solomon100

We won’t be using Alpha Flight Guru again and can’t recommend their service, which we found cheap but UNRELIABLE & STRESSFUL. Our experience was kind of like “The Amazing Race”. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE IF TRAVELLING WITH AN INFANT.

We were recommended Alpha Flight Guru (AFG) by relatives who have used this "discount" service several times - without an issue!

We used AFG to buy 2 x one-way business class tickets from Melbourne to London (Qantas QF9 Melb - Dubai - London) in January 2014. We were travelling with an infant. Alpha Flight Guru would not provide the infant ticket for us, so we purchased this ticket over-the-phone directly from Qantas, 6 months prior to flying. All the tickets appeared on our Qantas online accounts...all looked good 6 months out.

On the morning we were due to fly (in the car on the way to the airport), I received a call from an AFG representative. They apologized that our tickets had been cancelled due to “over-booking” & they had arranged for us to fly out with Thai Airways 1 hour earlier…only problem was we were in Adelaide, could not check our baggage all the way through and would struggle to make the connection in time... I explained that we had 4 bags, a port-a-cot, a pram, a Baby-Zen pram (for the airport), 4 carry-on bags & a nappy-bag. The AFG representative gave us his personal assurance that if we missed the connection he would take full responsibility?!?!?!

The AFG representative assured me there was no other way…despite the Qantas flight we had originally booked NOT being overbooked and an alternate Qantas flight flying out of Adelaide to Dubai-London later that afternoon. So…we boarded the plane for Melbourne, called my brother (lives in Melbourne) & got him to meet us at the airport. He helped us transfer from Qantas domestic terminal to Thai Airways international terminal. We were the last to check-in, had to buy a new infant ticket at the terminal and hustled (unaided) through security & customs. We made the flight. The Thai Airways connection went through Bangkok with a 5 hour lay-over (not including a 2 hour delay), instead of 3 hours (in Dubai)...and of course no bassinet as previously booked. Unfortunately, the planned shower & private baby room that we were looking forward to in Dubai were not available in the Thai Airways Bangkok lounge – not the end of the world, but yet another irritation.

Overall, their customer service was compassionate & helpful; and they were successful in finding alternate flights for us. We paid an extra AU$1500 for the new infant ticket, an additional AU$800 for the old infant ticket; & my wife owned the “told-you-so” line. The trip took 30hours (instead of 26). We found out later that AFG had used “refunded” Qantas tickets, owned by American Airlines, & American Airlines had cancelled them the day of flying. We were never given a believable explanation by AFG.

Would we use AFG again…As we wanted extra room for the long haul with an infant and could not afford to fly at regular business class prices…we took the risk of using this service. Clearly, the experience was stressful & I can not echo the positive experiences of others. We will probably book 3 economy seats next time…thankfully it wasn’t a return trip.

All the best with your roll-of-the-dice.

alanRow

So did AFG refund your additional expenses? And it was AA who caused the problem by cancelling tickets 6 months after booking

Seamus

Sounds like they're scam artists who buy award tickets from FFers and resell them to you. Actually, they act as middleman in a procedure in which they take money from you, give some of it to the FFer who then redeems an award ticket in your name. Problem is that virtually every FF program in the world forbids the selling of award tickets. So when they get found out the airline cancels the tickets (and often closes the FF account altogether.)
So what probably happened to you is they had some American Advantage member who was willing to take their money in exchange for cashing in some of his/her FF miles for tickets on Qantas (a member of the OneWorld alliance with American) issued in your names. American caught on to it and cancelled the tickets.

Sue_xx_yy

An alternative to Seamus' explanation is that they are promising tickets on one airline's routing, at price X+ y, but then actually booking approximate but cheaper routings, at price X, on another airline, and pocketing the difference. Sort of like the old, pay for hotel Ritz, get 'walked' to hotel By the Highway as hotel Ritz is 'overbooked.' Naturally they don't tell you until the last minute, since by then you have few options except to accept what is, in effect, their bait and switch.

I didn't realize it was possible to book an infant ticket as a separate booking of one individual; one would think the system would make this impossible to do given that most infants dislike independent travel . But either way, infant or adult, arranging travel for a party of three on separate bookings is risky, no matter how one does it. No guarantee one of the bookings won't be rescheduled for a different flight.

Thanks for the heads up.

Sue_xx_yy

Oh my. It seems Seamus is right after all.

http://www.fodors.com/community/air-...-the-price.cfm