mnredfox

EF notified me of O openings. AF.us shows it available at the right level. Called DL and they are saying it is not available. Then once again I get the STD lecture that what I see is for FB members, not DL members and that the DL available differs as AF releases a "subset" of O/X to DL for SM redemption.

Is this true or more DL hogwash?

3Cforme

ExpertFlyer Voice has confirmed that AF/KL use point of sale restrictions on award inventory. In effect, a segment may be available for ticketing in France but not the U.S.

akcae

Time for CS rep roulette. Hang up, call again.

mnredfox

So would this also explain why sometimes I see discrepancies between EF and airfrance.us? Would the AF.fr site show something different?

MilesTalk

I know you are permitted one open jaw and one stopover on an award.

However, needing to go to Europe in summer, it was not possible to find award space in and out of the same city ;-) So I booked JFK-IST and MAD-JFK. Given that I got JFK-IST on a Friday night, I'm pleased enough and I'll make my way to MAD to get home.

That said, I'm used to appending a domestic segment on a RT award. In this situation, I already have a JFK-LAS segment from a previous Europe award and would like LAS-JFK (in January). Should I be able to technically add that on? Or does the fact that my RT is already an open jaw preclude that. I did call last night night and the agent said it would be extra miles. I'm somewhat confident she was right, but until I hear it from my fellow FTers, I won't fully trust an agent ;-)

3Cforme

Delta rules preclude this. United permits the 'double open jaw,' effectively two one-ways on round-trip pricing, but Delta does not.

mtkeller

And AA treats everything as one-ways when it comes to awards (but will put more than one on a single ticket), which is where the tacked on domestic one-way usually comes up since they only allow stopovers at North American gateways.

MilesTalk

Makes sense. So if my routing was JFK-IST-JFK, could I have tacked LAS-JFK on then end as an open jaw? Or would that still not work because the open jaw would be to/from the same city?

JFK-TLV-JFK (many months in between) -LAS definitely worked ;-)

3Cforme

That could work.

origin-destination-origin fits the industry definition as a round-trip

origin-destination
open jaw
new city-origin can work

origin-destination
destination on to an alternate origin can work

Specific city pairs are subject to zone rules, routing rules and all the rest.

mtkeller is, of course, correct in citing the relevant AA rule to extend my contrast. (As a lapsed AA Plat I shouldn't have ignored that.)

trupper999

I must be not getting something in this DL award game. Their award search calendar is buggy, that's fine and I understand. But what about actual awards?
If found on AF, DL has the same inventory, right?

3Cforme

Not exactly. See post #1127.

trupper999

I've seen that. That doesn't exactly answers the question.
If I have AF/KL account that is registered in US with 100k miles and can ticket a business award, doesn't it mean that it's ticketed in US?

3Cforme

It could be. It might not be. I'm not familiar with point-of-sale limitations as utilized by Flying Blue for redemptions on AF/KL.

It may be telling that ExpertFlyer solicits Purchasing City in its fare search screens but not in the award search screens.

Let's hope ExpertFlyer Voice returns to this thread. EF has the resources to research POS issues for SkyMiles redemptions.

trupper999

That makes sense. One day it will all be easy... I guess it's just too much to wish, I do anyway.

broncob

I am also having this issue with LAX-PPT AF award tickets. The inventory is there, for FB elites, but no one else it seems. Come on EF please help us with a work around-other than CS roulette.
It does seem odd that AF asks about city of purchase for a purchase, but not an award, yet still has this POS restriction on award seats.