[IP] (UAL) more on Hidden dangers in "free" air tickets
Begin forwarded message:
From: Jason Weisberger <jweisberger@xxxxxxx>
Date: January 7, 2006 5:16:10 PM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: ip@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Hidden dangers in "free" air tickets
The problem begins in having a seat assignment or not, I believe.
United has always treated a paid ticket as a purchase order, in the
realm of their responsibilities. In the realm of yours, its always
non-refundable but useable as a credit - for a fee. Totally unbalanced.
If you buy a ticket with miles, make sure you always have a seat
assignment. If they say part of the itinerary is on a partner airline
and they can not get a seat assignment - call the other airline and
get a seat assignment. Miles are as good as cash, and they have to
honor it - but only if you have a seat assignment. In overbooking
situations its always the person without a seat assignment who gets
the shaft - not the full paid ticket or some other criteria (which
comes into play later.) If you are holding a ticket with a seat
number on it, you are at least going to be able to walk onto the
plane and see if someone else is in your seat :) When the double
assigned seat crisis starts is when the give-aways begin. Sadly, who
the heck wants a free ticket on an airline that couldn't make a paid
for ticket work.
I have, several times, had UAL bump my upgrade back down after
confirming it, while I was standing at the airport because they
managed to sell the seat. They always create a raft of lies and force
me to deal with their worthless customer care program. One flight
from Miami to SFO I was seated next to someone else who was also
bumped back from 1st to steerage. Once in the air we went and asked
the 2 people in our un-upgraded seats when they booked and how they
paid. Last minute couple who paid insanely high full fares. United
denies it to this day.
Moral of the story - due your diligence to ensure you have the
highest probability of not getting the shaft, then be prepared to get
the shaft anyways.
On Jan 7, 2006, at 1:55 PM, David Farber wrote:
Begin forwarded message:
From: Johan <johan@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: January 7, 2006 3:05:40 PM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: ip@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, plevy@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] Hidden dangers in "free" air tickets
Paul Levy writes:
About a month ago, on one such call, I learned really by
happenstance that the evening flight DOWN to Santiago was no
leaving an hour earlier, so that the connecting flight we were
taking to Toronto would not get us there in time so make the
connection. But nobody had bothered to let us know of this change.
That is very strange indeed, unless you bought the two tickets
separately, in which case the airline wouldn't be able to track them.
>
> So, we get
to Toronto and learn the truth -- it is not that seats are to be
assigned day of travel, but they have oversold the flight and
even though WE made our reservations in February, oddly enough WE
are the ones who have no seats and we have to hope that enough
people don't show up so that we can take our vacation.
> In the end, we did get on the plane, and we had a wonderful
vacation;
> but the experience left a bitter tatse in our mouths about US
Airways
> and Air Canada.
Alas, that is how most airilines work, not just those two; there is
a well defined seniority ordering of who gets kicked off the plane
if it is too full, and unfortunately, how well in advance you made
your reservation has no impact on that. First class passengers
trump economy, full fare trumps lower fare, low fare trumps free
tickets, premium frequent fliers trump non-premiums, and
unaccompanied minors trump everyone but the pilot.
It used to be that the gate agents had alot of discretion over who
to kick and who to upgrade, but like so many other fields, this is
being increasingly regulated by codifed and verifed policies.
Johan
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