Starnet blocking on Continental?
 

Granted I'm not on here nearly as often as I'd like to be, and perhaps missed something important, but here's what just happened. Feedback welcome.

LAX-ZRH 12/12/11 showed I5 in ExpertFlyer. When I called CO Plat desk to book, the agent said he showed zero business class seats available. I triple confirmed the flight number, date and route with him, and also asked if CO's back end had merged with United yet (he said it hadn't).

What's going on here? I've always been able to book *A partners through CO with availability exactly as found on ExpertFlyer and the ANA tool.

I thought ExpertFlyer showed LX and LH availability as well as Miles & More availability, so it could be showing seats only available to M&M members.

Did you check ANA for the flight? If it doesn't show up there then it fits my above scenario.

+1

What he said. ExpertFlyer does not show accurate LX availability to partners. The ANA tool is better for that.

Interesting- I'll check that out.

But why would "availability to partners" be any different than general availability. Does M&M give more availability to its own members?

maybe I'm missing something. I don't see LH on EF awards tab. I would also be shocked to see CO *blocking.

Exactly. LX and LH F availability is much more open to M&M members. The same way that only SQ members can book SQ's new J & F seats.

Got it. Thanks to all for your replies and helping me solve this puzzle.

And let's hope your last bit about SQ becomes untrue sooner than later...

What's also interesting is that there are some partners that show availability on continental.com, but CO says they are not permitted to book them. For example, SAS flights marketed as SK, but operated by CRJ-200 equipment (Cimber Air...similar to ExpressJet with CO) are not permitted for award redemption. That makes no sense. If continental.com says it is bookable, why do the res agents say otherwise? Anyone else had similar experiences?

CO is notorious for not keeping up to date with partner regional carriers and acceptable flight number ranges.

Easiest workaround at the moment is to book using UA miles.

The strange thing is that it shows up on continental.com, perhaps I should book it on continental.com to prove it to them and then ask them to insert it into my existing reservation. CO is making it harder on their agents this way, but oh well!

If you don't have a reservation, the way to do it is to hold what you see, then have them add what you can't on top of it. Or more easily, transfer miles to UA and book with them.

If you already have a reservation, it will be impossible for them to merge the flights from both records. It may also jeopardize the partner space you are seeking (if you hold/book it and then release it, there's a chance it may not go back to inventory immediately, if at all).

Your best shot will probably be to PM UA Insider. He is probably the only person in the organization you can contact who is empowered to get this addressed. Otherwise, any request from an agent will go into some black hole. :D