ZED Help

I am a D2 Parent of an AA F/A & I am currently living in Manila, Philippines.

I am working on travel plans for the middle of October to travel from Manila to LAX, stay for a while and return.

I understand that for me to get a ZED ticket, I must go to an AA agent, present the itinerary and pay the fees at which time I will be issued a paper ticket. This ticket can be used for that itinerary any time in a 90 day period as long as there is space available and the OAL is on the ZED agreement list with AA. Since it will be round trip, I suppose that I would get and payfor tickets both ways at one time?

I would like to travel on Philippine Air Lines since it is a non-stop flight from Manila.

Now here is the question.

Since there is no AA agent in Manila, how do I mechanize the identification of the route and pay for the ticket?

My daughter is a 20 year international F/A but never uses ID90 or ZED fares because she hasn't traveled to places that aren't part of the AA structure, consequently she is of little help in this matter.

As far as non-rev goes, I can get from Japan to LAX no problem but the R/T cost to/from Japan + the non-rev fees is about the same as normal ticket.

I would appreciate any help whatsoever.

Thanks, GWB

Your daughter could purchase the zed fare for you stateside or werever there is an AA ato and then mail it to you in the Philippines.

Regards,

Chepos

Invite her here and she can read the article about buying zed tickets. It sounds as tho with 20 years experience as an international FA, she can figure out how to buy your zed for you. If she can't learn the procedure from her AA website, she can go to the ticket office at any airport she visits and buy on the spot. It's important to have all details for any ID ticket--airlines, dates (changeable) flights (changeable) etc. Some agents are not skilled at doing ID tickets and have trouble figuring the method so it can take a while. Zeds are quite easy. To make it easy, she should take everything in writing for the ticketing process.

Mail to the Philippines from the US gives a whole new meaning to snail mail. My friend mailed me a birthday card on 8/17 and I got it 9/12 so anything by mail is not a good plan.

As for Philippine Airlines, it looks to me like AA does not have an agreement with them for parents to participate in either ID or ZED fares. If anyone could verify that one way or another, then I can either pursue or not the PAL option.

I plead ignorance of the details that I need for purchase of a ZED fare. Looking at the goZED site, there are tons of flights from Manila to LAX, all with at least one connection but none on AA.

What all would I need in order for her to purchase a ZED ticket for me? e.g. from goZED, traveling Oct 10, 2011 on Korean Airlines, Flight KE 622 departing Manila 12:20 PM, arriving in Seoul (ICN) at 04:15 PM, departing ICN on Asiana flight OZ 204 at 08:20 PM arriving at LAX at 03:20 PM. A price listed but doesn't mention taxes or any other fees. And what to do about a return flight? Do I have to establish the same parameters for that at the time the first ticket is purchased so both can be bought at the same time?

And generally:
I think these tickets are basically space available, so what happens if there is no space available on one of the legs? If I have a ticket for 10/10/11 leaving ICN on OZ 204 and it is full, is the ticket worthless? or will they roll me over to a subsequent flight? I have done lots of flying both commercially and non-rev but very little internationally and none ID90 or ZED so I am a babe in the woods (well maybe not a babe, an ogre is more like it!<gr>) when it comes to all the gotchas to look out for.

Thanks for your posts and look forward to any other input you may give me.

GWB

I think we meant more like Fedex or UPS for mail. I wouldn't trust the USPS w/tickets either!

Yes--space available so choose wisely. Zeds are refundable. You should always ask about rollover to next flight. I have never had to interchange a zed--airline A to airline B. ID tkts are carrier specific--ID75, 90, etc. Parents usually pay higher zed level or ID % than employee.

I don't use gozed so I can't speak for it. Zed is for any flight city to city--any airline that has agreement w/AA.
I'm sure can tell you if AA works similar to DL--your daughter should be able do all of this w/relative ease on her company website.
I'd just get whatever you can to reach an AA gateway. I assume NRT, ICN are good options. I see Cathay via HKG as an option. Do you have a Low Cost Carrier in Philippines?
You could zed on DL to NRT.

