Flights ticketed - how do we take control of the booking?

[KT Freeman]

This is the first time we've used Oceania air. Our TA sent us confirmation that our flights have been ticketed, and we have the record locator number. We are on American Airlines. I went on the American website, and I can't figure out how to add these flights to my account. Can anyone help?

[YoHoHo]

Sorry no definitive answer, just two thoughts .

 

My only experience with AA was last year when I purchased seats, that as it turned out I should not have been entitled to do due the lowest class if ticket and the race to the bottom on US airlines. *MY* failed to buy attempts would not complete yet their system charged my CC, repeatedly. I kept trying and they kept charging. I have one CC with a very low limit that I use for online purchases. AA kept charging until all the credit was gone. I discovered that the next day when I tried to buy an excursion on O (I'm so Cuba compliant) and it was declined. Two very helpful reps at AA fixed it up but did take several days to get it all undone (AND got to keep the seats)

 

Anyway, you don't say what the problem is but if the flight is a codeshare the other will take the PNR and manage your seats (or what it is you are wanting to do). Also I think I was told it might take 24 hours after ticketing to get updated in the airlines system.

[LHT28]

When you log into your AA account under the AA Advantage tab there is "SEARCH FOR ANOTHER TRIP" click on the v to expand then add the locator number in the box

 

good luck

[Flatbush Flyer]

Don't know about AA. But, with United and many of its Star Alliance partners, you can put the locator number in the available search box, then add your Mileage Plus (or equivalent) number to the flight info. Once that's done, that itinerary will start to display when you log in to the United website or app.

 

 

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[KT Freeman]

Thanks, everyone. I was able to find our flights under "search for a flight" in my AAdvantage account. However, it says that the tickets are pending payment, so I can't do anything such as select/change seats. I can see that seats have been selected for the Miami flight, but not the Barcelona to Philly flight. This is for the March 28 Miami to Barcelona cruise, so maybe O doesn't make payment until it's closer to departure? I'd like to select the return seats before there are only crappy seats left.

[JimandStan]

Thanks, everyone. I was able to find our flights under "search for a flight" in my AAdvantage account. However, it says that the tickets are pending payment, so I can't do anything such as select/change seats. I can see that seats have been selected for the Miami flight, but not the Barcelona to Philly flight. This is for the March 28 Miami to Barcelona cruise, so maybe O doesn't make payment until it's closer to departure? I'd like to select the return seats before there are only crappy seats left.

 

Yes, and Oceania does not want to be stuck with airline tickets getting you to and from a cruise which is still potentially cancel-able. :halo:

Long story short, when you make final payment you'll have the option of getting your airline tickets purchased immediately.

[KT Freeman]

Long story short, when you make final payment you'll have the option of getting your airline tickets purchased immediately.

 

We have made final payment. I'll ask our TA to ask O get the tickets purchased.

[pinotlover]

Is the transatlantic flight actually on AA metal or merely a codeshare? If not on AA metal, you can’t select seats on AA’s website. If on BA, you’ll have to pay extra to select seats early.

 

Still must have tickets paid for to do anything further.

[KT Freeman]

Is the transatlantic flight actually on AA metal or merely a codeshare? If not on AA metal, you can’t select seats on AA’s website. If on BA, you’ll have to pay extra to select seats early.

 

Still must have tickets paid for to do anything further.

 

Yes, it's on AA. We paid the deviation fee to have a direct flight on AA from Barcelona to Philadelphia (were we live) rather than having to change planes in Paris or London.

[ORV]

Generally the tickets wouldn't be ticketed until about 30 days out. Until then they are just pending. As others have mentioned as long as you've made final payment you can get them ticketed after final. As your TA should tell you if you change something(routing, date, flight) there might be a charge.

 

There is no guarantee that you will have a class of ticket that you can change to a better seat. Since Premium economy probably won't be available on your flight the best you can hope for is a bulkhead or exit row. Don't be fooled by the upcharge for a "preferred" seat.

[KT Freeman]

 

We're not interested in a bulkhead (not enough leg room) or an exit row. We just don't want to be in the back or close to a bathroom. Our TA is calling on Monday since the O air office is closed this weekend.

 

Thanks again for all the thoughts from everyone.

[Sopwith]

As one who has flown extensively, here is my take on this issue.

