Nice OW Emerald seat selection touch on LA

[JohnM]

I've just been making some DOM whY bookings on LA in Colombia as supplements to my 2015 DONE5 and I was mighty impressed by the seat selection offering and the way it was presented:


The booking engine defaulted me to 28A :shock::shock:, despite obviously recognising my WP status . But the 'select seat' option very nicely overcame any initial concerns .

Love the way they clearly identify the seats reserved for Emerald .

 

[RooFlyer]

Cripes. I have a bunch of intl whY LAN (various national incarnations) for next year and didn't see that when I selected seats.

Must go into it and have another look.

Thanks for the heads up. BTW I'm blaming you, JohnM (and your trip reports) for my extravagant Sth American itinerary in April/May next year. No Colombia, but I do have a spare day in Quito, and maybe might do a day trip . No CAB, but possibly some Cab Sav.

 

[JohnK]

Middle seat preference? :shock:

 

[Timba-Jet]

Very cool feature.

It's these little touches that give loyal customer that unmeasurable delight. Being unmeasurable (well directly) it's always a guessing game for a company to invest in these little touches.

 

[JohnM]

Cripes. I have a bunch of intl whY LAN (various national incarnations) for next year and didn't see that when I selected seats.

Must go into it and have another look.

Thanks for the heads up. BTW I'm blaming you, JohnM (and your trip reports) for my extravagant Sth American itinerary in April/May next year. No Colombia, but I do have a spare day in Quito, and maybe might do a day trip . No CAB, but possibly some Cab Sav.

I did select a flex (not fully flex) fare. That may have made a difference.

If you have a day in Quito, the central plaza is very small. It's cute enough, but nothing special. Atypically for most S Am countries, it does not have a very vibrant cafe/restaurant scene. It's underwhelming and missable.

For a day trip, I'd recommend going to Volcan Cotopaxi. Beautiful if you get a clear day. You won't have time to hike to the rim, but try a trudge to the refugio at about 4800m (see my last post in this TR: Up the Amazon and around the Galapagos.)

What's the itinerary you've mapped out?

 

[JohnM]

Middle seat preference? :shock:

It's a whY only flight. I guess they just mark off 1A-C as a batch - but hopefully an Emerald shadow lurks if the bird is not full. They are only 1h flights.

I just liked the way they marked it so clearly for OWEs.

 

[RooFlyer]

I did select a flex (not fully flex) fare. That may have made a difference.

If you have a day in Quito, the central plaza is very small. It's cute enough, but nothing special. Atypically for most S Am countries, it does not have a very vibrant cafe/restaurant scene. It's underwhelming and missable.

For a day trip, I'd recommend going to Volcan Cotopaxi. Beautiful if you get a clear day. You won't have time to hike to the rim, but try a trudge to the refugio at about 4800m (see my last post in this TR: Up the Amazon and around the Galapagos.)

What's the itinerary you've mapped out?

My itinerary ... (sigh). Far too long!

Start with a day in Santiago (arrival on LAN from SYD in J; been there before). Fly to UIO, then 4 days in Quito (including 1 or 2 in Cotopaxi area). 3 nights Sacha lodge. Spare day in Quito (day trip to Colombia? ). Week cruising Galapagos. 6 days Sacred Valley/Machu Picchu/Cuzco. Coupla days at Belmonde Hotel de Caratas at Iguazu Falls. 2 days Buenos Aires (been there before). 2 days Mendoza stocking Malbec. Last day in SCL. Back on QF.

 

[JohnM]

My itinerary ... (sigh). Far too long!

Start with a day in Santiago (arrival on LAN from SYD in J; been there before). Fly to UIO, then 4 days in Quito (including 1 or 2 in Cotopaxi area). 3 nights Sacha lodge. Spare day in Quito (day trip to Colombia? ). Week cruising Galapagos. 6 days Sacred Valley/Machu Picchu/Cuzco. Coupla days at Belmonde Hotel de Caratas at Iguazu Falls. 2 days Buenos Aires (been there before). 2 days Mendoza stocking Malbec. Last day in SCL. Back on QF.

Looks sensational! Look out for the sloth in Sacha - it probably hasn't moved far since I was there in 2013 .

Now I see the day trip idea! Juddles, our Colombian resident, recommends Medellin by far over Bogota (although he says the Museo del Oro in BOG is worth a visit) - can you fly UIO-MDE?

There was a bit of discussion on the 'Nice wines' thread a week or two back about Malbec. I'm aiming to post a TR on Mendoza and some of the wineries in the next week or so. I'll reinforce a few of the things we talked about in YYC.

 

[RooFlyer]

OK, got the Emerald seat selection (except on my PE leg SCL-UIO ) but it just sits there thinking after I select and click 'continue'. Server might be slow over there at night so might try again during their daytime.

 

[JohnM]

OK, got the Emerald seat selection (except on my PE leg SCL-UIO ) but it just sits there thinking after I select and click 'continue'. Server might be slow over there at night so might try again during their daytime.

Worked smoothly for me yesterday.

 

[JohnM]

OK, got the Emerald seat selection (except on my PE leg SCL-UIO ) but it just sits there thinking after I select and click 'continue'. Server might be slow over there at night so might try again during their daytime.

I'm getting the same thing selecting seats for MIA-BOG on my DONE5 itinerary. Just trying to move from 3A to 1A, so not the end of the world, but annoying.

