Thread: How good is ZED Light when it comes to swapping airlines?

There are still two airlines selling seats and I'm looking at Wed/Thurs flights, but it is Holy Week so I was mostly wondering if there was a way to see the # of non-revs. We don't fly there (isn't that always the way it works) so I'm stuck on that.

Originally Posted by italgreco

The best way is to contact the airline directly or place a request here under the forum heading Loads.

I thought about that, but was hoping there was an option that I didn't need to pester folks. Thank you for the input, I'll make a post in there.

Interesting thread, just got to it as I had been on vacation.

I have also noted everything has a tendency to depend on the relevant staff at the airport on the day... someone at AA once said to me "look for the younger ones!" but personally i've found older staff to be far more interested, accomodating and knowledgable than their younger counterparts.

Age aside, i've seen / had several thing happen:

- Had someone on the AA listing line tell me it would be "an exception to the rule" to allow one to switch destinations, even if in same zone. Arrived at the airport and was told this is no problem. I do note however that our agreement with BA specifies this is not allowed - and appreciate they took the time to communicate that to people

- Asked a ticketing officer if our agreements are ZL or ZM, and got told they are "zonal". Explained I understood this and that was not what I asked. Re asked the question but got same reply. Not everyone understands ZED tickets it appears

- Held a BAH-DXB/DXB-LHR coupon and had an airline accept both to travel direct BAH-LHR. Slight tax increase they could have raised an MCO, but I was happy to let go of a small value BAH-DXB coupon to save them the trouble. Their late departure however left a lot to be desired (made DL LHRATL checkin by 3minutes!)

- My gf is listed as my companion and a certain airline here in Aus told her that "she'd better keep that coupon" - and didn't lift her ticket but let her fly. They clearly didn't know what was going on there as they very rarely deal with interline tickets, and I have the ticket in my posession and need to find some way of returning it to them for processing

- I've been denied check in on my own airline on a taxes only FOC ticket, and told that "SFO and LAX are in different zones, so you cannot change destinations". On a taxes only ticket, the tax is the only relevant factor... the zone is totally irrelevant. I also pointed out the arrival taxes into SFO and LAX happen to be the same. Regardless, a note was put in my PNR not to accept me for travel, and I had to contact my local ticketing office for advice and some PNR auth codes. I got on the flight I wanted in the end though, but it was a totally needless effort. Help your fellow staff and understand the system.

- I've seen OAL staff present at a counter with J tickets from their own airline and complain that another airline will only accept them into Y class. Why this seemed odd to them I cannot fathom, as there is no J class ZED ticket... you front up with your own airline J ticket, you'll be lucky to be accepted by most airlines, so deal with Y class

- I've seen a companion *BEG* the LAX QF staff to accept her for a flight. Be professional please... inform companions that they aren't guaranteed a seat and not to sook if they can't get on.

I'd love to work in a pass bureau as the mechanics of it all interest me. Not so much now, but I was particularly interested during the GFC when J class loads were down, the chance of creating a J class ZED between airlines. That would be a great benefit in my view

Originally Posted by italgreco

Nick - There is and there are. We have quite a number of C/J class ZED agreements. UA do not permit a refund if we utilise a C class ticket in Y on another carrier so the rule of thumb is to have 2 sets of tickets issued and at the gate, swap coupons.

Which is exactly why most airlines do not have J class ZED. The ideal situation would be to sell ZED upgrade vouchers (e.g., x% of the ZL, ZM, or ZH fare for each zone), but that idea has not caught on, unfortunately. That way the employee buys one ticket (YIDZM) and one voucher for ZM zone 1, that the agent can return to the traveler if they cannot accommodated him in the higher cabin. Not sure, though, how that would work in an electronic enviroment.

Originally Posted by aazed

Which is exactly why most airlines do not have J class ZED. The ideal situation would be to sell ZED upgrade vouchers (e.g., x% of the ZL, ZM, or ZH fare for each zone), but that idea has not caught on, unfortunately. That way the employee buys one ticket (YIDZM) and one voucher for ZM zone 1, that the agent can return to the traveler if they cannot accommodated him in the higher cabin. Not sure, though, how that would work in an electronic enviroment.

Agree with that. But if it's the transporting carrier that issues a voucher they will have work at the front end. The way the industry is going, there will be a time, in the not too distant future, where ticketing outlets will be removed from airport locations. Along with that, Ticketing Experts will be deployed or worse. A Check In Specialist would then need to take ownership of verifying the agreement etc .. unless of course, money will be spent on upgrading self check in units to perform this task. Possible I guess.
On the other hand, if it's the issuing carrier that issues the voucher, that's work at the back end with multiple interline billings associated with the ticket.
Whilst there's no fee for employees to refund unused interline tickets, I think most are happy to have two sets of tickets issued if there's a 50/50 chance a seat is available in a premium cabin.
Since I last responded to this post, we have a further 2 carriers onboard with C class travel. I think most would agree, the actual fare is reasonable - the government taxes are a killer

I think if anything progresses on this front it would, almost certainly, require that the voucher be issued by the employing ariline. As you've very clearly identified, this feature creates compliations, which is exaclty why most carriers have not signed onto J class travel.

After reading all the posts on ZED, I would like to add that if you travel within Asia, airlines will only accept a ZED if it shows the origin and destination which must match the route of the flight you hope to board.

They can but will not re-issue a ZED ticket.
ZED agreements clearly state that an airline that has a ZED agreement with the issuing airline can re-issue a ticket if there is a change in the required routing and can collect any extra costs.

I recently wanted to travel BKK - BNE on TG (non stop flt). I held a BKK - SIN (TG shown as carrier) ticket and a SIN - BNE ticket both ZM fares. The TG staff would NOT accept both coupons and put me on their non stop flight which was wide open....totally rediculous...but believe the TG staff are just not taught or empowered to make decisions like this (even supervisors). This mentality is prevalent within asia..

So make sure you hold ZED tickets in all combinations if your routing might change due loads etc.

Originally Posted by flassher

ZED agreements clearly state that an airline that has a ZED agreement with the issuing airline can re-issue a ticket if there is a change in the required routing and can collect any extra costs.

Actually, the ZED agreement states that the airline may, at its discretion, either reissue the existing ticket or issue an entirely new one. The primary responsibility for exchange and reissuance falls to the original ticketing airline (generally the employing airline). If the ticketing airline is not present (i.e., the employee is at an off-line location) then a request can be made to the airline shown on the ticket but they have every right to refuse, and most will, given that the process can a bit complicated and, in some cases, contrary to what that airline might do for their own staff.

Also, I'm not sure that its fair to make a blanket statement that airlines within Asia will only accept ZED travelers on the ticketed routing. Most tell their staff that they can accept on alternate routines, within certain guidelines. As to whether the agents follow the recommendation is another story, but ultimately up to the individual agent (as is the case with many things).