December 2010/January 2011 Trip Planning Thread.

[Dan]

Still on hold with the same aagent?

I had one really nasty agent earlier who I hung up on.
But I've been on hold with the new agent for a couple hours already.  She seems OK (she got less frosty when I asked for her help is salvaging my honeymoon ) but she keeps leaving on hold for extremely long periods of time.  Which is frustrating as I know the alternate flight options much better than she does...

[Dan]

SFO-BKK in F available?

SFO-HKG in CX F and HKG-BKK on my original CX J flight.

[SuperFlyer]

Let the people at the airport rebook you, with your flight suggestions.
You can always enfoorce some flights on them, with some terets of a wedding you will miss or such.

The people at the airport are way too busy to rebook on a mileage class, but will just rebook you on a full fare = the full mileage.
Giving in a BA or other card, should put you well on the way to elite.

[chuchem]

Update?

[chuchem]

Paging Dan, are you still on hold with AA after 12 hours, what are your new flights now

[Dan]

Update?

After spending probably 10 hours on the phone they rerouted at the 11th hour to:
CLE-JFK, AA Y
JFK-SFO, AA F
SFO-HKG, CX F
HKG-BKK, CX J

They literally finished that as I was walking into the airport.
5 minutes later they announced CLE-JFK was canceled and that second I got an automated call from AA that I had been rebooked in Y via ORD.
I don't think I've ever had such bad luck when flying...

Anyway I finally convinced the AAgent to rebook us (only with the help of the AA Plat agent, otherwise the airport agent was refusing to change anything) as:
CLE-DFW, AA F
DFW-SFO, AA F
SFO-HKG, CX F
HKG-BKK, CX J

We checked our bags with literally 25 minutes before boarding, but they held the plane for our bags! 
Go AA!

The ticketing agent didn't assign us seats so at the podium I asked for seats and the system spit out Y seats.  When I asked for F the GA said it would be $50.  I pointed out that I was in "paid" F and he apologized.  Later on the plane I heard the GA and FA saying they had never seen anyone actually in paid F on CLE-DFW...I didn't bother correcting them...maybe I'll earn miles 

Anyway we're chilling in the AAdmirals club in DFW with a 4 hour connection and then we have a 4.5 hour connection in SFO. 

The bummer is not getting to try out BA F and not getting kosher meals on any of the flights. Oh well...
They had better refund the YQ I paid to fly BA!

[AsherO]

The bummer is not getting to try out BA F and not getting kosher meals on any of the flights. Oh well...

I hope you guys have tons of food packed in your carry-ons.

[chuchem]

Was there a reason you didnt take these flights from the beginning? Was it a better option to connect via JFK?

[eliteflyer]

I hope you guys have tons of food packed in your carry-ons.

Thanks to Mrs. Dan, I think they will be fine on the culinary side of things.

[Dan]

I hope you guys have tons of food packed in your carry-ons.

We do, BH.

Although I do have half a mind to go to a restaurant in SFO.
Any that are worthwhile that are accessible via public transport?

Was there a reason you didnt take these flights from the beginning? Was it a better option to connect via JFK?

A.  There was nothing available during the entire month I had the ticket on hold via the Pacific.
Once ticketed, no route changes are permitted.
B. I planned to go to a cousin's wedding in LHR Monday night, but after booking found out I wasn't invited and wasn't particularly wanted.  And here I thought it would've been a nice gesture as my parents couldn't make it.    Either way, there's some level of irony as ain't noone making that wedding if they need to fly into LHR!
So I changed LHR from a stopover to a connection point which gave the AA OW desk a heart attack and took days to resolve.
C. We still get into BKK at the exact same time whether we went TPAC or TATL, so really not a big difference.

Either way I'm satisfied with how it all worked out.

[Dan]

Thanks to Mrs. Dan, I think they will be fine on the culinary side of things.

+100

[eliteflyer]

The ticketing agent didn't assign us seats so at the podium I asked for seats and the system spit out Y seats.  When I asked for F the GA said it would be $50.  I pointed out that I was in "paid" F and he apologized.  Later on the plane I heard the GA and FA saying they had never seen anyone actually in paid F on CLE-DFW...I didn't bother correcting them...maybe I'll earn miles 

Anyway we're chilling in the AAdmirals club in DFW with a 4 hour connection and then we have a 4.5 hour connection in SFO. 

The bummer is not getting to try out BA F and not getting kosher meals on any of the flights. Oh well...
They had better refund the YQ I paid to fly BA!

Be sure to put a separate mileage number on the Mrs.'s ticket. I think the probability is very high that with all the last minute switches, you will accrue full mileage for (full-fare) F, hopefully on the cathay flight too :-)

[Dan]

Be sure to put a separate mileage number on the Mrs.'s ticket. I think the probability is very high that with all the last minute switches, you will accrue full mileage for (full-fare) F, hopefully on the cathay flight too :-)

Yup, did that before all the shenanigans started.

[eliteflyer]

We do, BH.

Although I do have half a mind to go to a restaurant in SFO.
Any that are worthwhile that are accessible via public transport?

When I was there a year ago, there was a Sabra Grill in the city: falafel place, nothing to write home about.

[Dan]

Murphy strikes again:
Flight #567 - DELAYED
But in the good news department:
GoGo Wi-Fi Available

[SuperFlyer]

If wifi became good news, then you are in a bad shape. ;-)

If they just rebooked you as a stranded passenger, vs checking the booking classes, you should be okay with the miles. If they change it in the airport, its almost a definite ok.

[Dan]

If wifi became good news, then you are in a bad shape. ;-)

If they just rebooked you as a stranded passenger, vs checking the booking classes, you should be okay with the miles. If they change it in the airport, its almost a definite ok.

They were only willing to book CX in a mileage class.  But I should get credit for CLE-DFW-SFO.

[SuperFlyer]

Alright Dan. One more such a trick, and you are getting banned.

Why didn't you do it in the airport like I wrote?

They have 30 people in the cue before you, and 160 behind you.

They just rebook you, and are glad if they find seats + if you help them by "guessing" an alternative routing, they will love you for it.

Not receiving KSML, should have as a direct result of receiving @ least 5k miles into your acc per flight.

[Dan]

Alright Dan. One more such a trick, and you are getting banned.

Why didn't you do it in the airport like I wrote?

They have 30 people in the cue before you, and 160 behind you.

They just rebook you, and are glad if they find seats + if you help them by "guessing" an alternative routing, they will love you for it.

Not receiving KSML, should have as a direct result of receiving @ least 5k miles into your acc per flight.

Because I wasn't going to wait until I got to the airport to get rebooked if I could help it.  Better to get where I need to go then to get a few more miles.

Anyway as it is the airport agent wouldn't even route me in F from CLE-DFW-SFO, they wanted me to stay in Y via ORD.
I had to call the Plat line while in line at the airport to get it done.

[eliteflyer]

Because I wasn't going to wait until I got to the airport to get rebooked if I could help it.  Better to get where I need to go then to get a few more miles.

Anyway as it is the airport agent wouldn't even route me in F from CLE-DFW-SFO, they wanted me to stay in Y via ORD.
I had to call the Plat line while in line at the airport to get it done.

One more post to 5771!