Mismatch between e-ticket and itinerary because of schedule change
Jul 23, 2010 | 7:47 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: TLV
Posts: 243
Mismatch between e-ticket and itinerary because of schedule change
Dear FTers,
The following is of slight concern to me, and I hope there would be fellow FTers that could offer some advice… I am not however sure I am posting this on a correct forum – apologies in advance if this should go elsewhere.
I recently booked flight tickets for my family, TLV-TAS-PEK-TAS-TLV, on HY. There had however been a minor schedule change by the airline, and the departure time from PEK of our return flight shifted from 23:55 on Sep 1 to 00:10 on Sep 2. (Thus, the date of our PEK-TAS flight moved one day forward although the actual change measures just 15 minutes.)
This created a mismatch between the e-tickets and the itinerary in the PNR. In fact, the modified leg, PEK-TAS, dropped completely from the e-ticket record on checkmytrip.com, and the record now consists of just three legs: TLV-TAS, TAS-PEK, TAS-TLV. However, the PEK-TAS leg with the correct time and date does show up in the itinerary, as a confirmed flight.
I am assuming the right thing to do would be to revalidate the e-tickets to match the updated itinerary. However, my TA reassured me after calling HY that there should be no problems "since the change is so insignificant". I called HY representative in TLV myself, and got a similar response. I do not completely trust HY, however, and am still concerned that troubles may arise when we try to check in at PEK because of the mismatch between the e-ticket and the booking.
Would be very grateful if you could share your thoughts with me: should I press the TA or the airline to revalidate the e-ticket? How major, if any, will be my troubles be if I don't?
Many thanks in advance!
The following is of slight concern to me, and I hope there would be fellow FTers that could offer some advice… I am not however sure I am posting this on a correct forum – apologies in advance if this should go elsewhere.
I recently booked flight tickets for my family, TLV-TAS-PEK-TAS-TLV, on HY. There had however been a minor schedule change by the airline, and the departure time from PEK of our return flight shifted from 23:55 on Sep 1 to 00:10 on Sep 2. (Thus, the date of our PEK-TAS flight moved one day forward although the actual change measures just 15 minutes.)
This created a mismatch between the e-tickets and the itinerary in the PNR. In fact, the modified leg, PEK-TAS, dropped completely from the e-ticket record on checkmytrip.com, and the record now consists of just three legs: TLV-TAS, TAS-PEK, TAS-TLV. However, the PEK-TAS leg with the correct time and date does show up in the itinerary, as a confirmed flight.
I am assuming the right thing to do would be to revalidate the e-tickets to match the updated itinerary. However, my TA reassured me after calling HY that there should be no problems "since the change is so insignificant". I called HY representative in TLV myself, and got a similar response. I do not completely trust HY, however, and am still concerned that troubles may arise when we try to check in at PEK because of the mismatch between the e-ticket and the booking.
Would be very grateful if you could share your thoughts with me: should I press the TA or the airline to revalidate the e-ticket? How major, if any, will be my troubles be if I don't?
Many thanks in advance!
Jul 23, 2010 | 10:47 am
#2
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Happily living in Frenaros Cyprus having escaped the near-death experience called Sofia Bulgaria
Programs: Etihad Guest Gold, DL FO and 1MM, and a bunch of others at a low level
Posts: 2,060
If you are not happy with the response form your travel agent, why not call the airline directly? Can you access your itinerary on the airliine's website? If so, you can check this before you call the airline. If the itinerary on the website looks good, then you should be ok.
Jul 23, 2010 | 11:08 am
#3
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Exile
Posts: 16,065
It sounds like your booking was made in Amadeus and that HY is hosted elsewhere (AFAIK its in SITA PTS).
When a schedule change is made in SITA PTS, it will automatically reaccomodate to a new flight and queue the new segment to the originating system (in this case 1A) for acceptance with status "SK" while the original segment will be set to "UN". Once the "SK" status is accepted by the originating system, it is set to "HK" and the new segment shows up in the PNR. This seems to have been completed.