Use caution when flying space available out of Manila. During holiday periods flights out of Manila are a headache (heavy loads), especially the nonstops to the US.
I had a co-worker whose wife and kids got stuck in Manila for 3 weeks, they finally purchased a ticket via Sydney and then got a buddy pass from a UAL friend and nonreved back tot eh US.
Stay away from Guam, extremely difficult to make it out of Guam to Honolulu- and then toe mainland.
Keep in mind you have - Hawaiian, DL CX, NH, OZ, KE all those airline fly from MNL to the US via their respective Asian hubs.

Regards,

Chepos

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mrs767er

I think we meant more like Fedex or UPS for mail. I wouldn't trust the USPS w/tickets either!Yes--space available so choose wisely. Zeds are refundable. You should always ask about rollover to next flight. I have never had to interchange a zed--airline A to airline B. ID tkts are carrier specific--ID75, 90, etc. Parents usually pay higher zed level or ID % than employee.I don't use gozed so I can't speak for it. Zed is for any flight city to city--any airline that has agreement w/AA.I'm sure can tell you if AA works similar to DL--your daughter should be able do all of this w/relative ease on her company website. I'd just get whatever you can to reach an AA gateway. I assume NRT, ICN are good options. I see Cathay via HKG as an option. Do you have a Low Cost Carrier in Philippines?You could zed on DL to NRT.

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OK Thanks. I can see that DL is included on the goZED list of service out of Manila to Japan, then on to LAX US from there. Also CX from MNL as you pointed out. I'm sorry to be dense about this but: I select a flight on CX, email that to my daughter. She goes to AA (or are you saying that she can make the arrangements on her company web site and email me the results) presents the route information and pays for the ticket. She receives a paper ticket which she Fed-Ex's to me. On the departure date, I take the ticket to the CX desk and am then on a space available status for both legs of the trip? I could go DL or CX out of MNL or I am going to Singapore on a purchased ticket next week so I could also leave from SIN on CX. I have a lot of options at this point and need to start narrowing them down quickly. With your extensive knowledge of using ZED tickets, how do you ensure there is space available on the flight/airline you select? I can go anytime during the week of October 9th, so I would like to pick a flight/airline that I have a reasonable good chance of getting a seat. Thanks for your responses.GWB

There is never certainty for space avail but we have some folks in here frequently who can check loads. Obviously you have to be flexible.

Dear ZP18ZP18 - You have a lot of questions here, most of which your daughter can answer if she reviews the TRIP book available on Jetnet, where AA has published step by step instructions for obtaining ZED tickets.

You also reference goZED quite a bit, note that AA does not subscribe to goZED any longer so if you're accesssing that site somehow, the informaiton is very likely to be out-of-date. Instead, through Jetnet, your daughter can access the Interline Fare Calculator, powered by ID90T. This has the most up-to-date information about American's agreements with other airlines, including eligibility, fares, and taxes.

Basically, and as has been pointed out here, once you've determined on which airlines you desire to travel and on which routes, your daughter will need to obtain paper tickets on those airlines. These tickets are OPEN, so valid on any flight/date in the ticketed market, but valid for 90 days only. In most cases, if AA's agreement includes parents, then there is an allotment of 1 ticket per year.

Again, you need to ask your daughter to review the information in TRIP and share that with you so that you are both well informed of the process, as well as AA's policies and procedures.

I knew aazed would come to the rescue!!

Sorry, it wasn't goZed, it was IFC.

I have determined that it looks like DL172->Narita, DL284 to LAX

or DL172->Narita, KE 1 to LAX

will be the best bets.

I also think that DL172->Narita, AA170->LAX is also a good option. If I use this, only one ZED ticket is required(each way).

If the employee does not have to be present at the time of ticketing, then how does that work? It reads like she calls 888-We-FlyAA and creates a ticketing record for me? Then goes to a AA ticketing location and pays for and receives the paper tickets which she then FedEx's to me? If this is correct, I will pursue this ASAP.

