Tofino87

Currently on hold for a third time with BA… I’ve spoken to 2 agents already this morning.

They have availability on a partner airline I’m trying to book, but they say they can’t see it - only premium economy is available to them.

However the BA app and website are showing the availability, as are Qantas website and American Airlines too.

The BA app will price it up and let me go to the payment page to book it as a standalone one-way ticket… rather than as part of a multi-sector itinerary like I’m trying to do… anyone experienced this before?! The fact the agents can’t even see it seems very odd.

Dave Noble

What is the partner airline? It could be a married segment availability issue. That a flight is available standalone does not mean that it is necessarily available in conjunction with a connecting flight

So searching for A-B, there may be availability but for A-C via B , there may be no availability on the A-B sector

Tofino87

Hi Dave, thanks for the response. The airline is JAL.

I’m getting a bit frustrated by the agents now… but still being polite.

I‘ve now simply asked in the first instance ‘please can you check availability in first class from X - X on the dates in question… and I’ve just been told ‘we don’t do first class’.

I said - yes you do, I’ve literally just booked JAL and QR in F 3 days ago. They said no - that’s probably wrong and it’s business class - they don’t seem to know what’s going on!! Which makes me wonder if they know how to search for it, no disrespect intended.

I asked if there’s someone else they can put me through to, and they said no?!

Back on the line for the fourth time now - unfortunately as a blue member - hopefully I somehow miraculously get put through to someone who knows what’s going on!

Flumps

Unfortunately the incompetence of BA staff and the associated IT is all too prevalent. They absolutely can book JAL F and their claim they can't is just wrong.

One thing I have found with JAL is that availability is, as suggested by Dave Noble, sometimes dependent on married segments. The reverse can also occur - availability with a domestic segment can appear (eg OSA - HND - LHR in F) but not on the single sector (eg HND - LHR in F). I'm not sure why this is but I have found it to be the case.

Is there a reason you wish to do a multi-sector award ? JAL will through-check luggage on seperate tickets as long as all airlines are OneWorld - I have direct experience of doing this many times.

Obviously you lose out on protection if you misconnect, but being pragmatic you may wish to look at individual sectors.

SxMan

Can you call one of the overseas numbers? I believe the one in Germany is often recommended and Skype can be used I think people say.

Tafflyer

Be quick. Bremen is closing by the end of September. Staff have received redundancy notices. Phones are already diverting to Rumania, where staff who have received 4-6 weeks training are already answering the phones.

If you have an F booking or want to book an F flight, then may I suggest you call YouFirst, where you will get well-trained and friendly staff from Newcastle or Manchester on the line.

Tofino87

Right now I’m not even mentioning multi sectors to them anymore - I’m just asking if they can see availability on X date from X to X in first, and I’ve been told ‘we don’t do first class’ 😂 - so the married segment thing shouldn’t even come into it! I get what you’re saying though - I’ve noticed that a lot with star alliance.

I’ve spoken to Exec club in chat and even the BA USA number to check that I’m not just going crazy here - they agree they can see the availability.

It’s madness. I’m in +8 time zone right now and want to go to bed, but I need to get this booked.

Not to mention the Skype bill for all these calls.

The IT has started glitching now on the BA app and is showing availability as it was doing all day, then disappearing now and reappearing - thankfully I’m a little flexible on the dates, but it’s now doing that on all the dates except one.

QF and AA had consistently been showing the availability.

Thanks I think I’ll be trying that if this latest call doesn’t go to plan…

YouFirst? I never heard of it?!


ahh, it’s not. BA operated flight… it’s JL, using Avios

Flumps

Can you see the availability on the QR website ?

The reason I ask is because you can link a BA and a QR account (they use Avios as their 'currency') and seamlessly move/book using Avios located in either account.

QR's customer service isn't exactly stellar either, but I wonder if this is worth a try ?

JAXBA

What cabins are available when you ask them to check availability? The way BA do award space searches only shows them the redemption classes, for example:

Z2 U4 P3 X7

Silly question, but are you sure there's a first class cabin on the aircraft, and you're not saying F but mean J? BA agents should be offering J if that's the case, but shouldn't be declining F/Z if it's truly available.

skimthetrees

JAL has a variation of married segments I refer to as divorced segments and it has become more common of late. A "divorced" segment is not allowed to be booked as part of certain types of connecting trips. Typically when I have seen it there is a connection in Japan where at least one leg is an international flight. This sounds like it may be what you are experiencing. If it is you will have a very difficult time trying to marry the divorced segment, much as you would if you were attempting to break a married segment. The system is not going to allow it. It would have to be someone manually overriding the restrictions to force it through, if this is even possible and allowed.

JAL married/divorced segment restrictions are dynamic and can change, so the restriction may be lifted at some point. Sometimes there is a pattern as to when they change.

JAXBA

I've seen this in action on other airlines (something like trying to put EK/AM in the same PNR). Book one, can't get the other and vice versa. It was like they were magnetically repellent of each other.

Tofino87

There is definitely something very weird going on here as you’ve said.

I’ve just spoken to BA again - for a ‘new booking’ I spoke to an agent who could see the ticket I wanted. When I said I’d like to add it to an existing booking she instantly put me through to a different team… and when that team searched it - they couldn’t see it. Then somehow, the availability has disappeared from inventory.

This all happened within 3/4 minutes max, for a seat that had been there all last night and this morning.

Tofino87

Ok, so.

Just spoken to them again.

What’s becoming clear to me is that you can’t put x2 JAL F-class segments on the same booking, however you try and structure it.

The availability is there - the agent saw it. Then when he searched for another leg, for which availability exists - he then couldn’t see that leg.

It’s like the system automatically blocks them out from seeing the availability if you’ve already added 1 JAL F segment to an itinerary.