Happy

All right, this is a new experience to me with AS award ticket change. I need some education / enlightenment here.

Forgive me on the long post. Feel the need to give details so make it easier for others to give helpful advice,

Currently have a ticketed award on QF SYD-MEL-LAX, then AS LAX-FLL.

Several weeks ago AS changed its schedule on LAX-FLL, received an automatic email to inform the change, followed by a Confirmation email on New Tickets, even though this is an AS only schedule change.
In Gmail I can see there are 3 tabs at the top of the email showing the 3 segments, though such display is not in Comcast email. The 3 tabs showing in Gmail are very handy, allowing me quickly see where the changes might be and are assured that the itinerary is intact.

Yesterday there was another schedule change email. Took me a while to realize there was a 15 min schedule change on the MEL-LAX flight departure time - from 10:40am to 10:55am.

This evening, almost 24 hours later, received another AS Confirmation email - looks like an Automatic Reissue of the tickets to reflect the 15 min schedule change as I notice there are NEW eTicket numbers in the Confirmation email with the replacing Old eTicket numbers in the bracket below.

However I notice that the Gmail now only shows 2 tabs instead of 3 tabs. The longhaul segment of MEL-LAX Tab IS GONE.
But the details of the itinerary remains intact, also if only looking Comcast email I would not be able to tell something may have gone astray. Reservation shows intact on QF site.
30 min after receiving this AS reticketing Confirmation email I called to change the SYD-MEL morning flight to an late afternoon flight when there are ample availability now..

Got a helpful agent at Boise. She seemed to understand my fear of losing the MEL-LAX long haul if we tried to change the SYD-MEL flight. She assured me the MEL-LAX should not be affected. She was able to see the several options I gave to her. On the 5pm flight I picked BA showed 2 seats available and she saw the same 2 seats. Both the 5:15pm and 5:30pm flights have tons of availability. She also confirmed that.

So we proceeded to do the change. For unknown reason there is an additional 11.xx taxes even though the layover at MEL is now even 7 hours shorter. I gave her the credit card info.
Then she said the system gave her Ticketing Error. I asked her to try the next flight where there were more seats available. She said the tax was the same, but that flight also gave her Ticketing Error.
Then she put me on hold for a very long time. Meanwhile I saw the reservation on QF site the SYD-MEL segment was gone. On AS site it no longer allowed me to pull up the itinerary. I was checking both sites periodically the next 20 min - then suddenly I saw the SYD-MEL came back with the new flight. Bingo!
A couple minutes later she came back to tell me the change was successfully made.

Well, that was a Yes and a No - because there is no new eTicket! While the itinerary now has new flight info, the eTicket numbers remain the OLD ones. That is not right. I asked her to give me the new eTicket numbers. She went to check, then came back to tell me, it is in queue to ticket because of the Ticketing Error encounter, that it will take 24 to 48 hours after the card is charged for the additional taxes then new eTickets will be issued.
I asked her was it because of the Ticketing Error, a manual ticketing is needed? She said Yes, added the seats were secured. She said if I do not see Confirmation after 24 to 48 hours, call back and they will look into it.

What I start to think about this, I suspect the reissue done a bit earlier by the system, has the MEL-LAX segment missing on the header tab when read using Gmail - may mean that reissue is not correctly done, therefore causing the Ticketing Error. (I once encountered similar incident with a UA award - the system gave an "out of sequence" error when the previous reissuance was done wrong manually by an agent on an Air Canada schedule change. A subsequent Thai schedule change caused Ticketing Error on reissuance. Then a supervisor looked at the history and found the error from previous reissue.)

Or, there is Married Segment issue because when initially booked this QF award online, despite over 10 shuttle flights between SYD-MEL each day, AS site only showed 3 or 4 flights attached to the MEL-LAX flight as a pair. IIRC they were either in the morning or in the evening, nothing between 1pm and 6pm.

In any case I believe the reservation definitely NEEDS to have new tickets when partner flight is changed to a new flight, as evidenced by even just 15 min schedule change on the partner flight would automatically generate a reissuance.

Last time when CX schedule change (canceled flight and auto-rebooked to new flight), I had to call in to get reticketing. It was reticketed by the agent while we were still on the phone. She was able to give me new eTicket numbers. AS system never sends me the Confirmation email but online I can print the receipt showing new eTicket numbers.

This time it is a completely different experience. At one point I was afraid I would lose the MEL-LAX longhaul seats when AS site gave error about "one segment of the itinerary cannot displayed online, please call us at 1-800-227-4500 for further assistance." Fortunately on QF site the MEL-LAX segment showed up, despite the SYD-MEL was gone.

I am still baffled by the "Ticketing Error" message and wonder what might have caused that?

Has anyone encountered a "Ticketing Error" with a flight change that the agent can secure the award seats?