RatherGhastly

I have identified an itinerary on ITA Matrix that I’m trying to get booked by phone directly with SWISS, involving two halves of (different) return fares to form a RTW ticket, which is explicitly allowed by the fare rules. The fare in question is outbound LX PNCIA ROM to SYD and inbound LX ZNCIA SYD to ROM, on the routing FCO-ZRH-JFK-SYD-PER-SIN-ZRH-FCO. I have checked all the individual flights I want on ExpertFlyer to ensure that there is availability in the relevant booking classes, but I was unable to book this over the phone. The agent I spoke to could not find any routing that went via the Americas, offering instead an eastern-hemisphere routing (via Singapore).

I then explained the fare I wanted, and the routing rules, and she said the fare existed, but she was unable to bring up the routing I wanted on her system. From our discussion, it seemed like she was largely offering me what I can book on the SWISS website myself. I asked if escalating to a supervisor would help, but she responded that ‘the system’ would still show the same offerings. Is there any way I can get an agent to manually construct an itinerary, or any other way of booking the itinerary directly with SWISS? Is this a case of HUACA, or is it really the case that their phone agents can only book the itineraries that are offered on the website? Any assistance or thoughts in this regard would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Unterwegs

What about just using an traditional Travel Agent?

airoli

+1 for a travel agent.

Also, availability as shown by ExpertFlyer is not necessarily the same as availability at a specific POS.

jreichel

Piece of cake for an experienced IATA travel agent ... Also very helpful for itinerary changes (voluntary and involuntary) after ticketing when multiple airlines are involved.

RatherGhastly

Thanks for the suggestions of a travel agent above, but, surely, it should be a piece of cake too for a SWISS telephone agent? After all, it is their product that they are selling! At any rate, it is precisely to avoid the nightmare of dealing with a third party for in/voluntary changes that I wanted to purchase the fare directly from the airline if possible.

And, possible it was, as it turns out, merely through the dint of ringing back at another time. The first agent I spoke to seemed merely to be repeating to me what I could already get myself on the website, but, when I rang again, I got through to an agent who proclaimed herself to be an expert on constructing more complex itineraries, and expert she was, because she was immediately able to understand what I wanted, albeit initially on the more expensive DNCIA-ZNCIA fare basis. I then probed a little, as I thought there was availability to get me into the cheaper ZNCIA-PNCIA fares, whereupon she asked to put me on hold while she worked, and then came back some 25 mins later confirming that she could indeed book me into the cheaper fare basis.

At any rate, I got what I wanted, and the agent warned me that I should create a reservation to save the itinerary—I would still have a day or two to think about it—because another agent might not be able to recreate it (which I had already experienced), but it was what I wanted, so I went ahead to pay for it there and then. The final routing was FCO-ZRH-YVR-SYD-PER-SIN-ZRH-FCO with turnaround at SYD and stopovers in PER and SIN. Technically, this was not a RTW itinerary, but rather two half-fares joined together to form a circle.

So, I suppose the old adage applies: If at first you don’t succeed ...

ced_lx

sounds like an expensive ticket

sfoeuroflyer

There is an issue with regard to the telephone agents and that includes the dedicated Senator line. One is often connected to call centers in South Africa or the Philippines. Those agents are poorly trained and are unable to perform ordinary tasks. Either train those agents properly or close down those ineffectual call centers.

Deckter

Around 3.5K if i’m not mistaken, there’s a thread about this fare on the forum.

zrh2yvr

There are a lot of routing tables for the fares from Europe to Australia with about 7-10 different ways including all the normal Asia routes plus South America / North America and even a hypothetical South Africa Routing (with no flights possible at the moment). It is a great setup and the YVR routing is one I know of (being my original home town). The Mrs. and me have talked about doing this exact same thing but you really need 4 weeks to make the most of this Fares allow unlimited stops too so you can build the itinerary from somewhere else and come back to ZRH if this is your home to wait out the departure date. Price ex. ARN should be the cheapest right now (it is less than FCO). The fare rules are great and we typically just do the FF fare family just to make it easier to change or refund later. Great find - and glad LX was willing to do with the right person.

I actually met with the ZRH management and AC management after the YVR direct flight was launched and said that they needed to get LH to get the fare routing tables updated for Europe to Australia to consider YVR as a gateway. This routing is only about 2-3 years old or so as historically all prior routings required Asia direction. Thus - you can do a mini RTW on the Australia fares - you just don't get to go exactly where you want!!!

RatherGhastly

Well, €3,600 was quite reasonable for FCO-ZRH-YVR-SYD-PER-SIN-ZRH-FCO in J, so I considered it a win. At any rate, there is a more detailed account of how I finally managed to get the itinerary booked in another post, if anyone is interested. Sorry to be so long in getting back.