AA - NEW procedures on changes to booking inv CX
 

OK, a few days ago I called AA RTW desk to make a date change on one of my QF flights. The agent told me they need to "reissue" the ticket.

As soon as the word "reissue" was blurb out my alarm bells came on as I had a disastrous problem a few months back with DONE4 tix with AA.

I basically clarify that this is a date change, so only a revalidation is neccesary (ie NO REISSUE a TIX)

But the agent told me it is a NEW procedure that they need to reissue a ticket EVEN IF IT IS A DATE CHANGE if it involves CX in the reservation. They claimed that there is something wrong with CX's system not being able to update the TIX no etc...

I am still not convinced, but since this is the RTW desk, I will give them the benefit of the doubt. however I will make sure I have the ticket nos this time before heading to the airport!!! Well in ADVANCE as well!

Just want to give you guys advance warning on ur upcoming XONEX and other Oneworld tix that are issued by AA!

Rubbish; three weeks ago I called AA (in Oz) to change a flight on CX HKG-NRT to an earlier flight.

Once I saw this as confirmed within booking on AA.com, I contacted CX via Email and asked for and was granted seating requested.

YES!!! I actually made a change a few weeks back as well and I don't need to reissue the ticket.

Also what do they mean by Reissue the ticket, but I will still have the same ticket nos? And they did send it to Tarriff!!!

I am not dreading a majot screwup by AA!!

That is what you get when paying less with an incompetent airline!! Well u get what u paid for!

Have you tried the "hang up pleasantly" and calling again (hopefully another agent) method?

this is the AA RTW that I called and I don't think there is another agent manning the desk during that time. I think it is too late now and I will have to wait and see what mess they created this time!

Seems normal procedure to me. I have been making changes to some QF flights ( date and time ) on a DONE4 and each time the ticket has been reissued

No fee charged of course and email confirmation arrived within a short time of hanging up

Dave

I changed times on three AA flights as part of a DONE4 a couple of weeks ago - literally just shifting flights back a few hours.

Also got the 'reissue' comment - queried it and told a new policy.
No charge for the reissue.

I assume they are really looking to only recover any extra taxes/ fines if these have changed mean time, or maybe to have an extra check against not re-introducing a stopover when it needs to be a transit.

My more positive take on this is that they have implemented this on all cross-airline tickets given the sort of problems that certain people (susiesan comes to mind) have described when changing CX flights on AA-issued tickets (and award ticket in her case IIRC). If it doesn't cost anything and it solves more problems than it causes then it seems like a good thing to me.

I took the 're-issue' to imply that a USD125 fee was being charged.

In fact looking back, I see AA are indeed reissued - it's just been painless from my side (paper ticket converted to e-ticket).

One thing to note on this is that when I originally booked these LONE4's in February last year, I booked the last 7 segments for Nove '08, each more than 24 hours apart to ensure they were all ticketed as stopovers so I would not come across any additional collection.

AA plated e-tickets cannot be "revalidated" as their system does not have such a capability.

When a change is made, the AA e-ticket must be reissued so that the flight details on the e-ticket matches those on the PNR.

This also ensures that the SSR TKNE message with the new e-ticket/coupon number is sent to CX so that when check-in opens for the CX flight the e-ticket/coupon number will "automatically" flow to the DCS (Departure Control System).

Alternatively, you can insist that AA make the change without "reissing" the ticket. However, on CX's side, there will be no SSR TKNE message associating any particular e-ticket coupon with the new flight segment in their system. As such, when check-in opens on CX's side, there will be no e-ticket coupon associated with the coupon and functions such as online check-in will not work. When checking at at the airport with an agent, check-in using the "routine check-in commands" may fail "ERROR - NO ETKT NBR FOUND". Depending on the authority level of the check -in agent, he/she may be able to reinput the SSR TKNE message (in reservations mode) to link the e-ticket coupon to the flight segment, and then switch over to DCS mode to perform the check-in. Otherwise you would be referred to the ticket desk.

(If you call the CX reservations office to have them reinput the SSR TKNE on a e-ticket not plated on CX, they will charge you a service fee).

So to avoid any hassels when checking in, it is always best to re-issue an e-ticket so that the SSR TKNE messages get regenerated to each earrier (linking each e-ticket coupon with the flight segment).

FYI: CX (I don't know about AA) now has a new feature in their Cupid reservations system that makes reissuing an e-ticket a lot easier (the fare calculation/tax data is automatically "captured" during the reissue process, eliminating the need for the ticket agent to retype everything).

Thank you very much for that information in relation the the issues with this. ^

I humbly withdraw my rubbish statement.

Thanks daniellam for your informative post. However I am still confused about:

1) The agent said the ticket nos will still be the same? How can this be when it is a reissue

2) The flight I am changing is on QF and not CX, so I don't understand how this will affect my CX segments if thye just changed the dates in the booking without reissuing the tix.

3) This never happened to me before!

1) The agent probably dosen't know what he/she is talking about. When you reissue a e-ticket, all the coupons of the existing e-ticket are basically "exchanged" for the the new ticket.

2) In e-ticketing, it is important for the e-ticket record to by in synch with the PNR.

A partial reissue of only the coupon with QF segment is a "not recommended" as the e-ticket will show the old QF coupon as "EXCHANGED", while the other coupons as "OPEN FOR USE". This can cause confusion for downline carriers when checking in as they will then have to check if the new ticket that the preceding coupon was "EXCHANGED" for was indeed "FLOWN".

3) Have you ever experienced long delays when checking in? (i.e. the check-in agent furiously typing away in their keyboard while you wait not knowing what is happening, but at the end you got checked-in).

Yes in JFK with CX last month. I know EXACTLY what the problem is and luckily I had a listing of all the possible Ticket Nos (a big screw up from AA and they issued like 2-3 sets of tickets for a date change). Teh agent thanks me immensely but still have to like input the ticket no one by one trial and error to see which one can be used!!!!

Also I wanted to ask, under CX's DCS can they actually see the WHOLE e-tix coupon If it is issued by AA??? ie can they see the fare calc, whether it is O or X, the rest of the coupons on other carriers?

UPDATE!!!:
I just called yesterday to see what is my new E-Tix nos as I haven't received an email from AA.com yet. The agent then told me that they can't reissue the ticket as it is not starting in the US??? They said I have to sort it out at the airport??
They said there are no changes to the ticket nos.

However I told them I have a flight this week, and I asked them whether I can travel on the exisiting tickets (on a QF flight). The agent said YES and QF will "sort it out"

I am not convinced at all whether I can travel at all and whether my coupons have been VOIDED?

Are there any tix expert out there that can shed a light on this?

SO WHAT IS THE PROCEDURE in date changes?????