Several years ago my son and his family were flying to and from Chicago during the holidays. My daughter-in-law mentioned they got reasonably priced tickets. When I got to their place to take them to the airport my son gave me a copy of the ticketing so I'd know their return dates.

It was then that I noticed why the reasonable price. They bought the tickets for exactly one month later than they intended.

When I got home I checked various options online and decided the best would be to scrap the existing tickets and buy new ones. I don't remember if he made the correction at this end or the Chicago end but he was charged an exorbitant amount. He just decided that they made a mistake and they'll pay for it.

They deserved to pay for it since after all they screwed up.

Then I started to think about it. Yes, it was their fault. But shouldn't the ticket agent give them the best option? I'm not sure what each person should do.

I wrote American and explained what happened. I felt the ticket agent should at the least give them the options. After all, they had a somewhat distressed customer. The response from American was laughable. It looked like a computer picked out which letter to send back based on a few of the words in the letter. In no way did it have anything to do with what happened.

Oh. you win some and you lose some.

See next comment.

On the trip we were just on, I purchased first class train tickets from Frankfurt to Amsterdam even though we were staying in Mainz. The reason for this was that I wanted to get on at the beginning to make sure we'd have place for our luggage. Since we had luggage I wanted a direct train with no changes. I also wanted both facing each other with a table in between and nobody beside us. There was only one of those available. I bought and paid for the two tickets.

A day or two later I noticed the same tickets were quite a bit lower in price. I realize prices can change every day and it's all part of traveling.

But it doesn't hurt to try. So I called the English line of the German railway (in Germany) and explained it. I never thought anything would come of it. The agent on the phone was very nice and he told me prices changes and there is no guarantee for pricing. He sent me an email which read something like "As a sign of goodwill we are giving you a credit of 60 Euros to be used against the purchase of train tickets within a year". WOW!!!

I knew we were going on a few day trips and was able to use the credit.

They earned some brownie points for that. For sure. So it goes both ways.

You should have made it clear in your original post that you were downgraded. That was not clear.

I hope you enjoyed your holiday.

hetismij2,

You are correct. Unfortunately I wrote that post the morning we left on the trip. I had a few minutes before my son picked us up to take us to the airport. You'll notice I tried to make a few clarifications but didn't do a very good job of it as we were walking out the door.

Yes, we had a very good trip. The weather in Amsterdam could have been sunnier and warmer but it also could have been a lot worse. The drizzle was very scattered so it didn't stop us. Over the next week or so I'll write a trip report and post photos.

Fare codes and ticket prices correlate but are still two different cups of tea.

If you checked your old records (booking confirmation) you should find an individual letter designating the fare code.
The ticket itself does not necessaily have to marketed as a "special discount", though.
One clue could be whether your business class tickets would have been fully refundable and fully flexible to the last possible date.
Or just flexible but not fully refundable. Or none of that.

When things went south, the airline's algorithm is much more likely to match fare code and status to establish a pecking order among passengers than using the amount in dollars, pounds or euros which those passengers paid for their tickets.

If you are interested, I found this short summary of what fare codes are and what they mean.
https://www.godsavethepoints.com/bookingcodesandmiles/

Our tickets were for First Class from FLL to ATL and Business Class from ATL to FRA (Frankfurt).

Oh goodie! I guess correctly!! Told ya so :-)

And to wrap a ribbon around it.

We just booked two Business Class tickets to Europe for next spring and used our two $400 credits.

I really hope they don't try to bump us out of Business Class but if that ever happens again I'll be ready to ask for a reroute.

schnauzer,
I guess you weren't about to read the whole thread.
We started with first class from FLL to ATL and Business class from ATL to Frankfurt.
When they downgraded us my first consideration wasn't a refund for the difference but was flying overnight in economy. The difference in cost or refund wasn't my first consideration.
After going in circles for 6-7 minutes I became angry. That's when the clerk began to offer me rerouting options.
Our eventual flights were almost identical to the original flights in times and in class.
The 400 credits came about because on our first flight, the first class from FLL to Detroit I wasn't near my wife. Ordinarily this would not have been an issue. But after the way the agent acted and the length it took until he offered to reroute us I wasn't about to give them any slack. So that's what resulted in the two credits.
Essentially, I considered it compensation for the way we were treated when working out the overseas flight.

I think MANY of us read the whole thread and were just like Schnauzer. We couldn't sort out on what basis you were owed a refund or compensation.

Now we know. You think you were treated badly and deserved the $400 you received because you didn't like the way your routing changes wee handled by agents.

Enjoy that $400 x 2.

starrs,
I was quite upset and made the mistake of posting the story just as we were leaving our house for the trip. Then, to make matters worse I was away for almost two weeks and didn't add any decent explanations until we returned.

I think my post on July 16 at 9:20 did a better job explaining.

This is your essential answer, right?
"Essentially, I considered it compensation for the way we were treated when working out the overseas flight."

After reading the whole thread I am just happy that Meyer (OP) is happy. And unfortunately, most of the airlines call agents don't really care and just follow instructions,. But all is well that ends well!!!

I would have been happier had they had immediately informed me that the plane had been changed and I should call to see how our flights could be rearranged. Then when I called they started the conversation with "let's see if we can reroute your flights".

That way I would have avoided the aggravation and they would have avoided giving $800. in credits.

I'm happy with the result. Maybe they are too.

If the original text that I received said that due to a plane change we had been rerouted to almost the same flight schedule and since there were only two seats available in First Class on the first flight they don't have two seats together I would have gone to their web site and accepted the change for sure.

schnauzer, sorry, I forgot to answer your question. Yes, our short flights were in First Class and the overseas flights were in Business Class.

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