With regards to the SITA ETK product however, the ticket is not reissued but rather revalidated in a bulk process for the new flight data. That data is retained in the host ETK database but sometimes not updated in the originating system. There is a potential mismatch here of the ETK data. This is a non-issue if SDCS is used at originating station, but if an LDCS with PNL/ADL driven data is used then the issue will have to be resolved at a higher level for manual revalidation.
Your travel agent needs to check the actual status of the ticket (either through their GDS or via BSPLink) and more specifically of coupon #3. If that is reflecting the new flight data, then the only issue is a system sync mismatch which will not affect your flight.
At the end of the day however, this is not an uncommon issue and will be resolved in a few seconds once someone with the right authority level and knowledge handles the PNR. It will probably be fixed by HY during flight editing. I wouldn't worry in the slightest provided your physical space is still confirmed and you hold a valid ETK for the original flight.
When a schedule change is made in SITA PTS, it will automatically reaccomodate to a new flight and queue the new segment to the originating system (in this case 1A) for acceptance with status "SK" while the original segment will be set to "UN". Once the "SK" status is accepted by the originating system, it is set to "HK" and the new segment shows up in the PNR. This seems to have been completed.
With regards to the SITA ETK product however, the ticket is not reissued but rather revalidated in a bulk process for the new flight data. That data is retained in the host ETK database but sometimes not updated in the originating system. There is a potential mismatch here of the ETK data. This is a non-issue if SDCS is used at originating station, but if an LDCS with PNL/ADL driven data is used then the issue will have to be resolved at a higher level for manual revalidation.
Your travel agent needs to check the actual status of the ticket (either through their GDS or via BSPLink) and more specifically of coupon #3. If that is reflecting the new flight data, then the only issue is a system sync mismatch which will not affect your flight.
At the end of the day however, this is not an uncommon issue and will be resolved in a few seconds once someone with the right authority level and knowledge handles the PNR. It will probably be fixed by HY during flight editing. I wouldn't worry in the slightest provided your physical space is still confirmed and you hold a valid ETK for the original flight.
Jul 23, 2010 | 11:16 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: TLV
Posts: 243
Thank you, STBCypriot. The thing is that....I DID call the airline. Their representatives in Tel Aviv do not instill any confidence in me, however. It took the lady, who hardly spoke the language, several minutes to figure out what I was talking about. When she did, she conveyed my question to someone higher-up, who dismissed my worry out-of-hand, without giving it a bit of thought it seemed to me.
Regarding the website....well, HY (Uzbekistan Airways) just isn't one of those carriers with normal functional websites, where a booked itinerary can be seen.
If my analysis of the situation is correct, what happens is that right now the e-ticket and the itinerary are out of sync. On checkmytrip.com the e-ticket record simply misses the modified flight. I have grave doubts about HY's competence on the ground (although I know from experience of my relatives that they are much better in the air) and would simply like to know what kind of trouble I might be in if I don't force them to reissue/revalidate the ticket. I might be wrong and the issue could be resolved at the check-in in PEK in a matter of second, but I just don't know.
Did anyone have a similar experience?
Regarding the website....well, HY (Uzbekistan Airways) just isn't one of those carriers with normal functional websites, where a booked itinerary can be seen.
If my analysis of the situation is correct, what happens is that right now the e-ticket and the itinerary are out of sync. On checkmytrip.com the e-ticket record simply misses the modified flight. I have grave doubts about HY's competence on the ground (although I know from experience of my relatives that they are much better in the air) and would simply like to know what kind of trouble I might be in if I don't force them to reissue/revalidate the ticket. I might be wrong and the issue could be resolved at the check-in in PEK in a matter of second, but I just don't know.
Did anyone have a similar experience?
Jul 23, 2010 | 11:32 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: TLV
Posts: 243
B747-437B, So many thanks. I got the basics of it. The booking was made in Amadeus but it seems that you are right and HY is indeed hosted elswhere. Will show the TA your instructions on checking the status of the e-ticket. My TA is too lazy to do anything on her own initiative, so being armed with the right instructions can be invaluable! Thanks again!
