Unauthorized Cancelation of AS Asian Award Reservation
Jan 9, 2019, 10:35 pm
#61
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 102
Glad it worked out in the end, from my experience it's actually pretty easy to find TPAC business seats on HU on close dates if you are flexible with US arrival city. Opposite to most other airlines HU doesn't release space 6-12 months early.
Jan 10, 2019, 4:24 pm
#62
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: New York, New York
Programs: AA Gold, Alaska MVP; Free Agent Super Duper Diamond Treasure Chest ;)
Posts: 4,682
Since I got to Guangzhou I've been fairly lucky with free suite upgrades at hotels (including a Premier Suite at the Ritz Carlton and the "Chairman Suite" at the FS Marriott, both for rates less than 150 USD/night), I've made some good friends, and I've tried to enjoy my vacation as best I can. This situation caused a lot of stress but I tried to avoid focussing on it, particularly during the weekend when I knew there'd be no news. I got fairly sick (coughing every couple minutes and wheezing like crazy) from the pollution and constant smoking everywhere but managed to come through by surrounding myself with air purifiers when I sleep.
I totally recognize it's a first world problem to be "stranded" at a Ritz Carlton in China, let alone to be stranded because I don't want to be forced to fly economy on a business class ticket. Worse things could happen. If push came to shove I'd just buy an Aeroplan ticket or revenue ticket in economy. It sucks to have someone else forcibly change your vacation plans for you, but travel requires flexibility (both time and $$$).
I fault AS for not having proper safeguards and for not handling this situation appropriately, but at the end of the day, I'm alive, relatively healthy, and I can get into the jacuzzi to decompress. There's not much more I could than I did, especially behind the great firewall where my VPN disconnects between every 3 and 60 minutes.
Ultimately this thread is a warning to others about this issue. Check your award tickets involving any Chinese airports on the days leading up to departure, including before going to the airport. You may not get any email about the cancellation. If this happens to you, you're not the first, and probably not the last; you probably weren't hacked or individually targetted. Don't let AS tell you to hire a lawyer to file a police report in a foreign country. AS will do the bare minimum to fix your ticket, so start immediately looking for rerouting options yourself or they will send you to the wrong city on the wrong day and tell you that's the best they can do. There is no way to escalate above supervisor; corporate contacts did not bother responding.
It sucks, and is totally unacceptable, but isn't so surprising when not a single one of the agents I spoke to could get even close to pronouncing Guangzhou or Shenzhen or Haikou. There's an inherent limitation of an almost exclusively US airline, that does not travel to other continents on their own metal but issues award tickets on a dozen foreign carriers, in their ability to understand issues that aren't happening in the USA. Time for bed...
I totally recognize it's a first world problem to be "stranded" at a Ritz Carlton in China, let alone to be stranded because I don't want to be forced to fly economy on a business class ticket. Worse things could happen. If push came to shove I'd just buy an Aeroplan ticket or revenue ticket in economy. It sucks to have someone else forcibly change your vacation plans for you, but travel requires flexibility (both time and $$$).
I fault AS for not having proper safeguards and for not handling this situation appropriately, but at the end of the day, I'm alive, relatively healthy, and I can get into the jacuzzi to decompress. There's not much more I could than I did, especially behind the great firewall where my VPN disconnects between every 3 and 60 minutes.
Ultimately this thread is a warning to others about this issue. Check your award tickets involving any Chinese airports on the days leading up to departure, including before going to the airport. You may not get any email about the cancellation. If this happens to you, you're not the first, and probably not the last; you probably weren't hacked or individually targetted. Don't let AS tell you to hire a lawyer to file a police report in a foreign country. AS will do the bare minimum to fix your ticket, so start immediately looking for rerouting options yourself or they will send you to the wrong city on the wrong day and tell you that's the best they can do. There is no way to escalate above supervisor; corporate contacts did not bother responding.
It sucks, and is totally unacceptable, but isn't so surprising when not a single one of the agents I spoke to could get even close to pronouncing Guangzhou or Shenzhen or Haikou. There's an inherent limitation of an almost exclusively US airline, that does not travel to other continents on their own metal but issues award tickets on a dozen foreign carriers, in their ability to understand issues that aren't happening in the USA. Time for bed...
