Splitting up partner airline award reservation

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Mar 30, 2019, 5:54 pm

#31

Leedsflyer

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Kacee

Not sure I'm following . . . every passenger has his or her own ticket, and each ticket has its own unique number. If multiple pax really have the same e-ticket number, something is very wrong.

Total nonsense. (I'm not saying there's no possibility the agent didn't mess up the ticket, but the explanation is ridiculous.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by WineCountryUA

This is the "its tricky" part. If AV accepts the change and does not try to revalidate the ticket, it might work out. A lot depends on how the agent made the split -- a really acknowledge agent knows what not to do and that may vary by partner. If AV tries to re-validate the ticket, problems can happen as new inventory may not exist (even though you hold space). This is where it can go south and there is nothing you can do. So splitting partner award tickets should only be done if the agent truly is a black-belt (and never online). This was one of the great benefits of the now-gone 1K desk or Honolulu phone agents or a few other select folks.

At this point this is a way and see situation and it may be a few days before the dust settles.

thanks. I'll keep monitoring the situation. If new space opens up I'll book that and cancel he original one so I'm sure I have a "clean" reseration. Moral of the story is that I should have booked everyone separately (though I realise that may be less than ideal in the case of irrops).

Luckily the flight is not until December, so plenty of time to sort things out...

Mar 31, 2019, 1:21 am

#32

jsloan

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Leedsflyer

after split: 2 PNR, a new one with 1 PAX and their own ticket, and the old PNR with all 3 PAX still listed with their own etickets (the third one having the same eticket number as on the split away PNR).

Is this the UA PNR or the AV PNR?

Unless AV happens to use the same CRS as UA, they will have their own PNR. That's the one that needs to make sense. Extra or erroneous data in the UA system shouldn't cause any issues.

Mar 31, 2019, 5:56 am

#33

Kacee

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Leedsflyer

The second agent yesterday said the same thing. Just saying. Clearly I didn't get the "black belt" agent recommended by Winecountry on any of the calls :-(

Contrary to what the agents told you, the "problem" has nothing to do with *A protocols or splitting PNRs; the problem is that the standard booking tool UA makes available to its line cs agents releases the award space in order to reissue the ticket. There are ways to hold the award space through a ticket reissue, but your average line agent can't do it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsloan

Unless AV happens to use the same CRS as UA, they will have their own PNR.

AV uses Amadeus.

Mar 31, 2019, 7:41 am

#34

Leedsflyer

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Quote:

Originally Posted by jsloan

The UA PNR. I didn't think to check the AV record and can't any more since I've cancelled that one. I now hold just the split off one for the 3rd PAX. At present that looks good on both the UA site and the AV site. But I'll keep monitoring it every day! If new space opens up I'll rebook just to be sure -- actually I'm looking to move this PAX to the earlier date that the other 2 PAX are now booked on but presently no space available.

Mar 31, 2019, 11:37 am

#35

WineCountryUA

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Kacee

While agreeing the present award booking tool makes this issue worse, the issue on splitting PNRs with partner awards and invalidating tickets long predates the change in the award tool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kacee

There are ways to hold the award space through a ticket reissue, but your average line agent can't do it.

A core contributor to the situation.

Apr 3, 2019, 8:56 am

#36

Leedsflyer

Join Date: Mar 2007

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Quote:

Originally Posted by WineCountryUA

While agreeing the present award booking tool makes this issue worse, the issue on splitting PNRs with partner awards and invalidating tickets long predates the change in the award tool.

A core contributor to the situation.

Thanks for this. So far, if I check the booking on the Avianca site, then all looks good, though there is no eticket number displayed. I rang up to make sure they had one, and at the third time of trying* managed to get an email from them with it on, so I'm guessing all is ok. I'll keep monitoring though.

I still want to add a couple of segments to the start of the trip, so am hoping that won't mess things up!

*Avianca have this "new system" which requires you to supply, before releasing any info on a booking over the phone, your passport number, residence, phone and email address, and also for any passengers. They then say "hold the line for a few minutes". Twice, after 2 mins, the line dropped... so had to start all over again. Sigh. They can't have wanted all this info for security purposes to verify my identity, since most of it was not in the record.