Issue with ticketed, confirmed award reservation on CX
 

I made a reservation for 2 people, back in February, that was ticketed on CX F on HKG-MXP, then BA C on MXP-LHR flying out just past midnight on Nov 28. Last week, while I was on vacation, I received an new confirmation email telling me now the flight is on Nov 30. I can't travel on that date as I have to get back to work.

I called when I got back from vacation, they say there was a schedule change and the flights were no longer available. The departure time did move by 5 minutes, but both flights had the same flight number and are running on that date with no issue with the connection (they put me on the same flights with the 5 minute schedule change on Nov 30)! I protested that they cannot simply just drop a confirmed, ticketed reservation because of a 5 minute schedule change, and the agent was only able to say that they had no availability and its a different airline so there's nothing they can do.

Needless to say, I am furious, I am trying to escalate this, but the agents have all been extremely unsympathetic, not even acknowledging that it was their problem.

Any suggested solution??

HUACA. Insist on them speaking with CX/oneworld liaison desk to get you reinstated on the one you want.

The "they" references are confusing and matter a great deal.

I take it that because this is posted in the AA forum that this is an AA-issued ticket? Is it an award or a cash ticket? If it is an award ticket, is there availability on the CX segment (check the CX website)?

Either way the problem is with CX and AA cannot force another carrier to do anything. But, AA can ask a partner carrier to do so and has a OW liaison desk that interacts with other OW carriers, which all have similar desks for the same purpose.

Call back during regular business hours in the US. Start anew. When you get the front line agent's "no", politely ask for a supervisor and ask the supervisor to reach out to the OW liaison for you to request that CX force space open (presuming that there is space available and that this is award travel).

That will take several days, especially because this is a holiday weekend in the US. There is absolutely nothing you can do to speed this process up and you need the assistance of AA to make this happen.

While it may be frustrating, telling AA that it cannot do this will not help you and will simply lead to a flat out "no". So, be polite, but firm in your request.

Needless to say, if CX sold "your" seats out from under you, which it may have done to one of its elites, there won't be any space and that option is out.

While all of this is going on, I would suggest doing some research on AA/BA alternatives. AA can, of course, force space on AA metal and it can come close to doing so on BA. As the final option is always a cancellation for a refund and you apparently don't want that, it is well worth your effort to look to look at HKG-LHR for which there are oodles of options flying in both directions.

Yes, this was an AA-issued award ticket. I have not spoken to CX directly at all. On the CX website, they are still selling F seats for that flight.

I was finally able to get a sympathetic agent who spent a long time on it. He says he has put in a request for the seats to be opened, but he is not optimistic as he says they rarely work. In the meantime, I had him work out some alternatives.

According to the agent, there is no F availability on any other routing or any other airline. There are 2 BA flights but no availability. Even if we can get the seats, BA will also charge me outrageous fuel surcharges.

There is availability on C for a direct flight on CX, which he says he can hold, but because my award was made pre-devaluation, any change in class will need to be done on a new ticket. I had spent 70,000 miles for my F reward, and they will charge me 75,000 for a replacement C reward (instead of 52,500 pre-devaluation). He says they cannot do it at the old level. Has anyone had any luck getting them to at least refund the difference based on the old chart?

I find it hard to believe that there are no DOT regulations covering this situation. Are airlines really free to simply cancel/move *ticketed* reservations willy-nilly?

I am also shocked that this can happen. This basically means that any award ticket on any partner can be cancelled at the partner's option at any time and there's nothing AA can do about it?

Sadly - the paltry regulation that does exist is bent more towards pro-industry, than pro-consumer.

DOT could not help here if it wanted to (it has never got into the middle of award messes). CX is not a US carrier and neither HKG nor MXP are in the US. OP could try the HKG consumer authorities for the good it will do.

To be clear, this has nothing to do with awards, it could happen on a cash-paid ticket, it is simply much less likely.

Regretably it happens with some frequency, especially with F tickets on carriers which do poor IM/RM and have "seller's remorse".

While AA has no obligation to do anything for OP, if OP does wind up taking the J seats at the new price, I would still go back after the trip is complete and ask that the matter be reviewed and that AA as a goodwill gesture, credit the difference to the old J price. OP would still need to be prepared for a "no", but, if framed correctly, it is fair request to make.

Agreed. And given F award seats are not available, I'd take them up on the Business seat and make a case for some kind of compensation for what is obviously an error made by an AA agent.

Welcome to the airlines.....its why I never complain when seeing someone scam the system, regardless of any many company regulations / rules it violates. In life I do not turn a blind eye to violation of the rules, when dealing with the airlines, I applaud them. God knows the airlines do it to us. This story sounds criminal.

~TG

Why would DOT have any jurisdiction on a Chinese carrier operating a flight between Europe and China?

When some form of schedule change occurs, the airline is obligated to rebook the passenger - it seems to have done so , so has met its obligation - even if it is not a good one.

Beyond asking the airline if it will rebook to a better service, other than cancelling, there isn't much that can be forced

They have jurisdiction over the airline that sold the ticket (and once an award is ticketed it is just that).

The airline that sold the ticket is simply acting as an agent for the carrier operating the flight. It has no control over what the operating carrier does in that respect

This just illustrates how bad the system is stacked. The schedule change was literally 5 minutes and did not change the validity of the connection. The original flights were still operating under the same flight numbers, and they decided to move the reservation to a flight that is 2 days later.

This basically is a blank check for them to kick anyone off a flight -- they can change the schedule by 1 minute then rebook you for a flight 20 days later with 54 connections, and they would have "met its obligation"...

The best that you can do is to ask an AA agent if a request can be made for the One World Liasion to speak to Cathay and get them to put you back on the flights from which you were displaced

If it was Cathay Pacific that caused the displacement , there is a pretty reasonable chance it may assist

There is nothing that the telephone agents can do; unless there is availability they cannot make the booking