LAN availability / SCL interchange time
 

Got a bit of a surprise today. ExpertFlyer says LAN has 4 seats inventory in both A and D class for SYD-SCL on the days I want to travel, but as soon as I committed to book it, both BA and LAN say there is zero availability, thereby completely screwing my RTW plans. Anyone else hit this and know how to work through it? Looks as though I'll have to fork out big money to buy SYD-SCL as this is now a gap in a crowded RTW itinerary...

Also:
on SYD-SCL-GRU there seems to be one hour connection time in SCL. This looks very tight. Anyone had experience with this route? Should I be pessimistic and book SCL-GRU 24 hours later and have a day in Santiago?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

1. Remember that you need to cross the pacific ocean on your RTW ticket, otherwise it's not a valid ticket and won't be issued. There could be an option to have transoceanic surface segment if you start from SWP, though (didn't check the rules but I am sure you have..)

2. Why worry about the "tight" connection if it's legal, if you cannot make it LA will protect you and get you a hotel in SCL if needed? For the rest (like possibly missed hotel reservation in GRU) there's a thing called travel insurance. SCL is quite efficient airport and 1hour is more than enough for the transit including a bit of lounge time if your inbound flight is on time.

Correct about the transoceanic surface.

Ouch. Sounds as though I am totally screwed. Do you think I could book transpacific in economy with my AONE4 and upgrade in cash to J?

You can definitely book in economy if there's L availability on the date you want to travel. No compensation will be offered in ticket price, however, and with A/DONEx ticket you're sure giving away a lot, most likely the longest sector on your ticket but if you need to travel on a certain date, that might be your best shot.

I don't know if LA offers the option for cash upgrades ex-SYD (or in general, for that matter) but I am sure others will have more insight. There's always the option to confirm L at ticketing and check if D/A becomes available closer to your travel date.

It is not offered or permitted in the rules. It could be offered by LAN itself at the airport, however, that I don't know. I doubt, however, that LAN will consider L as a valid upgrade platform (I realize you paid A, but you'd be flying L and that is what LAN will get for that segment).

Is there no possibility you could route SYD-xLAX-SCL? or SYD-EZE?

The good news is that LAN has a great on-time record. I had a 1 hour connection @ SCL 2 days ago and it was just fine, and had a 1:30 connection a few days' prior and had at least 1/2 hour lounge time.

Also check AKL-SCL availability -- sometimes it is different than SYD-SCL. Though it would be pretty wierd to fly SYD-SCL in L with empty F seats and then AKL-SCL in A on the same plane -- but it can happen. Otherwise your only other option would be to fly SYD-PPT on a separate ticket and then PPT-SCL on LA (which does count as a pacific ocean crossing).

Very helpful suggestions from everyone as usual! However, I still seem screwed by availability ... they don't even have any L inventory on this route. Aargh. It does seem very strange that I can't pay them for one sector where there is no availability...

Meanwhile the ExpertFlyer help desk has shown me that if I search on LA specifically, rather than OneWorld, I get accurate results. This is a tip for others too (although it looks like a bug to me). I tried again now, and on one date the availability is now consistent but on another, search on oneWorld vs LA does generate different A class results.

It looks like a bug to many but EF isn't inclined to look at things that way. This issue of EF reports giving one set of information when searching on airline X and another when searching on a wider filter (that includes the same airline) has been present on EF for as long as I can remember.

Have you tried the QF codeshare?

Well, apparently xLAX adds North America so this would mean upgrading from AONE4 to AONE5. And SYD-EXE appears to go via SCL anyway. Unless I've missed something?

Yes, xLAX adds NA but since you did not post your itinerary I had no way of knowing it was not a part of your AONE. Going from AONE4 to AONE5 is likely to be cheaper than buying extra flights so it is just one more option.

SYD-EZE is a new direct flight that QF will start in Nov. Again, without details of your travel plan this is probably not applicable to you but it was offered as a possible solution.

Not on this route they don't. It is often hours late. On really bad days they simply drop AKL-SYD-AKL tag legs to make up 12 hours worth of delay. Fine if you are doing AKL-SCL (or SCL-SYD as plenty of QF flights to switch to). Not so good for SYD-SCL as no guarantee you can get to AKL on QF in time, depending on when LA decides to cancel the trans-tasman flights.

That said - I haven't been paying as close attention to reliability on this flight. Maybe it is better this year. Last year it was fairly bad.

Second that. Just yesterday some dates I was looking at had no availability in first or business SYD-SCL but had A4 and D4 for AKL-SCL on the same dates.

Availability differed between LA and QF so be sure to check both.

I was very puzzled about this for months (the longer flight is more profitable, so you would think that would get commercial preference), until I determined that LA had made some service commitments to NZ, so some number of seats are reserved for NZ origin and not sold through to Oz. Making this check much more important than normal (and given the travel patterns of NZlanders outside of FT, much more availability ex-AKL than ex-SYD).

The codeshare arrangement seems to require a minimum allocation of seats for QF. I think this has an impact as they don't seem to release seats to or from codeshare provisions (in either direction) until close to departure. It isn't uncommon for one airline to be sold out while the other airline has sold hardly any of their seats in a given cabin.

Some availability has turned up on the QF codeshare ... but I thought we couldn't use a codeshare when booking on a AONEx ticket? At least that's what BA told me once. Maybe if the codeshare is on another oneWorld's metal that is OK...?

Anyone done QF-codeshare-LA on a xONEx perhaps?

Codeshares operated by OW members are definitely ok.

The FlyerTalk community succeeds again - fractured circumnavigation now repaired.

Following your ideas I discovered that QF had A availability on LA metal on one of several days when LA had none in A D or L. And the tip for looking at AKL instead of SYD is also worth storing up as there was some additional inventory that way too.

Thanks for the help everyone!

Glad we could be of help SP0. Enjoy your trip.