United not seeing Turkish Airlines availability correctly?
Oct 24, 2015, 1:34 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2011
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United showing phantom availability for TK
Since last 3 days United has been showing phantom availability for TK flights... Although the flights are available on ANA website but still UA agents cannot see those seats..
Oct 24, 2015, 1:50 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2013
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Are you saying instead that you believe the opposite to be true? That TK has *A award availability, but "UA agents cannot see those seats"?
If so, it may just be that UA hasn't loaded the inventory yet. I know there's tons of TK award availability for 2016 becoming available, so it may also just be the dates you've chosen.
http://thepointsguy.com/2015/10/turk...lability-2016/
Oct 24, 2015, 2:56 pm
#3
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Not sure I follow your post. "Phantom availability" generally means that the UA award website shows seats available, but after you book the flight, the operating carrier refuses to ticket. It's happened to me twice, and it's annoying as hell.
Are you saying instead that you believe the opposite to be true? That TK has *A award availability, but "UA agents cannot see those seats"?
If so, it may just be that UA hasn't loaded the inventory yet. I know there's tons of TK award availability for 2016 becoming available, so it may also just be the dates you've chosen.
http://thepointsguy.com/2015/10/turk...lability-2016/
Are you saying instead that you believe the opposite to be true? That TK has *A award availability, but "UA agents cannot see those seats"?
If so, it may just be that UA hasn't loaded the inventory yet. I know there's tons of TK award availability for 2016 becoming available, so it may also just be the dates you've chosen.
http://thepointsguy.com/2015/10/turk...lability-2016/
Oct 24, 2015, 5:11 pm
#4
Join Date: Jan 2013
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The United website and mobile app show availability but when you try to get to the purchasing screen, it gives an error... And UA agents are saying its not available at all in their system... May be TK is blocking some seats for United members as the same flight is available on Ana
Good to know, as I'm looking at a couple of award flights in TK J for June 2016, since as TPG points out, availability is wide open. Here's hoping it's just a momentary glitch.
Oct 24, 2015, 6:48 pm
#5
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: PHL
Programs: UA Plat, 2MM
Posts: 1,860
UA has a Looooooonnnngggg history of phantom availability. Sorry to say it is nothing new. Of course, UA keeps saying that they are aware and are working on it. And this has been going on for many, many YEARS! Just the new UA. I think it will never be reseolved with SHARES.
Jun 28, 2022, 5:27 pm
#7
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH, YYC
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 753
United not seeing Turkish Airlines availability correctly?
A couple of nights ago, I booked a flight IST-BRU-IAD-IAH. The flight didn't ticket immediately. My credit card was not charged and I got this message:
Then about 36 hours later I got this message via email:
So I re-booked the ticket this afternoon to fly IST-FRA-EWR-IAH, and I got the first message again. As of right now, I have a Turkish airlines confirmation number, and the entire itinerary is showing on the Turkish airlines website, but still no ticket. I can route via several European cities, but I do eventually need a ticket back to Houston, preferably on United metal over the Atlantic. And unfortunately Turkish airlines connects to all of the routes I'm looking for except for a miserable 6am departure on Lufthansa which I'd prefer to avoid. Any tips for dealing with this? Should I keep re-booking different routes until I find one that tickets? Is there any way I can see the likelihood of success on expertflyer or anywhere else? Or should I just give up and try another airline?
ps. In case anyone is wondering, the reason I am booking double connections is to maximize upgrade chances. Anything EU-IAH is a disaster for the day I'm traveling
One of the flights in your itinerary has been cancelled or is still not confirmed. To make changes to your trip, you can select "Change flight". Or, if you'd like to cancel your trip, you can select "Cancel options". If you require assistance, please contact United Reservations,.
Thank you for booking your travel on United Airlines. We are unable to ticket the above-referenced reservation. Some airlines require 24 hours to confirm a seat on their flight. In this case, we were unable to confirm your flight(s) on Turkish Airlines. If you are in the US or Canada, please call us at 800-UNITED1 (800-864-8331) so we can assist you in making alternate arrangements.
ps. In case anyone is wondering, the reason I am booking double connections is to maximize upgrade chances. Anything EU-IAH is a disaster for the day I'm traveling
Jun 28, 2022, 6:06 pm
#8
Moderator: United Airlines
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Just to double check, you are booking on united.com?
