Do phone agents in different countries have different regional availability?
Mar 7, 2018, 12:43 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: London
Programs: AA EXP 2 MM
Posts: 2,823
Do phone agents in different countries have different regional availability?
In the past, I have often found different availability by fare class in the UK and US markets. But when I call AA from UK, I am now connected to a US agent. So which regional availability will they use?
I ask because I am trying to book CX reward space HKG-LHR (6 Oct) which is showing in F on ba.com, but for AAdvantage you have to call AA and they are not seeing these seats. So I tried calling AA in some other countries to ask for availability, but often end up speaking to a US-based agent!
So several questions:
I ask because I am trying to book CX reward space HKG-LHR (6 Oct) which is showing in F on ba.com, but for AAdvantage you have to call AA and they are not seeing these seats. So I tried calling AA in some other countries to ask for availability, but often end up speaking to a US-based agent!
So several questions:
- Could reward space on CX depend on the region (or does BA just get more CX reward space than AA)?
- There is no indication that when I reach a US agent using a UK number, they know I am in UK, so do phone reservations with US agents always get US market availability?
- Might I get different award availability with non-US based agents? I have so far tried the German number (no availability), Hong Kong number (phone does not answer
), Singapore and Australia numbers (connected to a US agent with no availability). Any other suggestions?
Mar 7, 2018, 12:46 am
#2
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
Yes it can - availability varies from country to country depending on how the airline wishes to make it available
Doesn't matter where the agent is physically located, just the region that the agent is logged in to, which will be based on number called in on
Doesn't matter where the agent is physically located, just the region that the agent is logged in to, which will be based on number called in on
Mar 7, 2018, 1:24 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: London
Programs: AA EXP 2 MM
Posts: 2,823
Plausible hypothesis if for example calls to AA from UK always reached an agent logged in for UK calls. But the response I get from AA agents that I phone on the UK number suggests they have no idea I am not in US: surprise at no AAdvantage number transferred (because of simpler UK phone interface), no mention of UK, references to US time of day. aa.com could base availability on AAdvantage number, but some years ago I successfully followed advice to phone AA in Australia to get F availability on Etihad that was not available to US agents.