It seems strange to me that if you have thrashed out the routing details of the ticket with an agent (which I presume would cover fare calculation and taxes) that the ticket office would have so much trouble issuing the thing.
Is it something peculiar to AA? All of my owe's have been issued by BA or QF and so far they have been without problem. I've got a week before I need the ticket issued so I will try to book this with the AA rtw desk and then try getting AA in ARN to issue it remotely for collection at the airport. If I have problems with that then I think I will probably deal directly with BA in ARN.
Thanks again everyone for the input.
Is it something peculiar to AA? All of my owe's have been issued by BA or QF and so far they have been without problem. I've got a week before I need the ticket issued so I will try to book this with the AA rtw desk and then try getting AA in ARN to issue it remotely for collection at the airport. If I have problems with that then I think I will probably deal directly with BA in ARN.
Thanks again everyone for the input.
AA's RTW desk told me a few times that once the itineary is sent to the fare desk and is authorized by the fare desk, that itinerary and the fare computed is valid for 24 hours. If it is not ticketed, it will expire and has to go through the entire process of approval by the fare desk. (And within this time span, if there is a fare increase, it will be recalculated and get a 'new' price.)
The AA agents I talked to told me about this so I had my travel agent issue within that time limit.
The AA agents I talked to told me about this so I had my travel agent issue within that time limit.
Chiangi, it depends on what date is entered into the system by the reservation agent. That is why I said to make sure that it is far enough in the future not to have to go through that. But I found out the hard way that until ticketing is done, *any* change will cause the fare to go back to tariffs and be recalculated. In my case, it happened on my routing to DPS. CX has two flights a day, and I changed from the second to the first. Shouldn't (and didn't) change the base fare, but when it was sent to tariffs (without my knowing, even after I specifically asked them if it would be), I got a considerably less favorable exchange rate to the tune of about $200 more. I then ran into another problem with a res dropping out accidentally. I knew I was leaving at the end of June, and that it would be ticketed by then, so all the agents put the expiry date as July 1. When one of the agents made a change, she didn't put it as July 1, as any change to the record will reset the expiry to 24h. One day later, poof.
The ticketing of this trip was a comedy of errors, but it was like a comedy with Chevy Chase. A few laughs here and there, but generally it was just really painful to watch...
The ticketing of this trip was a comedy of errors, but it was like a comedy with Chevy Chase. A few laughs here and there, but generally it was just really painful to watch...
An update for anyone interested. Due to everchanging plans I did not get around to booking this until the 28th. I decided to call AA in Stockholm directly and see what they could do, given that they would probably know more about the airport situation and collecting tickets there.
The reservation agent took the details of my 20 segment itinerary and said she would call back. 45 minutes later she called to say that it was set up and ready for the airport to ticket. I mentioned that Sabre would probably have a problem printing the ticket, she checked and was impressed that I knew it would be an issue! (Thanks for the warning FTer's). She said she would call the airport to warn them of the potential problem.
I arrived at ARN at 11:00am, was at the AA ticket counter by 11:15. The agents had already issued my ticket and just needed to verify my ID for the credit card charge. There was lot's of joking about how their hands were hurting after writing out all the segments. Had some time before my 12:25 flight back to LHR, so checked out the Finnair lounge (very nice) and wrote this message.
All in all, smooth as silk.
Also related, I had to get an owe reissued by BA at LHR before I caught my flight to ARN. I had called BA yesterday to ask them what the best way was to do it. They said to just turn up at the airport 1 hour before the flight and the ticket desk would be able to do it. I was surprised and stressed that it involved a more complicated routing and would definitely require a reissue. No problem, "our staff are very well trained".
Arrived 1.5 hours before and the ticket agent was surprisingly calm, but said that it was pushing it (my thoughts exactly!). 45 minutes later it was all done. Probably helped that I had the routing already printed out and most of the segments were open. The shock came when she said that in addition to the $75 reissue fee I would also have to pay a GBP25 BA ticketing fee!!! New BA policy apparently. Didn't have time to argue but will follow it up later.
Anyway kudos to Julie at BA for getting it done efficiently and not being flustered by my request.
[This message has been edited by mgm (edited 08-29-2001).]
The reservation agent took the details of my 20 segment itinerary and said she would call back. 45 minutes later she called to say that it was set up and ready for the airport to ticket. I mentioned that Sabre would probably have a problem printing the ticket, she checked and was impressed that I knew it would be an issue! (Thanks for the warning FTer's). She said she would call the airport to warn them of the potential problem.
I arrived at ARN at 11:00am, was at the AA ticket counter by 11:15. The agents had already issued my ticket and just needed to verify my ID for the credit card charge. There was lot's of joking about how their hands were hurting after writing out all the segments. Had some time before my 12:25 flight back to LHR, so checked out the Finnair lounge (very nice) and wrote this message.
All in all, smooth as silk.
Also related, I had to get an owe reissued by BA at LHR before I caught my flight to ARN. I had called BA yesterday to ask them what the best way was to do it. They said to just turn up at the airport 1 hour before the flight and the ticket desk would be able to do it. I was surprised and stressed that it involved a more complicated routing and would definitely require a reissue. No problem, "our staff are very well trained".
Arrived 1.5 hours before and the ticket agent was surprisingly calm, but said that it was pushing it (my thoughts exactly!). 45 minutes later it was all done. Probably helped that I had the routing already printed out and most of the segments were open. The shock came when she said that in addition to the $75 reissue fee I would also have to pay a GBP25 BA ticketing fee!!! New BA policy apparently. Didn't have time to argue but will follow it up later.
Anyway kudos to Julie at BA for getting it done efficiently and not being flustered by my request.
[This message has been edited by mgm (edited 08-29-2001).]