Whose Ticket is This? DL or AF?
 

So I'm currently at LAX attempting to check in for LAX-CDG, which is not going as planned...

When I booked the ticket (through airfrance.us), I had selected 4A for LAX-CDG (on AF69). Fast forward to last night, I go online to check in, and instead of 4A, it now shows ** were the seat assignment would me. Since calling the AF CS line here in the US is answered by DL, I skyped the AF CS line for Metropolitan France. On the phone with them, they said that they couldn't touch the ticket because it was actually issued on 006 stock and not 057 (even though it was purchased through the AF website), and therefore advised me that I should check in early at LAX.

Now, I go to check-in and find that the agents are unable to access the ticket because DL still has control of it. After many minutes of calling around the TA told me that "Business is full and even though you had a seat, it was released last night so they are working on re-accommodation."

So, the question is, is this a DL issue or an AF issue?

If it's really 004- stock, that's not DL; DL would be 006-. In fact, 004 is BV = Blue Panorama Airlines. Could you be flying them? Did AF email the ticket number to you or can you find it on their website? You could try to call DL and ask if they can find the ticket or a PNR for you in their system. A call to them might fix the problem and allow the ticket to be released. Could there have been a schedule change with the resulting need for a ticket reissue which didn't happen?

I'd try going to the Saudia Airlines website and try to find the ticket number. It sounds crazy, but their website works amazingly well for most tickets.

What happens when you look up the AF PNR, which I assume you know as the ticket was purchased on the AF website? What other airlines/airports are on the ticket? Was this the first segment? Are there any DL segments on the ticket/PNR? If not, it shouldn't have been issued on DL ticket stock.

My mistake, I meant to hit 6 instead of 4, thank you for catching that. My planned itinerary is LAX-CDG//CDG-TLS//TLS-AMS-JFK-LAX, and this is the first segment. When I bring up the ticket on Saudia, it shows the legs on the itinerary out of sequence such that JFK-LAX is first, followed by CDG-TLS, then LAX-CDG and TLS-AMS, so perhaps that could be the reason.

Sounds like the classic AF/DL/KL seat shuffle. You purchased the ticket and selected the seat on AF, but since the ticket was issue 006, it did not "stick" and in reality you had no seat assignment. If you had chosen your seat on af.com after purchasing the ticket, then you should have been fine since it is an AF flight.

When you called AF though, it was no longer a 006/057 question but "airport control" which is why AF couldn't do anything. Delta LAX already had control of the ticket. You would have been better off talking to Delta at this point as they had control.

Go back and for all segments not yet under airport control, choose all DL seats on Delta.com, AF seats on AF.com and KL seats on KL.com and all will be fine.

That sounds like quite a glitch. Are all of the dates correct and do they exactly match the reservation?

Maybe DL didn't release the ticket to AF because it isn't yet within 30 hours or so of the JFK-LAX flight or becasue that flight is operated by DL. Having that flight listed first might be the reason it was ticketed on DL stock.

It's too bad you didn't notice earlier the DL ticket number or the strange order that your flights are listed. Then you could have insisted that either DL or AF fix it before you tried to do OLCI. Whenever there's an OLCI problem, my instinct is not to accept the advice to just go to the airport early without at least understanding why OLCI won't work for me. IME airport agents usually try reissuing the ticket to see whether that solves the problem, but most of them don't know what to do next other than wait for their help line to save the day.

I suspect you need to call DL to have them fix the ticket, which will probably require a supervisor.

Yeah, all of the dates match each segment so the itinerary is completely out of order.

I'm tempted to go over to T5 right now and have DL dealing with it, but if I do that, then I effectively give up on trying to make the flight.

Also, as a non-status on DL passenger, I was given some sort of crazy wait time last night, so I bailed on that and called AF (where I do have status).

Is your Club 2000 helping? And if you're determined to make the flight, that means you're willing to sit in coach from LAX to CDG? Yikes! I would not be happy about that.

Without status, trying to see DL agents in person at LAX could be a long wait. It's too bad DL and AF aren't co-located.

Surprisingly enough, my Club 2000 card allowed me into the SkyPriority check-in line, while merely having a C reservation didn't. As it stands right now, they agents were forced to restrict the flight to the gate as boarding is nearly complete, which leaves with with a few different options to play with: TN for LAX-CDG, AM for LAX-MEX-CDG, UA for LAX-LHR (then BA LHR-CDG), LH for LAX-FRA-CDG. However, the DL agent that they were on the phone with was insisting that I fly LAX-ATL (redeye), then ATL-CDG or LAX-DTW-CDG or LAX-JFK-CDG.

Does DL have a daytime flight out to CDG? And what is the likelihood that DL will send me on OAL?

As for the co-location, it's better now because at least it's only a 15 minute walk from TBIT to T5 because before AF and KL were in T2.

The pains of not having status with DL.

Recently in IROPs I was told that DL's new policy no longer permits rerouting through Europe to Asia, so I would think the same would be true in reverse, in that you can't fly through Asia from LAX to Europe.

I know BA has a daytime flight to LHR from JFK, but I'm not aware of any DL daytime flights to Europe.

I know that for me as a DM, rebooking onto SkyTeam (or I assume VS/VA because of the JVs) doesn't seem to be a problem. On my ICN mess-up, DL couldn't get me there the same day through NRT (using KE from NRT to ICN) in business class. I rejected SEA the next day because I had deliberately paid more to connect through DTW instead of SEA. The automatic system booked me on a horrible schedule with a late evening flight to LAX and then an early morning departure on KE. With negotiaion, I got a routing using the KE A380 nonstop from JFK that departs around midnight. I had the impression that DL was more willing to put me on OAL if discounted business class was available on the flights.

If you don't really need to be in Paris ASAP, I'd think tomorrow's LAX-CDG nonstop would be the most restful. You'd need to get yourself a LAX hotel that's willing to grant a late checkout. If that doesn't work, how about VS nonstop to LHR and then on to Paris?

It sounds like DL is determining how you can be rebooked rather than AF controlling the process, which I suspect is not good news for you since DL will see you as "just" a partner SkyTeam ElitePlus.

Well it looks like AF wants to send me down to MEX and then onwards to CDG, but I think the flight they had suggested I take is already boarding and I don't think I would be able to make it. I was supposed to attend various functions at this year's Paris Air Show, starting tomorrow, but I'll have to reschedule those. How is DL for domestic redeyes?

This sounds like a nightmare. Sorry.

Not sure what you mean precisely by "daytime " but DL has a couple of flights out of CVG around 1600hrs each day.

Eh, it's kind of the reason why I left DL for supposedly greener pastures (read: UA), but work forces SkyTeam. I was wondering if there was a 9am departure from JFK, which would me only 1 redeye, then the TATL during the day.

AM has some nice new aircraft with good seats, including the 787.

ADDED: Good luck and please let us know what happens.

I will certainly let you know what happens.

This sounds a lot like what happened with my AF IROPs two months ago. When I left for the airport my ticket was totally broken and I was on the phone for an hour with five agents to get it fixed!!

OTOH, I can recommend the AM 787 to CDG. I flew it last year in Y and was very pleased.