 

If you want full control over your booking it is best to book directly with the airline. If there is a TA involved (O is a TA for purposes of airline bookings) they will only deal with the TA, and not directly with you until after you have checked in for the first flight. The exception to this is that once the flights are fully paid and ticketed and you have the PNR you may be able, in some cases, to go onto the web site and make a seat selection. In other cases this won't be possible. I have seen it both ways, even on the same itinerary booked by O. In most cases you will pay for seat selection.

 

Also be aware that generally O will book the lowest possible fare class, whether you pay for a deviation or not. This will generally involve some restrictions on baggage, seat selection and changes. I'm not sure on this, but if you talk to O and are willing to pay for a higher fare class they may accommodate you, but there will undoubtedly be an upcharge.

 

Another nuance you should be aware of arises if your cruise begins and ends in different ports and you therefore need something other than a return air ticket to/from the same airport. In most cases booking a one way TATL or TPAC ticket is very expensive, often almost the same as a round trip. In this case O can often get a much better price. But it comes with restrictions and complications as pointed out upthread. A work-around is to book a round trip to/from the cruise departure port and fly back there at the end of the cruise to catch the return flight. However, you need to be careful about booking connecting flights on separate tickets, even with the same airline, and especially if they are different airlines. In this case, if there is a misconnect you will usually be on your own. If the flights are on the same ticket the airline will accommodate you on a later flight. In some cases you may be able to book a multi-city ticket at a more reasonable cost than a one way.

 

That said, some of the low cost carriers may offer more reasonable one way TATL or TPAC tickets. But be aware that they're called low cost carriers for a reason.

 

The bottom line is that there is a very small set of circumstances in which I will book an air ticket through O, that being the one way ticket price issue mentioned above. Otherwise, my advice is do your research and deal directly with the airline of your choice. And inform yourself of the conditions and restrictions of the fare class you book. It matters.

 

Hope that helps.

[Flatbush Flyer]

As one who has flown extensively, here is my take on this issue.

 

 

 

If you want full control over your booking it is best to book directly with the airline. If there is a TA involved (O is a TA for purposes of airline bookings) they will only deal with the TA, and not directly with you until after you have checked in for the first flight. The exception to this is that once the flights are fully paid and ticketed and you have the PNR you may be able, in some cases, to go onto the web site and make a seat selection. In other cases this won't be possible. I have seen it both ways, even on the same itinerary booked by O. In most cases you will pay for seat selection.

 

 

 

Also be aware that generally O will book the lowest possible fare class, whether you pay for a deviation or not. This will generally involve some restrictions on baggage, seat selection and changes. I'm not sure on this, but if you talk to O and are willing to pay for a higher fare class they may accommodate you, but there will undoubtedly be an upcharge.

 

 

 

Another nuance you should be aware of arises if your cruise begins and ends in different ports and you therefore need something other than a return air ticket to/from the same airport. In most cases booking a one way TATL or TPAC ticket is very expensive, often almost the same as a round trip. In this case O can often get a much better price. But it comes with restrictions and complications as pointed out upthread. A work-around is to book a round trip to/from the cruise departure port and fly back there at the end of the cruise to catch the return flight. However, you need to be careful about booking connecting flights on separate tickets, even with the same airline, and especially if they are different airlines. In this case, if there is a misconnect you will usually be on your own. If the flights are on the same ticket the airline will accommodate you on a later flight. In some cases you may be able to book a multi-city ticket at a more reasonable cost than a one way.

 

 

 

That said, some of the low cost carriers may offer more reasonable one way TATL or TPAC tickets. But be aware that they're called low cost carriers for a reason.

 

 

 

The bottom line is that there is a very small set of circumstances in which I will book an air ticket through O, that being the one way ticket price issue mentioned above. Otherwise, my advice is do your research and deal directly with the airline of your choice. And inform yourself of the conditions and restrictions of the fare class you book. It matters.

 

 

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

We're big fans of taking the air credit, which (even when it is not that great), allows us to offset the cost of bizclass on intercontinental flights. Often, a combo of our dollars and/or FF points bolstered by the O air credit, gets us the bizclass itinerary we want (including pre/post cruise land stays) for little more than discounted economy tix.

