cxfan1960: Not sure which of the older threads to put this in - the search threw up a few where this might be relevant, so please move this to the one that you think this post should be in.

Just redeemed 2x OneWorld Multi-carrier awards:

LAX-oLIM-EZE//GRU-xLIM-oLAX-oSFO-oLAX

115K miles + HKD 1140 in taxes pp for biz (last 2 legs, on AA in coach). Pretty good value imho, especially as 3 of the segments were overnight, so really wanted the business class seats.
GRU-LIM in biz opened up just today (pure luck, i was ok to redeem in coach when i tried doing the booking yesterday, based on what i saw as available from BA via KVS).

Attempt # 1 (yesterday): (mirroring percysmith's experience when trying to redeem an award on MH on 01 Feb)
Agent goes 'LAX-LIM is a codeshare flight, we cant book those'.
I insisted (friend's have booked this before, another agent was showing this option just last week, its OW marketed/operated blah blah) and the agent kept trying, putting me on hold.
No dice 20 minutes into the call and the agent (who had been profusely apologizing all the while for the delay) says 'having issues, could we please call you back). No call received in the 20 odd hours since.

Attempt #2: A few 'woahs'/E for England Z for zebra E for Englands/I see two flights - do you really want the overnight one (!)? etc, but no problem getting the LAX-LIM 'codeshare' that had been problematic yesterday, details double/triple checked and all good to go. Hope no issues at the ticketing stage.

Got to know later that this was the first OW award that the agent had booked (and she was thankful for me having done my homework), and we were working quite well togethar a few minutes into the call.
Total 38 minutes on the phone.
(I did press "1" to tell CX that I was satisfied with the call, though not sure if that counts for this helpful agent who did not dismiss anything i said/asked without trying first).

Now the interesting bit. I didn't really need the LAX-SFO-LAX leg, but added them
1) to make it a OneWorld award instead of an Asiamiles award (LAX-oLIM-EZE//GRU-xLIM-LAX would have cost 120K asiamiles)
2) since i could potentially use the LAX-SFO-LAX legs on a later date (since date changes are free), upto the ticket validity. (though might not be able to use after all, as i realized that award tickets are valid for 1y from the date of issue, not the first segment and these tickets are way into the future)

Also, the agent asked if GRU-xLIM-LAX with the first leg in biz and the second in coach was OK. This was the opposite of what I had expected(based on my stale info) 'maybe GRU-LIM in coach, and the overnight leg to LAX in business' and she volunteered to check GRU-LIM and LIM-LAX independently and got biz for both legs (the first one on a flight that had not been showing so far). Married segment logic (or reverse) in work here too...
Lesson to self: ask and check segment by segment as well as married segment (can't check GRU-xLIM-LAX availability via KVS).

Lastly -backtracking - we start in LAX, and stopover there once on the ticket (not booked as a transit), before moving on and coming back. This has been discussed before and a few posts mentioned that this is do-able, i can now confirm that it is. So in case anyone's searching for that, you can backtrack etc as long as you stick to the 5 stopovers, 2 transits, 2 open-jaws.
(no issues with/comments from the agent, except for an 'eehhhhh!!')

PS: I did not completley optimize the itin, as i could have snuck in a few intra-SouthAmerica legs (and kept just the smallest AA leg possible at the end to make it an oneworld award), but am happy enough given availability (in coach) was an issue for the intraSA legs and some of them would have made me hit the other constraints (like AEP-FTE taking up an Open Jaw as well as a stopover, precluding an open jaw at the end) - will just buy these using LAN's South America Airpass.

Hi jagmeets,


May I know what flight is the code shared flight and what is the operating airline?

Have you been able to receive the ticket? (Also having the AM deducted).
Coz MP agent are not so experienced in booking rtw award. A month ago, an agent has helped me to book an alaska leg in the booking (alaska is not a OW member but only a CX partner and cannot be booked in OW rtw ticket) but the ticketing rejected it after a few days.

Hey LchChester

Was a simple enough flight for the redemption- unlike your case where i guess they mixed up an Asiamiles award with a OneWorld award.

Mine was a simple enough flight LA2605 (operated and marketed by LAN Peru) - the first agent initially insisted 'Only LAN Chile is allowed'...
something similar earlier with MH (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...tion-mh-2.html Post#29)

[Ignore] Were you trying to book a OneWorld Explorer ticket, that AS does not participate in? Perhaps the agent messed up as AS is allowed on Global Explorer tickets. [/Ignore]

Havent got the e-ticket yet - will report back in case there are any issues. Others' experience seems to suggest that my routing should not have any issues.