Jan 10, 2019, 4:50 pm
#63
Join Date: May 2008
Location: "the world is my country"
Programs: Alaska 100K (aka OWS)
Posts: 811
Just noticed this thread and thought I'd post about our cancelled tickets on Hainan. We had three mileage roundtrips in J and one purchased one - our purchased itinerary received notice of cancelled flight though our mileage ones never did. This happened twice prior to travel (we booked 3 months in advance). Both times, AS partner desk called Hainan and requested that our J award tickets be honored on a scheduled flight (that had no award space). Both times, our requests were put in a "queue" at the Hainan help desk; each time it took 7-10 days to clear the queue and have our award tickets reinstated on a different flight.
Hainan was good at honoring their award space booked on their cancelled flight, it just took time.
We never received notice of the flight cancellations on the award tickets, only on the purchased ticket. YMMV.
Hainan was good at honoring their award space booked on their cancelled flight, it just took time.
We never received notice of the flight cancellations on the award tickets, only on the purchased ticket. YMMV.
Jan 10, 2019, 9:17 pm
#64
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 733
As a status update: I am presently sitting on the tarmac about to depart my new long haul Hainan flight to Seattle. Nobody cancelled my ticket today 
Interestingly, when I checked in there was a pause where the agent helping me printed my BP and gave it to someone sitting at a desk 5 seats away, seemingly finding something amusing or strange. I asked if there was any problem and the agent said no and eventually got the BP back from the other guy once my guy finished with the bags. As it was taking a while I mentioned that my ticket had been cancelled mysteriously and changed and now reissued and the agent smirked like it wasn't a strange thing and didn't say anything. I'm guessing I'm not the first he heard of that.
A consequence of getting the ticket reissued 48 hours within departure was SSSS. I can't complain though, since Shanghai's response to SSSS is at the boarding gate to walk over to 3 security officers who didn't know what to do (they didn't seem to know people were getting referred over to them), so they just waved a metal detector over me for 4 seconds and said ok bye. Can't really complain, but will soon see if US CBP also SSSS me due to last minute booking and Hainan's inability to add KTN at checkin counter (I didn't dare fiddle with it on AS website !)
Interestingly, when I checked in there was a pause where the agent helping me printed my BP and gave it to someone sitting at a desk 5 seats away, seemingly finding something amusing or strange. I asked if there was any problem and the agent said no and eventually got the BP back from the other guy once my guy finished with the bags. As it was taking a while I mentioned that my ticket had been cancelled mysteriously and changed and now reissued and the agent smirked like it wasn't a strange thing and didn't say anything. I'm guessing I'm not the first he heard of that.
A consequence of getting the ticket reissued 48 hours within departure was SSSS. I can't complain though, since Shanghai's response to SSSS is at the boarding gate to walk over to 3 security officers who didn't know what to do (they didn't seem to know people were getting referred over to them), so they just waved a metal detector over me for 4 seconds and said ok bye. Can't really complain, but will soon see if US CBP also SSSS me due to last minute booking and Hainan's inability to add KTN at checkin counter (I didn't dare fiddle with it on AS website !)
Jan 11, 2019, 3:34 am
#65
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 102
As a status update: I am presently sitting on the tarmac about to depart my new long haul Hainan flight to Seattle. Nobody cancelled my ticket today
Interestingly, when I checked in there was a pause where the agent helping me printed my BP and gave it to someone sitting at a desk 5 seats away, seemingly finding something amusing or strange. I asked if there was any problem and the agent said no and eventually got the BP back from the other guy once my guy finished with the bags. As it was taking a while I mentioned that my ticket had been cancelled mysteriously and changed and now reissued and the agent smirked like it wasn't a strange thing and didn't say anything. I'm guessing I'm not the first he heard of that.
A consequence of getting the ticket reissued 48 hours within departure was SSSS. I can't complain though, since Shanghai's response to SSSS is at the boarding gate to walk over to 3 security officers who didn't know what to do (they didn't seem to know people were getting referred over to them), so they just waved a metal detector over me for 4 seconds and said ok bye. Can't really complain, but will soon see if US CBP also SSSS me due to last minute booking and Hainan's inability to add KTN at checkin counter (I didn't dare fiddle with it on AS website !)
