jagmeets

Psychiatrist

Yes. Can add economy to a first class multi carrier award. Can add business to a first class multi carrier award. I've been able to do both in the last 12 months.

NetJets Germany

Could someone kindly tell me whether they think the following itineraries meet all the required criteria for an MCA? Aiming to fly the below for 210,000 miles in business class.

1) SIN(MH)-KUL//VIE(QR)-xDOH(QR)-oSIN(QR)-xDOH(QR)-oJFK(CX)-xHKG(CX)-oSIN//FRA(QR)-xDOH(QR)-SIN
...with first leg SIN-KUL in Y (Seemingly no availability in J) and flying JFK-HKG on CX865 which touches down in YVR en route to HKG; as it is one flight number, I presume I don't have to count the stop in YVR as part of my total of seven combined stop-overs and transits?
Total miles around 33,417, if I am not mistaken?

2) SIN(CX)-HKG//VIE(QR)-xDOH(QR)-oSIN(QR)-xDOH(QR)-oJFK(CX)-xHKG(CX)-oSIN//HEL(AY)-xBKK(CX)-SIN
Total miles 33,903 or thereabouts?

G-CIVC

Both OK assuming agents let you count transits as stopovers (they should but they may not)
I believe it is possible to check the mileage requirement on AM's website now
Edit: believe you won't even need to count an 'o' for SIN before FRA/HEL.

rocket69

You saying the agents are generally ok with counting transits as stopovers? What are the chances of agents accepting this??

Psychiatrist

If you have unused stopovers, they can be used for transits if you have already used up the 2 transit limit.

Point it out to the agent if you get asked.

Taxes will most likely be higher for stopover than transit, which can be a big difference e.g. LHR.

Note that the opposite does not apply - an unused transit (<24 hours) cannot be used for a stopover (>24 hours).

ernestnywang

So when there are choices, go with the ones that have a small difference (or no difference) between transit and stopover tax, e. g., US airports.

rocket69

If i understand you right. Let's say i have used up my transits but still have stopovers. I could for example still do the HKG-DOH-LHR and it will be calculated as HKG-oDOH-oLHR instead of HKG-xDOH-oLHR. Is that correct?

christep

Yes, correct. But you may need to escalate or try multiple agents to make that happen.

NetJets Germany

So, I have managed to book the following for myself and the better half in business:

HKG-oKUL(KA)-xDOH(QR)-OSL(QR)//SIN-xDOH(QR)-MIA//KUL-oDOH(QR)-oBRU(QR)-oHEL(AY)-oKUL(AY)-HKG(KA)

For 210k miles and around HKD4,700 = USD600 in taxes and fees per pax. That part I am very happy with! ^

Now the troublesome bit:

We want to take our infant daughter on all of these trips, and let me tell you, it really wasn't easy to get her separate infant tickets for all of the required sectors. The good news is, I managed to get there in the end (At least for QR). Here is how:

1. QR's hotline in Doha said (Twice, through different agents) that a) they cannot sell infant tickets that are linked to award bookings (And that apparently even holds true for award bookings made through their own program, the Privilege Club) and b) as the MCA was issued by CX, they would have to sell me the infant ticket. I cannot say that the agents were very polite or appearing to try and make it work either, they seemed to have been programmed to say "Not possible" and leave it at that.

2. So I called the MPC DM hotline in HK next, who told me to call CX Reservations, as the latter were the ones able to process revenue tickets. I spent the next 2h on the phone to a very helpful chap who said that my gripe was far from being an uncommon one, as other pax have reported problems before having infant tickets issued by QR that are tied to adult's award bookings through CX. QR were still the ones responsible for issuing the award ticket, but they are usually "unhelpful" about these things, so the CX agent told me we would just have to chip away at it and stay perseverant until we got what we wanted from them. My CX agent spent the next 1h45m on the phone to various QR agents in DOH, while I was put on hold. Once, after an hour, he told me that he had found a QR agent who had indeed confirmed that he could issue the infant tickets for me, but by the time my agent had passed on the joyful news to me, said QR agent had hung up on my CX agent. Oh, well! My CX agent continue to talk to people at QR in DOH, but no-one would offer to sell us a ticket; apparently one of them had even gone quite rude on him. Hence he suggested that - in his experience - other airlines' agents at outstations were often better trained when it came to such requests, and that we should try calling the QR HKG team after the Easter holiday break. That was fine by me and I thanked him for his efforts.

