[Anonymous]

[DavidGordon10]

I have to make a three-way booking: London to Tunis with three days and several meetings in Tunis; then Tunis to Copenhagen for two days; and back to London.

Given that I am a Flying Blue gold member, and that AF has good connections through Paris for all three cities concerned, AF is the obvious choice. The AF website, through its “multi-destination itinerary” tool produces an itinerary that fits perfectly with the times I need to be in Tunis and in Copenhagen.

But it cannt be booked. The booking system simply cannot do it. The only way, with the help of an excellent person at the KLM call centre (the AF call centre was no use at all), was as three separate return tickets – LHR-CDG; CDG-TUN; CDG-CPH.

Maybe one of the travel industry professionals on this site could explain why. The person at the KLM call centre did say it would have been easy if it had been a three-way intercontinental trip….

[first_class_please]

I imagine as its so many transfers that it exceeds all the “maximum permitted mileage” between points.

You may need to book seperate tickets with a stopover in Paris, i.e:-

LHR – CDG (CDG-TUN-CDG) – CPH – CDG – LHR

or

LHR – CDG – TUN – CDG (CDG-CPH-CDG) – LHR

So book a round trip to Tunis, with a stop in Paris on the return, then book a Paris – Copenhagen roundtrip.

Flight delays / through baggage check could be an issue, but i would imagine you could check luggage through as all same carrier.

[DavidGordon10]

That was an alternative I had not considered – to put a stopover in a through return ticket.

The baggage check-in is an issue but this is a trip I will be able to make with just hand baggage.

But what is “maximum permitted mileage”? That phrase is a mystery to me. And why did both AF and KLM websites show the multi-destination itinerary I needed but then could not issue a ticket for it, even though prices were shown on both websites? As I say, crazy booking system.

[first_class_please]

Maximum permitted mileage is the mileage allowed between two points.

If you then go via somewhere enroute, you can get surcharges up to 25 of the fare I beleive for taking a more indirect route.

I.e London – Tunis will allow X miles through to maximum of Z miles.

Going via Paris is likely fine.

Going via Paris, Copenhagen and Paris again to get back from Tunis to London is probably what is throwing off this fare.

[TMCWoking]

DG10 – AF’s CRS/web site will have been unable to book and price your itinerary for several reasons. It will try and price your routing at whichever class of travel you requested, but (and assuming you were after a direct flight CPH LHR) of interline eticket rules and also fare combinability with other carriers, the system won’t have found an eligible fare. By virtue of the fact that we as a TMC have access to a GDS we are able to either issue separate tickets and/or price at a fare which is combinable all within the same booking.

[DavidGordon10]

Thank you TMC, but I am a little lost in the abbreviations! I presume a GDS is a global distribution system, and what is a TMC? You are one, clearly….

I wasn’t trying to get a direct flight for CPH-LHR. I requested LHR-TUN via CDG; then TUN-CPH via CDG; and the CPH-LHR via CDG. The website priced the trip straight away: and then could not book it. I still don’t see why it could not.

[TMCWoking]

Apologies for the abbreviations, our industry is awash with them. TMC is a Travel Management Company, a business travel agent who manages more than just say airline tickets and hotel reservations.
I’ve tried again to quote replicating your routing and there is a problem with AF/KLM’s CRS either with this routing or more widely. In such cases we would calculate the fare ourselves or send it off to AF Fares Dept. Hope this helps.

[DavidGordon10]

That does indeed help. Next time I will ask a TMC……..!

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