Interestingly, when I checked in there was a pause where the agent helping me printed my BP and gave it to someone sitting at a desk 5 seats away, seemingly finding something amusing or strange. I asked if there was any problem and the agent said no and eventually got the BP back from the other guy once my guy finished with the bags. As it was taking a while I mentioned that my ticket had been cancelled mysteriously and changed and now reissued and the agent smirked like it wasn't a strange thing and didn't say anything. I'm guessing I'm not the first he heard of that.
A consequence of getting the ticket reissued 48 hours within departure was SSSS. I can't complain though, since Shanghai's response to SSSS is at the boarding gate to walk over to 3 security officers who didn't know what to do (they didn't seem to know people were getting referred over to them), so they just waved a metal detector over me for 4 seconds and said ok bye. Can't really complain, but will soon see if US CBP also SSSS me due to last minute booking and Hainan's inability to add KTN at checkin counter (I didn't dare fiddle with it on AS website !)
Jan 11, 2019, 7:06 pm
#67
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
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Jan 11, 2019, 8:18 pm
#68
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
In my case, I was flying from British Columbia to Nevada for a family medical emergency and had purchased a one-way ticket on a flight that was already open for OLCI. I have a KTN, Nexus, Global Entry, TSA Pre and an enhanced Drivers License.
Once booked I was unable to check-in and hence no boarding pass. App advised to see an agent. At the airport the agent printed my boarding pass and then highlighted the SSSS in pink. When I proceeded through security I was taken aside for a "thorough" search and interrogation. When they were satisfied I was ok to travel they stamped my passport and provided a document to give to security in Seattle emphasizing "not to lose it."
In Seattle, when I provided the "highlighted" boarding pass and accompanying document to security it was another thorough search of person and belongings, including full body x-ray, swabbing myself, inside and outside all my belongings and another barrage of questioning. Again, once satisfied, my boarding pass and accompanying document were stamped and I was allowed to proceed.
I hate to think what would have happened if I arrived without a stamped boarding pass from the origin and or had lost the accompanying document I was requested to provide upon arrival.
The process may differ for a Canadian transiting the US on an inbound flight from China but I thought I would share my experience. I certainly would be concerned arriving without a proper screening and acknowledgment from any origin.
James
Jan 11, 2019, 8:32 pm
#69
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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@Flying for Fun — iirc your home station is fairly small; I suspect the scenario would also be different departing from an airport with pre-clearance, as you would remain airside on arriving at the US connecting point
Jan 11, 2019, 9:01 pm
#70
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
James
Mar 20, 2019, 8:36 am
#71
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 733
As an update, I filed a DOT complaint 26 days ago. I am waiting for a response and will share details here. At the very least, I hope this helps ensure AS management can be made aware of this serious issue and that it encourages them to take steps to prevent unauthorized, mysterious cancellations in the future. Hell, ensuring that cancellation emails are always sent to the MileagePlan account holder would be a good start (so you can know ASAP if it happens to you).
Mar 20, 2019, 8:54 am
#72
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: UA Plat 2MM; AS MVP Gold 75K
Posts: 35,068
KTN doesn't matter when departing from overseas. Even if the airline participates. I've literally had TSA PRE and SSSS printed on the same boarding pass.
Mar 20, 2019, 4:30 pm
#73
Join Date: Feb 2019
Programs: AS MVP Gold
Posts: 146
I am really pleased it worked out for you in the end!
I have heard loads of CA's shady business and I am disappointed to hear about it happening also with HU now.
These have plagued Asia market for a long time especially on China-Japan routes. We all hope AS steps up with more security measures to prevent these crimes and it really isn't that hard. NH allows you to add a password to the reservation to protect it. I don't see how challenging this would be. (But as I recall all those odd mixed-cabin tickets you get in your award search results, maybe this IS challenging for AS.)
Another thing I took away from your ordeal is how widely the capability of AS phone agents varies. Now we are refreshed that if the CSR of AS isn't useful just HUCA.
I have heard loads of CA's shady business and I am disappointed to hear about it happening also with HU now.
These have plagued Asia market for a long time especially on China-Japan routes. We all hope AS steps up with more security measures to prevent these crimes and it really isn't that hard. NH allows you to add a password to the reservation to protect it. I don't see how challenging this would be. (But as I recall all those odd mixed-cabin tickets you get in your award search results, maybe this IS challenging for AS.)
Another thing I took away from your ordeal is how widely the capability of AS phone agents varies. Now we are refreshed that if the CSR of AS isn't useful just HUCA.