3. A few minutes later, however, I decided to give it one last shot for the night: I had read online that someone else had been successful getting their infant ticket issued and attached to an AA award booking by calling the US QR hotline (+1 877 777 2827), whose call centre is based in Fort Lauderdale, FL. I dialled the number and was dismayed to hear from the first agent that they could not help with my request. I had had, however, made a tactical mistake, by telling the agent in advance that her colleagues in DOH had also refused me. So I HUACA'ed, feigned ignorance and simply stated to the next agent that CX had advised me what had to be done, i.e. issue individual QR infant bookings that would have to be linked to my CX award booking. That agent pretty much interrupted me, saying that this was "too complicated" for her, but that she would put me through to her supervisor. A minute later I was talking to my would-be saviour: A very polite and patient gentleman who heard me out, said "This should be possible", worked some magic in the background for 10 minutes and then came back to me to say that he had created four different infant bookings, which would cost USDxxx all in, and that he would only need to send an email to DOH to get permission to issue those tickets. When I heard that last bit I recoiled inwardly, but I put on a brave face and said "Of course!". The supervisor further noted that - seeing as I was in Asia, and it in the middle of my night by then - he would call me back around an hour before he would clock off for that day, so that I could get some sleep. He also took my email address to be sure to have all of my contact details. I thanked him and we ended our call. Five hours later, as promised, I received a phone call from QR in the US. Lo and behold, here was the first agent talking to me, the one who had originally said "No can do", but this time she was sweet as pie and confirmed that her supervisor had sorted it out and that we could now issue the tickets, for which she took my credit card details. 15mins later and we were done with everything, including email confirmations, emailed e-tickets for the infant tickets, and infant e-tickets linked to my award ticket on the CX manage my booking site!

So, to recap, for everyone who will be finding themselves in a similar situation to me:

1. Yes, it is QR who has to issue the infant ticket.
2. Calling the QR office in DOH will not likely yield much success. Try an outstation instead. I found the US office very helpful, even though it took two attempts to find a person who knew how to make it all happen.
3. Persevere! You have the correct information, so remain firm yet polite, and you should eventually get there in the end.

Now I only have to figure out how to get the same magic happen for the two sectors on AY... Keep your fingers crossed for me, please!

jagmeets

NetJets Germany

Certainly:
1. KUL-DOH-OSL
2. SIN-DOH-MIA
As the time spent in DOH was less than 24h on both occasions, the infant ticket could be issued as one from origin to destination.

3. KUL-DOH
4. DOH-BRU
And here the time spent in DOH was >24h, hence it counted as a stopover, and two separate infant tickets were issued accordingly.

NetJets Germany

So, in continuation of my earlier post, today I went about getting our daughter added to the two AY segments in our MCA.

Seeing as calling an outstation had worked well for me in the case of QR, I first tried to give AY in HKG a ring, only to find that their line was constantly engaged. After multiple attempts over half an hour, I called their number in Singapore instead (+65 6701 6906). I was surprised to talk to an agent who seemed to have a (very thick) Eastern European accent, but aside from the strong accent his English was very good. Unfortunately, initially he, too, tried to tell me that - as my award ticket had been issued by CX - it was CX who would also have to sell me the infant ticket. With my newly gained knowledge and confidence, I politely but firmly told him that this was incorrect, and that it was, in fact, AY who were the ones holding the powers to issue said ticket. I cited my recent experience with CX and QR, and after two minutes of hesitant pushback, the agent actually said something along the lines of "Okay, allow me to put you on hold while I talk to our back office about this". Ten minutes later he said that he had still not found the answer, but that he would continue to look into the matter for me and call me back later in the day once he had got the relevant information internally. About 1.5 hours later, out of the blue, I received an email from Finnair with the infant tickets generated for both sectors in question. They were free of charge! Half an hour after that, my mobile phone rang, with an unknown number from London calling me; it turned out to be my "SIN"-based agent, who was actually sitting in Europe. He confirmed that the tickets had been issued and that he would send them to me via email shortly; a couple of minutes later, I therefore received my second email from Finnair which contained the infant tickets. The agent helpfully also suggested that I should print off the email and bring it along for check-in, as - while there should not be any problem - it could do no harm and might help clear up any misunderstandings if the system was not showing our daughter's ticket as attached to our own. ^

In summary, the take-away for myself has been pretty much the same as I mentioned earlier with regards to QR:

1. The operating airline is the one who can issue the infant ticket for you.
2. Many agents that you talk to over the phone may not have been trained to know this, so a lot of them will erroneously tell you that CX is the responsible party. If that happens, first try to enlighten them, and if they remain stubborn, hang up and call again, if necessary, at a different outstation.
3. The outstations may have more experience in servicing such requests than head-office. Even there, you may have to try multiple times until you find something who will support you in your quest and either have the tickets issued themselves or escalate the matter internally.
4. Never give up! You are in the right, and it can be done!

ernestnywang

Wow, this was not expected. I wasn't able to find AY's HELKUL route (when is it operated?), but for a BRUHELSIN business class ticket, infant ticket is not free.

Maybe AY's interpretation of "10% of the fare" is that when the fare is 0, the infant ticket should be free.

NetJets Germany

Oh, I'm sorry: The long-haul AY flight is actually HEL-SIN, I must have overlooked that when I composed my initial post.

And yes, I was positively surprised by the fact that no payment at all was required for the infant ticket. Another poster in an AY thread had stated the same. It appears that AY's policy is to not charge anything for the infant ticket if it is coupled with an adult award ticket, even if the award ticket was not issued by Finnair itself.