While I'm on hold...
 

So far 44 minutes on an int'l call to the plat line, trying to book some award tickets. I already have dates, times, and flight numbers from the WPAA site (BTW, what is with those annoying popops there?). 44 minutes and she can't get it to "price". Finally she says there is a problem with my AMS-BCN leg coming back and she has to connect me to the Elite line (!). She gives me my conf # but had to waitlist me for the last leg and says please hold.

While I'm holding (11 mins so far this time) I punch in the conf# she gave me to pull up the itin.

They're all the wrong dates.

SERENITY NOW!


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-alan in sitges, home of Si-Do

...had a similar experience with CO in the middle of an award reservation... re-routed to the WRONG city on the WRONG date.

So, there we were in Honolulu looking for internet connectivity to actually SEE the reservation.

Unless I see it I don't trust it!
...lesson learned!

It's too bad, too.
You'll probably hold forever and have to CALL AGAIN for some reason too!

Good Luck...

OK -- I can learn something here... I thought you could book award reservations online now...if this is true, why are you calling the Plat line?

There's obviously something I am missing and don't know... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

alanw,

Have you tried this link to book award reservations:

http://usr.v7.com/wpaa/

I have never had a "Quick" conversation with the Plat Elite line about an award reservation either, but if you can book it in advance, then it will be faster when you call them if you need to be waitlisted or need additional assistance.

Good Luck!

RC

Similar experience.

Few weeks ago in a morning I booked two WBC award tickets BOS-MSP-NRT-PVG via elite line for the upcoming Christmas holiday season. Everything seemed fine. However, when I checked the reservation on www, I was shocked to realize that NW agent mistakenly arranged us a 27-hour layover in MSP.

I know Minneapolis is a nice city, there is a big MALL. But I don't want to stay there for a night so I called elite line again to fix the problem. Fortunately this occured less than 24 hours before the initial call, or we could get hit by a $50 changing fee???

RC, I can't book online because for some reason, itins with BCN-AMS segs don't show up there. If I want to travel to or from BCN, it means a call.


Update: this went on for another hour (total call time: 1:46), without me ever talking to the "elite" line. Things must have changed a dozen times. Finally here is what she told me she had booked:

• BCN-AMS-DTW-MSP standard in Y, waitlisted in F/C. This is because of no availability in C BCN-AMS. Like I care. See rant in this forum.
• MSP-AMS-BCN rulebusted in C.

With this, the agent told me her shift was over an hour ago and that if there was a problem I can just redeposit the miles since I'm plat. Also if I found something better on the Web (she was talking about WPAA) to just call back buhbye.

Here is the itin from nwa.com:

• Friday, Aug 29 NW 773 DTW-MSP in F
• Friday, Aug 29 NW 773 DTW-MSP in Y
• Friday, Aug 29 KL 1672 BCN-AMS in (?)
• Friday, Aug 29 NW 47 AMS-DTW in Y
• Wed, Sept 3 KL 6042 MSP-AMS in (?)
• Thur, Sept 4 KL 1671 AMS-BCN in (?)

Yes, I am confirmed in both Y and F on the same flight DTW-MSP. The rest don't show a COS because presumably they are waitlisted. I have no idea.

Now I have to make another $150 phone call and pray this gets fixed. As it stands right now I'm not even sure I have flights.




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-alan in sitges, home of Si-Do

alan... e-mail me and lets see if there is anything i can do from my end to help you avoid another call like that. Isn't that what FT friends are for?

I found "D" standard biz awards on aug 29, BCN-AMS, flight KLM1674 connecting with AMS-MSP, flight NWA0041

[This message has been edited by thezipper (edited 08-17-2003).]

This is just one more reason to love FlyerTalk. A mere few hours after his post, thezipper got my info, called the plat line, and managed to get me confirmed in J MSP-BCN and in Y BCN-MSP with a double waitlist for J BCN-MSP on two consecutive days. All in slightly more than 30 minutes.

All hail the mighty zipper!

Though he won't be at Si-Do, rest assured we'll supply a fitting tribute on the Lame-O® WebCam.

-alan in sitges, home of Si-Do

[This message has been edited by alanw (edited 08-17-2003).]

Way to go Zip man

So, do u think the AMS->MSP segment will clear the waitlist by itself, or will u need BCN->MSP to clear as well?

It's one of the other segments... over water is fine...

Well, alanw looks like you're also defecting... have fun on UA! Enjoy the Star Alliance! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

IP... if thezipper has anything to do with it, it's definately NOT *A or UA http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

A quick followup, as I know you all have been waiting on pins and needles to find out what happened. Thanks for being patient and not flooding this thread with requests for info.

Miracles happen. I believe it now. thezipper has been going round and round with NW about waitlists clearing, not clearing, being allowed, not being allowed, etc. but today I noticed that one of my flights that had previously been confirmed had lost its "seats and flight details" link. So in exasperation I called the plat line.

This time I got someone whom I believe to be competent. Completely humorless, but competent. She told me (1) that the KL segs I was waitlisted for would never clear and (2) they were not supposed to WL KL segs for this reason - KL doesn't allow waitlisting NW awards!

However, she started poking around in the system and within just a couple of minutes she was able to get me confirmed in WBC with a standard award BCN-AMS-DTW-MSP and MSP-EWR-AMS-BCN. I can hardly believe it but it's right there in black and white - I am confirmed! Woo hoo!

A super-big thank you to thezipper for all his work - he truly represents the best of the spirit of FT.

As far as the hooey re: waitlists on KL segs: is it true? Who knows? I'm sure there's an adage about WP agents and answers fitting on the head of a pin someplace.



