Circle Asia Problems
 

Not a happy camper here. Currently on my second * alliance Circle Asia trip, and both trips have now been problematic due to changes in flights mid-trip, all to do with e-ticketing. Essentially both times I have been stuck at check in counters, trying to sort the issues out myself via my own mobile, which is frankly quite pathetic for a supposed "alliance".

This morning I fronted at PEK for my fourth sector of a Circle Asia ticket, an OZ codeshare on CA from PEK-ICN. On my request, my TA had moved me to that flight from the OZ flight I had originally booked later in the day (same city pair - so no ticket re-issue only revalidation). Problem was CA couldn't see my ticket number . Spent the next 40 minutes on and off myphone to the TA, then SQ (who originally issued the ticket) and OZ - who all gave the same ticket number to the check in agent - who still could not find it. CA could not contact SQ or OZ to check, which I thought was pathetic - hence why I ended up calling them. Ended up missing cutoff and my TAmoved me to next flight (2 hrs later) on OZ (no help from CA whatsoever).

Then I fronted at OZ counter and checked straight in - no fuss at all. Normally I would put this down to bad luck, but this is the second time it has happened (out of 2 times I've taken a star alliance Circle Asia) and I am not a happy camper.

This happened to me 2 years ago, the last time I took a Circle Asia. On that occassion I fronted at SIN for an SQ SIN-ICN flight, which had not changed, but I had changed an WLG-AKL sector later in the itinerary. SQ could not see a valid ticket number. On that occassion I called NZ in AKL (SQ were no help), who spent the next 30 minutes on the phone with the SQ agent sorting it out - again my phone and my initiative to call NZ.

FRANKLY - whilst I do like flying SQ & NZ (gold on both) - as a whole STAR (lack of) ALLIANCE SUX. I've taken probably 7 or 8 circle (world or pacific) fares on oneworld with several flight changes in them and never had a problem.

Am I just unlucky, or is this not uncommon?

Is there somewhere I can write to in star alliance - I just do not like being left stranded high and dry at the airport fending for myself - given that on both occassions my company had forked out business class for me, so the fare was not trivial.

Ahhh yes. E-tickets.

The airline world is really not ready to interline with each other when problems happen and they are very quick to point their fingers at each other, the TA and you for anything wrong.

makes me nervous using etickets.

I wonder if a large part of the problem is the fact that you booked a codeshare. Why would you ever do that on a fixed-fare ticket (I would fire your TA for doing that)? Codeshares are just a nighmare waiting to happen.

good point, codeshares in * are uselss for the pax, unlike with AA.

Simple - I was originally on an OZ flight, didn't pay much attention to what I was moving to and when I discovered it was a codeshare, didn't worry me - extra BD mileage on OZ compared to CA. Have done these heaps of times before - on oneworld - booking AA codeshares on CX (for extra QF mileage) and never had an issue ... how was I to know that Star Alliance's IT systems couldn't cope?

Changing a reservation Loses the ticket number :'(
 

I've had multiple instances where the original reservation has been changed, the ticket number cannot be found, and I've risked missing my flights. :(

The first time was checking in for a codeshare flight (ICN). Ticketed by expedia, there was no ticket number on the booking confirmation. I had made multiple changes to the flight date, but kept the same PRN. Somehow, upon checkin (for a connecting flight at the transit counter) I'm stranded, unable to board my confirmed, properly ticketed flight. The operating airline had no staff in the country. The ticketing airline had no staff in the country. And my GSM phone is useless in Korea. Airport staff are the handling agents, as is the case in many countries. It sorted out eventually, but this is unacceptable.

The next time it happened on LX. Ticketed by LX, an LX flight number. No agent, no codeshare, but still a wait at check-in, and a phone call to resolve the issue.

For the last few years, I've paid the extra fee for paper tickets. Why? Because I change my dates often. For the 'buy & fly' types who never make changes, this issue doesn't exist. But all travellers aren't the non-refundable, non-changeable type. Now that paper tickets aren't available, we deserve a system that can manage these simple, reasonable tasks.

It's suggested that it's the OPs fault for booking a flight that is ticketed properly? I'm confused. :o

I regularly book codeshares. For me it drastically affects the price. Firing a TA for booking a codeshare? This confuses me again. :o When my TA books me on the codeshares, the price of my ticket lowers by THOUSANDS of dollars. :-: I give my TA a bonus when they save me this kind of money (really).

Having the ticket number should solve this problem. But, it appears that even this solution isn't enough.

Airlines have to BUCK-UP. They wanted e-ticketing to save money. They need to make the system bulletproof. Codeshare or not!

When changing flights on the same routing, keeping them on the same carrier's flight number prevents a reissue and the related charge. Unlike OW tickets, same city pair but different airline on *A triggers a reissue. Or at least such as been my experience.

I'm surprised that there was any issue on an NZ-issued ticket and an SQ flight, but the fact that there was an issue with a CA flight booked as an OZ codeshare doesn't seem that odd. I think CA and FM have major IT issues... Both have been UA partners for a while, but I recall having seen posts in the UA forum about CA not seeing award reservations booked through UA.

I personally had an issue with FM on a UA-issued ticket (FM didn't have a reservation for me where UA said there was one), but fortunately this was a PAPER ticket and so there was no question about the ticket's number or validity.

lokijuh, I do sympathize--I was nearly stranded at JNB myself one time because LX couldn't see my ticketed reservation that UA saw having been confirmed. It stinks, and the only thing I can suggest is to complain loudly to the issuing carrier.

seanthepilot is totally correct--airlines need to take more responsibility when it comes to e-ticketing!

