arabiamark

My friend booked an itinerary of ORD-PVG-MNL. Her first leg was on AA, a 787, and the second leg was on Philippine Airlines. I had used an SWU to upgrade her to J on the first leg. At PVG she had a 2-hour connection time.
So she tried to check in for her flight yesterday (6/14) but she was denied. She was told that her 2 hours of connection time wasn't enough. 4 hours is required. She had checked baggage but it wasn't clear how much that had to do with this 4 hour requirement. Also I'm not sure about whether it's about the interlining (from AA to PR). I see both airlines use the same terminal.
Needless to say my friend is very upset. She's been rebooked on an ORD-LAX-MNL (AA to PR at LAX). She's been told there's a $2,600 fare difference. It's unclear whether she'll have to pay this. She says that AA and her travel agent are fighting it out over who is responsible. Sadly, her J upgrade on the 787 is lost. Maybe I can get her upgraded on the ORD-LAX leg.
I don't know what can be done. 4 hours minimum required connection seems outrageous. Has anyone heard of this before?

Dave Noble

Yup. looks like the minimum connecting time is 4 hours for international departures on PR from T2

This booking should never have been able to be made.

Whether she had checked baggage or not, makes no difference to the MCT

E55

Not an option to drop the PR leg and book something new PVG to MNL?

Ausriver

2 hour is not enough at PVG as transit, so 4 hour minimum makes sense. There is no real transit hall in any airport in China, OP will need to clear immigration and then pass through security alone with other departure pax. I'm not too sure if u could tag your luggage to the final destination but I always need to claim the, and re checkin again.

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

PR is also pretty conservative on their times. Even without connections, they have strict check-in times departing from MNL.

Mark_T

I would have thought this is almost certainly down to the TA rather than AA.

I doubt AA even knew about the PAL flight until the passenger tried to check-in and couldn't show that she had a Chinese visa, or a valid onward flight out of PVG.

In that circumstance AA would have had no choice but to refuse to check her in.

Dave Noble

There isn't enough information to be sure on where fault lies. If the agent booked it properly and the system allowed the connection , then it isn't the agent's fault. If the agent actively worked to circumvent the MCT, then it is the agent's fault

If it was 2 separate bookings, then AA would only have been concerned to make sure that the passenger had a valid visa for China surely and not be concerned with PR booking at all - again this would be the TA's fault

Ldnn1

American will sell you this exact 2-hour connection on AA.com. Link here: http://goo.gl/flights/UIEk

Therefore either the check-in agent was wrong about the MCT, or AA's systems are wrong in allowing it to be ticketed.

Dave Noble

It is definitely a 4 hour connection in Manila for connections to PR
From MCT information ,
**-PR II 4.00 TRM 1 - 2
**-PR II 4.00 TRM 2 - 2

PR departs from Terminal 2

The standard airport connection time is much lower. Going the otherway, for PR to AA, it is 2 hours

If AA is offering invalid connections, it sounds like it isn't the TA's fault

Ldnn1

Looks like AA's system/GDS has it plugged in as 2 hours in both directions. http://goo.gl/flights/aFNX

kingstontoon

I transited airside on an award ticket at PVG a few years ago without any trouble (NZ to LX), so booked another award earlier this year HEL-PVG-HKG in J on AY and KA with a 3 hour connection time. Upon arrival, I searched for the transit desk, and found it unmanned. Seems they only open it up for certain flights, and mine was not one. So I had around 2.5 hours to enter China and leave again. Luckily, it wasn't busy and this only took an hour, but if the lines had been longer it might have been a struggle. Thankfully, UK citizens (and others) don't need a visa to enter China on a connection for up to 72 hours these days. Not sure what I'd have done otherwise!

arabiamark

I thank everybody for clarifying. In the end the travel agent paid up the $2,600 fare difference and my friend is now in the middle of her ORD-LAX-MNL trip. Unfortunately I didn't get around to getting an upgrade for the domestic leg.
Although there is information out there about needing a 4-hour connection time, there does seem to be some ambiguity. I had my friend's booking on my trip under my AA account and it was showing everything as confirmed. Wouldn't that imply that the connection was ok by AA? Or maybe the fact that the onward airline was PR means that there will be no alerts about it. Anyway, one more lesson learned.

Dave Noble

There is no ambiguity about the MCT; it is clearly defined

If AA's system returned that as an option when searching for ORD-MNL, it is an AA issue

If the agent paid $2600, it suggests to me that the agent did something else. Searching for ORD-MNL on aa.com doesn't seem to offer it

gustavmahler

Sorry to revive an old thread, but is MCT still 4 hours? ITA and our corporate TA have given me an option LHR-PVG-WUH with only two hours at PVG.

Thanks in advance.

deeruck

Which airlines?