Cheetah_SA

As this is a huge gripe of mine, let me be the first to snitch:

In South Africa BA and CX will only issue if they are the first intercontinental carrier. The AA GSA will only issue if the transatlantic leg is on AA. In effect none is prepared to honour the OW promise. And this is not hearsay, I have had these responses personally from each carrier.

Viajero

Many thanks, this news is most welcome; it should put to rest one or two myths flying around, but more importantly it should provide a solid base for our future dealings with airlines that see this issue differently, at least at the agent level.

The offer to follow up is great. Much appreciated.

boar

Many thanks, this news is most welcome; it should put to rest one or two myths flying around, but more importantly it should provide a solid base for our future dealings with airlines that see this issue differently, at least at the agent level.


Does this really help. Over the years I have had numerous airlines refuse to reissue tickets where the rules state that any member of the alliance is obliged to reissue the ticket. This equally applies to Star Alliance. Lan and BA are the worst culprits within OW. LAN often refuse to obey the rules. Several times in Santiago I have had to visit to Qantas to resolve a basic issue. I recently rang BA's RTW no in the US to be told that the fares desk will not facilitate the reissue of any One World ticket which was not originally issued by BA.

Unfortunately it's often their way or the highway and there is no recourse for the customer. Great tickets but very poor customer support.

Viajero

Not today, but maybe we could be on the road to a solution. OW's response provides two positives:

1. Up till now the current 'wisdom' here was that the airlines had the right to refuse to issue tickets that did not include a particular airline, flight, or order of segments. Now we know that 'rule' or 'right' is false, so next time we are told by airline to go take a jump we just might try to push it a little further. And when pushing gets us nowhere we have the second positive:

2. OW has offered, if given the details, to take the matter up with the airline involved.

So yes, I do agree that it probably will not help at all right now, but at the same time I feel optimistic that things could improve in the long run.

Kiwi Flyer

I've split this discussion off from the questions for oneworld4u thread, so as to make this important issue more visible and keep the discussion coherent.

link to Viajero's original post asking the question
link to oneworld4u's original post with the answer

Kiwi Flyer
OW moderator

Bukhara

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Gardyloo

Having met and chatted with the CPT AAgent last week, I don't think they're especially overwhelmed by all this. They queue the PNRs to Dublin for pricing, and if some "thou shalt not..." is forthcoming, it's not CPT that's making the call. They're just the messenger and none of us is interested in punishing messengers. Frankly I doubt the clout that OW will have in telling member airlines to get their acts together in the selling of RTWs in out-stations. I can't see this being too high on the list of priorities of Messrs. Walsh and Arpey et al.

There's rules and there's life. Having some BA station person tell you that your bags can't be through-tagged to a Oneworld partner can be a source of (a) impotent rage at them ignoring a OW and BA rule, or (b) a knowing nod and acceptance of that's the way things are. Sort of like advance seat selection with Iberia.

I'm not saying we shouldn't lobby for consistent application of the product rules, but who's going to volunteer to be the hero that gets IB to issue a DONE5 in Joburg? Or Malev in Tel Aviv? Not me, pal.

Guy Betsy

Yes, oneworld airlines SHOULD be bookable through any oneworld carrier.

The word is SHOULD. But they can also refuse for any variety of reasons they see fit. And what are you gonna do about it? Complain to who?

Each airline will always see to it that they get the maximum revenue for each RTW booking they do and they would prefer to do it if they are either the first carrier, or first over the water carrier (ie Pacific or Atlantic).

If you go to a TA and ask them to issue on say CX document, the TA can only send the itinerary for pricing to CX. If CX refuses, then they have to go with the first international carrier. Unfortunately the word "should" normally doesn't apply to TAs. Its not their fault when airlines just refuse to do what is necessary.

boar

Knowing the department which handles fares queries in the US, I would be surprised if they deliberately flouted any rules under the OW Proposition. They frequenty, and often frustratingly, go strictly by the book. If you held a paper ticket, it's quite possible that they simply did not have sufficient information to do a recalculation. If a ticket has not been issued by BA (or if BA has not yet lifted any coupons), they may not be able to see any fare and tax information. Itineraries can often get very convoluted and when you are in a remote office location with no access to the document itself, it can be nigh on impossible working out what flights have been used. In these circumstances, it is sensible to refer you to the issuing carrier as they should have up to date information.

That's exactly what I did. I rang Qantas who always seem in my experience to handle RTW issues better than their partners. The lady at BA told me their fares desk refuses to reissue these tickets. As I was also getting a Biz RWT reissued at the same time I thought they might be more helpful. Of course she could be wrong but recent experiences with BA have been alarming to put it midly. Their entire ticketing process in South Africa is akin to a poor 3rd world airline - mind you at the rate the UK is collapsing that's probably not an unfair description.

I do hope this One World dept will actually make some headway. Alas I agree with Guy that there is absolutely no recourse.

rwhite

I read elsewhere that AA will not let you book BA TATL flights, only AA flights. Can they do this? (I know they can do anything they want, but is it within the rules?) What is the workaround for this? Wanting to do a AONE with a LHR-LAX segment on BA metal. Any help?

THANKS.^
Ryan

EDIT: FURTHER THOUGHTS
My first Int'l sector is on CX (AA Codeshare to HKG). Do they have a RTW desk in the US? Is a AA Codeshare Trans-Pac along with Transcon AA US flight and back enough to get AA to ticket without needing AA TATL flight? I suppose I could ticket with BA, but would then be subject to the fuel surcharges, right?

Sorry for the rambling... it's late and been a long day. Thanks.

Guy Betsy

Book it as an AA flight first. After ticket issue, then change it to BA. Airline or date changes do not need to be reissued as long as the routing stays the same. (in theory).

DownUnderFlyer

Not only in theory. This is quite real.

Steve M

In my recent experience, this is not the case, at least with the US-based AA RTW desk phone agents. I booked an AONE3 with the first segment being a BA transatlantic flight and they had no problem with it at all. My transpac flight was on AA, but this was by choice so I didn't get to find out what they'd say if neither transpac nor transalt flights were on AA.

But this would work only if the transatlantic routing involved a city that both BA and AA served - otherwise, you'd need to add or drop a connecting segment, and this would require a reissue.

It was in my experience. Keeping the city pairs the same, but changing the carrier, was reservable without needing a ticket reissue. There was slight confusion at the airport as the ticket was not for the carrier I was flying and had not been endorsed to them (I was using an e-ticket), but it didn't need to be. Once a supervisor got involved, all was fine.

Guy Betsy

AA/BA - LHR-JFK vv, LHR-LAX vv, LHR-DFW vv

christep

Lhr-ord, Lhr-bos, Lhr-mia

(Why is this software forcing my post into lower case?)