You are correct in that I asked a lot of questions, I apologize for that.

Thanks for the help.

GWB

OK, trip to US and return is over.
Delta from Manila to Tokyo
I had checked in over the internet for my AA flight from Narita to LAX before going to the Airport in Manila.
No issues from Delta ticket counter, very helpful and friendly, did not weigh big heavy suitcase.
Upon seeing my checkin document from American showing a continuation from Narita to LAX, the agent checked my big heavy suitcase all the way to LAX:D
Charged P2880 ($67) to leave the Philippines because I have a resident card. Plus the P750 ($17) airport usage fee. Went to Singapore two weeks ago and I was only charged the airport usage fee(?).
Flight was uneventful, slept as much as possible
Since big heavy bag was checked through to LAX, nothing to do but set around in Narita at AA gate.
American Tokyo to Los Angeles
Went 1st Class. (Prices went up October 1st, just my luck)
Very comfortable, Very well fed, very friendly crew, couldn't even sleep laying down since I had slept setting up on the flight to Narita.

American Los Angeles to Tokyo
First let me say that I am appreciative that as a result of my daughters 26 years as a F/A that she has these flying privileges to extend to me. The cost to me was around 60% of a Y class fare. I thank her for that. I have flown many many times between my home and hers using passes and know full well the risk of non-reving and I have ALWAYS been respectful to all personnel involved as I know there could be a possible negative impact on her career should I be rude or inconsiderate of any of the chain of employees in the process. I know how the seats are assigned and it is up to the gate agent to assign seats and not me. In conclusion, I know all that and am appreciative of that.

Not smooth at LAX, skycap couldn't check TWO BIG BAGS through to Manila because Delta leg to Manila was not LINKED to Narita leg.
Went to Delta counter, not helpful, finally issued me an itinerary but would not show me as even standby.
AA counter not helpful either. Weighed TWO BIG BAGS , 48 & 62 pounds. Backpack already crammed full with TWO laptops etc, no space. $60.00
Gate agent lectured me about the weight, cautioned me that the plane could be overloaded if she didn't weigh bags. I didn't say anything but if she was in charge of making sure the plane wasn't overloaded she should have weighed all the passengers along with their carry on bags. I also know that all the bags are weighed but only Y class passengers pay the fee. It was 'policy', losing jobs etc. First time I have ever had bags weighed as part of checkin and first time I ever paid. It seems to me that if I pay the first class fee I should also have the first class perks that come with it.
After acknowledging the overweight, and paying the fee, she was somehow able to magically connect the two legs and check my bags through to Manila.
I did ask how I could have avoided the NOT LINKED problem since it wasn't an issue with Delta in Manila but was an issue at LAX and was rewarded with the 'just following the rules' lecture.

Went 1st Class. Very comfortable, Very well fed, very friendly crew, couldn't sleep since flight was at noon.
TWO BIG BAGS checked all the way through to Manila so nothing to do but sit around for a couple of hours in a very comfortable lounge area.

Delta from Tokyo to Manila
Seat assigned as soon as boarding was announced. Aisle in the back.
Flight uneventful except for turbulence near Manila due to tail of typhoon winds.

Anyhow home now. If I had it to do over, I probably would have gone Delta all the way and just settled for Y class instead of complicating things by flying business or first. Or maybe Cathy Pacific. At any rate, I understand I have only one of these ZED fares/year so I will have to wait until 2012 to do it again. Plenty of time to think it through.

thanks for the very thorough report. sounds like ti was not too bad considering the risks of overweight and oversize stuff, and getting cleared etc. That's a LONG trip no matter how you cut it.
I haven't checked a bag in how knows how long (maybe 3 yrs ago FA have me a bottle of bubbly on flgith but she didn't know I had a connection leg home--couldn't say no) We trael so light and I still overpack...
Cheers and welcome home!