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Airline won't help because "ticket was issued through a travel agent"

Airline won't help because "ticket was issued through a travel agent"

Old Jul 30, 2017, 4:44 pm
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by keitherson
Nope. Even day of travel, many airlines refuse to touch tickets.

Also don't talk to me about "full price". You're on Flyertalk.

Perhaps airlines should start treating full-fare paying passengers better than elites traveling on discount economy tickets.
All elites have a PQD requirement. Good luck spending 12k a year if you are buying cheaply seats. I would argue most leisure travelers book way in advance, much cheaper than most elites who have last minute business travel. I've paid ~$400- $500 for SFO to SNA and LAX to LAS dozens of time. I can't imagine leisure travelers doing that.
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Old Jul 30, 2017, 5:10 pm
  #17  
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Originally Posted by keitherson
Is this just a way of "punishing" passengers for not booking direct through them, by having them deal with Indian call centers from the shady/not-shady OTA they booked through, and double up on agency change fees?
The airline does not benefit from any additional change fees charged by the TA, that is revenue for the TA.

The real question is, outside of a corporate mandate or advanced ticketing techniques where calling the airline is inadvisable anyway, why would one use a TA? Just buy directly from the airline and enjoy better flexibility and handling.
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Old Jul 30, 2017, 5:18 pm
  #18  
 
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As a travel agent, I would like to make a couple of corrections to statements made in several of the posts above -

1) For tickets issued by travel agents, nearly all of those tickets can be changed directly on the airline website and do not need to be handled by the travel agent. This is true at any time, not just T-24.

2) Very few airline tickets these days involve a commission paid to the travel agent by the airline. Airline commissions for travel agents began to be eliminated more about 20 years ago and now are almost non-existent.

3) The only airline tickets that specifically need to be handled by the issuing travel agent are those that involve special agreements offered by the airline either to a corporation who purchased the ticket through the travel agent or to the travel agency issuing the ticket. These tickets have a special code that specify the terms of the ticket and many of the "regular" airline phone agents are not familiar with such agreements.
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Old Jul 30, 2017, 11:52 pm
  #19  
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Old Jul 31, 2017, 12:53 am
  #20  
 
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Originally Posted by CashN
All elites have a PQD requirement.
I thought this was only a USA thing?
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Old Jul 31, 2017, 12:59 am
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by CashN
All elites have a PQD requirement. Good luck spending 12k a year if you are buying cheaply seats. I would argue most leisure travelers book way in advance, much cheaper than most elites who have last minute business travel. I've paid ~$400- $500 for SFO to SNA and LAX to LAS dozens of time. I can't imagine leisure travelers doing that.
I just looked up a ticket from SFO to SNA for tomorrow. $174.
I cannot imagine many fliers just want to give airlines their money by choosing to buy the most expensive ticket available, whether business or leisure fliers
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Old Jul 31, 2017, 2:12 am
  #22  
 
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Originally Posted by keitherson
A lot of airlines I've noticed are doing this, saying that if you book through a travel agent, they won't help you. For tickets issued under their own stock.
Yep. Had this situation with Expedia Singapore. Here are details

In short - I got email with subj 'Your itinerary was modified by the airline', on Friday evening. It completely screwed up my plans because moved connection times and flights. I called LH and they told me that because reservation was made by Expedia, they have to initiate the change back. On my argument 'but it was YOU who changed the reservation', got the same reply - 'call Expedia'.

Called Expedia Singapore and they were closed - they close at 6PM local time. Email reply will be processed next business day - three days from now, while my flight departs within a week.

Called Expedia US and they told me that because reservation was made via Expedia Singapore, they can't do anything.

Saturday morning - called Expedia Singapore and explained the situation. And I am getting reply that 'modification of the itinerary need to be initiated by manger who is not in office so you need to call on Monday'.

In short, it took 4 days and dozen calls and 10 hours on phone to sort this out.

Never again.

Last edited by invisible; Jul 31, 2017 at 2:19 am
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Old Jul 31, 2017, 7:38 am
  #23  
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Originally Posted by LondonElite
The TA owns the ticket until T-24, when it goes to airport control. TA's want it like this for historical customer service reasons.
This is certainly part of it. I prefer to do my own travel, but from time to time work with companies who contract all travel to a TA. They are very pointed about not doing things to the ticket down to "changing your seat as their system may change it back". I think this part is bluff since I've never had a problem doing things like changing a seat or adding my FF number when they haven't (typical, BTW).

