newK2

I have an award ticket from GlobalPass to Quito in late Feb. I wanted to extend the return so I could do a full week Galapagos cruise. TACA isn't showing any D seats for biz on the dates I want or for weeks after that.

One strategy might be to take any date in the future that has D space then go to the airport day I want to travel to see if I can get on. I am willing to risk a few days this way but could not get stuck for longer. I am also willing to sit in Y (there is no confirmable Y space either but the flights show space for revenue on TACA.com) for the return if it will get me home. Does anyone have experience with this type of situation and what the response of TACA was.

Any and all input appreciated.

many thanks

NewK2

craz

I dont have the answer to your question, However when I was leaving UIO in 12/05 with afriend we were in Biz on free GP tkts. We werent allowed into the Club and when the person in the Club called down stairs I was told that I was on an Upgrade and Upgraded setas arent allowed into the Club. I tried to expalin that D didnt ONLY mean an Upgrade from Coach but also a Free Biz tkt. I got no where with them.

So too if your flight isnt COMFIRMED then you might have to wait till they in fact have a Free seat be it in Biz or Coach.

I would call TACA and if they say you can stand-by make sure that its PUT onto your PNR, otherwise Id assume they wont let you fly.

Keep in mind that you have to fly UIO-GYE-SJO-then to the US. Those flights to/from GYE have been either pretty empty or full, when I flew them 8 times back in Dec. So if the flighst arent on the empty side, Id keep to what you have Confirmed already and leave the Gal for another time.

AAaLot

In the past I have seen them been flexible for this.

They might charge you $25-$100 per ticket at the airport for this.

NickB

At UIO check-in last December, we were similarly told that lounge access was not available for upgraded tickets. However, when we insisted that we were on full miles award rather than upgraded tickets, she consulted her colleague and eventually gave us invitations for the lounge. You are probably better off trying to sort it out and get invitations at check-in, where it will be easier for the agent to see that your ticket is a full-blown award rather than an upgrade, rather than walk up to the lounge and hope to get it sorted there. Similarly, at LIM, the lounge agent originally denied us entry on the ground that upgraded tickets were not eligible but let us in when we insisted that these were not upgrades but business award tickets.

SFO_FT

When checking for award space, make sure that they check for space on a segment-by-segment basis, instead of looking at the full origin-destination. Sometimes, award space will show avail if the agent books each segment separately (but on the same reservation of course).