Special request/service
 

My folk will be flying CX F issued with AA miles. I tried to request special assistance for him (language assistance as he doesn't speak English) when I was on the phone with a CX agent getting his seat assignment. I was told the request needs to be made through AA since it's an AA reservation. Does this sound right? I thought since it's CX metal, it should be requested via CX. Also, should this be done in advance or is it okay on the day of departure? TIA.

LAX

Partner award bookings are quite complex and both the operating and ticketing carriers push responsibility to each other in many cases. The ticketing carrier should be responsible for ticketing-related issues prior to travel and AA should be the one you should contact so that they can add a note to the booking (possibly under OSI). Then call CX to confirm this request.

I guess I just need to follow protocol. I figure if I need to call CX to confirm a request made via AA, then why not just cut out the "middle man" and just request via CX, who ultimately is the one provide the service. We shall see what AA says when I give them a call. Thanks.

LAX

Usually the operating carrier (if not the same as the ticketing one) claims that they can't touch the ticket - I presume fearing liability issues if it gets messed up. Yes, it's a complicated procedure and you really can't cut out the 'middle man'. It's even more complicated during IRROPS when sometimes the operating carrier asks the passenger to contact the ticketing carrier to rebook (which is subject to award inventory restrictions). However, usually very minor stuff such as seat selection can be done via the operating carrier.

I'll be flying on CX and AA quite a bit next month.
The CX legs all show under my MPC account and I can change the seats to my liking.
For the AA flights I can select seats, however the ones I like better are all blocked. Tried via my TA to get them released but didn`t work. Call AA?

There is one JFK-HKG leg that is ticketed by AA but operated on CX, for this one I can't even select a seat, call AA as well?

AA only has a read-only view of this leg, without the ability to change seats. Call CX.

That's right. When it's operated by CX, only CX can assign seats. That's why I thought it was counterintuitive to call AA for special services to be provided by CX. In any event, call was made to AA & CX acknowledged the request. We shall see how it goes. Will update later in case anyone cares.

LAX

Just got off the phone with CX. Nothing they can do. The MPC even called Reservations for me to see if they can change, but because of AA-stock they can`t. They asked me to call AA and ask them to put the request in the system. Let`s give it a try...

And AA won't do anything for me...
AA: Those seats are taken sir
Me: Does that mean that they are occupied or that you can't access them
AA: It means that someone sits there already

Anyway to check this? The other 5 CX flights I will take all have plenty of seats to select and this one would be completely booked, not even a change of seat possible. Did AA Customer Service just mess with me?

Oh, and my CX DM card was seen by AA representative as a Special Card, I thought the oneworld equivalent was Emerald, not Special.

Hmm, it seems that in the case of OW FFPs, seat selection is done by the ticketing carrier not the operating carrier as I have said previously (although it applies for *A FFPs).

Refer to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...impressed.html

Just called CX again for another problem (booking disappearing from MPC website). While I was on the line I thought I'd give it another chance with the CX-operated but AA-ticketed flight.
First answer was the same as yesterday: as it is AA-stock AA need to put the request into the system. When I explained that I called AA before and they didn't want to do it because the flight was full the agent said she would give it a try and she was able to put the request into the system.

Conclusion: just keep trying and you might get lucky...