harryhk

I own a licensed/registered TA in HK and it is not possible to merge PNRs

there could be a number of scenarios/combinations you could try to beat the system but it would still result in the same situation of having 2 separate tickets and you would still be at the mercy of the airline to check-through baggage and for some stupid reason they tend not to co-operate

dannyhk

This is true. But can't you add "passive" or "ghost" segments into a PNR, so that PNR also contains full details of any connecting flights you've booked under a separate PNR? I've had HK travel agents do this for me in the past, and the CX check-in agents would then proactively ask if I wanted my bags checked through to a (non CX, in fact non OW) connecting flight which they saw listed in the same PNR, even though it had been booked separately by me online, and was only listed as a "passive" segrment in the same PNR.

Of course, this was before the new rules came into force on June 1. And using "passive segments" to get all your flights listed in the same PNR may not fully satisfy Cathay's new all flights "must be booked in one single booking" requirement. But I think the idea has been mentioned in other Flyertalk threads on the new OW policy and, surely, its at least possible it would increase your chances of persuading a sympathetic check-in agent to check your bags through?

Would be great if anyone with first hand experience of trying this since June 1 could report back?

daniellam

This only works if the passive segments relate to another airline that is not hosted in Amadeus (regardless of alliance).

For example, you can add "passive" segments into a PNR with active CX segments for carriers such as JL (uses their own system), AA (hosted in Sabre), LA (I think they switched to Sabre), MH (uses their own system) etc to fool CX into thinking it is part of the same booking when it actually isn't.

However, you can't do the same with other carriers such as AY, BA, QF, QR, SQ, TG, BR etc (as they are hosted in Amadeus and CX's check-in system also based on Amadeus will ignore those segments).

As more and more carriers switch over to Amadeus (I doubt AA will), this trick will less likely work.

joma918

From Cathay Pacific website, beware no more through-check for booking under different reference within One-World. Within CX & KA not affected.

https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_...ts-update.html

percysmith

With the latest change of the oneworld through-check baggage requirements, we have further enhanced our through check-in service. Effective for travel on and after 1 June 2016, we can through-check your baggage to the final destination only if your journey is on one ticket or booked in one single booking, unless you are connecting between Cathay Pacific Group operated flights.

I think any time you tell FTers you've "enhanced" something, there's a mad scramble to figure out what exactly you've taken away. We understand airline doublespeak.

gpia

Do these people laugh out loud as they hit the send button, about how they can be so bluntly disrespecting the intelligence of essentially everyone? And not only get away with it, but also get paid?

Maybe it's the same guy that came up with the "get a free cookie if you buy a full fare round trip ticket in F (only for the first 2 applicants)"-sweepstakes.

sxc

It is actually hilarious that they have used the Enhancement word so blatantly.

gpia

Not sure if I want to laugh, cry, or just sit in awe and admire the chuzpe.

rocky_nnc

Hi Flyers...

I had a question regarding transfers...My wife would be flying alone and I had 2 different booking for CX , one with my Oneworld & the other with a partner .. PHL-ORD-HKG-MAA
PHL-ORD - AA
ORD-HKG - CX with Oneworld
HKG-MAA - CX with partner
The connection is at HKG , with just an hour of transfer time,I needed them to through checkin the luggage , i tried calling them and they told me to talk to the people at the counter on the day of travel , i am a little worried as my wife is not that a frequent traveler and if she would miss the connection...

Any pointers?

G-CIVC

CX to CX connection protected regardless of stock, so in case AA at PHL won't check all the way to MAA, CX at ORD will/can do it.
But the likelihood of the above is very low as AA continues to interline (and actually, protect. Kudos to them for this.)

ermen

From MH website - seems like they WILL interline across oneworld even on separate bookings (as discussed on another FT thread)

http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/e...n/counter.html

Will try it this weekend and see if it works


Separate ticket check-in requirements for oneworld multi-sector journey

Effective 1 June 2016, oneworld alliance members are not obligated to offer through check in services for passengers and their baggage to their final destination when they travel on separate tickets on separate bookings. This means that if you have chosen to purchase two or more separate tickets on separate bookings for travel with one or more oneworld carriers, you may have to check yourself and your baggage in again at the end of each sector.

Malaysia Airlines will however, continue to through check-in passengers and baggage to their final destination for travel on one or more oneworld carriers where travel begins with Malaysia Airlines, even if the sectors are ticketed separately on separate bookings. Please note that this may not be possible on your return journey if travel begins with another oneworld member airline that chooses to adhere to the new oneworld obligation.

percysmith

ermen: Noted the other FT thread a few days ago. This thread's wiki already says MH-MH OK.

ermen

i'm saying MH - OW is theoretically (at this stage) ok too - wiki is inaccurate based on the website anyway...

