waveloch

Hi All,

Seeking advice on what my best options are. I'm planning to return to Australia in late Jan '21 from California and I used LifeMiles to book an UA/ANA business class ticket from SAN-SFO-HND-SYD. As you all may be aware, Australia is currently severley limiting weekly passenger arrivals and as such, availaibility to Australia is hard to find and expensive when it is available. My flight from HND-SYD has been cancelled and the next available flight isn't until 2 days later. There are plenty of full-fare business class tickets on surrounding dates (via LAX and SFO and HND), and I want to see if I can get my ticket reissued for another date +/-3 days of my original.

I called Avianca and they advised to call ANA, as it was their flight that got cancelled. ANA (rightfully) said that it's Avianca's ticket, and therefore they must reissue it. Called back Avianca and the agent advised that they cannot rebook because there is no 'I-class' inventory for any other of the flights on the surrounding dates (although there is plenty of 'C" class full fare availability) and that my only option is to try speaking with Avianca's 'operational events' department in Colombia to try and see if they can make a request to ANA's inventory department to make an exception to reissue the ticket on a different date, even if there is no 'I' class availability.

Unfortunately when I called, that department was closed. Tried calling again today and it's impossible to get through to Avianca via their US and Colombian numbers (line busy) and finally got through on their UK number, but then got disconnected half way though the call. Great... tried using their Whatsapp channel but it is equally useless.

So, my question is: (assuming I can get through to the call center again) is there any chance that Avianca will be able to contact ANA to request an exception to reissue the ticket on a flight that doesn't have the appropriate fare-class availability (in this case, 'I' class) or is this just a pipe-dream? I am hesitant to cancel the ticket and request a refund because 1) my other options are either outrageously expensive or nonexistent 2) Judging by other threads in the forum, it sounds like getting a refund is going to be a nightmare on it's own 3)I feel like I would have more leverage if I just left it as is and went to check in at the airport to 'find my last leg cancelled' and they would have to re-book me on the next Australia-bound flight as I would not be allowed to enter Japan.

Anyone have any ideas or insights? Avianca is a total disaster trying to get a hold of (although the agents have been friendly when I finally get through) and it's complicated by the fact that LifeMiles has their own reservation center too?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

sleuth

Just have them redeposit the miles and refund the taxes. Then you can rebook on the website. It’s too much of a headache dealing with them over the phone for schedule changes.

tr3k

^^^^^ What he said

SK AAR

You are caught in the limbo very common for award tickets when the operating carrier cancels a flight and there is no I class availability for the new travel dates. This has been reported way too many times in various threads, and my impression is that in most cases the passenger will get nowhere - the FFP/issuer of the ticket can't rebook because there is no X/I class availability (and will obviously refuse to rebook into revenue class) and the operating airlines will refuse to touch the ticket as soon as the agent realises that this an award ticket issued by another carrier. This is actually one of worst disadvantages when on award tickets issued by a different carrier/FFP than the operating airline.

I'm sorry, but you will most likely get nowhere with this. You can try to call ANA and ask if ANA will accept to rebook you (but ANA can't reissue the ticket, that needs to be done subsequently by AV) but most likely you will not get past the initial "sorry, but you need to contact AV who issued the ticket" fence when calling ANA. Persuading AV to contact ANA to get this resolved, is close to impossible. AV couldn't care less that I class availability is not present, and will refer you to accept a refund or rebook to a date where I class is available.

Yes, as a last resort you could show up for check-in at the airport but that there is a high chance that you will not be able to travel at all if ANA ticket office can't or will refuse to sort it out.

Then lastly, you realise that most likely you will not be able to enter AU by January? I believe it is very very optimistic expecting AU to open it's borders in 2 months when the pandemic is on the rise in most countries. So the question how much time you will spend on this now trying to get rebooked. Just my cents..

LondonElite

I think you mean ‘get anywhere’. Otherwise I agree with the rest of your post. I have replied to several similar cases in recent days, and it is indeed a case of passing the buck between issuing and operating carriers. A redeposit and new booking is probably the least painful way to proceed.

BTW, I read the OP as being an Australian citizen, not visitor, so entry restrictions do not apply.

waveloch

Thanks for the summary and yes, cancelling and getting a refund is the most likely scenario. I will see if there's any way that ANA might be able to rebook me and then have AV reissue the ticket, although I know this is unlikely. No harm in asking though!

You're right, showing up at check-in knowing that my last leg is cancelled is probably a stupid decision, so I will sort it out beforehand.

FYI I am an Australian Permanent Resident, so I am allowed to travel back to Australia (subject to the weekly arrival cap number, which I'm hoping will be less of an issue come January). My other alternative is to book a one-way flight on Fiji Airways from LAX-NAN-SYD for a reasonable $750, but I am skeptical that FJ will be operating flights then as their border is still closed. Only other option is to book a one-way firect flight on UA or DL for an eyewatering $4500.

Thanks for all the help, if you have any other advice, I'm all ears!

waveloch

To anyone reading this thread and interested in an update:

I used Avianca's Whatsapp messaging channel to see if i could get help with the reservation. it takes 6-7 hours for them to respond and if you miss the messages within 5 minutes they will end the chat and send you to the back of the line. Missed messages from an agent twice and today finally happened to catch an agent's response while I was available and had a good chat.

Avianca's policy is that they will refer you to their 'operational events' department in Colombia (the one that can try and get access to partner inventory space) to be able to try and reaccommodate your booking up to 8 days before and 15 days after the original reservation date. In my case, I was able to purchase a refundable one way ticket on JAL in premium economy, and I will try my luck and call back Avianca within the 8-day timeframe to see if they can reaccommodate me onto another ANA flight. If not, I will just request a refund and get the miles back.

Fingers crossed!

michaelmorio

Any further updates on this? Curious.
michaelmorio