oneworld revolved, then wobbled around us

[KeithMEL]

So, due to our own stupidity and carelessness my parents and I were too late to check in for our MXP-BUD MA flight and had to change our tickets.

I was on a oneworld visit Europe fare issued on AA paper, whilst the parents were on a regular one way fare issued by QF as etickets. In theory, any oneworld alliance member is able to issue tickets on behalf of another oneworld alliance partner. You know... "Should you require any assistance, please approach one of our ground staff or alternatively, any of our oneworld alliance partners." and all that. We soon found out that yes oneworld attempts to revolve around you, but in a rather wobbly fashion...

First... the good: As there was no QF desk at MXP, we decided to try getting the BA ticket office to change my folks' tickets, as BA are on the same reservation system, before we resorted to calling QF and incur roaming charges. To our pleasant surprise, the lovely staff member manning the BA desk happily rebooked and reissued my parents' tickets on to their own documents. All for a token admin fee. We thanked the very kind agent, as we realised that he's done us a huge favour. BA shall be getting some positive feedback about their MXP ticketing staff shortly.

The bad: MA's handling agent at MXP refused to do anything, citing that "it's got nothing to do with us."

The ugly: The AA desk changed my ticket rather efficiently for a EUR30 admin fee, and claimed that they've confirmed with MA that my new booking is all kosher and good to go. AA took away my paper ticket coupon for "auditing purposes" and replaced it with what they claim is the eticket receipt for the new flight. They further claimed to have converted that one segment into an eticket. At check in however - the MA check in agent couldn't find any ticket numbers in his system, etix or otherwise. It turned out that AA MXP had erred in issuing my ticket and the document handed to me was some kind of receipt for the change fee (the 13 digit number on it was a receipt number and not a ticket number). Unfortunately AA's counter at MXP had long shut by that time, whilst there was no one at the BA desk.

More of the ugly: Throughout the whole time, MA's handling agent wouldn't lift a finger to render any assistance or advise.

And more of the good (I think) but more of an internal AA issue: I rang up the EXP desk. and the agent on the phone was most helpful and tried to sort something out. She confirmed that she couldn't see any new ticket numbers generated by AA MXP, and that the MXP agent had erred as all that was required was a revalidation of my existing ticket. The EUR30 admin fee was refunded to my credit card whilst I was on the phone with the EXP desk, and I was advised to simply buy a new oneway ticket to BUD (which cost EUR194) and send the bill to AA after my trip.

Moral of the story: Never attempt to catch a flight before midday.

[LukeGT]

BA staff at MXP is probably the only good news regarding that airport.

[jjpb3]

I've only experienced OW handoffs in Europe, and even at the hubs of the member airlines (e.g., IB at MAD), the baton too frequently gets dropped. The staff then stare at you with incomprehension at best or cold indifference bordering on irritation at worst.

[HUGE AL]

Moral of the story: Never attempt to catch a flight before midday.

This has always been my mantra.

Sorry to hear of your troubles, KeithMEL. I hope it all works out in the end.

[jhm]

I'm not surprised - there have been rants on mFT before about the disjointed nature of OW.

[KeithMEL]

Sorry to hear of your troubles, KeithMEL. I hope it all works out in the end.

Yeah we did get to BUD later that day (MA had a flight that evening), though it involved a bit of running around as described. All power to BA and AA (except for AA MXP), but no thanks at all to MA.

[KeithMEL]

Well, AA finally paid up but not without a bit of effort on my part.

Rang up the EXP desk 2 days after I got back to Australia on 19th Feb. EXP Agent scrolled around in my PNR but had "absolutely no idea" what to do, and told me to contact the refunds department. I had a feeling this wasn't right as it wasn't an AA ticket that I want refunded. It was some wee hour in the morning Dallas time so maybe they put on "B Team" to work during that time. Sure enough the agent I spoke to at the Refunds department told me to contact Customer Relations first who have to authorise the refund.

I then shot off an email to Customer Relations 2 weeks later (v busy with more pressing errands) to ask for a physical office to write and send stuff to so i can get my refund. Despite v clear notes in the PNR (which I'm able to view) inserted by the original AA EXP desk supervisor I'd spoken to whilst in MXP and my v clear email stating that it was an MA ticket that AA had promised to reimburse me for, I was told that AA will only refund the difference between the AA ticket and my MA ticket - which is totally not what's promised or desired. So i sent another email, reiterating the previous email and emphasising the refund of the entire MA ticket that was originally promised.

Eventually, someone in the Dublin office replied and took ownership of the issue, and told me to forward all relevant documentation to the Dublin office with a note addressed to her. I'm guessing it took about a week for the documents to arrive in Dublin via regoed post. She then asked for the unused coupon on the AA LEURPASS ticket - which I don't have (it's buried in the depths somewhere of AA's MXP ticket desk) and was the sole reason for the need to buy the new MA ticket for MXP-BUD in the first place.

Thankfully she finally understood everything and a month later my refund for both the change fee and MA ticket finally came through.