Fare class availbility and code shares
Nov 21, 2003 | 6:11 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Woodstock, GA USA
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Delta DM & 1MM, Hertz and Avis President's Circle
Posts: 907
Fare class availbility and code shares
This may have been posted before (did a quick search but no results) but I believe this to be important.
While trying to use a TCV (credit voucher) on NW, I was unable to get the same fare as the web site. On my first attempt, I figured that Q class had sold out while I was on hold and settled with booking an alternate destination (London).
Looking at the web site again this morning, I found that the fare to my original destination (Paris) had reappeared. I called NW phone rez. Agent there couldn't come close to matching web sites fares, even using same routing. He kept muttering how he couldn't match web fares, etc. Discouraged (and facing fact that wife didn't want to go back through London again), I started researching the issue. Thanks to itn.net, I was able to find the problem.
It seems that NW will allocate fare availability differently based on code share. Example, NW flight 56, MSP-AMS showed zero seats in Q. KLM flight 6056 (operated by NW) showed 7 seats in Q.
I called back and got a better agent. Once I pointed out the discrepancy, she was able to pull up the fare I wanted using the KLM flight numbers.
Moral of the story: use your web resources to your advantage. To look at fare classes on itn.net, you have to register (free) and modify your account to show expert features.
I'm glad I perservered and got what I wanted. Although KLM bookings are handled by NW in the U.S., it appears that they are buried somewhere way down on the terminal screen (based on agent's comments), so knowing what's out there enabled me to help her find the right stuff.
A footnote of sorts: although the muttering agent was correct in that he couldn't match the web fares, in this case it wasn't because of a web fare (like V class) but because the web sites search algorithm found the true lowest fare. If he had tried a little harder, he probably would have noticed that KLM had different availability than NW.
While trying to use a TCV (credit voucher) on NW, I was unable to get the same fare as the web site. On my first attempt, I figured that Q class had sold out while I was on hold and settled with booking an alternate destination (London).
Looking at the web site again this morning, I found that the fare to my original destination (Paris) had reappeared. I called NW phone rez. Agent there couldn't come close to matching web sites fares, even using same routing. He kept muttering how he couldn't match web fares, etc. Discouraged (and facing fact that wife didn't want to go back through London again), I started researching the issue. Thanks to itn.net, I was able to find the problem.
It seems that NW will allocate fare availability differently based on code share. Example, NW flight 56, MSP-AMS showed zero seats in Q. KLM flight 6056 (operated by NW) showed 7 seats in Q.
I called back and got a better agent. Once I pointed out the discrepancy, she was able to pull up the fare I wanted using the KLM flight numbers.
Moral of the story: use your web resources to your advantage. To look at fare classes on itn.net, you have to register (free) and modify your account to show expert features.
I'm glad I perservered and got what I wanted. Although KLM bookings are handled by NW in the U.S., it appears that they are buried somewhere way down on the terminal screen (based on agent's comments), so knowing what's out there enabled me to help her find the right stuff.
A footnote of sorts: although the muttering agent was correct in that he couldn't match the web fares, in this case it wasn't because of a web fare (like V class) but because the web sites search algorithm found the true lowest fare. If he had tried a little harder, he probably would have noticed that KLM had different availability than NW.
Nov 25, 2003 | 12:53 am
#2
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: SF
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Posts: 1,334
What's the good word mister George P. Burdell?
THWUGA!!
THWUGA!!