Problem with Mileage Award Ticket on Partner Airline (Turkish Air)
Feb 3, 2022, 10:26 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 368
Problem with Mileage Award Ticket on Partner Airline (Turkish Air)
Hello, I redeemed my UA miles for a multi stop itinerary on a mix of UA and TK metal. my itinerary is as follows: SFO-CDG (on UA, in economy 30k miles), CDG-IST (on TK, in economy, excursionist perk, 0 miles), IST-SFO (Business, 70k miles)
there are 4 passengers. Initially I had booked the same itinerary all in economy, but some biz class seats opened up the day before my original return date for the IST-SFO leg, so I changed my ticket on UA's website, paid the extra miles and was able to change my flight. I received a confirmation email with new e-ticket #'s for all 4 of us. the PNR for both UA and TK stayed the same. When I went to TK's website and online App, it only showed 3 of the 4 passengers. When I entered the eticket # for the missing passenger, it says that passenger ticket does not exist. I called TK and the confirmed that 3 of the 4 passengers are confirmed, but the 4th is not (name shows up, but no eticket # and no confirmation). I've spent 6+ hours on the phone with different UA agents who all say that everything is fine on their end and all 4 pax are showing as confirmed. I even did a 3 way call with TK and UA and basically TK said there's nothing they can do as UA issued the ticket. I've been on hold with united for hours at a time, waiting for supervisors. I finally got a supervisor who said she'll "reissue" the ticket, but then the call disconnected and the ticket was never reissued. I called back and basically get the same story from every rep, that my ticket is fine and there is no problem. I spoke to mileage plus, but they keep saying I should speak to reservations who basically says everything looks fine.
I'm so frustrated and not sure what to do. If I just cancel and rebook, I risk losing the seats I have. I already checked the SFO-CDG and right now for economy it's 70k pp, not the 30k I paid. I guess I could just cancel segment 2 (CDG-IST) and segment 3 (IST-SFO) and keep segment 1. then go back and modify my reservation to add those 2 exact segements back? that seems the only way I can try to make it work since UA has been no help. Or should I ask them to reissue the ticket? (although I'm on hold for hours because apparently only a supervisor can do this). Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
there are 4 passengers. Initially I had booked the same itinerary all in economy, but some biz class seats opened up the day before my original return date for the IST-SFO leg, so I changed my ticket on UA's website, paid the extra miles and was able to change my flight. I received a confirmation email with new e-ticket #'s for all 4 of us. the PNR for both UA and TK stayed the same. When I went to TK's website and online App, it only showed 3 of the 4 passengers. When I entered the eticket # for the missing passenger, it says that passenger ticket does not exist. I called TK and the confirmed that 3 of the 4 passengers are confirmed, but the 4th is not (name shows up, but no eticket # and no confirmation). I've spent 6+ hours on the phone with different UA agents who all say that everything is fine on their end and all 4 pax are showing as confirmed. I even did a 3 way call with TK and UA and basically TK said there's nothing they can do as UA issued the ticket. I've been on hold with united for hours at a time, waiting for supervisors. I finally got a supervisor who said she'll "reissue" the ticket, but then the call disconnected and the ticket was never reissued. I called back and basically get the same story from every rep, that my ticket is fine and there is no problem. I spoke to mileage plus, but they keep saying I should speak to reservations who basically says everything looks fine.
I'm so frustrated and not sure what to do. If I just cancel and rebook, I risk losing the seats I have. I already checked the SFO-CDG and right now for economy it's 70k pp, not the 30k I paid. I guess I could just cancel segment 2 (CDG-IST) and segment 3 (IST-SFO) and keep segment 1. then go back and modify my reservation to add those 2 exact segements back? that seems the only way I can try to make it work since UA has been no help. Or should I ask them to reissue the ticket? (although I'm on hold for hours because apparently only a supervisor can do this). Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
Last edited by kayexalate; Feb 3, 2022 at 10:41 pm
Feb 3, 2022, 11:07 pm
#2
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,857
It's too late to warn against changing award tickets with partners online. It can work for some partners but other times this occurs.
There was likely no new space on one of the segments that you were not changing and the ticket got messed up as TK did not accept the change on the 4th ticket. Calling TK directly will do nothing, UA needs to work this out with TK .
Yes try this again but TK may not accept if there is no new space. Until the ticket numbers on UA and TK (ticket numbers, not PNR) match, you don't have a valid TK ticket.
The major waether issue in the midwest and east have the phone agents slammed -- calling in offhours or in a few days may cut the wait time
There was likely no new space on one of the segments that you were not changing and the ticket got messed up as TK did not accept the change on the 4th ticket. Calling TK directly will do nothing, UA needs to work this out with TK .
Yes try this again but TK may not accept if there is no new space. Until the ticket numbers on UA and TK (ticket numbers, not PNR) match, you don't have a valid TK ticket.
The major waether issue in the midwest and east have the phone agents slammed -- calling in offhours or in a few days may cut the wait time
Feb 3, 2022, 11:18 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 368
It's too late to warn against changing award tickets with partners online. It can work for some partners but other times this occurs.
There was likely no new space on one of the segments that you were not changing and the ticket got messed up as TK did not accept the change on the 4th ticket. Calling TK directly will do nothing, UA needs to work this out with TK .
Yes try this again but TK may not accept if there is no new space. Until the ticket numbers on UA and TK (ticket numbers, not PNR) match, you don't have a valid TK ticket.
There was likely no new space on one of the segments that you were not changing and the ticket got messed up as TK did not accept the change on the 4th ticket. Calling TK directly will do nothing, UA needs to work this out with TK .
Yes try this again but TK may not accept if there is no new space. Until the ticket numbers on UA and TK (ticket numbers, not PNR) match, you don't have a valid TK ticket.
Feb 3, 2022, 11:34 pm
#4
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,857
odd thing is, assuming UA's website is correct in showing TK inventory, there seems to be plenty of seats available on both legs of my TK flight (economy CDG-IST) and Business (4 seats showing, even after I booked 4 (well, 3)). IST-SFO. So doesn't seem like TK wasn't able to confirm due to space/availability problems, but some other issue.
Can you book a new award ticket for the entire trip today?
Feb 3, 2022, 11:40 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 368
Would cancelling segment 2 & 3 (the segments on TK) and then trying to add them back work? the other alternative is just to cancel the one passenger who is not confirmed and have them book separately but that is a bit more complicated and still run the risk of not getting segement 1 at the lower mileage cost.