wantok

I realize this should be straight forward, yet somehow I'm at a communications snag between myself and our corp AMEX agent.

I want to fly the following in J:

1/4
AA 736 PHX -> DFW connecting to
AA 338 DFW -> ZRH connecting to
AA6314 ZRH -> BOM (next day)

Returning 1/31
AA6315 BOM -> ZRH connecting to
AA 37 ZRH -> DFW connecting to
AA 1003 DFW -> PHX

My corp travel agent says that she doesn't even see the AA codeshare flights listed and has me on the corresponding SWISS flights (ie
LX 154 ZRH -> BOM and LX 155 BOM -> ZRH).

This is fine except for earning elite qualifying points and miles. And I have a very real possibility of making ExPlat for the first time this year, so I don't want to screw it up by not having the right flight number. Of course this problem will go away when SWISS is completely integrated into 1-world. Please correct me if I'm misintrepreting the current SWISS relationship. I might be wrong, it's happened once before .

Any suggestions on how to help AMEX find this flight. The current response I have is that it is not there. Yet I can see it from AA.com.

A possible answer to my own question is using PHX as the origin/destination. All of these itineries route me through ORD. So to get the code share flight number I have been doing a search for DFW-BOM, instead of PHX-BOM, but I don't really see how that should make a difference on the AMEX side. Especially when she let me know how much more powerful her reservation system was than the online engine. Of course I also had to explain to her that even though I would earn miles with SWISS, I wouldn't earn qualifying miles, to which she just agreed to disagree.

If I wasn't forced to use AMEX I would really prefer to just book all of my travel online, and use the Plat desk when the odd snag arises. I'm precluded from doing this as I have to get internally negotiated discounts on J-fares, and the only way to do that is to use the AMEX branch that my company has established.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks
Wantok

clacko

i'm fairly sure that the aa codeshares on swiss are gone. was trying to go to s africa. now am going on aa code on ba lhr-jnb...try thru lhr. however, i'm not sure that there is 1. call aa or go the other way via hk on cx, its ow & you can get aa q mi's etc.

edit to add...ba is ow also & rumors are that they will be in ow sometime.

[This message has been edited by clacko (edited Dec 26, 2003).]

wantok

AA6314 and AA6315 both exist on AA.com. I just can't get AMEX to see the same flights. Which seems strange to me.

I've looked at the BA connection, and would prefer to use that due to flat beds in J-class on that route. However, the price difference is almost double to use BA, which nixes that option if the SWISS plane has availability.

So....If anyone knows how to make the corresponding AMEX system see the AA6314/6315 flights please let me know.

Thanks
Wantok

MikeTheActuary

Have you tried setting up a reservation yourself, without actually buying the ticket, and then pass along the reference number to your travel department?

My company requires me to use the corporate travel department to make travel arrangements. However, I've never had a problem with setting up flight reservations on my own, and asking corporate travel to either capture the reservation, or see if they can do better.

[This message has been edited by MikeTheActuary (edited Dec 26, 2003).]

mikesinla

try this....
Have the TA book the res PHX to DFW on what flight you want and then book DFW to BOM with modifier indicating AA flights.AA. If they are using SABRE then they would use cross of lorraine.
the flights will show up that way. Very easy.
the same way in reverse to come home. (BOM to DFW on AA)
Sometimes corp agents just imput the citypairs and don't know all the modifiers.

marbles dad

the aa website states that if you are using swiss and in a variety of fare classes including "D" - discount advanced purchase business you get the appropriate status miles, but that can change without notice.

Eugene

I'm not sure where you're seeing status miles, but if you go to AA website, then select AAdvantage --> Partners & Mileage Programs --> Airlines, then click on SWISS, it quite appropriately shows full mileage accrual, but not status miles.

[This message has been edited by Eugene (edited Dec 26, 2003).]

pauleeepaul

I have done this as well. It is a real pain in the butt- the corporate travel agent will have to call AA and always seems pissed to me- something about my experience makes me think the corporate agent's commission is at risk, so I try to avoid doing this whenever possible. However, it sounds like a surefire solution to your problem, so I would give it a shot.

wantok

I like the idea of setting it up on the side. I wonder if in this case, that I can just call the plat desk, and have them pull up the reservation. They can then make the change, then I'll call AMEX and have them ticket it with the applicable discount codes.

I'll give this a try on Monday.

Thanks all.
wantok

daniellam

The travel agent should try booking the flights by typing the following commands:
(Assuming the booking class is "D")

0AA6314D05JANZRHBOMNN1

AND

0AA6315D31JANBOMZRHNN1

I don't understand why some travel agents insist that they must be able to view the flight on an "availability display" and use commands like 01D2 (ie. book by line# the flight is displyed on). I had to convince my travel agent to type similar commands to book flights that might not otherwise get displayed.

wantok

Somehow my AMEX corp TA figured it out.

I called in today, convinced that if the same agent answered the phone I would just hang up. I got another agent that I haven't worked with befor, and when she pulled up the reservation she told me that I was confirmed on the AA6314, and waitlisted on the AA6315 flight.

So I guess after I hung-up on Friday, the agent decided to try a little harder. I was still pretty annoyed when I got the lecture that my computer is more powerful than your computer lecture. Especially when I was the one finding the flight and she wasn't.

At any rate here's hoping for good Karma that my wait list will clear.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

Wantok

777Brit

Agents are told by GDS' to sell from availability, as that uses a product called 'Direct Access' to the carriers own inventory. 'Long Sell' entries (as you listed) are like blind-selling and you're not guaranteed to get a seat. Of course, they do work if the availability is there, but the GDS's prefer agents to sell from DCS or DCA availability, as the belief is that it's more 'reliable' to sell from airline direct availability than from the GDS database.

[This message has been edited by 777Brit (edited Dec 30, 2003).]

777Brit

AA is a 0% commission carrier, so agents don't make anything from the airline. They make their money by adding management or transaction fees.

RChavez

This is true, however, large agencies do still receive overrides on sales they've ticketed. However, in all cases, the sale is recorded at time of ticketing, not reservation. So as long as the agency drives the ticket, they'll get credit for the sale.

Back when the carriers still paid commissions, however, I used to make reservations with the carrier all the time and have the agency claim the PNR for ticketing. This allowed me to self-book on whatever flights I wanted, and still protect the agency's commission.

RChavez

Hrm. Learn something new every day. I knew that availability used DA to retrieve last seat avail, however, I did not know that the long sell was not backed by the GDS.

However, once the status goes HK, it's guaranteed, isn't it? If it is not guaranteed, it should read PN or NN (or something similar), wouldn't it?