Oneworld separate ticket interline changes

[kermatu]

Thanks ozbeachbabe. How frustrating.

I think BD1959s point was why book QF over VA if the service is the same. I read that as if VA was $20 cheaper go with VA. In my case QF would still have my business for now given status, lounge access etc. But to me the ability to check bags through and avoid all the hassles (and time restrictions) of re-checking is a big consideration.

 

[wandering_fred]

That's my reading of the changes: according to QF you've been a very naughty boy/girl by booking the International sector in the Alliance and not purely QF - and should be punished accordingly!
Makes you wonder why you'd consider booking QF for the CBR-SYD sector, doesn't it (especially given QF's propensity to cancel those flights)?
...

Having both booked on a single PNR with a TA will solve the issues. Though I suspect the CX original PNR would be easier to create with the CBR-SYD added...

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[kermatu]

Having both booked on a single PNR with a TA will solve the issues. Though I suspect the CX original PNR would be easier to create with the CBR-SYD added...

Happy wandering

Fred

Yes was just about to confirm that a TA could arrange, or if QF booked via the phone (presumably)? But does require knowledge of time I can connect and where I may be connecting from. Not saying this is a constant for me but even 2 or 3 times a year it's going to be very frustrating.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Having both booked on a single PNR with a TA will solve the issues. Though I suspect the CX original PNR would be easier to create with the CBR-SYD added...

Happy wandering

Fred

As long as the TA can offer decent fares. There are some cases where AU bssed TA's may not be able to issue certain fares that have country of issue restrictions.....remember Expedia.BR?

 

[BD1959]

I think BD1959s point was why book QF over VA if the service is the same. I read that as if VA was $20 cheaper go with VA. In my case QF would still have my business for now given status, lounge access etc. But to me the ability to check bags through and avoid all the hassles (and time restrictions) of re-checking is a big consideration.

Precisely my point.

QF quite often bemoan the modern-day trait of customers to select purely on price. Traditionally, savvy customers have used the OW policy to avoid having to retrieve/transit/check-in, QF have now decided that with OW having removed the policy, they will remove the benefit. Without the benefit why would you choose the more (perceived) more expensive option CBR-SYD?

Regards,

BD

 

[MEL_Traveller]

In my case QF would still have my business for now given status, lounge access etc.

One guesses this might be what QF is banking on.

 

[madrooster]

I recently had a 280k award PNR (that I have control of) where my full routing was: KUL MH X/SIN QR X/DOH QR X/JNB BA PLZ.

KUL through to JNB was booked in U class as an award and JNB-PLZ was booked as a Y paid ticket on a separate PNR.

Given I have control of the 280k award PNR, I added the JNB-PLZ as a ghost segment (also known as a information segment) into the award PNR.

The intention of this was to confirm that MH at KUL and QR at SIN cannot see the JNB-PLZ flight and issue a BP for it under the new rules, unless they manually added that flight as on-carriage.

The result is ghost / information segments added by TAs (or even the airline) do NOT appear in Altea departure control for on-carriage through-check purposes.

 

[Mattg]

I just spent 35 minutes at the LAN check-in counter in Lima.

Today I'm flying LIM-SCL-GRU-BSB. LIM-SCL is part of a Qantas booking, booked as a QF flight number but operated by LAN (LA). SCL-GRU-BSB is on a separate booking. Both flights are marketed by TAM (JJ), but the SCL-GRU flight is operated by LA.

Originally I was told that it was not possible to issue my boarding passes in LIM for the SCL-GRU-BSB flights as they were on a separate booking. When I told the agent that I would have to pay US$117 for a Chilean visa if my bags weren't checked through, she called a supervisor over and somehow was able to issue my boarding passes all the way to Brasilia. 15 minutes later, she also managed to tag my bag to Sao Paulo but not Brasilia. Which means I will have to collect my bag in Sao Paulo and re-check it.

The agent was very patient and tried her best to help, and in the end the outcome was not terrible, but still incredibly frustrating. Not a promising sign of things to come!

 

[cmon0005]

I just spent 35 minutes at the LAN check-in counter in Lima.

Today I'm flying LIM-SCL-GRU-BSB. LIM-SCL is part of a Qantas booking, booked as a QF flight number but operated by LAN (LA). SCL-GRU-BSB is on a separate booking. Both flights are marketed by TAM (JJ), but the SCL-GRU flight is operated by LA.

