Just phoned AA EXP to make a reservation and was asked if I wanted my KLM reservation for the following day cancelled? I found it odd they should know of this reservation as there was no connection between the two. She said she found quite a few 'duplicate' reservations and proceeded to quote various flights on other airlines for the next 45 days. Mind you none of them are duplicates or even conflict. Short turn arounds yes, and I will likely change one or two, but all are ticketed and all are feasible. She then strongly encouraged me to make some changes as "the airlines do not like this situation".

I'm rather surprised that the airlines have access to all my travel arrangements.

I am also a bit dismayed that the EXP desk took it upon themselves to strong arm me into modifying my travel plans based upon some sort of flagging system they have instituted.

Are airlines allowed to disclose the personal contract information they have with me to other companies?

How many others have had similar experiences?


[This message has been edited by fuzzywzzy (edited 09-16-2002).]

Did you buy the KLM ticket through American?

No. Totally separate bookings purchased directly through each of the respective airlines.

Whoa.. that's a little freaky.

Bizarre. Do they have the authority to change your KLM reservations? Did you do the KLM through SABRE?

My agency booked them. Not sure what they used. Actually, the KLM was booked through NW and is an 012 ticket.

American used to own the "Sabre" reservation system and it appears they still have full access. This system is extensively used by other airlines and travel agents. Also, with Orbitz.com now in business, I suspect there is even more information sharing going on than ever before.

what does this mean for back to back ticketing using two different airlines??

and how did they know the KLM reservation was you, since your AA FF# wouldn't have been in it?

weird!

[This message has been edited by gleff (edited 09-16-2002).]

oh sir...i see from your travel record that you went to dentist last week...you purchased groceries last night, and you graduated from college...isn't our new system wonderful...we have all your data right here at our fingertips...lets just check your credit history......

Could it be that your agent entered you AA# for the KLM ticket. Still does not explain how AA got hold of your KLM ticket unless both tickets used SABRE, and SABRE flagged it for AA. You should ask your travel agent and see if he/she can find an explanation.

That's pretty impressive. Not necessarily in a good way.

d

You got it. Scary. A supermarket tried to use evidence of someone's alcohol purchases made using the frequent shopper card when he/she slipped and fell in the store and sued.

Back to the travel issue, its possible that your travel agent has a profile for you that has all of your FF#s in it, and every PNR created will have this info. Also every reservation made by the same CRS (such as Sabre or Apollo) will be very easily cross-referenced.

Hard to believe. Sabre/AA/Travelocity travel records share the same central GDS processors, but I assumed that they kept data segregated. In the old days, an airline was only notified of passenger records in which they had an interest, that being, at least one segment was booked on that airline. So, in theory, if a Sabre travel agent booked NW space, a passenger record existed in the Sabre system and the NW res system. I always assumed that AA airline staff could not look at traveler records booked by Sabre that might only have space on their competitors. I do have some familiarity with the Worldspan GDS(NW, Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, and some small carriers) and I know that there is no sharing of Worldspan agency passenger records with NW unless there is NW or (sometimes) KL space. Things get curiouser and curiouser...

There MAY be a feasible explanation of this. If you did the tix through an agency, the agency MAY have played around with your destination city in order to get a cheaper fare (assuming that you are not on cheapie).

Here is a hypothetical situation:

You are flying from ORD to LHR and then to Amsterdam, perhaps on short notice. Let's say the cheapest available fare on AA was $1400 RT ORD-LHR-AMS, and the RT LHR-AMS-LHR is another $300. Your agent may have played around with the MPM and gotten you a fare of lets say $1200 to combine both and do the LHR-AMS-LHR on KLM as part of your fare (within the MPM) on AA (making AMS the destination and hence getting you a cheaper all together fare, even with the stopover, and perhaps even avoiding some 7 day restrictions, etc).

While the ticket in your hand or agency confirmations may not necessarily seem to link the two tickets easily, they very well could be linked between the two airlines. I would tend to think this as to my knowledge KLM uses Worldspan which isn't on the Sabre "platform".

Not freaky, but frightening !