2 flights become 1 -- segment problem?
 

Hi. I just received a schedule change where two flights from BWI to GRR (1135 and 1501) have been changed to 1135 as a one-stop.
I thought this means it will now be considered 1 segment instead of 2. Problem is, this is the last NWA flight I was planning to take this year, which, if true, would leave me at 29 segments instead of 30.

I tried to call for schedule change but it's under an hour so got the drill that I'd have to pay change fee and difference in price. The agent, after checking with supervisor, also said the one-stop 1135 would still be 2 segments. If this is true, there's no problem. But I'm doubtful (seems I've been through this before, though it could've been before I cared about segments and that I got 537 miles for a BWI-GRR one-stop instead of the expected 1000).

Can anyone shed light before I get back on the phone? Thanks.

I wouldn't believe that for a minute.

But it's only August - surely one has more opportunities for elite qualification before year-end.

It's really sad when the reservation agents will say whatever you want to hear just to get you off the phone, even when it's completely false. I would write to TTU on this one.

This spring I had a connection changed to a "direct flight." When I took the flight, however, it posted as if it were two segments. It was a good thing it did as had it posted as one segment I would have sent TTU an email asking for a refund on the passenger facility charge. :)

Booking early -- it's last of 3 flights planned for the fall.

So consensus is that it will be 1 segment?

I'd say it almost definitely will post as 1 segment, though humanoid94's experience may prove otherwise. But, a TTU after the flights post to your account explaining that you booked the flight as a connection (and paid the add'l fees that go with it), a schedule change made it a direct flight, and that change will result in your inability to retain status. Then kindly request credit for the original ticketed and paid itinerary (and your argument can be bolstered more if/when you get stuck with an "unscheduled" aircraft change in DTW).

Looked in my agency computer and see that NW1135 is a direct flight stopping in DTW rather than a connecting flight. I suspect it will register as one segment. A direct flight can make multiple stops and still be one flight number. BWI 918am arr DTW 1056am dep 1229pm arr GRR 116pm. You would get same miles as it were two flight numbers but probably one segment gain.

Wow. :eek:
Check here, then strap on your Gold Elite flame-suit & be prepared to get an education on 'minimum milage'. OP's original itinerary would have scored 1000 base EQM/RDM and 2 segments for the one-way.

OP might look into snagging a standby seat on an earlier-departing (and different-numbered) flight.

To the OP - you can have the reservation agent break out the itinerary into two segments manually. They are very reluctant to do this. I recently was booked on NW 209 BOS-DTW-SEA (DTW-SEA wound up cancelling though). I could not, for the life of me, get any agent on the phone or at the airport to break out the flight into two segments. Many people on the board have reported success.

If it's broken out into two segments (regardless of whether it's the same flight number), it will post as two segments in your account and you would earn 1000 miles (500+500) instead of 528 (BWI-GRR mileage).

Also, FYI, if you booked it on the website as a multi-city itinerary, you could also earn two segments and 500+500 miles. I know it was a schedule change that has caused this problem though.

My recommendation...call NWA and beg & plead for them to break it out. Keep calling back if they keep saying no. You will hopefully eventually get someone who will help you.

-RM

Good suggestion. Thanks. The extra 400 miles or so would be gravy, but all I really care about is segment no. 30!

Thanks again all.

Tell them you're not interested in going "direct" since you paid extra for a connection since you need the segments. They should put you on a connection.

Be pleasant, but firm. Best bet would be to find another pair of flights that does it with a connection around the same time.

At least ask them for a refund on some of your taxes and facility charges. It should be like 10 dollars cheaper as a direct flight instead of a connection.

through flights
 

If it is a through flight now I bet it won't stay that way for more than a month or two. Just my experience. Years ago I used to hunt for through flights for travel with an elderly relative. Almost none of them panned out. Even when the flight number stayed the same we were usually hit with an unscheduled equipment change. I was almost always credited with separate segments.

No doubt about it, it WILL post as 1 segment. Just went back through my records:


15SEP2005 NW 0525 NW 0525 T/T DCA - LAS 2,089 1 2,089

Note the * 1 * segment on this direct flight. To boot it has been well documented that if there is not R class available on both flights in the same seat you will not get upgraded. Welcome to the fun.