Originally I was told that it was not possible to issue my boarding passes in LIM for the SCL-GRU-BSB flights as they were on a separate booking. When I told the agent that I would have to pay US$117 for a Chilean visa if my bags weren't checked through, she called a supervisor over and somehow was able to issue my boarding passes all the way to Brasilia. 15 minutes later, she also managed to tag my bag to Sao Paulo but not Brasilia. Which means I will have to collect my bag in Sao Paulo and re-check it.

The agent was very patient and tried her best to help, and in the end the outcome was not terrible, but still incredibly frustrating. Not a promising sign of things to come!

What seems more frustrating is that LA and JJ are now essentially the same airline, (LATAM) so OW policy aside they should have been able to do it for you anyway.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I just spent 35 minutes at the LAN check-in counter in Lima.

Today I'm flying LIM-SCL-GRU-BSB. LIM-SCL is part of a Qantas booking, booked as a QF flight number but operated by LAN (LA). SCL-GRU-BSB is on a separate booking. Both flights are marketed by TAM (JJ), but the SCL-GRU flight is operated by LA.

Originally I was told that it was not possible to issue my boarding passes in LIM for the SCL-GRU-BSB flights as they were on a separate booking. When I told the agent that I would have to pay US$117 for a Chilean visa if my bags weren't checked through, she called a supervisor over and somehow was able to issue my boarding passes all the way to Brasilia. 15 minutes later, she also managed to tag my bag to Sao Paulo but not Brasilia. Which means I will have to collect my bag in Sao Paulo and re-check it.

The agent was very patient and tried her best to help, and in the end the outcome was not terrible, but still incredibly frustrating. Not a promising sign of things to come!

So are we to assume than LAN's adaptation of the OW changes is that they won't even through check to themselves on separate tickets now? Sounds like they made an exception due to the Chilean visa scenario.

If they issued you boarding passes all the way to BSB I don't know why they didn't through check the bag too even though you would have to collect it in GRU to clear customs. I think a lot of checkin agents misinterpret pax having to collect bags clear customs at first port of entry as bags can only be tagged eg to GRU. They fail to grasp the concept that a bag tagged LIM/xSCL/xGRU/BSB will still come off the carousel in GRU.

Similarly people are told that if the bags are tagged to a certain destination they won't need to pick them up until their final destination. I spoke to a pax who flew BCN EK xDXB EK xBNE QF LRE and when she checked was told by EK staff in BCN (Swissport) that she wouldn't need to collect her bags until LRE. She queried that with the CSA who checked with the supervisor who said "bags definitely don't need to be collected until Longreach"!!!

Lucky the pax trusted her gut instincts and picked the bags up at BNE intl when she cleared customs.

 

[PineappleSkip]

CX were true to expected form on two bookings CX BNE-HKG-DXB and EK DXB-KBL. They blamed OW at the counter.

I got around this by booking a Marhaba transfer at DXB which includes a baggage plucking and retagging service. Meaning a bus transfer from T1 to T3 without clearing customs. In this case EK did the baggage plucking when I checked in, and have done so for me in the past. I'd forgotten, I didn't need the Marhaba service when transferring to EK. It would have been valuable when transferring to a non-EK flight. It cost me AUD120 for a personalised transfer which might be worth it if you want separate tickets and don't want to clear customs.

Marhaba have changed their website, previously you could book a transfer service with baggage retagging as a matter of course; now their website indicates you may be able to do this at an extra price. And it's not bookable any more. The guy who met me at DXB was noncommittal too,

having this sort of service makes DXB a useful place to transfer. Separate tickets not a lost cause if an airport with such a service is the transfer point from one ticket to another. Some other airports have a similar service, AUH is one I've used before.

Cheers skip

 

[ozbeachbabe]

CX were true to expected form on two bookings CX BNE-HKG-DXB and EK DXB-KBL. They blamed OW at the counter.

What's OW got to do with EK though? Did CX used to through check to EK on separate pnrs and now they won't?

 

[Chalkie]

Well, I just called the P1 line about an award (Australia to LHR on QF) + paid fare (LHR to continental destination on BA) booking made well before the "policy" changes were announced and was told that notwithstanding the early booking, the paid ticket could not linked to the award ticket PNR. You can assess the value of this advice as I was also told in the same conversation:

- BA is no longer a member of oneworld, but remains a QF points partner
- Even on an award booking made all the way to the final destination on QF+BA on the same ticket baggage could not be interlined to the final (BA) destination
- Even on QF codeshares on BA on the same ticket as a QF sector baggage could not be interlined

(As I understand things, this is all nonsense as same PNR and same ticket will produce baggage interlining).

