- Joined
- Oct 24, 2011
- Posts
- 122
- Qantas
- Gold
- Virgin
- Red
One other thing I learnt from my sojourn to Melbourne on the weekend, besides the prevalence of hi-viz fashion ware, is that linking PNRs doesn't always work, and in the end, status trumps everything.
The backstory: taking Mrs Aplmac to MEL for our anniversary. She is BIS WP, I'm ComP b y her graciousness. I need the BIS sectors to retain my WP, and I have my AMEX Platinum free flight to use. So I book my free flight with AMEX, get the PNR. I book my DJ Saver fare, and get my PNR. I call the DJP Hotline, give the PNRs, Velocity numbers, tidy the bundle up. So I thought.
24 prior, I login, pick my seat, row 6, checkin, good to go. Mrs Aplmac, in the BNE Lounge, at the time, can't pick seat and checkin, because it's an AMEX-controlled PNR. Goes to Desk Angel, who cuts the cr@p, checks her in, and gets us two seats together row 4. All good. Then wind happens.
So Friday night we rock up to SYD with heaps of time, and our scheduled flight is a couple of hours delayed by winds in MEL and SYD. So we see if we can (1 x free, 1 x saver) get an earlier flight. Lounge Angel says Yes no problem (gotta luv Virgin for flight flexibility, regardless), but can't sit together. OK, fair enough. My BP is processed first, row 9, SWMBO row 19. OK, fair enough.
Go to gate, priority boarding ( gotta luv Virgin for priority boarding), head of the line. I go first, scan and beep, thank you. Right behind me, Mrs Aplmac, scan no beep, please step over here...1C!!!!!!!
So, moral of story is PNR linking is good in theory ( reality = notes on your file). Doesn't actually affect what you can or can't do within your PNR. PNR linking is a delicate thread easily broken. There was a spare J seat on the flight, so they could've, theoretically, moved us both up. Instead, the PNR thread was broken by the change of flight; the free seat with BIS WP got comp op-upped and fed and the paid ComP seat languished!
Don't, therefore, assume PNR linking will hold or even register - it's just a 'note in the file'. If you can, book all travellers under the same PNR to maintain continuity. If you can't, then you have to be prepared for the tenuous link to break.
As Bill Shakespeare once remarked: 'The course of true love never did run smooth...'
The backstory: taking Mrs Aplmac to MEL for our anniversary. She is BIS WP, I'm ComP b y her graciousness. I need the BIS sectors to retain my WP, and I have my AMEX Platinum free flight to use. So I book my free flight with AMEX, get the PNR. I book my DJ Saver fare, and get my PNR. I call the DJP Hotline, give the PNRs, Velocity numbers, tidy the bundle up. So I thought.
24 prior, I login, pick my seat, row 6, checkin, good to go. Mrs Aplmac, in the BNE Lounge, at the time, can't pick seat and checkin, because it's an AMEX-controlled PNR. Goes to Desk Angel, who cuts the cr@p, checks her in, and gets us two seats together row 4. All good. Then wind happens.
So Friday night we rock up to SYD with heaps of time, and our scheduled flight is a couple of hours delayed by winds in MEL and SYD. So we see if we can (1 x free, 1 x saver) get an earlier flight. Lounge Angel says Yes no problem (gotta luv Virgin for flight flexibility, regardless), but can't sit together. OK, fair enough. My BP is processed first, row 9, SWMBO row 19. OK, fair enough.
Go to gate, priority boarding ( gotta luv Virgin for priority boarding), head of the line. I go first, scan and beep, thank you. Right behind me, Mrs Aplmac, scan no beep, please step over here...1C!!!!!!!
So, moral of story is PNR linking is good in theory ( reality = notes on your file). Doesn't actually affect what you can or can't do within your PNR. PNR linking is a delicate thread easily broken. There was a spare J seat on the flight, so they could've, theoretically, moved us both up. Instead, the PNR thread was broken by the change of flight; the free seat with BIS WP got comp op-upped and fed and the paid ComP seat languished!
Don't, therefore, assume PNR linking will hold or even register - it's just a 'note in the file'. If you can, book all travellers under the same PNR to maintain continuity. If you can't, then you have to be prepared for the tenuous link to break.
As Bill Shakespeare once remarked: 'The course of true love never did run smooth...'
Last edited:
