mian11224

My wife and I left separately at different times, but met on the way back, so flew with CSA through Prague. Purchased two separate tickets, both business class - my wife's through Orbitz, mine through Cheapoair.
I was leaving first. Arrived to JFK and was told that CSA has me in the business class only for the return leg, economy for the eastbound segment. Nobody knows why.
My wife left a week later. Arrives to the same JFK and hears the same story, except that in her case it's economy all the way. The airline explanation: "Your agent made a mistake"! How can you book on-line different classes on a round-trip ticket.
My wife says that there were some other people at check-in in the same situation: a business class confirmations on-hand, not accepted by CSA. Anyone here? I wrote to President of CSA, but does anybody know what agency we could file a complaint with? We got royally deceived on the way back as well, but this is already another story.
We are going to Czech Republic at least once a year, but never again with CSA

AAFrequentFlyer

Did you try to contact the travel agents?

That's the first place I would look for answers.

You should have called their CS as soon as the problem(s) came up. They "are responsible for" the ticket until the airline checks you in. Once you checked in you agreed with CSA. CSA may have been wrong but it was your travel agent's responsibility to take care of it.

Good luck resolving this....

mian11224

Of course we did just that. However both tickets were purchased on-line, so there wasn't like one person to contact. Cheapoair.com kept responding that "your reservation has been confirmed as business", a lot of good that did.
Orbitz was even better: they changed the itinerary and responded that it was like this from the beginning - no response as to where the original confirmation then came from.
Guess that's a drawback dealing with the engines instead of a real person.

LT

. . . Yes, that is one of the major drawbacks to the online services.

I agree with you trying to contact the President of CSA.

Also, if what you say (about being booked in one class & ending up in another) is true (but, I must say I find this hard to believe), this is a "bait and switch scenario. Contact either the NY state attorney general or the attorney general of your state (not sure which would be applicable) and lodge a complaint. You can also lodge a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation (http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/problems.htm).

Christina

I don't think it's obvious what happened here and we can all speculate. I don't know if "cheapair" is a pseudonym for just that or a real name, but it isn't clear that this isn't their fault. They could have made an error, lied or who knows what. I don't understand the remark about "how can you book on-line different classes on a round-trip ticket". Why can't you, there's no reason anyone is forced to fly the same class on two different flights on completely different dates.

So we dont really know what happened here. If it was really CSA, then someone clearly has gotten too much money if they paid for business and got economy. I don't know how that works, and some airlines have a little more lax business class than others where it isn't really that different, although may cost a little more. HOwever, I don't think there is any guarantee that an airline can't overbook a certain class, just like they overbook certain seats, and that is not illegal. Business can get bumped to economy just like economy can get bumped to not even flying. But passengers should have some rights or be due compensation, I don't know what they are, though, as I cannot afford to fly business.

I've flown CSA a couple times and thought they were a great airline.

Christina

I just realized it is "cheapoair", and I saw they had a real website. Never heard of them, I'll have to check their fares -- but they say they are a member of various reputable agencies.

However, it seems to me they aresaying right on their website that they are a consolidator and selling bulk fare wholesale tickets. So, I think that a passenger's rights and the airline's obligation are different for those fares, which are not regular tickets. It could well be that your contract is really with cheapoair who is selling these bulk tickets, and CSA is not obligated to put you in whatever class cheapoair is telling you the ticket is for. They may be allowed to bump you, if necessary, due to that fare class.

I don't know, but I notice that the main thread in this story is that the tickets were not purchased from CSA nor a regular travel agent in either case (Orbitz has some negotiated rate tickets, also, as I understand it).

mian11224

It is worth mentioning that CSA did get back, reviewed the case and reimbursed all the extra charges. To say that I am impressed is a huge understatement; I honestly didn't expect it, CSA got a real admirer and PR agent in my persona. Btw, the problem was caused by CSA: as they explained, their service class codes didn't match Amadeus, so for them our trip looked as coach.
As for the agencies, I've been using Cheapoair and all the others on numerous occasions. Stopped using Orbitz though: they are the worst if a problem happens, no help at all. At least that's happened to me on a cople of occasions, so I stopped taking chances with them.

soccr

I said "in effect" because I didn't have the letter in my lap and didn't have the precise wording BUT believe me, I'm not blurring the edges here. All it said, I promise you, was that they'd reviewed records and corrected anything that needed correcting. Period.

I was looking for anything remotely resembling "you're off the list" or "show this letter to the airline" but nothing at ALL like that. ALL it said was that a review of the records had been made and if corrections were needed, they were made.

Then a long paragraph of disclaimer saying that this review was nonetheless no guarantee that I wouldn't have future problems with security or airline check in.

soccr

Sorry, posted to wrong thread