Hi,

What is the difference between LAN Peru and LAN Chile? (hope this is not a very dumb question)

So do you mean that it is not really a codeshare flight?

I was just trying to book a redemption ticket that includes CX AA ans AS (because the first agent told me that I can whien I was trying to figure out the routing to YVR) which eventually have to booked in two seperate tickets

I think i find the answer for LAN

But isnt affililate of the airline also allow for redemption?

Yes it is! hence my bewilderment at the first agent...no such issues on the second call.

Infact I dont even know hoe to differentiate, given the only flight number shown was LAxxxx rather than LPxxxx

jagmeets, congratulations on redeeming the award.

i've redeemed around 7 OW multi-carrier flights so far, including 4 to South America. i agree that it's very important to do your homework before calling (checking all the award availability, including signing up for LANPASS/BA Exec Club to access their systems) - the MPC staff don't encounter South American cities that frequently and the calls really take a long time!

but these OW M-C awards are such good value. i'm working on one to Bolivia right now .... a slight headache just thinking about it. i'm waiting for AA availability right now.

congrats again!

Ahh Bolivia..I am actually not stopping over in Lima - its a transit point for a separate ticket for Venezuela/Bolivia (revenue, via LAN SA airpass or OW Visit South America). availability for those was a &!$#

I have my own minor headache, to get on a LPB(-VVI)-LIM flight that LAN seems to be selling or not selling depending on whether the HSI was up or down...

OT: read the news about the issues LATAM's having with the government there? ('did not file to renew their permission'!!??)

Homework: While many criticize KVS Tool for just skimming websites (vs the direct GDS access that expertflyer has), I have been quite happy with it for a few years now -

Despite pushing MPC to issue the tickets immediately, tickets had not been issued yesterday

LAN cancelled the 4 sectors o/n.
('we pushed into the queue, and LAN had a 2 day deadline for issuance, dont know why they cancelled')

Availability for 3 of 4 was not an issue and MPC has reinstated those, but one of the sectors is now available only in coach. I've told MPC flatly that this was their problem, lets see how it plays out- keep you folks posted.
Anyone else have a similar experience? Sny tips much appreciated!

The flights are way into the future and given LAN's record with schedule and other changes, i expect more fun along the way

Interim update:

Not resolved yet, but CX/MPC does seem to be trying hard and keeping me posted (had called and sent in a polite yet firm email that elicited a response from a high-up sounding ranked person).

They've issued the ticket with the problematic segment in coach for now, so that LAN does not cancel the other sectors that they had managed to get back.
(I got concerned when i saw ticket numbers on the LAN site for the downgraded booking, thinking that CX was just trying to stuff that down my throat).

Seems to be requiring coordination with LAN via CX US.

They are also exploring alternative routings that would fit our overall itinerary (get GRU-LAX somehow since LIM is just a transit point), with a promise 'if the miles required are more, we will still charge you the same'.

So I wouldn't really call it a code-share FLT, since Lan Peru does not market the FLT itself. Lan Peru (and several others, see http://www.oneworld.com/member-airli...ne-affiliates/) are all affiliates of LAN.

(Hopefully) The final update on this:

Tickets issued with the original itinerary, with Taxes etc working to HKD 837 pp.

(Taxes lesser than originally quoted..and comparing with the same itin on LAN's website, seems to be the "DOMESTIC TRANSPORT TAX (MIA-7,5%) (US)" and some other minor item not being charged. I am not complaining! especially as LAN is charging USD 700 as fuel fine for the same itinerary!)

Over the past week, had a very helpful MPC agent (Thanks, Mr. L!) clearly spending a fair bit of discussing with LAN/looking up options.

MPC first issued 'interim' tickets to ensure that the confirmed segments were not cancelled by LAN. Then, they took, economy seats on a similaly scheduled flight - when
LAN removed the original GRU-LIM flight from schedules and told the MPC that the original flight was no longer operating, and since tickets had not been issued before it was cancelled, there was nothing they could do. The flight re-appeared a couple of days back, and (I guess) MPC kept arguing with LAN, while looking up alternative routing options for me. Seats released today finally and tickets issued immediately.

While I do foresee issues down the line (flights are well into the future, and I think LAN is quite notorious for playing with its schedules), I sleep a lot more comfortable now, having ticket numbers in hand - ones that are correctly reflected on LAN's site as well.

Oh and while I have no clue what the likes of SQ would have done for their elites in a similar situation, I am *very* happy with the MPC having spent time and effort liasing with LAN for me stuff like this makes me value MPC a lot!