It was suggested that I see what the QF F check-in team could do when I check in. I wonder if this means that the check-in staff will have discretion about whether they interline in particular cases.

I did point out that I thought this was shoddy treatment of a P1 who made a booking a long time before the changes were announced. The P1 desk agreed with that assessment but said there was nothing that could be done to solve the problem. I put scenarios such as cancelling the award ticket and re-booking as oneworld partner award to include the BA sector and was told that would not solve the baggage interline problem.

Interested to hear what folks think about all this mummery.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Well, I just called the P1 line about an award (Australia to LHR on QF) + paid fare (LHR to continental destination on BA) booking made well before the "policy" changes were announced and was told that notwithstanding the early booking, the paid ticket could not linked to the award ticket PNR. You can assess the value of this advice as I was also told in the same conversation:

- BA is no longer a member of oneworld, but remains a QF points partner
- Even on an award booking made all the way to the final destination on QF+BA on the same ticket baggage could not be interlined to the final (BA) destination
- Even on QF codeshares on BA on the same ticket as a QF sector baggage could not be interlined

(As I understand things, this is all nonsense as same PNR and same ticket will produce baggage interlining).

It was suggested that I see what the QF F check-in team could do when I check in. I wonder if this means that the check-in staff will have discretion about whether they interline in particular cases.

I did point out that I thought this was shoddy treatment of a P1 who made a booking a long time before the changes were announced. The P1 desk agreed with that assessment but said there was nothing that could be done to solve the problem. I put scenarios such as cancelling the award ticket and re-booking as oneworld partner award to include the BA sector and was told that would not solve the baggage interline problem.

Interested to hear what folks think about all this mummery.

That's truly bewildering stuff.
The SST should be well across this stuff and if they aren't admit that they don't know and offer to follow it up for you.

I'm reasonably sure that they are correct about your Award booking and paid fare not being able to be linked but the rest of the "advice" is complete and utter rubbish.

 

[Ansett]

SST the crem de la crem. How worrying is it that they are saying a founding member is no longer in it. They obviously know nothing and this is what they offer P1 in terms of excellent service, what hope do lowly WP's have of getting any meaningful response. What a croc of ,,,,,,,,, Again I ask what is the point of the alliance when a major feature has disappeared or watered down, what the hell will they take away next,,,,,,,,

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Well, I just called the P1 line about an award (Australia to LHR on QF) + paid fare (LHR to continental destination on BA) booking made well before the "policy" changes were announced and was told that notwithstanding the early booking, the paid ticket could not linked to the award ticket PNR. You can assess the value of this advice as I was also told in the same conversation:

- BA is no longer a member of oneworld, but remains a QF points partner
- Even on an award booking made all the way to the final destination on QF+BA on the same ticket baggage could not be interlined to the final (BA) destination
- Even on QF codeshares on BA on the same ticket as a QF sector baggage could not be interlined

Well - I'll roll this out again... airline reservation staff are excellent... at fares and ticketing.

Anything else - seats, frequent flyer earning, baggage allowances, visas - go to somewhere that actually knows (like AFF!)

 

[Princess Fiona]

Well - I'll roll this out again... airline reservation staff are excellent... at fares and ticketing.

Anything else - seats, frequent flyer earning, baggage allowances, visas - go to somewhere that actually knows (like AFF!)

Agree up to a point except the SST aren't airline reservation staff or at least this is not a service they offer to P1.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Agree up to a point except the SST aren't airline reservation staff or at least this is not a service they offer to P1.

I think the same holds true for any staff not actually out at the airport on the front line? Many are simply not experienced (or interested?) enough.

 

[Happy Trails]

I guess the SST are too busy monitoring every step of our journeys to keep up to date with new policies and procedures.

 

[kermatu]

I guess the SST are too busy monitoring every step of our journeys to keep up to date with new policies and procedures.

It's also pretty time-consuming making sure you only issue an invitation to a new P1 when you know they are out of the country, and avoid inadvertently offering an invitation or decent upgrade to more regular/established P1s. They can't do everything!