Questions for official oneworld representative, oneworld4u

Dear Oneworl4u

I don't know if you have seen this thread -

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...1#post10562182

Basically LAN has changed what it labels its cabins on almost all its flights within South America (except the few operated by 767s). Now it has economy class and premium economy class where previously it had economy and business class.

The problem has occured with people holding or purchasing First and Business class RTW and Circle Pacific products who have been downgraded from the original business class cabin to economy class.

There is a provision in the rules of these fares that passengers purchasing First Class fares where there is no first class cabin will be accomodated in business class and Business and First Class ticketholders will be accomodated in economy class if there is no business or first class cabin offered.

The whole gist of the rule seems to be that premium ticket holders will be accomodsted in the cabin they have paid for or the next lowest class if the class they paid for is not provided.

With the introduction of this new 2 class service within South America First and Business class ticket holders are not accomodated in the next lower class available but are being downgraded to economy class.

It seems to me that LAN should be accomodating First and Business class Ticket holders on Oneworld products with Premium Economy seating.

Are you able to look into this problem?

Thanks

Don't bother if you were planning on replying at some point as it has been dealt with in another post - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=884334

I fear that feeling passed after the first week when he saw that there might be some work involved. It's really quite sad that OneWorld don't "get" Flyertalk in the way that Starwood, BAEC (and perhaps others that I am not aware of) do. This was a classic case of "it would have been better not to start if you had no intention of following through".

Umm, no. There are pax (including me) on tickets other than xONEx who have been involuntarily downgraded from paid business class to regular (non-premium) economy. LAN is proving difficult to communicate with.

I for one, welcome any assistance that OW can give to the matter.

Actually, you're right. I'm travelling on a Global Explorer not an xONEx -I better go look and see if those rules have been changed as well.

Looking at the fare rules on Expertflyer -the change also applies to the Global Explorer product but not the Circle Pacific via SA. So the CircPac is the only Oneworld product where this remains an issue.

I thought that I had my ex-ICN DONE4 itinerary finalized for ticketing, but I got this response from the CX reservation desk in ICN:
"Oneworld e-tkt do not accept open segment for RJ AIR."

1. Expert Flyer shows D9 for CAI-xAMM-ATH for RJ508/RJ131 but neither AA nor CX could see this for 4/14 or 4/15 or 4/16 dates. In fact TWO seats are not available in either 'L' or 'D' for any of dates, according to both of them, with the problem being the CAI-AMM segment. Expert Flyer states otherwise.
2. So, I'd inquired in the Oneworld forum if there's a way around it and I was informed that I could keep these segements open-dated and that I could then call RJ and confirm the dates. [Thread here]
3. But the CX reservation agent claims the following:

"Oneworld e-tkt do not accept open segment for RJ AIR.

We need to input waitlist segment to issue the ticket,
but the response was always UC(that means even waitlist
not allowed)"

Am I SOL at this point and need to find alternative routes? I can choose CAI-LHR-ATH or CAI-MAD-ATH but both of these involve a lot of travel time and the CAI-LHR-ATH will also incur additional taxes...

So get it issued on a paper ticket. If CX won't do it then use AA (cheaper anyway).

Perhaps this thread can be renamed "The Thread for Rhetorical Questions"

Does anyone know when (or if) MX will officially be an OW carrier?

FedUp2: Bringing any airline on board any alliance is a complex project - lots of systems to connect, procedures to put in place and employees to train. In the case of Mexicana, it is in the process of switching its main IT platform, so it makes sense for most of the oneworld IT connections to be put in place once that move is completed. Generally, oneworld only confirms a recruit's joining date once near final testing and auditing has been completed - and that obviously comes very late in the overall project plan. So all we are saying at this stage is that it will board some time during 2009. Happy travelling.

Does this mean we cannot earn any status or destination miles at the moment for any flights within Mexico on any carrier within oneworld?

AFAIK MX has some partnership arrangements with various airlines. For those FFPs you could earn redeemable miles, but not status miles.

AA members can use the AA code shares with MX (which seem to be all flights from MEX to JFK and LAX and 3 of 4 to ORD - 3 of 6 to MIA). There are QF code shares MEX-LAX. Of course AA metal flies to a fair number of other Mexican destinations from DFW with even the occasional regional flight from MIA and even TPA.

My complaint at the moment is that those MX codeshares are ineligible for xONEx ticketing. I think that the other OW FF programs are going to have to wait for full membership of MX.

Fred

If one flies on MX metal with a QF or AA code-share label, is the flight eligible for any OW status or bonus mileage (i.e. status bonus, NOT class bonus)?