Thankfully, due to frequency of flights between PEK-ICN and many of them operated by OZ it sorted it self out ... had it been a less frequently operated route (such as LX JNB flights ...) I imagine it could have been a real pain in the backside.

Please re-read my post. I'll quote it again here since you obviously missed the most important part of it:Your TA can't save you a penny by booking a codeshare on such a ticket.

seanthepilot if you choose paper tickets and you need to make a change don't you need to exchange the tickets at the ticket issuing airline's office? What if you are in a country without such representation?

It depends on the circumstances, but often booking the codeshare has its advantages...sometimes the code share might have availability in the req'd booking code whereas the operating airline does not, sometimes it makes a change qualify as a schedule change rather than a routing change (as would seem to be the case here), or, conceivably, sometimes it could make the fuel surcharges be calculated differently.

It's not really as simple as there being no reason to ever book a codeshare, and I suspect that this whole incident could very well have occurred if the OP had booked the CA flight number.

Blame IATA.

Basically e-ticketing is great if on a few airlines. But generally e-ticketing is still not capable of handling RTW tickets especially the likes of *A since so many members' computers just aren't up to par yet, ie CA, MS to name a few.

Not quite. Say you are flying on OZ metal on a flight which also happens to be a UA code share (e.g. ICN-SFO). Now if you are a UA Mileage Plus member (Premier Executive or above), you would get 100% bonus miles with a UA flight number, but only the regular miles if you flew on a OZ number.

Ergo, code shares on *A do play an important role, contrary to popular opinion on this thread.

In the past year, I've flown many changed sectors. Now they are not asking for a sticker to accept the ticket, but this sticker issue was a problem with paper for a while. Now they're confident with a booking that has been "revalidated" properly. I'm a flight from most major airline counters, and have had to fly to the hub city to do ticketing a few time. Inconvenient when changing/issuing, but not when checking in.

The tickets I buy are low price business class tickets. I never make a change that requires a re-issue (date, flight changes, flight numbers, but never a re-route) at the risk of a higher re-fare. I have often got segements endorced (recently had an SQ ticket, booked on a TG flight with booking class showing zero's everyday, so I asked SQ to endorse the coupon to EK, which they did. Ended up clearing the TG waitlist, but the endorsement allowed me to open my options without needing a re-issue)

Frequently the code-share is zeroed out when the same flight under the operating carriers flight number has space... that's where the waitlist comes in handy.

I've refunded 4 tickets over the years because I can't use them. Charges for a full refund are less than the change fee on a cheap economy fare.

I have no fully unused paper tickets left. 2 partially used ones (for October and February travel)... so my days of paper tickets are almost over.

If anyone has a way to issue currently issue paper tickets, I'd love to get in on that train. thanks :)

If using etickets, can someone suggest how to avoid these problems? Would it be good to call the operating airline and confirm with them. Can I ask them to tell me the ticket#? If yes, and if the ticket was issued by UA can a resv agent see a UA ticket#?

You are incorrect. UA (and I believe the entire Star Alliance) only goes by the operator of the flight - the flight number has no bearing whatsoever on mileage earning (except for the special Air China exception). Perhaps you're thinking of one of the other alliances?

I wish this were untrue.

The issuing airline can tell you the ticket #...what I would do if there's potential for an issue is:

• Carry a printed copy of the latest e-Ticket receipt with you when you check in (this will have the ticket number and all flights booked)
• Call the operating carrier before you travel to confirm the reservation
• Be prepared to call the issuing carrier if you run into an issue (though it seems there's usually not a lot that they'll be able to do once you're at the airport)

Guy Betsy, I wonder if you have any other tips?

I have also run into this problem, in my case I do not even recall who the issuing
carrier was, but I was leaving TPE on UA to NRT, and connecting to AC to YVR/YYZ.
I had changed the date from the previous day, and the routing had changed from
TPE-NRT-YYZ since the non-stop was not running that day. I spent 50 minutes at
the check-in counter while UA and AC's local agent battled this out on the phone,
despite my having emailed confirmations, including ticket numbers.

For paper tickets, I still carry the small endorsement stickers, which, having called
the airline to confirm changes, i would then sticker myself.

Right. For *A it is (mostly) the metal that matters. For OW it is (mostly) the marketing airline that matters.

All in all, a good reason to request a paper ticket. Not sure, if issuing carriers would oblige though.

I'm not GB but have a tip. If a carrier holds all the live segments and reissues the ticket, all they need to do is send the new ETKT number to the other carriers with a TKNE SSR entry. Same deal if your agent holds the live segments and reissues the tickets.
If your agent still holds all the live segments but a carrier has reissued a new ticket against a mix of their live segments and passive segments in their system, give your agent the new ticket number and get them to generate the new ticket number to the remaining carriers via the TKNE entry.
Even the old TKNM/TKNO/TKNA entries should work, although they won't generate through as a E-Ticket, but the new ticket information would be in the booking at least, so the check-in agent can find it in the SSR/OSI fields.

The easiest workaround solution is to ensure you keep your new ticket number information handy to provide in event of problems. Once the carriers (well most of the carriers, given the doubts expressed in this thread) have a ticket number, they should be able to bring it up and associate it in the system.