Back in the 90's thru around 2003-2004 I used to easily call UA & have them reserve & ticket flights on *A partners even if there was no UA flight involved. (Acting in essence as a travel agent). Since then I haven't tried that often and the few times I have I was told to call the carrier directly. Now with the new 016 ticket restriction and PQD's, If possible, I will be doing this again and often. No one seems to be able to give me a definitive answer on what the actual policy is.
I'm in Singapore now, coming in from Dubai & BOM & on my way to NY. Even though the PQD / 016 restriction does not start till next year, I decided to try to buy my SQ BOM-SIN-FRA-JFK ticket thru UA. (The DXB-BOM portion was purchased directly from EK). I Wanted to have the ticket issued in BOM anyway as SQ has special F (P) fares from India-USA that are over $4000 cheaper then if the same ticket is purchased anywhere else. I made 3 calls to UA & surprisingly, on the 3rd call (after being told no twice) the agent was willing to book it but in order to get the fare she directed me to UA's Mumbai ticket office for payment. While a pain compared to just booking this & paying online with SQ, I ended up with my SQ ticket issued on 016 stock, thus if PQD'S were in effect now, earning me over 12,500 EQM's (no bonus on SQ for first), 17000 RDM's w the 50pct bonus and MOST IMPORTANTLY, aprx $6,000 towards the $10,000 min spend on 016 issued tickets
Did the agent make a mistake booking this for me? Are the other two agents wrong in not booking it? I would think UA would not mind doing this since I assume they get paid the same commission as a travel agent but who knows????
Does anyone know UA's official position on this? It's going to be very important for me as we'll as I'm sure others either who are based outside the US ( even though right now foreign addresses are exempt). I used to use my Dubai address for MP but changed it to NY last year. I will change it back if I must but this would be much easier leaving it in the US if I can use UA to ticket my SQ flights
I'm in Singapore now, coming in from Dubai & BOM & on my way to NY. Even though the PQD / 016 restriction does not start till next year, I decided to try to buy my SQ BOM-SIN-FRA-JFK ticket thru UA. (The DXB-BOM portion was purchased directly from EK). I Wanted to have the ticket issued in BOM anyway as SQ has special F (P) fares from India-USA that are over $4000 cheaper then if the same ticket is purchased anywhere else. I made 3 calls to UA & surprisingly, on the 3rd call (after being told no twice) the agent was willing to book it but in order to get the fare she directed me to UA's Mumbai ticket office for payment. While a pain compared to just booking this & paying online with SQ, I ended up with my SQ ticket issued on 016 stock, thus if PQD'S were in effect now, earning me over 12,500 EQM's (no bonus on SQ for first), 17000 RDM's w the 50pct bonus and MOST IMPORTANTLY, aprx $6,000 towards the $10,000 min spend on 016 issued tickets
Did the agent make a mistake booking this for me? Are the other two agents wrong in not booking it? I would think UA would not mind doing this since I assume they get paid the same commission as a travel agent but who knows????
Does anyone know UA's official position on this? It's going to be very important for me as we'll as I'm sure others either who are based outside the US ( even though right now foreign addresses are exempt). I used to use my Dubai address for MP but changed it to NY last year. I will change it back if I must but this would be much easier leaving it in the US if I can use UA to ticket my SQ flights