The system can clearly see my reservation but it fails to respond to the request. Did you eventually get it to respond?

 

[RooFlyer]

No; I've tried 3 times now and just get the spinning wheel. My bookings are in April/May .. maybe too early for the system?

 

[JohnM]

But the internal Colombia bookings I made direct with LAN that started this thread were during my DONE5 in Sept-Oct and they were sweet. I think I'll call LAN Aust. this week.

 

[RooFlyer]

I called LAN's Australian number per their web site 1 800 126 038. Got transferred to somewhere far away.

Chose 4, other services. I explained the situation to the guy who of course was completely flummoxed (its really a web site problem, after all).

He did say that they recommend Chrome and he couldn't help me with manual seat selection because I was oneWorld Emerald, and there was a special line for that. Great! What is it? "1 800 126 038"

Hmmm.

So I tried Chrome. Exactly same result; ever spinning wheel after selecting the seats.

Looks like my TA gets to waste her time at some stage.

 

[JohnM]

Breaking news.

I also called, transferred far way, option 4 just now. Lady fixed it for me. Yet to confirm that it's happened but have no reason to doubt what she did.

No suggestion of a special line for OWE and I didn't play that card.

HUTA, methinks.

 

[JohnM]

Seat selection showing correct on the LAN site, not on QF yet. I guess that will happen overnight.

The only flight I'm having trouble selecting my seat on is IB SCL-MAD. Any experience of doing an IB seat selection?

I haven't flown IB in quite a while and would prefer LA, especially as it's a B787, but after coming down from BOG and needing to make an AY connection to HEL in MAD, IB on an A345 was the only option.

 

[RooFlyer]

On JohnM's suggestion following a tip in another thread, I went onto the QR site to see if I could get over the LAN seat selection hurdle. It apparently worked for JohnM for one recalcitrant flight leg he had.

I got in to the QR MMB OK with the QF PNR (the journey is on one QF ticket and one LA ticket, on the same PNR) and yes, it let me select LAN seats in Y, except for one leg for reasons unknown. Saved OK and displayed OK.

I'm pretty sure this is reaching direct into Amadeus, with just the airline front end. There were a couple of 'Amadeus re-directs' during the logging in process.

However, I soon got 2 e-mails warning that one or more 'special requests' could not be processed. Then another e-mail "confirmation of itinerary" (note none of the flying involves QR!) and of the 7 seats selected (mostly 1A or 2A), in 4 I had been bumped back to row 24 or 27!! I suspect somehow Emerald status wasn't recognised and where there were Emerald reserved seats (which is what I've been trying to access all along!!) its booted me backwards.

All of these seats, (ie my chosen ones and the 24/27 type ones) appear on QF and LN MMB areas.

I'll try their call centre again in the morning.

 

[JohnM]

On JohnM's suggestion following a tip in another thread, I went onto the QR site to see if I could get over the LAN seat selection hurdle. It apparently worked for JohnM for one recalcitrant flight leg he had.

I got in to the QR MMB OK with the QF PNR (the journey is on one QF ticket and one LA ticket, on the same PNR) and yes, it let me select LAN seats in Y, except for one leg for reasons unknown. Saved OK and displayed OK.

I'm pretty sure this is reaching direct into Amadeus, with just the airline front end. There were a couple of 'Amadeus re-directs' during the logging in process.

However, I soon got 2 e-mails warning that one or more 'special requests' could not be processed. Then another e-mail "confirmation of itinerary" (note none of the flying involves QR!) and of the 7 seats selected (mostly 1A or 2A), in 4 I had been bumped back to row 24 or 27!! I suspect somehow Emerald status wasn't recognised and where there were Emerald reserved seats (which is what I've been trying to access all along!!) its booted me backwards.

All of these seats, (ie my chosen ones and the 24/27 type ones) appear on QF and LN MMB areas.

I'll try their call centre again in the morning.

I just checked mine again.

The IB 1A selection I made through QR now shows at QF (and IB & QR) where before it was a blank, so that's clearly worked.

The LA 1A, 1L selections I made by phoning yesterday now show a blank at QF, correct at LA and still the old default 3A selections at IB & QR. Maybe with a bit more time they may appear correctly outside of LA.

No hint of getting shoved down the back

I do note that LA automatically flicks my login using the QF-issued PNR (num/alpha/alpha/num/alpha/alpha format) to a 6-alpha PNR. For AA I had to do it by logging in to my AA account to find the AA version of the PNR, IIRC.

I am working on the assumption that QF & IB (& BA, AY, QR) use Amadeus (the num/alpha format) while AA & LA use Sabre (all alpha format) and somewhere the whole lot is brought together in the GDS, but with some bits of poor display integration.

I'm sure someone like Serfty can explain the intricacies of Amadeus/Sabre/GDS far better than a mere mortal like me.

 

[serfty]

...

I'm sure someone like Serfty can explain the intricacies of Amadeus/Sabre/GDS far better than a mere mortal like me.

you have got to be kidding!

LAN was far more QF friendly when they used Amadeus until a couple of years ago.

Different systems, interface must be manually set up - unlike amadeus to amadeus where airlines appear feel the need to proactively interfere with ready integration.

 

[RooFlyer]

you have got to be kidding!

<snip>.

Nice try, JohnM .

serfty, is there a source which lists the booking engines of the major airlines? I was previously only doing 2 or 4 airlines a year but these days I'm totally promiscuous and this might help understand what's happening behind the scenes.