if perhaps they needed to check the ticket out first, but was declined. I was a little more firm this time about my belief that since there were available MCS seats, I thought the ticketholder was entitled to one for free. The agent said perhaps AS could help since it was on AS stock and transferred me to AS. This time the AS agent actually seemed to take an interest in the issue and put me on hold for awhile while we she directly conferred with VX. When she came back, the ticket had been upgraded to MCS. She told me I would need to go back online and re-check-in (which led me to believe perhaps I had been right all along...). Great!
I hung up and went to check-in. Kept getting an error and could not select a seat (even outside of check-in process). At this point there was only one MCS seat left (and the rest of the flight other than F was sold out) and so I did not want there to be a potential issue when my partner got to the airport. I called back yet again. At first the VX agent said the seat would just need to be assigned at the airport but when I told him usually if that is the case one can still check-in without a seat assignment, he took a closer look and realized something was wrong. I was then on hold for quite awhile (over 30 minutes) while he got this sorted out. I asked him what the issue was, but he couldn't really elaborate (other than something about booking codes). Eventually he got it sorted and I was able to check my partner in. Oh, and while he was working on it, I received a credit certificate for about $30 from AS. I have no idea why this was; he did not mention it and I did not see it in my email until after we hung up...
In any case, by about 5:30 AM everything was resolved and I was able to get back in bed for 20 minutes before having to get up to take my partner to the airport. Quite a frustrating experience!
Dec 3, 2017, 8:09 pm
#2
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: FAI
Programs: AS MVP Gold100K, AS 1MM, Maika`i Card, AGR, HH Gold, Hertz PC, Marriott Titanium LTG, CO, 7H, BA, 8E
Posts: 42,957
Sounds like you were able to work some magic there.
Granted, my experience with VX is limited, however:
a) since the ticket was issued by AS, AS rules would apply [Could be wrong] as far as SDC etc [including routing restrictions]
b) MCS isn't always forced thru. I'm not sure what 'class' it clears into, but is a sub-bucket of the overall MCS fare class. When I flew JFK-LAS, my MCS did not clear until T-35 or so (got the last two seats, including one middle).
c) Sometimes persistence can pay off. Congrats on securing what you wanted.
d) It sounds like there was a fare recalcuation that yielded a fare refund. Did AS give you a code with a pin?
Granted, my experience with VX is limited, however:
a) since the ticket was issued by AS, AS rules would apply [Could be wrong] as far as SDC etc [including routing restrictions]
b) MCS isn't always forced thru. I'm not sure what 'class' it clears into, but is a sub-bucket of the overall MCS fare class. When I flew JFK-LAS, my MCS did not clear until T-35 or so (got the last two seats, including one middle).
c) Sometimes persistence can pay off. Congrats on securing what you wanted.
d) It sounds like there was a fare recalcuation that yielded a fare refund. Did AS give you a code with a pin?
Dec 4, 2017, 5:42 pm
#3
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kirkland, WA
Programs: AS 75K,UA Gold 1.6MM, Hilton Dia, Marriott LT Plat, Hyatt Glb, Natl Exec, Hertz 5*
Posts: 3,657
There are wacky things going on with the reservation system when on AS ticket stock and upgrading to MCS. It seems to create another copy of the segment in VX's system (with an MCS booking code) and then should delete the AS segment (which is duplicated in VXs system which is why it needs to get deleted). However, this doesn't always happen properly and you may get duplicate segments when you check on VX website. Then you can't check in.
Dec 4, 2017, 7:14 pm
#4
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: FAI
Programs: AS MVP Gold100K, AS 1MM, Maika`i Card, AGR, HH Gold, Hertz PC, Marriott Titanium LTG, CO, 7H, BA, 8E
Posts: 42,957
There are wacky things going on with the reservation system when on AS ticket stock and upgrading to MCS. It seems to create another copy of the segment in VX's system (with an MCS booking code) and then should delete the AS segment (which is duplicated in VXs system which is why it needs to get deleted). However, this doesn't always happen properly and you may get duplicate segments when you check on VX website. Then you can't check in.
Dec 5, 2017, 9:31 am
#5
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Seattle WA
Programs: AS 100K, Marriott LT Platinum
Posts: 1,828
There are wacky things going on with the reservation system when on AS ticket stock and upgrading to MCS. It seems to create another copy of the segment in VX's system (with an MCS booking code) and then should delete the AS segment (which is duplicated in VXs system which is why it needs to get deleted). However, this doesn't always happen properly and you may get duplicate segments when you check on VX website. Then you can't check in.
I'm not as forgiving as some here with the "it'll all be fixed in a few months, so who cares if it's a hot mess now" line... But the admitted good news is that in a few months we will be able to upgrade into VX F...