re-routing xONEx tickets - problems with CX imposing "controls" vs AA - advice pls
 

I'm a OW Emerald (BAEC GCH) flying on DONE3 ex-South Korea (routed Asia, USA, Europe, Asia). First flight CX ICN-HKG so CX are the issuing carrier.

I have a US intinerary that is now laughably different from what I need to fly. Not one sector the same! Fine, a short call and a USD125 re-routing fee and we're away... but no!

The full farce is set out below, for those with a black sense of humour.

The quick question is: does anybody have any bright ideas how I can get Cathay to drop the control and/or change my ticket, Cathay they insist that AA can and should do this and AA say that Cathay has, buried in an obscure system, imposed controls on the relevant sectors? Currently, I am bouncing between AA and CX US call centres on a UK mobile and it is costing me a fortune and getting nowhere!

The AA RTW desk has had to invoke the OW second level support desk. All the AA RTW desk can suggest, if this doesn't work, is going in person to the SFO CX desk (at its weird opening hours) and beating a new ticket out of them!

The story so far:

1) Speak to CX (in LHR and in HKG, in person): you are the issuing carrier, please make these changes to my itinerary.
"Only AA can change the AA sectors"
Q1 - is this true? :confused:

2) Speak to AA at JFK in person (in transit between HKG-HFK-BOS): CX tell me that you only you can make these changes:
"Only RTW call centre can make these changes"
Q2 - no Q2, I'm prepared to believe any idiocy from US carriers, but really! :rolleyes:

3) Call AA RTW desk from First class checkin: Please make these changes.
"We cannot. You are in "checkin mode""
This turns out to mean that the CX computer is showing me as confirmed on a flight and flying rather than as flown, but this prevents a ticket being reissued.
"Please call tomorrow when the sectors will have cleared". :confused:

4) Call AA RTW desk: Please make these changes.
(after 30 minutes or more on hold) "Cannot be done, Cathay have imposed controls on some of the sectors. Only CX can change them; here is there number; make sure you ask to speak to a supervisor" "But they told me to deal with you!!! :mad:
Q3 - what *exactly* are controls and what is their purpose?

5) Call CX call centre in the US: Please put me through to a supervisor.
"No. Supervisors don't deal with ticketing changes"
Then please make these changes and/or remove the controls.
"What controls? What are AA talking about? There are no controls" :confused:

6) Call AA call centre in the US: Your colleague said my new itinerary could not be reissued because of CX controls but CX say this is nonsense.
"It does sound very odd. We can get this issued <20 minutes later> There are Cathay controls on some of the sectors. It's not something I can see on my normal system but they are there. I will call the OW helpdesk for RTW ticketing agents. <20 minutes on hold> They are trying to get Cathay to release these." :eek:
I eventually agree to call back tomorrow morning. If this doesn't work, I have to go to SFO (luckily I am going there by other means) and catch the CX desk when it is open (09-1300 and 2100-0100 roughly) and demand they issue this.

jjjjjjjjjjjj

I have flown over a dozen AONE and have had to reissue and revalidate my ticket more times than I care to enumerate.. I have NEVER had this problem.. but I always ticket with either AA or QF.. Good Luck...

problem solved - but none the wiser
 

The invocation of the Oneworld help desk (which seems to act as the strict parent when the Oneworld ticketing desk children squabble) has solved matters.

There is the slight problem that I can only get my ticket reissued at an airport AA desk because the RTW desk cannot take UK credit cards. :rolleyes: I have just made a trip to BWI airport only to find the desk closes at 18:00 - it would have been nice if the AA desk had mentioned this. :mad:

I suppose an AA UK call centre could do this too, now I think about it. :o

@Bukhara
You were partly right about the flown vs in-flight sector issue. This is why nothing could be done while I was waiting in JFK for my JFK-BOS flight: the HKG-JFK sector was still in "check-in mode" (AA RTW desk's words).

But I think the underlying problem was what you call DCS control. It would explain why it only became apparent after some investigation, since I am not trying to check-in. The DCS controls have been lifted and the ticket can be reissued. Why they were imposed remains a mystery.

Are you able to explain - for my benefit and potentially future RTW'ers - what these are? I have never come across them before and I fly a lot (although not as much as some people around here ;) ).

@RTW4
Am I right to think that Cathay should never have refused to change the US sectors in the first place, since the ticket is issued on their stock?

The AA RTW desk tonight were quite shirty about the fact that it is a Cathay ticket and they were having to do all the hard work - especially when one of the changes might be to take the CX YVR-JFK flight instead of an AA SEA-JFK flight!

I have to say, I am not impressed by some of Cathay's processes. They seem to handle xONEx poorly, their call centres do not inspire confidence that the staff are in English and I seem unable to select a seat before check-in despite being OW Emerald so I keep getting crappy seats.

From a few posts every now and again, as well as what my friends have experienced with the CX office in Australia, CX would literally not touch any RTW itinerary once all their segments have been flown even if they'd issued the ticket. Sounds similar to what the OP experienced; they didn't want to touch segments that were not "theirs."

Regardless, the ticketing carrier can and should handle any changes.

You can select seats weeks ahead of time - you just can't do it online. Either ask AA for the seat assignment, and they will send a "request" to CX, which is usually confirmed. Or you can call CX directly, have them pull up the reservation and assign seats.

(AFAIK you still can't even view your reservation and CX flights on CX website, unless you actually booked it on their website, which is very surprising)

Happy Travels.

You can only view on the CX website if your Asiamiles/MPC number is on the reservation. And yes, it sucks for people who don't credit their CX flights to Asiamiles/MPC

This is not idiocy but commonsense. Regular AA agents are smart enough to know not to touch RTW tickets and to try and mess with things they aren't trained to understand. AA has a dedicated RTW desk for this purpose. Even the AA EXP desk will not touch a RTW ticket. If you want your RTW ticket screwed up, have changes made by some agent somewhere who knows nothing about the tickets and their complicated rules.

@tt7
Well, either AA have the right idea and the rest of OW the wrong idea or vice versa. Since in my experience I have to talk them all through what is possible in at least some aspect, I'm not sure of the value of sending all RTW enquiries to a call centre... especially if it only accepts US credit cards! :rolleyes::confused:

And it's not as if the RTW desk is actually doing the hard work. They check basic construction rules (valid partners, number of sectors) and then send it to fares for the complicated bit, or to the OW helpdesk if it goes nuclear. So why cannot the premium service agents handle the itinerary construction part?

Since airport agents generally have wider powers and - usually - more experience / training, I would prefer a system where airport staff (preferably the F desk, since they will be under less time pressure and, one would hope, best trained) could deal with the tickets in person and a dedicated RTW desk could deal with telepone enquiries, both escalating to fares to get approval.

Otherwise, one ends up in the ridiculous position of premium pax having no benefit from the airport premium service desks but having to huddle in a corner on the telephone - and being on hold for 30 minutes is pricey when roaming - rather than deal with the person in front of them - to whom one has to go back anyway to get the damn thing issued.

@QF009

Am I right to think that if I had booked my first sector on a codeshare rather than CX (say AA), then it would have been an AA ticket. Or is it the operating carrier who always plates the ticket? And is it the first sector or the first transaceanic sector that is decisive?

If you used the online tool to issue the ticket, it will be issued by the marketing carrier of the first leg. If you did not use the tool, it will be issued by whichever airline you got to issue it for you.