Messed up complex award after changing it online
Jan 4, 2014, 12:47 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: London
Programs: UA GS
Posts: 2,438
Messed up complex award after changing it online
My partner and I are going to Bali this fall. Originally Booked ORD-EWR (stop) JFK-TPE-DPS (destination), returning DPS-BKK-ICN-ORD. JFK-TPE-DPS was on EVA, DPS-BKK on Thai, BKK-ICN-ORD on Asiana. Everything looked good, got seat assignments, tickets show up everywhere, etc. This is all in business class.
We decided instead of the stopover in NYC we would do a stopover in TPE. Didn't think it would be possible to do, but I tried changing online, and was able to change it to ORD-LAX-TPE (stop), TPE-DPS (destination), leaving the return alone.
I got the ticketing email almost immediately after clicking submit, which almost never happens even on United changes, much less a partner award. It had a new ticket number for both of us.
However, when I went to pull up the ticket on EVA, it was looking a bit messed up. The LAX-TPE segment looked fine for me, and had the ticket number, but my companion showed “No Ticket". I called EVA and they said indeed they don't see the other ticket number.
I pull it up on checkmytrip, and things get even stranger. I have one ticket number for all of the segments. My companion had TWO ticket numbers - one for TPE-DPS, and another for BKK-ICN-ORD. He showed nothing for LAX-DPS.
I called into United and they just keep re-issuing the tickets, which does nothing but update the same ticket numbers in all the places I can see it. I finally got one of them to call EVA, and after waiting on hold for an hour, she came back and said she can’t get the ticket to attach to the segment. The EVA agent made a note in the record (EVA can see the ticket, it's just not attached), and they were both going to “send it to corporate” to see if IT can figure it out.
5 minutes later, I checked EVA, and the ticket finally appeared. But then I noticed that on the second EVA segment, TPE-DPS, my companion’s ticket number is an old one. If I pull up this number on Saudi’s website, it shows the coupon as “exch/reissued”. Which means the wrong ticket number is attached to this segment.
There is one more idiosyncrasy - on checkmytrip, both of our tickets are shown as being for “Los Angeles - Taipei - Denpasar-Bali , Bangkok - Seoul - Chicago”. It’s missing the Bali-Bangkok leg, which is the only segment on Thai. Though, if I put in the same record locator I got from Eva, it pulls up on Thai’s website and shows confirmed. If I pull the whole thing up on Saudi’s website, it shows that the ticket is under “Airport control” for each and every segment, including TG.
I asked the UA agent if I could get the record locator for TG, and she said they “haven’t come back with one yet”. I booked it 2 months ago! She said OZ didn’t send one back yet either. She was going to “queue it over to them” to get it, so we’ll see.
TL;DR: How important is it, if I know I have a valid reservation, and I know I have a valid ticket (via Saudi), that these all segments match up? Each reissue just adds more tickets to wade through on the record and I’m concerned I’ve broken it all. If space were still available, I’d just redo the whole thing, but it’s not.
We decided instead of the stopover in NYC we would do a stopover in TPE. Didn't think it would be possible to do, but I tried changing online, and was able to change it to ORD-LAX-TPE (stop), TPE-DPS (destination), leaving the return alone.
I got the ticketing email almost immediately after clicking submit, which almost never happens even on United changes, much less a partner award. It had a new ticket number for both of us.
However, when I went to pull up the ticket on EVA, it was looking a bit messed up. The LAX-TPE segment looked fine for me, and had the ticket number, but my companion showed “No Ticket". I called EVA and they said indeed they don't see the other ticket number.
I pull it up on checkmytrip, and things get even stranger. I have one ticket number for all of the segments. My companion had TWO ticket numbers - one for TPE-DPS, and another for BKK-ICN-ORD. He showed nothing for LAX-DPS.
I called into United and they just keep re-issuing the tickets, which does nothing but update the same ticket numbers in all the places I can see it. I finally got one of them to call EVA, and after waiting on hold for an hour, she came back and said she can’t get the ticket to attach to the segment. The EVA agent made a note in the record (EVA can see the ticket, it's just not attached), and they were both going to “send it to corporate” to see if IT can figure it out.