 

 

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[KT Freeman]

Our TA contacted O's air department, and our tickets were paid to American. I was able to change our seats from the back of the plane to seats closer to the front on our Barcelona to Philly flight (our Philly to Miami seats were fine). Yeah! We chose not to take the air credit precisely for the reason Sopwith indicated - a one-way, non-stop ticket to Philly from Barcelona was almost 4 times the air credit, so it was a no-brainer. Anyway, we are no longer in row 30 and are now in a row with extra leg room (for which I gladly paid the additional $39/each).

[LHT28]

Our TA contacted O's air department, and our tickets were paid to American. I was able to change our seats from the back of the plane to seats closer to the front on our Barcelona to Philly flight (our Philly to Miami seats were fine). Yeah! We chose not to take the air credit precisely for the reason Sopwith indicated - a one-way, non-stop ticket to Philly from Barcelona was almost 4 times the air credit, so it was a no-brainer. Anyway, we are no longer in row 30 and are now in a row with extra leg room (for which I gladly paid the additional $39/each).

Glad it worked out

 

That is the only annoying thing (well maybe not the only thing) with O air the seats seem to be in the back rows or middle seats for some reason

Anyway you are all sorted now

[lgarely]

This is the first time we've used Oceania air. Our TA sent us confirmation that our flights have been ticketed, and we have the record locator number. We are on American Airlines. I went on the American website, and I can't figure out how to add these flights to my account. Can anyone help?

 

We booked through Life on Oceana. The tickets were booked a week ago or so. But, yesterday I finally found that they were confirmed by looking in my United account. They were there but I have no control to change my seats until next week or so. My TA said he will get early ticketing for me if he can. then I can mange my res by myself. Hope this helps.

[Cruise Junky]

We're not interested in a bulkhead (not enough leg room) or an exit row.

 

What kind of crappy bulkhead seats does AA have? my last three flights Australia x 2 and London have all been bulkhead and my toes can't touch the wall in front of me. More leg room than Premium Economy.

[ORV]

What kind of crappy bulkhead seats does AA have? my last three flights Australia x 2 and London have all been bulkhead and my toes can't touch the wall in front of me. More leg room than Premium Economy.

 

Yeah, I've had bulkheads you can have someone stand in and still have plenty of leg room. Others are a little tighter, I've never seen one that didn't have more legroom than a standard economy seat.

 

I'm curious what type of Transatlantic flight seat upgrade you can get for $39 pp? Sounds like Preferred seating, which basically is farther toward the front of the plane, but has no extra legroom.

[pinotlover]

To the chagrin of many of us, AA acquired US Airlines. They should have just let them die. With that acquisition, came a bunch of horrible pieces of crap A333 and older A332 aircraft designed to USAir’s specifications to be as uncomfortable and cramped as humanly possible. Some of those aircraft don’t even have “main cabin extra “ seating with the extended 4” legroom. Even BC on those planes is the worst BC in the air.

 

Those aircraft fly predominantly transatlantic flights. When choosing flights it’s extremely important to look at the exact specs of the plane assigned to your route. Some are far worse, particularly in Economy, than others. If you are using O air and get one of AA’s worst beasts , you have my condolences.

[Sopwith]

When choosing flights it’s extremely important to look at the exact specs of the plane assigned to your route.

seatguru dot com is a good resource for this.

[YoHoHo]

Our TA contacted O's air department, and our tickets were paid to American. I was able to change our seats from the back of the plane to seats closer to the front on our Barcelona to Philly flight (our Philly to Miami seats were fine). Yeah! We chose not to take the air credit precisely for the reason Sopwith indicated - a one-way, non-stop ticket to Philly from Barcelona was almost 4 times the air credit, so it was a no-brainer. Anyway, we are no longer in row 30 and are now in a row with extra leg room (for which I gladly paid the additional $39/each).

Glad you were able to get it done to your satisfaction.

 

Quick summary for those who come across this thread and have purchased O's air is JimandStan's succinct advice in post 6 and you doing it in post 7. Pay for the cruise and get O to ticket.

[KT Freeman]

I'm curious what type of Transatlantic flight seat upgrade you can get for $39 pp? Sounds like Preferred seating, which basically is farther toward the front of the plane, but has no extra legroom.

 

It was preferred seating with extra legroom. I was surprised at how cheap it was. As of now, the flight isn't very full. It doesn't have Premium Economy. American only has it on select transatlantic flights. I'm just happy we have a direct flight to Philly and then a 15-minute taxi ride home from the airport.