NW/UA differences in reservation changes
 

I've had two recent experiences with changing tickets that are interesting. The first was with NW -- I was flying ONT-LGW/GVA-ONT in March/April. After making the reservation, NW cancelled the MSP-LGW flight on my day of travel (military call up of the plane). They initially routed me through DTW with a long layover -- I called and switched my flight to the day before -- no charge. And although this was on a paper ticket because of the GVA-AMS flight, I did not have to have the ticket reissued -- they just noted the change in the record.

Now, with UA -- I bought a full fare Y ticket on the UA www site for flights on Thai Airways (a Star partner) taking advantage of the great NW fare to BKK and flying on to Lampang and Chiang Mai. I was FedExed a paper ticket (no charge for the delivery, but there was no rush -- I can't see why they couldn't have mailed it with a delivery confirmation).

A few days later I needed to change the ticket, the new reservation was actually $5 cheaper. I called UA and asked if they could just record the change and I would deal with it when I got to Bangkok. No -- I needed to bring the ticket to a UA office and have it reissued. Not a big deal, I live near ONT and visited between some UA flights.

Maybe the ticket had to be reissued because it was on Thai, but this just seems like a way to inconvenience the customer and cost the airline extra money.

Oh well -- my trip is set and I am going to spend two nights at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center with the elephants.
tom

That's right on the target. Airlines have to be more careful when they issue tickets on other airlines. Something documented on one airline's reservation system, say UA, may not necessarily appear on another airline's reservation, say TG.

- Pat