{"id":4063,"date":"2013-11-09T18:01:33","date_gmt":"2013-11-10T02:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/?p=4063"},"modified":"2013-11-11T09:19:56","modified_gmt":"2013-11-11T17:19:56","slug":"ayudame-skyteam-n00b-dealing-flying-blue-phantom-award-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/2013\/11\/ayudame-skyteam-n00b-dealing-flying-blue-phantom-award-space\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a1Ay\u00fadame! SkyTeam N00b Dealing With Flying Blue Phantom Award Availability"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>i&#8217;ve been trying to book a better return positioning flight from Mexico City back home to San Francisco for the $150 mistake fare to Buenos Aires, and found one via Air France&#8217;s Flying Blue on Aeromexico. (Flying Blue is a Membership Rewards partner so i transferred points.)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4066\" alt=\"flight3\" src=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/files\/2013\/11\/flight3.png\" width=\"722\" height=\"91\" srcset=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight3.png 722w, http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight3-300x37.png 300w, http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight3-400x50.png 400w, http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight3-200x25.png 200w, http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight3-150x18.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 722px) 100vw, 722px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>but when i tried to book it, i got almost to the end where it errored out saying &#8220;The last seats on this flight have already been booked and are no longer available.&#8221; i rang up their call center and the representative said it showed 2 seats available, but he was unable to grab even just one. (he explained sometimes there is a delay in updating things &#8212; what kind of reservation system does not work in realtime?)<\/p>\n<p>sigh.<\/p>\n<p>with miles just sitting in my Flying Blue account, i was thinking i could use them on a side trip from Buenos Aires to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/04\/28\/travel\/36-hours-in-salta-argentina.html?_r=0&amp;pagewanted=all\">Salta<\/a>\u00a0in the north of Argentina (it&#8217;d be tight during my workation, but why not explore somewhere new?).<\/p>\n<p>Flying Blue showed availability:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4064\" alt=\"flight1\" src=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/files\/2013\/11\/flight1.png\" width=\"727\" height=\"90\" srcset=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight1.png 727w, http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight1-300x37.png 300w, http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight1-624x77.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4065\" alt=\"flight2\" src=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/files\/2013\/11\/flight2.png\" width=\"722\" height=\"108\" srcset=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight2.png 722w, http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight2-300x44.png 300w, http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight2-624x93.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 722px) 100vw, 722px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>but when i tried to book them (even as one-ways), the site errored out even sooner than my previous attempt saying there was a technical problem. i called and the agent didn&#8217;t even show the AEP-SLA (the first flight) as being available. i had a hard time explaining the return to the representative (who did not seem to know what EZE was) but assume the same problem exists with those as well.<\/p>\n<p>as a Star Alliance person, i&#8217;m pretty much a SkyTeam n00b*, but had read that Air France&#8217;s site is usually the best indicator of available award space. has anyone ever dealt with their site showing phantom award space before? are these seats really available? tips? tricks?<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>*sidebar\u00a0<\/strong>as much as i like to poke fun at Delta SkyPesos, i did use them at the lowest redemption levels to fly from Stuttgart to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/jonk\/sets\/72157594161338457\/\">Morocco<\/a>\u00a0and also from San Francisco to Berlin to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/jonk\/sets\/72157625277175196\/\">see my favorite German band&#8217;s last concert<\/a>. (miles earned because i used to fly Air France a lot to come home when i lived in Germany, before i became a Star Alliance loyalist.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>update<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>i used <a href=\"http:\/\/wandr.me\/\">Wandering Aramean&#8217;s website<\/a> to display award availability and it&#8217;s available (second in the list), so it looks like maybe Air France is blocking? or broken?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4076\" alt=\"flight4\" src=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/files\/2013\/11\/flight4.png\" width=\"840\" height=\"437\" srcset=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight4.png 840w, http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight4-300x156.png 300w, http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/\/sites\/48\/2013\/11\/flight4-624x324.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>update 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>just in case you&#8217;re suggesting i HUACA (hang up and call again), i just did this morning. only three of the AEP-SLA flights are showing as available (not the one i want) and the MEX-SFO flight still is being the little trickster showing as yes, available, but then no, not really.<\/p>\n<p><strong>update 3<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>called back this morning and got a great agent (Ruben, &lt;3) who was able to get seats on the AR flights. the taxes calculation on the website was incorrect for the second flight (sadly $45ish instead of $9+change). but he waived the $22(?) issuance fee since the site was broken. yay Ruben!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>i&#8217;ve been trying to book a better return positioning flight from Mexico City back home to San Francisco for the $150 mistake fare to Buenos&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":4066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"\u00a1Ay\u00fadame! 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