Hi,

Recently i encountered a lot of trouble in getting my 5th *RTW issued. All my earlier RTW's were ticketed by UA and this is the first time i used a travel agent because of the better pricing in a different country.
Facts:
- My first segment is on SQ
- My trip is spread across (based on miles) the following airlines in this ratio:
40% SQ, 25% UA, 35% LH

I wanted to get this issued by LH or UA because i normally end up making routing changes in US/Europe. But my travel agent said that both the airlines refused to issue it because of the following rule:
- The airline with 50% of miles should issue the ticket
- if the above is not possible, the airline with the first segment should issue it.

Finally (i do not know how), my agent was able to get this issued by LH when i said that this is the only way i want it.

My Qns are:
1. Has anyone encountered the above issue rule ? Earlier i have issued tickets with UA in which neither UA had the 1st segment nor UA flew me over the water.
2. My agent has said that i can getting the ticket re-issued for a routing change at any * airline ticketing counter. I am skeptical of this as my earlier UA RTW's were re-issueble only by UA. Is my agent right ?

thanks in advance,
nik

I was told the same thing when I wanted to change my last RTW. The issuing airline told me to go to the nearest Star office. I did, I was skeptical, it worked however.

This seems like utter crap to me (no offence!). I've had multiple Star RTW's issued by AN (R.I.P.) when they had maybe 5% or less of the mileage on the tix and that was fine. Heck, I even had one tix issued where AN had 0 miles on the ticket! I think there's something funny going on. Any * carrier is _supposed_ to be able to handle a * RTW tix as they're endorseable to eachother without reissue (in theory, anyway) and supposed to be re-issueable (with charge, of course) by any * carrier.

I wonder what is going on here and if this is a new rule. hmmm

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RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.

any StarAirline can book you and issue you a Star-rtw-ticket.

But the first fligh-segment you book decides from which StarCarrier ticket-stock the tickets should be issued (that's the official rule, but often the ticket-agent will not know/not apply).

Nik - WHICH country did you try to issue this ticket in?

Even though the Star Alliance rules state that you can issue with any alliance carrier, most asian countries do not follow this rule. eg. Thailand and Singapore where the originating carrier must issue the ticket - mainly due to commission levels.

eg. If you're in SINGAPORE, and the originating carrier is SQ, you must issue with SQ's plate. That said, SQ gives ZERO commission on their tickets. Hence agents are reluctant to issue tickets on SQ but as the originating carrier is SQ, they don't have a choice.

Hmm seems to me the rules have changed as used to be any * carrier's ticket stock was acceptable irregardless of the carrier on the first segment, or whatever.

I'll have to see what happens when i go to book my next one Thanks all for the heads up.

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RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.

Either it's changed very recently, it's different from country to country, or the above is utter crap. (... or, as Rudi suggested, there's a rule, but it isn't followed.)

The first segment, max. % miles and issuer, respectively, of my Star RTWs have been:

1) TG, NZ (30%), AN
2) SQ, UA (50%), SQ
3) UA, UA (>60%), SQ
4) AN, UA (>60%), SQ

So, for me, issuing carrier has matched first segment once and major carrier never. The last of those trips I just got home from yesterday. (I don't want to imagine how many problems I'd have had if it'd been on AN ticket stock!)


[This message has been edited by Kremmen (edited 10-27-2001).]

I was passing through Delhi and got tempted by the much lower prices in India. In anycase i got my tickets reissued by SQ without any problems (just a long wait).

Today i discovered that SQ during my reissue substituted my LH SEN number with my Krisflyer number. I called them regarding it and .....looks like still it is not fixed!