Questions and Answers

Hi Folks, I’ve been trying to book some flights in South America (from Ottawa) on Aeroplan for the past two weeks. It seems that the itineraries I choose show availability in the ‘Availability Calendar’ but never come up with a flight I can book. The second time I spoke to Aeroplan they told me the problem was an IT issue between Air Canada and Avianca (an Ecuadorian airline that is a Star alliance member) where their systems weren’t able to communicate. The agent told me that it is a known problem that’s being worked on but there was no time specified for resolution.

So my questions are:
Does this sound like a reasonable explanation?
Has anyone experienced such a problem before and how long did it take to resolve?
Is there any way around this problem that lets me book my tickets (the agent said even she could not book on my behalf since she could not pull up information on my desired flights.)?

Thanks.

IT issues aren’t uncommon. But have you tried to searching for space on United’s website for the flights you want? Make sure flights are available there and then call Aeroplan to put together a ticket, instead of relying on their website.

If the issue extend’s past their website, then it’s a bigger issue between Aeroplan and Avianca…

I think it’s a bigger issue between reservation systems. I checked the United web site and it shows flights being available but the Aeroplan agent couldn’t see anything in the Avianca segments.

I would try another agent or two or ask if they can contact the Star Alliance liason to manually make reservations. Don’t be afraid ot (politely) ask for a supervisor. It might come down to what agent you have the luck to get.