5 minutes later, I checked EVA, and the ticket finally appeared. But then I noticed that on the second EVA segment, TPE-DPS, my companion’s ticket number is an old one. If I pull up this number on Saudi’s website, it shows the coupon as “exch/reissued”. Which means the wrong ticket number is attached to this segment.
There is one more idiosyncrasy - on checkmytrip, both of our tickets are shown as being for “Los Angeles - Taipei - Denpasar-Bali , Bangkok - Seoul - Chicago”. It’s missing the Bali-Bangkok leg, which is the only segment on Thai. Though, if I put in the same record locator I got from Eva, it pulls up on Thai’s website and shows confirmed. If I pull the whole thing up on Saudi’s website, it shows that the ticket is under “Airport control” for each and every segment, including TG.
I asked the UA agent if I could get the record locator for TG, and she said they “haven’t come back with one yet”. I booked it 2 months ago! She said OZ didn’t send one back yet either. She was going to “queue it over to them” to get it, so we’ll see.
TL;DR: How important is it, if I know I have a valid reservation, and I know I have a valid ticket (via Saudi), that these all segments match up? Each reissue just adds more tickets to wade through on the record and I’m concerned I’ve broken it all. If space were still available, I’d just redo the whole thing, but it’s not.
Jan 4, 2014, 1:09 pm
#2
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
As long as you have an e-ticket # covering each segment for each pax, nothing else matters. If you are missing a # for a segment for a person, that person won't be able to check in for the flight in question and won't be boarded.
Easiest is to make a chart with each segment down Column 1, Column 2 for you and Column 3 for partner. Write in the ticket # for each segment for each person. Still a PITA as things progress because you have to check multiple places, but you are correct that short of prevailing on UA to start from scratch, this particular PITA will be purely administrative.
Easiest is to make a chart with each segment down Column 1, Column 2 for you and Column 3 for partner. Write in the ticket # for each segment for each person. Still a PITA as things progress because you have to check multiple places, but you are correct that short of prevailing on UA to start from scratch, this particular PITA will be purely administrative.
Jan 4, 2014, 1:44 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: London
Programs: UA GS
Posts: 2,438
As long as you have an e-ticket # covering each segment for each pax, nothing else matters. If you are missing a # for a segment for a person, that person won't be able to check in for the flight in question and won't be boarded.
Easiest is to make a chart with each segment down Column 1, Column 2 for you and Column 3 for partner. Write in the ticket # for each segment for each person. Still a PITA as things progress because you have to check multiple places, but you are correct that short of prevailing on UA to start from scratch, this particular PITA will be purely administrative.
Easiest is to make a chart with each segment down Column 1, Column 2 for you and Column 3 for partner. Write in the ticket # for each segment for each person. Still a PITA as things progress because you have to check multiple places, but you are correct that short of prevailing on UA to start from scratch, this particular PITA will be purely administrative.
I'm not so sure it's as simple as "nothing else matters". I had a problem with an award in Sept where an extra segment was attached to an LH PNR because I had made a change. I couldn't checkin for the flight I was actually ticketed on online until I finally found a LH rep who deleted the extraneous segment from the PNR.
So maybe I'll be able to travel, but if it's not all synced up I may not be able to checkin online. Might have other difficulties if people are confused. Is there any chance the reservation could cancel if it doesn't have a valid ticket attached (because it's showing the old one?)
Jan 4, 2014, 7:05 pm
#5
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 2,866
Often United and the other carrier show different flights in their systems. It can be impossible for United to clear up the mess. Just make sure you view the carrier you are flying on to make sure they have it confirmed and ticketed on their system. United has a very bad computer system. This happens too often. Lufthansa would tell me to have United clean up the mess, United would insist there is no mess. Back & forth, back forth. The last time I held 2 first class seats on the same LH A380 flight and only the LH people at the airport would clean up the mess. The other passenger said he was trying to get the seat for his wife and was happy it was opened on the day of the flight.