Combined carriers' policies and procedures

[Aryeh]

PS Many employees are just starting crossover training and maybe this will be covered. Too many dont know a thing about the Star Alliance.

Uh...training (or the lack of) was the point of my original post. The baggage issue was only an example of so many others one could think of. As for "maybe this will be covered (in training)," not that I know of. Seems HP staff isn't aware of such international topics. Their own airport agents don't know this stuff. Why would I expect them to train on things they don't seem to know exist?

 

[kao]

ok I was taught this....if we are connecting to NW out of LAX lets say, and if the pax had an overweight/oversized bag you were to call the connecting carrier/look up their allowances and the norm was to charge their fees-I can not remember if we were to charge the HP over allowance fees also. It has been a looong time...
Areya...you are corect in stating many HP do not know this. It took along time to convince all when our policy went from 70 to 50 for bag weights that yes, this did include OUR international destinations. In the hubs things are most definitely different as they had more experience/contact with these travellers. In small field stations--HP---we did not have that contact. It is so true that there are many that don't know, and, sadly, don't care to know. And sadly, there are some of us that want to know so we do not look like idiots but are having to learn/relearn and dig for the info we need. My initial training was some time ago and I can tell you that I do not remember much time being spent on this subject. And now, well, IMO they just teach them to push buttons....F12, F11, F12.....they are taught the bare basics.

 

[Aryeh]

To answer your question...basically the baggage rules that apply are based upon the fare calculation that is on the ticket.
Scenario 1: Passenger has two tickets: one domestic, one international. Such as, tkt 1: TUS HP LAX 70.00 TTL 70.00 and tkt 2: LAX QF SYD 1200.00YO2 TTL 1200.00USD
In this case, is we check the bags to SYD, HP's rules apply to LAX AND QF's apply to SYD. Let's say $50.00 for HP and 100.00 for QF..total 150.00

Scenario 2: One ticket with the fare being a through fare. That is, a published, single fare using more than one carrier. Such as: TUS HP LAX QF SYD 1200.00YO2 TTL 1200.00USD. In this case, ONE bag rule applies and it is the rule of the carrier publishing the fare; often the over-the-water carrier. This fare would be a Qantas fare in which we are a participant. Some such fares are mileage based, allowing any carrier to the gateway city (LAX) then Qantas to SYD. Sometimes such fares are routing based, the tariff specifies the carriers allowed to fly the TUSLAX portion. But so long as we (HP/US) are part of the fare's calculation, this is all we need to know as to which rules to apply. Then we must look up or call QF or rates to determine the amount to charge.
Even US publishes international fares to cities we don't fly to. We may sell a fare from PHX to MOW (Moscow), for example, using US from PHX to FRA, then SV to MOW. Such a fare is a through fare, one baggage rule, the US rule, applies to Moscow.

All this is something many East agents don't know. However, with East agents, it seems nobody knows this stuff. It's not to be found in the computer, in training, no place at all! Tempe is the environment in which the airline operates yet Tempe hasn't a clue about such issues. This is also an example of many other topics they've never dealt with. How can we handle such things they don't know even exist?
Our flights to Europe have passengers with destinations beyond FRA, MAD, etc. When we must rebook them, how can we do so with a computer that shows no schedules for thousands of city pairs around the world? Not only is Shares tedious to use, but it simply doesn't have things we need to do our job. I can't tell a passenger from a cancelled flight that I can't rebook them or reticket because our computer hasn't the availability displays I need.
This is going to be scary!

 

[kao]

gotcha....but...may sound like a silly question but, how do we know whom published the fare? By the ticket stock? As a side note, I asked awhile back if we were going to see International basic training...maybe in the upcoming one day class...???? Hope I can count on you to help me out here and there....keep passing on the great info----basic international info!!!!
And you are right----this is going to be scary indeed!!!

 

[tadjr]

Since it changes all the time, the easiest thing to do is to call intl rates and they'll help you figure it out. Usually they ask ticket stock plating and fare basis and if the ticket is showing a connection or point to point fare (fare ladder). Then they will look up the info for you and advise how much to charge. We have some great folks in international who know their stuff.

 

[reznc]

Thanks Tadjr.

Any questions re International baggage, whose fare etc. if in doubt call Rates. They have a program on their computers to access all the tariffs and have paper tariffs they often refer to too. Can't get a reissue to work, call Rates.