Endorsing ZED tkts?

So i've never had to have a ticket re-endorsed until the other night.

I had a ZED ticket closed to QF, which stated valid all ZED carriers. I chose not to get a oneworld tkt as I wanted the ability to take EK as well as QF or BA, even if this lowered by priority somewhat.

I've never had this issue before, and travel this route once a month. But i get to the counter and say if I can't take QF i'd be happy with BA. Then the supervisor (who actually works for the airline not GHA) says i'd need to get my ticket endorsed by CX to do that.

Since when has this been the case? I asked him if BA was no longer a ZED carrier and just got a bemused look.

The carrier box has to be closed to someone... can it be closed to YY?

What happens if i'm in an outstation where there is no CX operation, how do I endorse a ticket?

Any advice anyone... AAZED?

One of the first ZED tickets I ever used was AF from SFO to CDG and it was full.
The AF agent said he would get the ticket endorsed and I could use it on any carrier leaving SFO.
He went back to the office and when he returned, there was a little square AF stamp on the ticket, and it was signed by a supervisor or manager. That was it. It was endorsed. It was the only time I ever had that happen. This was back in 1995 or 96 so ZED was new to everyone.
We took it to BA, KL, and AY but they were all full too.
VS took our tickets on a SFO-LHR flight and they put us up in Upper Class.

Hope that helps a little.......

Same thing just a little stamp... in principle fine. But what if the CX desk was closed or there was no CX desk? They said I had to go back to CX... very odd

The following is the agreement bewteen CO and QF and is quite clear on endorsements..
I have never had a problem with a ZED tkt made out to QF being used on EK/BA or TG...

"ZED COUPONS ISSUED BY ANY ZED MEMBER CARRIER SHALL BE
ACCEPTED WITHOUT ANY ENDORSEMENT BY ALL ZED MEMBERS
WITH WHOM A COMPARABLE OR LOWER FARE LEVEL HAS BEEN
AGREED, PROVIDED THAT ALL APPLICABLE TAXES ARE PAID BY
THE ELIGIBLE PASS RIDER. CO MUST HAVE A ZED AGREEMENT
WITH A CARRIER IN ORDER FOR A ZED TICKET TO BE ACCEPTED
AND VALID FOR TRAVEL."

Interesting, I thought this was the case. Maybe I should make a complaint next time.

Same as every time I try to use a SINSYD tkt to MEL they try and sneakily pull my SYDMEL coupon with it.... nuh uh don't be stealing $70 off me!

Hey Nick,

Actually the ticket is already endorsed to any ZED carrier, it does not require ADDITIONAL endorsement. Sounds like agent error and not BA policy. BA will accept ZED tickets closed to another airline, they won't, however, accept ZED tickets for different city pairs. YY, by they way, is not valid for ZED use.

I would recommend that if you file a complaint you provide the agent name and or description. If it is agent error, as appears to be the case here, BA will want to address with that agent not will all its staff.

By the way, why would you need a different ticket for oneworld than you would ZED? At AA, any ZED ticket closed to a oneworld carrier reads "VALID ONEWORLD. VALID ZED CARRIERS...". This is intended to get us the higher priority if we are accommodated on oneworld but is also valid on non-oneworld carriers with which AA has a ZED agreement. In theory employees need only get one ticket (in reality, I know they don't).

I thought I was right, otherwise the ticket has no purpose. I think it was their supervisor, he was QF iso BA as they run joint ops here. Will see what happens next time.

I always get a SINSYD so that I can take BA and meet their requirement if desperate, but I know QF and EK will take it to MEL which is where I really want to go.

Interesting point on the valid zed and oneworld, come to think of it I used to get it issued like that in MEL, but they don't do that here. Nor do they print my DOJ on my ticket which is frustrating when I have to give it to the agent each time. I'll check it out.

One more qn, I thought i'd written this on another thread but searched and could not find

For oneworld entitlement for companion, 4 tix, 8 sectors per tkt, is there any restriction on return flights in that 1 ticket. i.e. can I issue 1 ticket that says
MELSIN/SINMEL
MELSIN/SINMEL
MELSIN/SINMEL
MELSIN/SINMEL

MEL ticketing did this for me, but once I got here they refused because apparently my head office said no. Which confuses me as there is no article on it in our policy. I don't dare email them, I still haven't heard back from them re that incident from QF where they wouldn't list my companion to travel alone - i'm happy with the status quo that QF seem to allow her to do so.

They said I must split that into several tickets, then relented said I can have 3 returns (6 sectors) on one ticket. Then they sent me 2 tickets and I got mad as my allocation had run out, so they recorded it as just 1 ticket against my allocation.

I really don't understand?

As you point out the 4 tickets can contain any trip type (e.g., oneway, return, open jaw, circle trip) with a maximum of 8 nonstop coupons. Once the journey returns to the city of origin or a co-terminal of that city, then a new ticket is started. See your PM for a more complete explanation.

In the example you give, each MELSINMEL journey = 1 ticket.

These tickets are more and more worthless by the day...

I miss Australia where not so many questions are asked. Singapore is the land of "procedure", it's stifling.

This is something i too am confused about. when getting my zed tkts printed at our LHR office i always ask for the agent to add the endorsed stamp. This is common practice i suppose. It would be far better and far easy if all the zed carries would accept the tkts if there were no price difference.

Dar nazlhr,

That is the ideal, you're right, and the goal of the ZED organization. Unfortunately, endorsement requirements have been so engrained in agents' day-to-day activities, that they often simply apply these conditions on staff tickets. Things might get a little better as we move to electronic ZED ticketing because agents are taught that if you can see and gain control of an OAL eTicket that means you have their endorsement. It probably won't be as clear cut as that, as some carriers may restrict access or requesting access may require exceptional processing.