On the upside, they do "own" the ticket and when travel goes south a good TA will proactively be monitoring and send me a "we've already rebooked you" along with an entire new set of instructions down to new airport pickup instructions, modified hotel reservations, etc. They've also notified the company that's paying for the trip so I don't have to.

If I started to muck about with the ticket myself I'd throw all that off.
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Old Jul 31, 2017, 10:39 am
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Originally Posted by s0ssos
I just looked up a ticket from SFO to SNA for tomorrow. $174.
I cannot imagine many fliers just want to give airlines their money by choosing to buy the most expensive ticket available, whether business or leisure fliers
Much like hotels, it depends on time of year and availability. I've paid as low as $230 for Westin St. Francis and as high as $1,100/night.

Also, the time matters. LAX-LAS for the weekend of Aug 23rd currently ranges from $170 to $330 depending on time. A few days before both will be significantly higher. Cheap booking classes often aren't available a day or two before the flight. Even Southwest can have astronomical costs.




Last edited by CashN; Jul 31, 2017 at 11:26 am
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Old Jul 31, 2017, 11:22 am
  #25  
 
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TA problem here too, with United

Having a problem myself with tickets bought from a TA (Travel Up (UK).

Booked 2 returns with United Airlines, Glasgow (UK) to Newark (NJ), in March 2018, and a day later United withdrew all winter flights from Glasgow, apparently offering a refund or alternative scheduling.

I asked my TA for a refund and despite paying 1075 for the flights, the TA says that United will only refund me 921. The TA is less than helpful when I ask them to explain why I am not getting a full refund and currently I am stuck! Looks like I'll need to get a lawyer involved.
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Old Jul 31, 2017, 11:27 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by ft101
I thought this was only a USA thing?
Good point, I don't know.
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Old Jul 31, 2017, 12:08 pm
  #27  
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Originally Posted by s0ssos
I just looked up a ticket from SFO to SNA for tomorrow. $174.
I cannot imagine many fliers just want to give airlines their money by choosing to buy the most expensive ticket available, whether business or leisure fliers
Originally Posted by CashN
All elites have a PQD requirement. Good luck spending 12k a year if you are buying cheaply seats. I would argue most leisure travelers book way in advance, much cheaper than most elites who have last minute business travel. I've paid ~$400- $500 for SFO to SNA and LAX to LAS dozens of time. I can't imagine leisure travelers doing that.
Originally Posted by CashN
Much like hotels, it depends on time of year and availability. I've paid as low as $230 for Westin St. Francis and as high as $1,100/night.

Also, the time matters. LAX-LAS for the weekend of Aug 23rd currently ranges from $170 to $330 depending on time. A few days before both will be significantly higher. Cheap booking classes often aren't available a day or two before the flight. Even Southwest can have astronomical costs.



Sorry, but what is the relevance to the OP's point/question, which is about ticket control, not pricing?
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Old Jul 31, 2017, 12:32 pm
  #28  
 
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Originally Posted by LondonElite
Sorry, but what is the relevance to the OP's point/question, which is about ticket control, not pricing?
A point was made that elites have equal/cheaper tickets than those through TAs/3rd parties which was being refuted.

I think the low cost/revenue earned through TA/third parties is why Airlines won't offer any assistance (unless perhaps you are an elite) and defer to booking channel.
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Old Jul 31, 2017, 2:45 pm
  #29  
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The ticket control thing is one of the main reasons I avoid using a TA unless it's absolutely necessary. An example of when it's been necessary for me has been when none of my credit cards will work to purchase directly from the airline, and I need a TA to take my payment. (In these cases, I'm never 100% sure if it's the airline or all of my banks that are rejecting the charges.)

And when I do these, I just pray to God that I won't need to change the ticket in any way prior to arriving at the check-in counter.

I don't do "bucket shop", opaque, or other heavily-discounted TA-booked fares. I'm talking about just regular retail fares using some sort of major/reputable/stable TA. Usually on airlines I've never flown or rarely fly, so there's no elite status to save me...
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Old Jul 31, 2017, 5:05 pm
  #30  
 
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Not all airlines have websites that allow combining multiple airlines. This requires issuing the ticket through an OTA.
Example: I had an itinerary TP:LIS-LHR//AC:-YYZ-YOW//UA:YOW-IAD-LIS. Not a mistake fare. Pulled it up on Matrix. Only Priceline would price it properly. AC issued the ticket. Any changes would have had to have gone thru PL.
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