Malaysia Airlines will however, continue to through check-in passengers and baggage to their final destination for travel on one or more oneworld carriers where travel begins with Malaysia Airlines, even if the sectors are ticketed separately on separate bookings. Please note that this may not be possible on your return journey if travel begins with another oneworld member airline that chooses to adhere to the new oneworld obligation.

percysmith

Oh...

Wiki updated.

Assimilated Cajun

I sure wish I'd seen this thread before booking two separate PNRs for my recent trip from CGK through HKG to DFW-xxx.

For some reason it was $1000 more expensive to fly nonstop to the US from CGK than from HKG -- a dramatic change since a few months ago, when returning through Jakarta was the key to getting an $800 RT TPAC trip. So I booked an AA award on the CX midnight flight from CGK to HKG and then paid for a same-day HKG-DFW-xxx flight on AA. Made sure to print out both itineraries and my AA boarding passes from HKG onward.

I arrived at CGK about 10 pm and went to CX's Business Class check-in lounge -- pretty much the nicest place in the Jakarta airport -- only to learn that CX would check my bags only as far as Hong Kong. At first I was sure that the check-in agent must be mistaken, since I have checked bags on separate PNRs numerous times on Cathay and other airlines in the 20 or so years or so I've been flying between the US and southeast Asia. But she consulted a supervisor who showed me the new rule in writing. (The CX guidance essentially states that there's a new OW alliance "agreement" that OW carriers "will not" check bags through to fights on separate PNRs after 1 June 2016. It doesn't acknowledge that each airline remains free to check bags through if it wishes to provide this service.)

I asked the CX people in CGK -- as well as a couple of AA agents on the EXP line in the US to whom I made Skype calls -- if there might not be some way, just this once, to waive the new rule, since I hadn't been notified of it and because going through immigration and baggage claim in Hong Kong at 6 a.m. would mean being stuck outside with my luggage for five or six hours until the AA ticket counter opened. Was finally referred to a higher-ranking and more helpful CX official. He said he could not check the bags through to my final destination but would send a telex to AA in HKG requesting that they pick up my bags from CX and re-check them without my having to exit the transit area. He was pretty sure it would work.

The CX staff in HKG, who had also been notified of the issue, met me at the plane and escorted me to the CX lounge (The Pier). At 11:30 a.m., about five hours after my arrival, a CX customer service agent walked me to the AA transfer desk to try to seal the deal.

The AA agent at the transfer desk was easily the most unhelpful person in the whole saga. The discussion between her and my CX escort was all in Cantonese, but the AA agent's facial expressions and body language made clear that as far as she was concerned it was my problem. She addressed me once in English toward the beginning of the conversation: "May I ask, Sir, why you do not claim your bags yourself?" To which I answered that going through immigration, baggage claim, customs, check-in, and immigration again was something of an ordeal, and that AA's baggage personnel were in a far better position to handle this transaction quickly and easily than I was. Then lots more Cantonese discussion, with my CX advocate's invocation of the words "AA Emerald" only intensifying the disdain that was evident on the AA agent's face. Then the AA agent addressed me again: "I'm sorry, Sir, there is nothing we can do." I asked to speak to a supervisor. She called someone on the phone, argued in Cantonese with whoever it was, and then told me AA would try to find my bags but there were no guarantees, and that I'd have to wait by the transit desk for an hour or two while they worked on this. I asked why I couldn't just go to back to the lounge and wait. The CX agent endorsed this, they argued for a while more, the AA agent got back on the phone, and finally she told me, "You can go." She made no effort to mask her dissatisfaction with this outcome, and reminded me again that there was no guarantee AA would find my bags. But a few minutes later, back at The Pier, the CX staff told me my bags had been located and re-checked to my destination.

My initial impression when I learned of this new rule was that it was solution without a problem, caused entirely by CX's irrational inflexibility. On the way back to the lounge, however, the CX agent told me that the reason CX didn't like to interline bags with AA is that the AA personnel in HKG would not let passengers board their flight unless CX had retrieved and transferred their baggage, which sometimes did not happen due to short connection times. CX then had the obligation to put these passengers on its own flights with no compensation from AA. My respective experiences with the AA and CX personnel in HKG lend support to the suggestion that AA may be the culprit -- or, at worst, that CX may be exacting payback for AA's bad attitude.

Anyway, I've learned my lesson: never book an itinerary with two PNRs involving CX and AA through HKG. Next time I can't find a decent fare from my starting point to my ultimate destination I will either fly through NRT on JAL -- which one of the AA EXP agents said has a more customer-friendly policy on multiple PNRs -- or maybe try a two-leg award flight on SQ. And another lesson: AA needs different and better staff in HKG.