The above flight was actually DCA-MEM; MEM-LAS

I was just denied that request (maybe I didn't push hard enough). I was told that would require a re-issue, which would require a $50 fee, blah blah blah. I then said, ok, cancel the reservation and I'll rebook, but then got denied with the 60-minute rule (first time I'd ever heard that rule actually invoked), and my outbound change had only been pushed back by about 40 minutes.

I'm sure I could have fought it more, but the agent was nice and the $4.50 per ticket didn't matter that much. Granted, that fee is supposed to go DTW, paid by NW, right? So now NW doesn't have to pay it. Oh well.

The fact that you are hit with an equipment change has nothing to do with the fact that it's still a "direct" flight. Direct flight only means that a particular flight has the same flight number from destination a to z (with potentially many scheduled stops in between -- e.g. a milk run SEA-BOI-BZN-FAR-MSP).

NW and most other carriers are notorious for direct flights that still require equipment changes. You won't know until you get to the connection city whether you are changing equipment.

The "direct" flight problem comes in when you talk about mileage & segment posting.

-RM

UPDATE: 2 flights become 1 become 2?
 

I called WP service center and got nowhere with agent so asked to speak with supervisor. I tried to explain situation (that I'd never have booked that flight if I'd know it'd become direct flight and needed 30th segment) and was getting nowhere -- lots of talk about NW not having to do anything because switch was under an hour. And I'm like, but, but, but, but ... I remember him eventually saying something like "work with me here" and finally I mentioned discrepancy in taxes and refund -- at which he suddenly said I had 2 flights.

OK, maybe I do. How do I know? I didn't get anything via email about change. Is there any way to tell from looking at flight info at nwa.com. I'm not particularly worried about not eventually getting 2nd segment (by writing to TTU afterward if it posts as 1), but I kind of hate the idea of losing upgrade potential given all the hassle.

same thing happened to me LAS-LGA
 

I had the exact same thing happen to me... I have a flight from LAS to LGA through MSP. When I booked, it had 2 different flight numbers. Now both segments have the same flight number. I called the plat line and they said that it still shows as 2 segments, and on nwa.com it looks like 2 segments as well. I even have 2 different seats for the segments! So, I think if you can pick 2 different seats, then it's truly booked as 2 segements?

Haha, success. :) Sounds like he needed you to give a "valid" reason and prompted the right one for you. Perhaps this should all go in our little book of tricks. ;)

Yes, take your PNR (the 6-character confirmation code) and your last name and plug them into nwa.com on the lower right-hand box. When you pull up your reservation, look for the portion of it that is between BWI-GRR. Make sure the flight numbers are different on the BWI-DTW(?) and DTW(?)-GRR segments. If they aren't, then it will still most likely post as one segment and you should probably call again, this time citing taxes and a refund, or simply having them rebook you on flights with different flight numbers. If this happens, perhaps it's best to just ask them to route you through MSP instead since you'd already gone through this process and it didn't work the first time. There are no "direct" flights from BWI-MSP-GRR, so you should be safe if you get that.

Keep calling, keep escalating, etc. Write a TTU if it doesn't work. It should be a simple change that they should be happy to do since you need the credit for re-qualification.

So, even if the flight shows up as two segments (same flight number) with different seats, it will be treated as one for upgrade purposes?

Exactly.

I did that and it's showing 1135 bwi-dtw and 1135 dtw-grr, but it seems as if it'd have to be that way. (All I had done was have the itinerary broken into two segments; I didn't change to a different connecting flight.) Are they supposed to give me a different flight number to get the second segment even though I'll still be on 1135? I'm confused.

No. I guess it was I that was confused as I thought you switched to another set of flights.

I guess if they still share the same flight number, I'm not sure I'd expect anything to change. I don't know what effect this "breaking" into two flights will have. If you stick with the itinerary as planned, let us know how it turns out.

This happened to me on United and that is exactly how it came out - even though the changed flight numbers made it appear as a direct flight - the fact that when it was originally booked it was 2 separate flight numbers made it wind up posting as separate segments.

Hope that is what works out for you!