NYC2SGN

I'm flying EWR-NRT-SGN; then BKK-NRT-EWR.

EWR-NRT and NRT-EWR are on UA. NRT-SGN and BKK-NRT are on NH.

I called UA to try and change the outbound, but the 1K agent said she couldn't change it because NH has control of the reservation.

That can't be right... right?

This is a UA issued ticket and the outbound starts on UA... and the departure date isn't until November!

findark

If booked directly with United and on 016 stock, no that's ridiculous. UA is the only one who could change the ticket.

fumje

Translation: "I don't know what I'm doing here, please hang up and try again!"

FlyerTalker70

Correct!

This has been my experience as well. Last year I was booked SIN > LAX > SFO > YYZ with UA handling the first two segments and AC handling the last segment. As we all know UA cancelled SIN > LAX service at the end of the year and I had to call UA for rebooking options. A 10 minute phone call later and UA rebooked me on the SIN > SFO service then changed my AC flight to match the new departure time. The point being as the UA agents can and do have the power to touch segments operated by other * partners when the ticket is issued by UA. At the end of the day your contract is with UA not the partners. The partners are merely airlines that fill sectors in the flights.

Safe Travels,

James

paperwastage

Try doing it online?

Even on a 016 ticket with NH metal legs, you can go to manage-reservstions on UA.com, attempt to change flights and it'll quote you the final price (change fees plus fare changes). Didn't finish the process to test/get the new itinerary though

COGal

The only time UA cannot re-issue a ticket with other airline space, is if you are "checked in" on that segment. Since the flight isn't until November this is a HUCA situation.

daniellam

Agent (assuming he/she is only a "reservations" agent and does not handle "ticketing") needs to call the ticketing help desk to have control of the electronic flight coupons for the ANA segments taken back. Once UA has regained control, they can then go ahead and exchange the ticket.

UA_Flyer

Correct!

I just had a similar experience last week as OP experienced. GS agent was helpful and reached out to NH and sorted it out.

Although it is 016 ticket, it does not mean UA has Titian control when one of the segments is not on UA metal.

cfischer

Unless you have a cleared UG on NH I see no reason why NH would have control of the ticket.

nigos

I am traveling in paid J and was able to check in for UA and ANA flights but UA could not issue boarding pass for ANA flights on line or at counter. ANA flight is within 24 hours of my checking in.UA says the reason is ANA has control of the flight.

FlyerTalker70

Was the ticket issued on UA stock? If so then my experience has been that mobile/counter check-in with UA should pull up all boarding passes. This was the case when I travelled from YOW to HKG (via EWR, NRT) and YYZ to SIN (via ORD, NRT) with me having UA boarding passes for the those NH operated intra-Asia segments. So long as the trip begins with a UA segment you should have UA spit out all of the boarding passes.

As another example, yesterday I had a flight YYZ to FRA (via PHL). Flights were ticketed on UA stock but first segment was with AC and second with LH. I was able to check in online with the first carrier (AC) who issued me boarding passes for both flights (although it somehow managed to screw up the FF information on the LH flight requiring me to get it sorted at the gate). That is something to be careful of when you have itineraries which cross operating carriers!

The only exception to this rule I found was when you were doing something bizarre like changing airports such as when I went HKG to YOW (arriving in HND departing from HKG same-day). At that point you need to do a counter check in because the agent has to be 100% sure you know what you're doing before they can check you in and even then they have to call a supervisor to authorize the check-in.

Safe Travels,

James

nigos

Ticket was issued on UA 016 stock using UA website. Nothing unusual. ANA flight is domestic Japan. Neither web site or GS reception were able to issue ANA boarding pass.

FlyerTalker70

Did the NH domestic flight have a UA flight number? I'm wondering if there's perhaps a special case for NH domestic tickets where this scheme doesn't work (my experience is limited to NH international flights).

-James

ttuna3

I've seen this before with a connecting to NH domestic from UA at NRT. I usually just have to check in light (ticket and PP check) at the transfer desk to get my BP which usually has a low sequence number on it so I assume I'd always been checked in. It might also be a baggage/security issue since every time I've got a checked bag I-D in Japan I need to stop by the transfer desk for that since the bags aren't always tagged all the way through.

I did ask an ANA rep at the LAX club and they had no problem giving me an ANA domestic BP there.

nigos

United provided an ANA confirmation number and an NH XXXX number. In the past I was able to secure a boarding pass upon checkin for the same set of flights. Transfer desk won't help cause you can't go through security to reach the transfer desk but instead must clear immigration. Not a big deal since I can simply go to the ANA desk outside security.