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-alan in sitges, home of Si-Do

Vegas Agent, You can book award seats on the internet, but most code-shares do not show up. I have never been able to get anything past amsterdam to show up, so I think the KLM flights are affected also. It would be nice if everything you could book with miles would show up, but it is mostly NW metal that shows up so you have to talk to a person that can find the flights you can find on other internet sites (like CO.com) but where you can not use your WP miles.

I have been able to get travel past AMS to show up. What I cannot get to show up online is any flight that doesn't have a matching NW flight #.

I've also found that WPAA lister won't list these flights either.

For example KUL->AMS (non-stop)

the web site still has a long ways to go before it can even begin to replace an expensive call to Chisolm...

I've never once had the website show me an award RT on Continental that wasn't a rule buster.

Maybe I just look at all the wrong routes... Out of PDX it's pretty dismal on CO according to the NW website.

If you go to a KLM ticket office (if they have one in Barcelona), they'll probably be able to process it for you instead of having to pay for an international call.

It depends on the route, but I've been able to find standard award availability for CO flights at nwa.com from time to time; most of the time there is no standard award avail and only rule buster, but on some trans-atlantics and some CO-x flights I've not had any problems finding availability on nwa.com.

Despite finding it at nwa.com, I've never been able to book one online as I always get an error message of some type. When I call the WP desk, no problem booking the same schedule I found on nwa.com.

Speaking of PDX, I'm on an upcoming CO flight to/from PDX and it seems the loads are quite high. On my return, the only thing available at a decent fare was via EWR (all IAH flights were heavily booked at lower fares a few weeks in advance).

Best,

SDF_Traveler

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

.... and for what I just helped alan do, I think I deserve a double hail... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

alan, there better be a FULL trip report and pics! (after Si-Do of course)

[This message has been edited by thezipper (edited 08-26-2003).]

This really deserves its own post, but in the interest of keeping the forum free from clutter I will do it here...

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY ZIPPER ANOTHER TIME!!!!!!!

Why, you ask? WHY? WHY?

I'll tell you why! Because thezipper and his eagle eyes just happened to notice that I'm coming back from MSP via EWR on September 3. September 3. Does that date ring a bell for anyone? It sure does me. Evidently it does for NW as well because they were nice enough to release a standard business award seat on

Date: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 03
Flight Number: NW0054
Departs: DETROIT, MI (DTW), 03SEP at 705P
Arrives: AMSTERDAM, (AMS), 03SEP at 900A
Class: D
Seats: 2H
Meal Service: Dinner
Equipment: 333


And I am ON IT! In your FACE DC-10!

I'm about to pee my pants.

Edited to add: This was done in realtime with the help of FTer JWright over MSN Messenger, with him posing as me.

Also edited to add: I'm on the first 330 flight! Neener neener!


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-alan in sitges, home of Si-Do

[This message has been edited by alanw (edited 08-26-2003).]

hate to rain on your parade alanw, but the first A330 flight was yesterday.
however, looking forward to your trip report http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

yea... but he gets to ride it alot quicker than you or me... also, when alan called alst week to get "things in order" they said no dice (even for rulebuster) on his return. Today, just on a fluke, I ran WPAA for his flights and it showed availability and he called and was able to book it... as a standard biz award no less!

And so the world turns............ http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cool.gif

[This message has been edited by jimc_usa (edited 08-27-2003).]

With regard to the "waitlist" on KLM for a business class seat, I pulled the following from a letter that I wrote to Northwest in Dec., 1998. I am not sure that anything has changed:

I made reservations in August for my family to use award tickets to accompany me to Europe. There was great difficulty in finding seats on the KLM segments, and as a result we needed to take a 5:30am flight (KLM 1692) from Lisbon to Amsterdam on Monday, 30 November. Even then, we could only get confirmed Business Class seats for two people. My daughter was placed on a “waiting list” for a Business Class seat. Several times before 30 Nov. I asked Northwest customer service agents about the status of this segment, but was told that she was still wait listed, and there was nothing more that could be done until the flight.
When we arrived at the Lisbon airport, I asked the KLM agent at the check-in counter about the status of the wait list for my daughter. She said that there was no wait list, and my daughter has a coach class seat. After much fruitless discussion, I asked to speak with a supervisor, and was told that she would be at the gate. When I explained the problem to the KLM supervisor, she said that her ticket shows a Coach Class seat, and that is that. When I asked her why every other segment of my daughter’s ticket (there were six segments) was in either First Class or Business, she said that “maybe I did not have enough miles” for the entire trip in Business. Further discussion appeared pointless. We then boarded the plane, and were surprised to find that of the 17 Business Class seats, the only two that were occupied were by us! We spoke with the lead Flight Attendant, who was extremely kind and allowed us all to sit together in Business.
The main point of my writing this narrative is to suggest that in the future you not use the term “wait list” for Business Class on KLM flights, when KLM personnel insist that no such list exists. The subsequent refusal of KLM personnel to be accommodating is clearly out of your hands.

I received some boilerplate response from Northwest thanking me for sharing this with them...

Hey Alan - here is a tel# for WP in AMS - it connects directly with WP... may save some $$$ - 00 31 20 555 9900

Last I used it was in April, but it worked then.

Good Luck!!

Mark

Thanks mdb! Today I tracked down the number for FD in Madrid and was astounded at how quickly they answered and how willing they were to help me choose seats for tomorrow's flight.

Of course every seat he told me I had is something else online...



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-alan in sitges, home of Si-Do

Nothing has changed - just ran the same drill on Jan 5 2004