Recently-ticketed OTA BA/AA booking has missing AA sector

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Jun 10, 2018, 2:02 am

KerryMLC

Original Poster

Join Date: Oct 2014

Posts: 87

Recently-ticketed OTA BA/AA booking has missing AA sector

Hi,

(Because it was the only way to find the fare I wanted), I used an OTA (FlightNetwork) to book a multi sector (BA/AA) flight.

It has been ticketed and the OTA’s receipt/e-ticket shows all sectors correctly. The PNRs on the E-Ticket are listed separately for BA and AA, however they are identical.

However:
- When entering the PNR into BA.com, it shows all sectors except for one internal AA one
- When entering the PNR into AA.com, it shows only the first two sectors (all the remaining ones are missing).
- When entering the PNR into classic.checkmytrip.com, it agrees with the BA.com readout missing the AA sector.

Can anyone advise what my next steps should be? I called the OTA who claims it all shows correctly for them. I am already regretting using an OTA (I know the usual advice, but neither BA nor AA would ticket this except at a much higher fare than what I paid!)

It appears to be a BA plated ticket as the e-ticket reference starts with 125-...

Thanks very much much for any advice.

Last edited by KerryMLC; Jun 10, 2018 at 2:11 am

Jun 10, 2018, 2:08 am

Dave Noble

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Join Date: Jan 2002

Posts: 44,600

Is the BA site showing all BA sectors ok and is the AA site showing all AA sectors ok?

If that is the case , then all is fine

There is no reason to worry about using travel agents

AA will have its own record locator for its system and BA one for its system. It might be worth calling AA , giving flight details and asking for the record locator

Cymro likes this.

Last edited by Dave Noble; Jun 10, 2018 at 2:13 am

Jun 10, 2018, 2:14 am

KerryMLC

Original Poster

Join Date: Oct 2014

Posts: 87

Thanks. Not quite:

Sector 1 - BA (outbound European)
Sector 2 - AA (outbound transatlantic)
Sector 3 - AA (outbound US domestic)
Sector 4 - AA (return US domestic)
Sector 5 - BA (return transatlantic)
Sector 6 - BA (return European)

BA.com - all sectors apart from sector 4 show.
AA.com - only sectors 1 and 2 show, with sector 2 listed as “return”.
Checkmytrip - Same as BA: all sectors apart from sector 4 show.

Jun 10, 2018, 2:18 am

Dave Noble

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Join Date: Jan 2002

Posts: 44,600

Quote:

Originally Posted by KerryMLC

Phone AA and check whether you are booked on the flight and , if so, ask for the booking reference - there will likely be an AA reference that has what you need

Anonba likes this.

Jun 10, 2018, 2:27 am

TPJ

Join Date: Jun 2008

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Posts: 7,884

BA and AA use different GDS'es - Amaddeus and SABRE, respectively. Your Travel Agent is probably on yet another GDS - Travelport/Galileo and Galileo has not forwarded the full itinerary to Ama/SABRE, call AA to confirm what they see in SABRE.

Jun 10, 2018, 2:34 am

KerryMLC

Original Poster

Join Date: Oct 2014

Posts: 87

Thanks for the advice. I got the (different) AA locator, unfortunately they can’t see the missing sector (Sector 4) either. They’ve promised to look into it with BA as they issued the ticket and call me back.

Jun 10, 2018, 2:42 am

KerryMLC

Original Poster

Join Date: Oct 2014

Posts: 87

Update: Call back from AA who confirmed with BA that the tickets are as I described above and there is nothing they can do and I will have to go back to the OTA (who are not very helpful

).

Given my last conversation with the OTA lasted over an hour (based on my recording of it), I’m not looking forward to this.

Jun 10, 2018, 2:45 am

Andriyko

Join Date: May 2005

Location: Kyiv, Ukraine

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Posts: 7,691

Are any of the flights booked as codeshares?

Jun 10, 2018, 2:46 am

Dave Noble

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Join Date: Jan 2002

Posts: 44,600

Quote:

Originally Posted by KerryMLC

Update: Call back from AA who confirmed with BA that the tickets are as I described above and there is nothing they can do and I will have to go back to the OTA (who are not very helpful

).

Given my last conversation with the OTA lasted over an hour (based on my recording of it), I’m not looking forward to this.

Since the ticket number starts with 125, perhaps speak to BA directly 1st and confirm with BA what is in the booking

Also, given the difference in price , is it possible that the travel agent has made 2 bookings rather than a through booking and that there may be an AA flight booked separately. Could AA not see any booking for you on flight that is the 4th sector?

Jun 10, 2018, 2:48 am

#10

KerryMLC

Original Poster

Join Date: Oct 2014

Posts: 87

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andriyko

Are any of the flights booked as codeshares?

Yep - Sector 2 and Sector 5 are booked as codeshares, with a BA flight number for an AA flight in the case of Sector 2, and an AA flight number for a BA flight in the case of Sector 5.

All other flight numbers are in the name of the operating airline I.e. not codeshares.

Jun 10, 2018, 2:51 am

#11

Andriyko

Join Date: May 2005

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Quote:

Originally Posted by KerryMLC

OK. There will be 2 more PNRs (called 'operational' PNRs). The BA PNR for segment 5 will show segment 4 (if it is a connecting flight). Similarly the AA PNR for segment 2 will show the missing segments. Find the prime (operating carrier's) flight numbers for the respective flights, call BA and AA and ask them to find you on those flights and provide you with the PNRs. Do not start the conversation by quoting the existing PNRs as they won't be of any help. In general, your booking is fine but because some flights are codeshares you will have additional PNRs.

Last edited by Andriyko; Jun 10, 2018 at 3:01 am

Jun 10, 2018, 2:54 am

#12

KerryMLC

Original Poster

Join Date: Oct 2014

Posts: 87

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andriyko

OK. There will be 2 more PNRs (called 'operational PNRs). The BA PNR for segment 5 will show segment 4 (if it is a connecting flight). Similarly the AA PNR for segment 2 will show the missing segments.

Thanks very much (I bet this is exactly right and explains the BA readout at least).

Out of interest, does this mean BA/AA will not have responsibilities in terms of protecting connections or through checking luggage? Everything I’ve read suggests it is all related to the flight being on one PNR.

Jun 10, 2018, 2:59 am

#13

Andriyko

Join Date: May 2005

Location: Kyiv, Ukraine

Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, TK Elite, HHonors Lifetime Diamond

Posts: 7,691

Quote:

Originally Posted by KerryMLC

Out of interest, does this mean BA/AA will not have responsibilities in terms of protecting connections or through checking luggage?

No, it does not mean that. You will be protected in case of a missed connection and your bags will be tagged to the final destination. It's just the way your flights are booked. You should not worry about it (well, you do because you cannot see all segments in a single PNR, but that may be explained by the fact that the master PNR is in a different GDS that the OTA uses). The only thing is when it comes to the EU Reg protections you will need to deal with the operating airline.

Last edited by Andriyko; Jun 10, 2018 at 3:07 am

Jun 10, 2018, 3:41 am

#14

KerryMLC

Original Poster

Join Date: Oct 2014

Posts: 87

Thanks for all the help. Unfortunately despite looking at their flight database, AA can’t see me booked on anything except the first two sectors (and selecting seat selection on BA.com for anything except the first two sectors redirects to the AA booking with just the first two sectors). BA have no explanation for the sector they are missing which they have confirmed shows on the E-Ticket but not the PNR.

BA contacted their OneWorld Liason who advised they aren’t able to touch it as it’s an OTA booking. I will give this a try, but am seriously beginning to wonder if a better approach would be to start a chargeback/dispute with BA Amex.