Stale / phantom inventory is a common issue. AIt is a systemic issue that has been around since the begining of time. Inventory used by search engines is not always realtime (there is a fee for realtime access, and when a seach provides hundreds of options the airline / search engine don't want to paid for each request) plus carriers don't necessarily update their external inventory in realtime Between this issues, you can search, find a itin and then learn it is not available. Such as your first case.
Your second case looks more promising if TK show confirmed. But you still may need to push on UA before the 24 hour point to finish the booking.
Note this is not unique to TK-UA. But some airlines are slower to provide updates and TK seems to be in that category.
EF inventory is subject to the same issues. There is not public source that will not have these issues.
Stale / phantom inventory is a common issue. AIt is a systemic issue that has been around since the begining of time. Inventory used by search engines is not always realtime (there is a fee for realtime access, and when a seach provides hundreds of options the airline / search engine don't want to paid for each request) plus carriers don't necessarily update their external inventory in realtime Between this issues, you can search, find a itin and then learn it is not available. Such as your first case.
Your second case looks more promising if TK show confirmed. But you still may need to push on UA before the 24 hour point to finish the booking.
Note this is not unique to TK-UA. But some airlines are slower to provide updates and TK seems to be in that category.
EF inventory is subject to the same issues. There is not public source that will not have these issues.
Jun 28, 2022, 7:22 pm
#9
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NYC / TYO / Up in the Air
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Posts: 6,317
Is this an award ticket or revenue? Any reason you are avoiding the FRA-IAH direct flight? Turkish is infamous for this -- did you look at LOT routings? I know you don't want that 6am flight to FRA -- but it sure will make your booking life easier....
Jun 29, 2022, 7:38 am
#10
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH, YYC
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 753
Just to double check, you are booking on united.com?
Stale / phantom inventory is a common issue. AIt is a systemic issue that has been around since the begining of time. Inventory used by search engines is not always realtime (there is a fee for realtime access, and when a seach provides hundreds of options the airline / search engine don't want to paid for each request) plus carriers don't necessarily update their external inventory in realtime Between this issues, you can search, find a itin and then learn it is not available. Such as your first case.
Your second case looks more promising if TK show confirmed. But you still may need to push on UA before the 24 hour point to finish the booking.
Note this is not unique to TK-UA. But some airlines are slower to provide updates and TK seems to be in that category.
EF inventory is subject to the same issues. There is not public source that will not have these issues.
Stale / phantom inventory is a common issue. AIt is a systemic issue that has been around since the begining of time. Inventory used by search engines is not always realtime (there is a fee for realtime access, and when a seach provides hundreds of options the airline / search engine don't want to paid for each request) plus carriers don't necessarily update their external inventory in realtime Between this issues, you can search, find a itin and then learn it is not available. Such as your first case.
Your second case looks more promising if TK show confirmed. But you still may need to push on UA before the 24 hour point to finish the booking.
Note this is not unique to TK-UA. But some airlines are slower to provide updates and TK seems to be in that category.
EF inventory is subject to the same issues. There is not public source that will not have these issues.
it's a revenue ticket. I'm avoiding anything direct to IAH from any european hub because the upgrade chances look a lot worse than many of the other flights available
Jun 29, 2022, 11:32 am
#11
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I would suggest you use https://pnr.sh/united to look up your PNR after booking through United. Do the TK flights show "HK1" or some other status? I would also suggest calling United right at the 24 hour mark and asking them to ticket the reservation as you waited 24 hours. Assuming the flights show HK1 then they can ticket them. If the flights are showing something else then United can't ticket them because TK isn't accepting the reservation.
-RM
-RM
Jun 29, 2022, 11:47 am
#12
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I would suggest you use https://pnr.sh/united to look up your PNR after booking through United. Do the TK flights show "HK1" or some other status? I would also suggest calling United right at the 24 hour mark and asking them to ticket the reservation as you waited 24 hours. Assuming the flights show HK1 then they can ticket them. If the flights are showing something else then United can't ticket them because TK isn't accepting the reservation.
-RM
-RM
Then again, if UA already sent OP an email with ticketing issue, then something is up.